From Seed to Bottle 2026: Herbal Explorations through Plant Connection

From Seed to Bottle 2026:

An Herbal Journey Through Plant Connection

Are you an herbalism student wanting to deepen your knowledge through hands-on connection with the plants?

Are you interested in growing and preparing your own herbal medicine?

Does experiential learning in community resonate with you?

Join us for a six-month, land-based journey where we attune to the rhythms of the natural world and build foundational skills for cultivating medicinal plants. Together we’ll learn the cycles, needs, and energetics of the plants we collaborate with, while developing practical skills for tending a thriving medicinal herb garden.

You’ll explore everything from soil health and compost building to starting plants from seed and saving them for future seasons. Learn reciprocal and sustainable harvesting practices that support both plant vitality and the potency of your medicine. We’ll also delve into drying and storing herbs with care and crafting a wide range of preparations: tinctures and extracts, herbal oils, ferments, land and flower essences, and seasonal foods as medicine.

About the Land & Project

We live and work on five acres in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada, about 35 minutes northeast of Nevada City on Nisenan territory. Surrounded by ponderosa pine, madrone, and black oak—and with the distant sound of the Yuba River carrying through the night—the land and all of its creatures, big and small, have been our teachers since we arrived in August 2023.

These first two years have been a season of observation, trial, error, and deep listening. As we’ve come to understand the patterns of weather, soil, wildlife, and water, we’ve been shaping the foundation for what is becoming a medicinal and food garden rooted in permaculture principles and long-term sustainability.

As of November 2025, we are stepping into an exciting new chapter: growing the gardens of Golden Rose Botanicals with community. We invite you to be part of this creation.

Our Team

Rose Ellyn Birdsong is a community herbalist and the founder of Golden Rose Botanicals who is currently based in the foothills of the Western Sierras. She attributes the most important pieces of her herbal education to the time she has spent communing with the plants in their natural environment and she  hopes to provide that same opportunity for others. She began her Herbal studies in 2017 and has studied at Berkeley Herbal Center, East West School of Planetary Herbology, WIld Current Herbal School, Plant Spirit Talk, and the Sonoma County Herb Exchange.

Mackenzie Garrot is an herbalist and farmer living in the Sierra Foothills. She studied at the Botanologos School of Herbal Studies in 2015 and has fallen more and more in love with plants ever since. Her experience with organic vegetable farming spans nearly two decades, working on farms across the U.S. in a wide range of climate zones. This background eventually grew into a long-held dream of tending her own herb farm. She is currently living that dream—cultivating medicinal plants on a small slice of land in the Yuba River watershed in Northern California.

Mercy Tyne is a clinical herbalist and medicine maker based in Oakland, CA. She is led by curiosity and a deep sense of awe for how plants bring us back into balance and into deeper communion with ourselves, each other, and the living world.

Program Structure

One weekend a month — May through October

Dates

• Session 1 — Red Clover: May 15–17

• Session 2 — Linden: June 12–14

• Session 3 — Chamomile: July 17–19

• Session 4 — Tulsi: August 21–23

• Session 5 — Pine: September 25–27

• Session 6 — Root Medicine: October 23–25

  
  

Each Weekend Includes

• Friday afternoon arrival

• Welcome gathering with soup and tea

• Hands-on garden time

• Medicine-making sessions

• Plant monograph + study of each “herb of the weekend”

• Family-style farm-to-table dinner

• Free time for personal exploration (herb walks, Yuba River visits, journaling)

• Personalized herbal formulations

• Closing circle

• Sunday afternoon departure

  
  

Accommodations

• Two small cabins and three tent sites

• Space for small RVs or camper vans

• Communal bath/shower house with outdoor shower, tub, and separate flush toilet

• Outdoor communal camp kitchen with camp stove, electric kettle, and shared coolers

• Capacity for up to 10 participants

  
  

Cost

Cabin: $400 per session; $2,200 for full 6-session series

Tent/Van Camping: $350 per session; $2,000 for full 6-session series