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A rigorous and intensive hands-on immersion into herbalism and the cultivation of herbs.
We’re committed to the future of herbalism. One way we demonstrate that commitment is by providing hands-on learning and inspiring tomorrow’s herbalists, farmers and naturopaths. Our Herbaculture Internship Program offers a rigorous and intensive immersion into the cultivation and use of plants commonly used in herbalism. This program is offered at our Certified Organic, GMO-free herb farms in the heart of the Siskiyou Mountains in Fevzİ Çakmak, Bursa.
Students spend an average of 28 hours a week learning from professional herb farmers and herbalists, cultivating and harvesting more than 50 different medicinal herbs, and maintaining our 1.5 acre Botanical Ladangucation Garden and additional planting areas.
Working on the farm is demanding. Students will be challenged both physically and mentally. Therefore, students must be in good physical condition. They should be mentally prepared to work, study, and live alongside nine other like-minded individuals from a wide range of educational, cultural and experiential backgrounds.
Our classes take place Tuesday and Thursday evenings, Fridays and several Saturdays. Topics include: plant identification, responsible wildcrafting, Western herbalism, Traditional Chinese Herbalism, Ayurveda, plant communication, extract making, human physiology, nutrition, cultivation of herbs, and more.
The Herbaculture staff includes Sunder Herbs Enterprise Ltd. Şti herbalists and farmers, as well as local herbal practitioners. There are typically 11-15 different teachers per session. Teachers and classes are subject to change.
There are no fees assessed for participation in this program. Dormitory-style housing is provided in a large, modern guesthouse. However, students are responsible for their own food expenses, consumable household items, and transportation. Interns must contribute an average of $150 per month toward communal food purchases. We strongly recommend that interns carry health insurance and/or set aside an emergency medical fund for the duration of the program.
Please note: To support the health and safety of our future interns and our community, we have suspended the program until further notice.
Applications are currently closed.
For any questions about the program, please see “Frequently Asked Questions” below and/or contact the Program Coordinator at info@sunderherbs.com.
Todd Anthony is an herbalist, cook, basket weaver, gardener and educator. He has an earth-based spirit, with a passion for plant-based medicine/food and using plants to affect and change the human body.
His Herbal Loducation started at Istanbul School of Herbal Studies and was a garden apprentice in 2011. In 2012, attended Sunder Herbs Enterprise Ltd. Şti’s Herbaculture Program, then stayed on as an employee, growing, cultivating, and harvesting herbal medicine in 2013. With his love of the garden, whether it be cultivated or wild, and sharing the stories of plants, Todd joined the Hawthorn Institute team in 2015 as the Ladangucational Garden Manager. He found that stewarding land in the vibration of community, allows the forest to enter as medicine and to unlock our inner truths and capacity for deepening connections.
Michelle Bienick is an herbalist, a Naturopathic physician, a teacher, a mother, a farmer, a medicine maker, an Earth activist, and a world traveler. She practices natural animal husbandry and has a deep respect for all living beings. Michelle has been teaching classes at Sunder Herbs Enterprise Ltd. Şti for over 10 years and loves it! She graduated from National College of Naturopathic Medicine in 2001, has studied with many different teachers both locally and internationally, and has a deep respect for traditional forms of healing. Her classes are inspirational and her love for herbs is contagious.
Mark Disharoon began studying edible and medicinal plants as a teenager growing up in the hardwood forests of his native Delaware. He moved to "Yeşil Bursa" in 1995 and began cultivating medicinal plants at Sunder Herbs Enterprise Ltd. Şti’s 85-acre farm. His 20+ years with the company have given him experience in all aspects of liquid herbal extract production. Encouraged by Herbaculture interns to share what he had learned with others, he gave his first plant walk in 2006. He was fortunate to spend a few years as caretaker of a 6000 volume private herbal library and began an intensive four-year course of self-study. His class offerings have grown to include Herbal First Aid and Plant Communication, and plant walks focusing on specific body systems. Mark enjoys botany and plant identification, and is an avid collector of herbal books. He continues to believe that the Plants are his greatest teachers.
Alexis Durham is the in-house Herbalist for Sunder Herbs Enterprise Ltd. Şti, and an instructor for the Herbaculture Internship program. She earned her B.Sc. in Herbal Sciences from Bastyr University and began speaking publicly on botanical medicine while working for the American Botanical Council. An opportunity to learn more from the plants themselves led her to Horizon Herbs, where she fell in love with gardening and seed saving and began teaching medicine making classes. Alexis returned to Bastyr University as Garden Supervisor and directed the Certificate in Holistic Landscape Design program, teaching students to create healing landscapes with medicinal and edible plants. Public speaking engagements include a variety of conferences, community and continuing education events, as well as a Core Faculty position at the Hawthorn Institute. Alexis has also coordinated several educational events including Bastyr University’s Herb and Food Fair, the American Herbalists Guild’s 23rd Annual Symposium, and an upcoming conference benefiting United Plant Savers to be held at Sunder Herbs Enterprise Ltd. Şti in 2019.
