Medicinal Ecology
The Online Course
Pictured: Chamomile, German (Matricaria recutita) happy and flourishing at an MRN trials site.
A medicinal, herbaceous annual - chamomile provides a wide spectrum of benefits for humans, habitat, and soil.
CULTIVATE MEDICINAL ABUNDANCE
BUILD SOIL, SUPPORT BIODIVERSITY, NOURISH YOUR HEALTH
LEARN THE SKILLS TO GROW LOADS OF MEDICINAL PLANTS, LAUNCH A BACKYARD NURSERY, BEGIN YOUR FOOD FOREST DREAMS, ADD TREMENDOUS VALUE TO AN EXISTING EARTH ALIGNED BUSINESS, AND CONSERVE BIODIVERSITY ~
Pictured: Freshly harvested Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) and Marshmallow (Althea officinalis) roots. Mineral Roots Farm
Medicinal Ecology gives participants the inside scoop on how to grow wildly abundant medicinal grade plants, build truly regenerative and mineral-rich soil, design curated backyard medicine gardens and food forests, and apply diverse agroecology lineages to foster long-term homestead resilience.
Researcher, farmer/educator, and medicinal nursery owner, Amy Kousch, opens the door wide open to the wonderous world of medicinal ecology in order to give you a detailed, step-by-step, tour of the nuanced strategies and techniques she uses to cultivate prolific, exceptionally healthy, medicinal grade nursery stock- but also - to create living soil, and to create living medicinal food forests with roots in conservation biology.
Do you want to…
Cultivate medicinal, food-forest, gardenscapes for your family …
Create a medicinal plant business grounded in regeneration …
Or add an upcoming revenue stream to your existing farm or wellness business …
We’ve got you covered.
This comprehensive, applied, 4-month program will give you the tools, knowledge, and SUPPORT you need to understand the science and strategies behind difficult to germinate medicinal plant species in addition to well-known favorites - and to understand ecology in the context of restorative agriculture and soil health- deeply.
Our 4-month course provides students with dynamic weekly modules - filled with live learning sessions, richly, detailed pre-recorded sessions, cohesive homework and research assignments, and fresh ecology lab and plant materials (mailed to participants) to accompany learning sessions. With an emphasis on soil health, practical cultivation, and intentional design - this course provides students with science-backed and field-tested skills and knowledge.
Students love the live lab materials, the hands-on mentoring — and the dozens to hundreds of plants that they propagate in one season ~
Students can depend on live support, mentoring, and Q and A sessions with Amy. Students have access to course material for life.
Previous students have gone on to begin nursery and consulting businesses, expand farm operations, and grow community — read some of our new 2025 testimonials at the bottom of this page.
Enrollment in Medicinal Ecology CLOSES December 15th, 2025.
EARLY BIRD TUITION UNTIL 12/1/25
Class is IN SESSION beginning February 9th, 2026
Pictured: Herbalism students taking part in an autumn root harvest at in-person medicinal ecology immersive.
Medicinal Ecology includes a robust field of study with a heavy emphasis on soil health and biodiversity support, including the following areas:
Foundational Soil Science for Growers
Soil Biology for Growers
Foundational Conservation Biology
Field Botany
Agroecology lineages
Permaculture
Biodynamics
Land stewardship as conservation agriculture
Medicinal Nursery Propagation
Ecological Garden and Farm Design
Creating sanctuary and approaches to planning/design
Materials, sourcing, and ingredients
Amendments and inputs
Guild communities
Beneficial insects and pollinator science
Medicinal Cultivation
Where the Wild Things Grow
Pictured: Ashwagandha to Angelica to so many in-between. Mineral Roots nursery stock ready to go to their new homes. Learn how to grow these plants and more!
A glimpse of what you can grow…
A 2025 Medicinal Ecology student designed and grew this garden using the skills, knowledge, soil health building tactics, and PLANTS (that they propagated from seed) during our program - in one growing season.
Strong Plants. Strong Roots.
Starts with Hands-on Learning…
Pictured: Elecampane (Inula helenium) starts, at about 3 months old from seeding. Mineral Roots Nursery
Mineral Roots Founder and Head Grower, Amy Kousch ~ Your Lead Medicinal Ecology Instructor
A leader in the field of medicinal plant and soil/water research, Mineral Roots founder, Amy Kousch, has been growing, studying, teaching about and learning from plants for twenty years and has pursued an intense, small-scale greenhouse propagation trajectory for a decade as a trained medicinal plant specialist (B,S. Natural Resources, M.S. Agricultural Sciences, current PhD student, plant sciences). Mineral Roots operates a medicinal herb farm, research plots, a propagation greenhouse, and more…all on a small-scale.
