Learn Herbal Medicine: A Forager’s Way Back to the Living World
- Dave
- Jul 23
- 4 min read
There is a language that lives in the roots, stems, and leaves and it is older than words. A path that leads not forward, but back.Back to the wild intelligence beneath your feet.Back to the plants that fed your ancestors.Back to the knowing that you, too, are part of the living world. Learn Herbal Medicine in the Netherlands.
This is the path of foraging.
Why Foraging Matters Now More Than Ever
In a world that moves fast, foraging slows us down. It invites presence. Attention. Relationship.
It is not about hoarding wild food or turning nature into a resource. Foraging is a practice of listening. Of learning the names of your green neighbors. Of noticing what’s growing along the path, in the cracks, behind the fences and what it’s been trying to teach you all along.
To forage is to become part of the land again. It is to live in connection with the seasons, to feel the rhythms of bloom and decay in your own body. It is to remember that food, medicine, and beauty have always been here waiting for your return.
The Basics of Foraging — What Every Beginner Should Know
Before you start harvesting wild herbs and edible plants, here are some foundations to honor:
1. Know Your PlantsProper identification is essential. Many wild edibles have lookalikes, and some can be toxic. Learn from field guides, local herbalists, and hands-on experience. Get to know the plants in your bio-region — their leaf shapes, growth patterns, smells and textures.
2. Start with the FamiliarNettles, dandelions, plantain, cleavers, elder, yarrow, and chickweed are great beginner allies. They grow abundantly, are easy to recognize, and have a long history of safe use in herbal medicine.
3. Harvest with RespectTake only what you need. Never uproot a plant unless it’s invasive or you have permission. Leave enough for pollinators, animals, and the plant itself to thrive. Say thank you. Offer water. Let your harvest be a prayer, not a pillage.
4. Follow the LawMake sure you’re foraging legally. Some parks and nature reserves are protected. Always get landowner permission if you’re harvesting on private land. And never forage endangered species.
5. Use All Your SensesForaging isn’t just a visual skill. It’s about smell, touch, taste (with caution), and even sound. The more you engage your whole body, the more you build a living relationship with the plants.
From Plant to Medicine — The Herbalist’s Path
Foraging is the doorway but it’s just the beginning.
Once you recognize and harvest a plant, the next step is learning how to work with it. Which parts are medicinal? How do you prepare it tea, tincture, poultice, vinegar, oil? What systems does it support? What is its energetic quality cooling, warming, drying, moistening?
These are questions you learn not only from books, but from the plants themselves. From your body’s response. From deepening practice and guided experience.
And that’s where the Achula Medicine Walk comes in.
The Achula Medicine Walk — A Foraging and Herbal Learning Experience in The Hague
Held in the forests and green spaces around The Hague, the Achula Medicine Walk is an invitation into deeper connection. This is more than a walk in the woods — it’s a guided journey into the world of plant allies, ancestral knowledge, and sensory rewilding.
Over the course of several hours, you will:
Learn how to safely identify local wild herbs
Practice ethical harvesting techniques
Understand herbal energetics and plant signatures
Explore the historical, medicinal and spiritual uses of each plant
Deepen your relationship to nature through movement, presence and storytelling
This is not a passive tour. It is a direct, embodied education — a slow remembering of what it means to belong to the land.
You will touch, taste, smell and speak with the plants. You will carry their wisdom home.
Whether you're brand new to herbs or seeking to reconnect with your roots, the Achula Medicine Walk offers a grounded, heart-led entry into the world of herbal medicine and foraging.
What You'll Gain
Practical SkillsLearn to recognize 10–15 local plants and how to work with them confidently.
Embodied KnowledgeExperience how herbalism is not just learned — it is remembered through the body.
Ancestral ConnectionThis is a space to reclaim your place in a long lineage of humans in relationship with the green world.
Community and SupportJoin a circle of like-hearted seekers, guided by deep respect for the land and a passion for living wisdom.
Final Thoughts — The Wild is Waiting
You do not have to go far to find wildness. Sometimes, it’s just beneath your feet — in the nettles by the path, the elder tree blooming by the canal, the chickweed hiding in the cracks.
Foraging is not a skill we learn to escape the modern world. It’s a way back into it — fully, sensually, with reverence. It reminds us that nature is not “out there.” It is in us, and we are of it.
Come walk with me.Come remember the plants that remember you.
Join the next Achula Medicine Walk in The Hague.For dates, details and registration, visit: https://www.achula.com