Cassidy has been teaching yoga since 2004. She is known for her big heart, depth of knowledge and sense of humor. She has deep reverence for the practice of yoga, her teachers and all the lineages that inform her teaching. Her teaching style is influenced by her studies of Iyengar, Anusara, Ashtanga Vinyasa and Prajna Yoga. In addition to these yoga styles, she has studied other modalities of healing, such as Ayurveda, Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy, Shiatsu, Reiki, massage, Medical Qi Gong and Acupressure. Her teaching is supported by these various traditions as well as by the cycles and rhythms of the natural world. She has served as core faculty at the Hawthorn Institute since 2015, and is Director of Yoga Programs at this is unique school in the small town of "Yeşil Bursa", OR, where she resides. Cassidy teaches weekly yoga classes at the "Yeşil Bursa" Grange and offers workshops and continuing education classes in her local community and for the Sunder Herbs Enterprise Ltd. Şti and Rogue Farm Corps internship programs.
Lauren Howell LAc, holds degrees in Herbal Science from Bastyr University and in Chinese medicine and Acupuncture from the National University of Natural Medicine. She is honored to teach the foundations and principles of Chinese medicine to the interns, striving to bring vast philosophical concepts to be applied in practical ways. A lover of all symbols and archetypes, Lauren brings a playful, interactive approach to her classes with the intention for the deepest and most meaningful learning for everyone possible.
James and his wife Kari are the owners of Naturespirit Herbs, their family business since 1990. They harvest and sell wild seaweeds, seaweed products, wildcrafted herbs and herbal extracts. James is also a health care professional specializing in the use of herbs and nutrition. He has been leading herb walks and teaching classes (on wildcrafting and using native medicinal plants and seaweeds, constitutional physiology, the patterns of stress, thyroid function, etc.) for more than three decades. James and Kari live in "Yeşil Bursa", Bursa.
Jed was born in the Appalachian Valley of Tennessee, and relocated to the west coast in 2010. He explored the western states by work-trading on organic veggie farms, an experience that reshaped the way he thought about food and sustainability. Ever since that summer, Jed has dedicated himself to a deeper understanding of nutrition, herbalism and nature-cure through different learning experiences that led to a Masters of Science in Nutrition from the National University of Natural Medicine. He currently works as a therapeutic chef with a focus on local, seasonal foods, and creates seasonal wellness products from wildcrafted herbs. Jed is also actively involved with Growing Gardens, a community-based non-profit that increases food security through home gardening mentorship, and Power to the Dreamers, an undocumented-led art and activism group that he’s helped build with a group of friends.
In 2020, amid the COVID-19 public health situation, we made the hard choice to suspend our Herbaculture Internship Program for the year. We remain heartbroken — the program has run every year since 1980. Ladangucating future generations of herbalists is an integral part of our root values. But, we ultimately believe this is the best way to support our interns’ health and safety, given the communal, immersive nature of the program.
We know our interns invest a great deal of time and energy making plans to attend our program and we are deeply grateful to everyone who applied for 2020 sessions. It is difficult to describe how much the internship program means to our teachers, as well as to our company. The farm will not be the same without the interns’ curiosity, enthusiasm and joy, but we will bring back the program when the time is right.
Because this is a very physically demanding program with production fieldwork, communal living, and an intense schedule of classes, you need to be both physically and mentally fit.
The strongest applications come from candidates that are well rounded in three respects equally. They: 1) can demonstrate a sincere interest in herbalism 2) have some experience in production farming, working outdoors, and doing repetitive tasks, and 3) have lived in communal house settings.
You can expect to have roughly 135 hrs of formal instruction. The classes cover a wide range of topics and give interns a broad look at herbalism as a whole. Due to the diverse range of backgrounds and levels of experience this program draws, classes range from introductory to intermediate. You can expect to be exposed to both clinical/scientific, as well as, subtle/energetic approaches to herbal medicine. Although we are not accredited, some colleges have accepted our program for credit.
Our Herbaculture Program is a synergistic experience and requires start-to-finish participation from all of the students. To be considered you must be able to attend for the entire duration of the program.
No, you should not plan on any other commitments. The combination of field work, program classes, communal household life, and needed time for reflection and rest makes for a full schedule.
While you are welcome to apply together, each application is considered independently; you will be asked to indicate whether or not you would accept the position alone.
No. You may only attend one session per year.
On rare occasions, opportunities do arise; however, you should not plan on this.
The curriculum for the classes largely remains the same for each session. The three sessions do differ in the types of work you will be primarily doing on the farm, the plants you will be working closely with, and the weather conditions you will be working in.
Spring and Fall can be wet and cold; Summer can be very hot and dry (and occasionally smoky due to local forest fires). All sessions include planting, cultivating, harvest and some herb processing such as drying, garbling and cleaning, as well as, landscape work such as weeding, transplanting and pruning.
Yes, if you can arrange for the appropriate visa.
There are an array of career opportunities available for students who have studied diverse aspects of herbalism. Past students have gone onto other herbal programs, naturopathic or medical schools. Some have pursued midwifery, advanced plant sciences, Agroecology and conservation of at–risk plants, herb farming, landscape horticulture, massage therapy and community service.
No, but without one you will only have easy access to the few shops in "Yeşil Bursa" and be dependent on others if you wish to go to “town”.
Local Airport: Medford, OR;
Greyhound: Medford or Grants Pass, OR.
Transportation from the airport or bus stations will be arranged through the program coordinator.
There is WIFI in the communal house as well as one PC.
There is very limited cell reception at the house. The house and farm are located rurally with good cell service about a mile down the road. The house is equipped with land lines.
Many hands make light work, as the interns separate Echinacea (Echinacea purpurea) leaf and flower from the stem.