Amy’s experience as a medicinal plant educator spans a robust portfolio of public presentations, guest teacher intensives, conference proceedings, community demonstrations, university instruction, and online teaching. At the heart of healing plants resides an innate calling to coach others in the propagation of these incredibly special living species. Students often provide feedback that names Amy’s down-to-earth connection building with individuals and generous, servant-leadership teaching style.
Once a therapeutic, writing teacher for high-school students in a large city - and a graduate student in Special Education - Amy honors the student experience as paramount to grower success and weaves exceptional instruction with quality mentor guidance.
Mineral Roots Nursery is an active member of:
Big Medicine.
Small Space.
Featured In:
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NOCO STYLE
Sowing Seeds of Strenth.
June, 2024
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Sugar Beet
On Restorative Agriculture and Medicinal Herbs
With Amy Kousch, food systems expert and head grower of Berchta Botanicals.
August, 2023
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Living Permaculture Podcast
Grower Profile
Fall 2024
Meet Your Classmates…
Pictured: Medicinal grade Mt. Bee Balm (Monarda fistulosa) grown from wild-collected seed.
A Sample of Medicinal Species From The Course… (common names)
Motherwort (Chinese, Siberian, and Official)
Skullcap (Chinese and Official)
Rhodiola
Vervain (European and Official)
Valerian
Sage, white
Self-heal
Echinacea angustifolia
Marshmallow
Ashwagandha
Mountain bee balm
Tulsi basil
And so many more…
Course Content
The Medicinal Grower includes 16 weeks of applied, medicinal ecology learning over the course of four-months, and each module is designed to ensure skill transfer and to catalyze your ecological growing dreams into abundant life.
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Medicinal Plants within the Greater Ecosystem
Pictured: Living water (Cameron peak wilderness); Rosa woodsii (Rawah wilderness); Community of herbalists learning (Mineral Roots Workshop); Chinese skullcap (Mineral Roots hoophouse) Chinese motherwort flowering plant (Mineral Roots hoophouse); Brilliant calendula blooms (Mineral Roots Field Trials).
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Medicinal Plant Nursery: Hands-on Mentoring
Pictured: Biodiverse, medicinal species represented in our residential/suburban, demo, backyard greenhouse. nursery stock. Mineral Roots Research Site.
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Practical (and beautiful) Soil Health, Biodiversity Support, and Ecology
Pictured: Pictured: Oats ( Avena sativa) a medicinal annual in the grass family - providing a wide spectrum of nutrients for humans and for soil (Mineral Roots Nursery Field Trials) ; Annual, flowering buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) growing alongside perennial lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) as a companion cover-crop (Mineral Roots Field Trials); Mineral Roots restoration sites over the years; Borage and milkweed as pollinator refuge (Mineral Roots Grow Sites).
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Nourishing Harvests: Design and Planning
Pictured: A lovely fresh herbal harvest; Chinese skullcap flowers, chamomile dried and ready for storage, marshmallow root harvest, towering yarrow, and a close-up of the flowering structure of Agastache foeniculum. (Mineral Roots Various Sites).
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Sample Content Area: Forest Farming and At-Risk Plants
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Sample Content Area: Soil Biology
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Sample Content Area: Plant-based, Mineral Amendments
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Sample Content Area: Heirloom, Ancient Grains and Companion Food
Pictured: Diag amaranth - a native, heirloom variety from Mexico.
Testimonials
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NEW 2025 Student Feedback: We loved these classes, thank you so much Amy. We both feel like we've gained so much useful knowledge that we're going to be able to apply immediately.
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NEW 2025 Student Feedback: I love this course and all of the materials.
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NEW 2025 Student Feedback: Plant guilds! Loved the resources. Loved how the science & design came together at the end for us to really think about how we would approach the plan. Loved getting together and hearing other people’s experiences and excitement. The importance of building the soil takes time but there is a strategy. Loved the real examples of soil tests & hands on. Really enjoyed our time together & learned so much! Thank you!!New List Item
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New 2025 Student Feedback: Thank you so much! This was such a great program, and I learned so much. I even surprise myself now when people ask questions—I feel more confident and knowledgeable about growing things. I absolutely loved the class. Thanks so much for offering this class! It was so fun!!
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I was very pleased by my experience in Medicine Farm School this year (2022) and recommend this learning opportunity for anyone who is interested in an experiential botany course that targets the growing of medicinal herbs. Master teacher Amy Kousch is a warm, inviting presence and she is truly interested in seeing her students exceed their own expectations for what they can learn, grow and harvest. — Lydia
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Whether speaking about soil health or encouraging biodiversity in one's plantings, Amy brings a wealth of knowledge and passion for regenerative farming that is both easily digestible and all together inspiring. — Erin
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Very informative! It was amazing. Amy’s knowledge was spot on. I learned how plants can help the soil. I never gave that a thought before the class. - Gardens on Spring Creek Student
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The plants we purchased from you...they come back to love us year after year. The nettles are just huge! - Julie
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Got my compost tea going before my comfrey and nettle leaves really got frosty. Loved your presentation, thanks for sharing your knowledge!
