The Herbalist’s Path

Wildwood Institute: Training a New Generation of Herbalists

Drive past West Towne mall in Madison, alongside farm fields and new development, to a secret garden. Walk under an archway down a gravel path lined with ferns and milkweeds. Circular paths shoot out from the main path encompassing native Wisconsin herbs. Even through a protective mask, you can notice an aroma on the breeze. Birds chirp. The land features a gentle mix of sun and shade and overlooks the Ice Age Trail. Tiny pink flowers, marshmallow plants and yellow St. John’s Wort blossoms dot the landscape.

Kathleen Wildwood’s home in Verona is the Wildwood Institute, an herbalism school she founded in 1996, when few herbalist schools existed in the Midwest. The front half of the house functions as a working apothecary with an indoor classroom on the second floor. An outdoor classroom covered by a large tent is used from May through October.

Wildwood studied pre-med in college, but “I came to the realization that conventional medicine wasn’t really about healing,” she says. She switched her major to psychology and practiced social work for ten years.

While researching options for dealing with her own health problems, she developed an interest in herbalism. “It's the ultimate interdisciplinary study”, she says. “It combines science, nature, history and tradition, and a sense of being part of something bigger.”

In addition to individual consultations and herbal product sales, Wildwood’s most popular offering is a one- to three-year herbal apprenticeship program, which she started in 2003. About a dozen students from the Upper Midwest start the program each spring, with classes held one weekend per month.

Students rotate through discussions, lectures and herb walks. Early on in the program they learn about body systems and useful herbs for each system. They also learn how to identify herbs growing around them by sight, taste and smell, as well as how and when to use them. They also learn how to make preparations in the Wildwood Institute apothecary, a cool, clean room lined with shelves of mason jars. Preparations include infused oils and tinctures—herbs soaked in alcohol for several weeks.

Graduates of the herbalist apprenticeship program go on to craft herbal remedies for themselves or family members, or incorporate what they’ve learned into existing roles as pharmacists, physician assistants, nurses and physicians. Others, like Stephanie Mullis, start herbal businesses.

Apprentice to Owner

Mullis searched for an in-person herbalist training in the Midwest for years. She was relieved to finally find a school in the Madison area and completed Wildwood Institute’s one-year apprenticeship in 2019. “It was so great to connect with people and get to work with herbs hands-on in a learning environment,” she says.

She started practicing massage and aromatherapy at 18 years old. But the health risks sometimes associated with concentrated essential oils led her to herbalism. Essential oils use much more plant material and contain higher concentrations of each herb than products like herbal infusions.

“Let’s go back to basics,” she told herself. “When my partner and I started our farm, I took the herbs that I fell in love with in aromatherapy classes, and started growing them at home: angelica, ashwagandha, different bergamots and lemon balm.”

She started the CSA farm Holistic Harvest with her partner Jon Correa in 2016, and the herb business Holistic Medicinals in 2019. For Mullis, “holistic” has two meanings: first, herbal remedies’ ability to influence the physical, mental and spiritual aspects of life; and second, the need to understand the full meaning of an herb.

“Herbalism is everything,” she explains. “It’s nutrition, health, wellness, it’s the land, it’s the herbs themselves.”

She is often asked what herb is good for a specific condition, and tries to shift people away from thinking about herbs as simple substitutes for conventional medicines. It’s better, she says, to understand a plant’s full potential, as well as the healing power of a person’s relationships with whole plants and the earth.

The Herbalists’ Role in Society

For her part, Wildwood describes her role as teaching people how to practice self-care using herbs and nutrition. The key, she says, is understanding when you can manage something yourself and when to go to the doctor. Wildwood advocates that people work with their healthcare providers to utilize herbal and clinical treatments in achieving wellness.

One of the common questions both Mullis and Wildwood get is, “Do herbs really work?” They both cite the need for people living in modern society to reconnect with nature, and to use plant medicine to awaken their own internal power to heal.

“Trust the people that came before you,” says Mullis. “I think we’re always surprised by the plant medicine growing in our backyard. Learn what works for you.”

Backyard Herbs and Their Uses