From Garden to Cup: Library series shows how herbs can help when you feel under the weather

Chicken noodle soup, a cozy blanket, your favorite TV show, lots of sleep. When you’re feeling sick or stressed, you likely have a few go-tos that help you feel better.

The next time you’re feeling under the weather, consider that the thing that could put you on the path to healing could be right in your garden.

A new series at the Shadle Park Library, “From Garden to Cup,” introduces easy ways to incorporate herbalism into your health care practices.

The first class in the series, which was held Oct. 13, taught guests how to make fire cider, an herbal beverage which supports the immune system.

The second class in the series, “Herbal Tea for Sleep and Stress Support,” will be held on Sunday. The final class in the series, “Herbals Teas for Gastrointestinal Support,” is planned for Oct. 27.

The series is taught by certified clinical herbalist Rachel Clark, who owns Five Elements Herbals.

Clark’s journey into herbalism began with a desire to start gardening in an attempt to ease illness that was plaguing her at the time. When her now-husband bought her “Rosemary Gladstar’s Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner’s Guide” for her birthday, she started learning about what each plant did and how to work with them.

Early experimentation with easily accessible herbs resulted in batches of things like fire cider and calendula salve and lotion.

“The process of making them was also therapeutic,” she said. “Experimenting with them and being like ‘Garlic is so much more than flavor. It’s really, really potent.’ ”

From there, Clark dove even deeper into the world of herbalism. She completed her herbal training at the Colorado School of Clinical Herbalism in Boulder, Colorado. From 2019 to 2022, she completed foundational and advanced training and earned her clinical herbalist certification. She has also earned a Bach Flower Essence Practitioner certification. Clark also has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Gonzaga.

Clark said there are an “infinite number” of ways to be an herbalist. Someone could be a home herbalist, tending to their family, or a community herbalist, working with their neighbors and friends. With more education, including classes on anatomy and physiology, phytochemistry and pharmacology, someone can become a clinical herbalist.

A clinical herbalist works with clients in an in-depth manner, working to treat not just the problem but also the cause of the problem.

“That’s the core of herbalism is the plants are very unique, and two different people can have different reactions to the same plant,” Clark said. “Depending on that person’s body and what they’re going through, what they eat, how much they exercise and all this stuff, things will change.

“I have a lot of people in my clinical practice or at the farmer’s market and they’re like, ‘What do you have for sleep?’ And I’m like, ‘Well, why are you not falling asleep, or staying asleep or waking in the night?’ It’s very nuanced and that’s what I love about it. It’s finding that thing just for that one person.”

The library reached out to Clark and asked her to develop this series, hoping to pair her knowledge with the herbs grown in the library’s Discovery Garden. After some discussion, Clark decided on classes about the immune system, sleep and stress support and gastrointestinal support.

During the final classes in the series, Clark will share knowledge about the nervous system or gastrointestinal system, before discussing the properties of each herb and how they can be used to support sleep or gut health.

“I don’t believe that herbalism should be gate kept in any way,” she said. “It’s always been a tradition of sharing and teaching and this really rich community aspect.”

Speaking of community, Clark said people can look into the Spokane Herbalist Guild for information on more herbalists in town.

Clark said she has spoken with people who didn’t know that herbalism is a whole-body approach that requires consistency and regularity. Drinking a single cup of herbal tea, for example, won’t solve your trouble; the herbs need to be incorporated into a daily practice.

That daily practice can involve modern medicine as well. Clark said she takes a middle-of-the-road approach, saying she sometimes advises her clients to seek a doctor’s opinion first, then return to her for additional support.

Clark said her work in herbalism is all about helping clients get their power back by sharing how to use herbs, “our original pharmacy,” in a health care routine. Beyond that, it’s about a connection to the earth and to plants.

“It’s this reminder that the earth is vibrant and abundant, and it takes care of us if we take care of it,” she said. “A lot of it is getting to tend to the plants and protect the plants and teach about the plants, knowing that they take care of us too.”

She advises anyone interested in herbalism to keep it simple – get a few herbs and as well as a resource of some kind, be it a textbook or an online database, that teaches how to use each herb safely.

“That’s the beautiful thing about herbs is that every single one of us can be a student for life if we choose to be,” she said. “If you are interested in plants, don’t overcomplicate it. Go get a book, go get some herbs and start playing with it and creating those relationships with the plants that you want to work with. That will get people a lot further than being afraid of it or being intimidated by it.”