_ Jordan
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I wanted to thank you for such a great class. I can understand soil now in a way that I wasn't able to before. — Jessica
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Laura Cascardi, herbalist and owner of Equinox Center of Herbal Studies in Fort Collins, applauds Kousch’s skills, calling her one of the most amazing horticulturists she’s ever met. Kousch’s plants are incredibly vibrant, Cascardi says, almost glowing. “Her methods are beyond organic,” Cascardi says. “You can tell as soon as you see them.“If someone wants to learn to grow plants, she’s the person they should be learning from in this region,” Cascardi says. “I’ve seen her do things and create soil and garden beds that are just off the charts.”
What this course is:
An online, medicinal ecology garden design course. We deliver material that is not offered in any other garden course on the market, in one place and will most definitely provide you with the tools for a thriving, 2025 garden or homestead.
A course steeped in agroecology and horticulture with a soil health, habitat restoration, and ecological frame.
A curriculum filled with education about diverse regenerative lineages, including biodynamics and permaculture, rooted in science, as they relate to growing beyond organic nursery plants.
A full-spectrum, dynamic experience with live interaction, life-time access to resources, and built on decades of experience with the commitment to providing students with a rock-solid foundation for ecological garden success.
An investment in the genuine sustainability, resiliency, healing, health, and vitality of yourself and your family.
What this course is not:
A greenhouse building course. While our bonus material provides plenty of resources and guidance for how to construct low-tech and affordable backyard greenhouses, this course is not a construction program. You will absolutely need a rock-solid indoor seed-starting set-up and/or an outdoor greenhouse in order to successfully grow healthy nursery stock.
A clinical herbalism course. We provide loads of medicinal information, of course! This is The Medicinal Grower — but we are here to serve the dedicated plant stewardship realm of herbalism — human medical concepts critical to clinical herbalism, such as physiology and anatomy, organic chemistry, and other human systems — are not covered here.
A highly-mechanized, digitalized, automated approach. We are fairly old-school with methods and these methods require patience, time, and devotion.
A plug and play instructional on how to make money selling plants. We teach you the skills to grow sacred medicine and offer some insights based on our experience in this field, but this is not a business course.
Have Questions? Interested in talking or seeing course material?
Email hello@ mineralroots.com or schedule a discovery call HERE>>
Begin the enrollment process below.
Please fill out the Medicinal Ecology enrollment form below.
Upon receipt of this enrollment form, students will be emailed instructions for formal registration and tuition processes.
Our 4-month course provides students with dynamic weekly modules - filled with live learning sessions, richly, detailed pre-recorded sessions, PDF worksheets for deeper learning, cohesive homework and research assignments, and fresh ecology lab and plant materials (mailed to participants) to accompany learning sessions.
FAQs
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Upon formal entrance into the program, student all receive a full syllabus with required readings (expect to spend $50-$75 on required texts – we provide a minimum required reading list and then build out with optional texts from there) and your first month’s lab bundle by mid January - as well as clear instructions for how to attend our first live session (though these will be recorded and uploaded to the class page, also) and access course content.
We will make sure that you have EVERYTHING you need to SUCCEED.
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We focus on practical soil health and challenging and hard-to-grow medicinal species - along with easier to germinate plants as well in a way that digs deep in the why and how. This course asks alot of student by way of academic work. We want you to know and understand soil ecology in a fundamental way so that you can explain these concepts to clients. Because we have two decades of growing experience, we are able to provide ample supplemental garden growing advice, as well, for these and other more common crops.
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Yes - if you are building a 2025 garden from scratch And our course provides with supplies and sourcing information in time to ensure that you have time to order what you need for the 2024/2025 nursery start-up season. However, growing a full, new garden or homestead is not a requirement for the certificate.
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No! We cover medicinal species that thrive in wide variety of regions and climates.
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No. While our bonus material provides plenty of resources and guidance for how to construct low-tech and affordable backyard greenhouses, this course is not a construction program. You will absolutely need a rock-solid indoor seed-starting set-up and/or an outdoor greenhouse in order to successfully grow healthy nursery stock.
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Due to the extensive amount of time, energy, and resources we devote to this program - we ask that prospective students also take this commitment seriously, as we DO NOT offer refunds for folks who decide to end the course for any reason.
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Please reach out to hello@mineralroots.com and our friendly team will be happy to help!