Practical Medicine Making Intensive 2026
Become a skilled medicine maker! This course introduces many of the incredible ways we can make medicine with plants. Learn how to harvest herbs and make potent medicine for yourself and your community safely, effectively and sustainably.
This is a PRACTICAL hands-on course. You will get stuck in and learn how to make tinctures, glycerites, infused oils, ointments, vinegars, cough syrups and lozenges. Put the theory into practice. Equipping ourselves with the skills to take care of ourselves and each other is essential.
2026 Dates
Friday 24th - Sunday 26th April 2026.
The second course is Friday 5th - Sunday 7th June.
Location
Just outside Street, Somerset (full details on booking)
Food & Accommodation
Nourishing home-cooked food & a peaceful place to camp with hot showers, sauna & swimming pond
What you will learn
Potent Medicine Making
Learn which factors contribute to making potent and effective medicines; from ecological conditions to seasonal variability, harvesting and storage, to spirit and relationship. You will learn how to harvest herbs sustainably in ‘right relationship’ with the land. Throughout the course we will touch on different plant constituents and which medicine making methods are most effective in creating potent medicines.
Gain an understanding of:
- Sustainable harvesting
- Potent medicine making
- Which medicine making methods for which plants
Tinctures & Vinegars
We will explore how to extract plant medicines in alcohol and vinegar. You will learn about folk methods and weight to volume methods and get practice making both. By the end of the weekend, you will feel clear about how to make these effective medicines simply and easily with different dried and fresh herbs.
Become skilled in:
- Folk tincture & vinegar methods
- Weight to volume tincture methods
- Warm infused herbal vinegars
- Fresh and dried herb differences
Glycerites & Cough Syrups
Glycerites are mixtures of medicinal substances with glycerine. This is a fantastic alternative to alcohol. You will learn how to make ‘cold glycerites’ as well as ‘warm glycerites’ that use heat as a method for enhanced extraction. You will learn how to make an effective ‘marshmallow gloop’ so that you can combine it with glycerites for your own herbal cough syrup. We will also cover how to make effective herbal decoctions and herbal lozenges.
Learn how to make:
- Cold glycerites
- Warm glycerites
- Herbal cough syrup
- Herbal decoctions
- Lozenges
Infused Oils & Ointments
Infusing herbs in oil is a wonderful form of medicine making, yet not without challenges! Learn how to effectively make herbal infused oils with dried and fresh herbs. We will also look at ‘warm infused’ methods for making herbal oils with various equipment. Infused oils are the backbone of effective ointments - by the end of the weekend you will know how to combine oil and wax to make your own ointments.
Learn how to make:
- Infused oils including a heavenly lavender oil
- Warm infused oils
- Herbal ointments
Medicine Making Systems
What records do you need to keep? What are you meant to write on your labels? How do you know what to harvest when? Nicole will share her years of experience in making medicine for herself and projects across the world. Throughout the course you will learn effective medicine making systems that you can put into practice yourself, from checklists, to label templates and all the ticks and tricks to making things en masse.
Feel confident in:
- Record keeping
- Labelling
- Storage
- Making medicine at scale
Course Costs, Facilities & Accommodation
The course cost is separated into three parts:
1. Tuition - This is a very active three-day course, with a lot of medicine making ingredients and materials. Due to the practical nature of the course it is a small group size (maximum 15 people). Due to my anticapitalist principles, a third of the places have been set aside for free or subsidised places. Please email to express your interest, details of how to apply for one of these places will be released once the costs are covered from paying learners.
Your financial contribution will make the course possible and will cover all the expenses to make it happen! Funds raised will be used by the Solidarity Apothecary in my work in supporting people experiencing state violence with herbalism. Tuition costs £250.
2. Food - Meals are provided for by Nicole’s amazing Mum, Michele, who prepares nourishing and delicious meals with produce from the land. As the course is very physically active and condensed, we recommend opting in for meals so that you can sustain yourself over the three days! Meals include breakfast, lunch and dinner with pudding and snacks in between as well as all drinks. We can cater for food allergies and preferences, please communicate them in advance. £4 breakfast, £7 lunch, £8 dinner.
2. Accommodation - The course is hosted at a beautiful smallholding in Somerset. It is backed on by a nature reserve, incredible hedgerows and many medicinal plants. The main facilities are camping. There are compost toilets, hot showers and a kitchen for in-between meals. There is also a sauna and new DIY outdoor swimming pond. Campervans are welcome (please contact Nicole if you have a large live-in vehicle as it may not fit through our access). Camping is £10 per night.
The total cost including food and accommodation = £327
Booking is available now to confirm your course place = £250
You are welcome to stay off-site and to self-cater if preferred!
Please email info@solidarityapothecary.org if you'd like to pay via a payment plan.
Please note, places are first come first served.
About Nicole & the Solidarity Apothecary
I’m a clinical herbalist and anarchist organiser based in the Westcountry of England (in Somerset, south of Bristol). My lineages are English, Welsh and Irish. I have been studying herbal medicine informally and making medicine for over 15 years. I completed a four-year clinical training with The Plant Medicine School in Ireland to develop my skills as a practitioner.
As a herbalist, I focus on supporting people experiencing state violence. I run a project called the Solidarity Apothecary, who’s mission is to materially support revolutionary struggles and communities with plant medicines to strengthen collective autonomy, self-defence and resilience to climate change, capitalism and state violence.
I make and distribute thousands of medicines each year as part of grassroots projects such as Ukraine Herbal Solidarity that distributed 18,000 medicines to people fleeing the genocidal re-invasion of Ukraine in 2022. As part of the Mobile Herbal Clinic Calais, we made and distributed over 6,000 medicines at the beginning of the pandemic. Each month, our medicine making sustains a comprehensive inventory of herbal medicine serving thousands of refugees in northern France. I make a vast amount of medicine for my personal clinic and the Solidarity Apothecary’s herbal care packages that are distributed to defendants, prisoner families, frontline organisers and more. Learn more at: https://solidarityapothecary.org/about
What others have said about the course
"It has taken me over a week to begin articulating the impact Nicole has had on how I think about care and inclusivity.
Her generosity of spirit in making the course truly accessible—across ethnicity, socioeconomic background, ability, neurodiversity, and more—modelled the kind of world we should all be working toward.
That generosity extended not only to the depth of knowledge she so freely shared, but also to the resources we could access and the confidence she instilled in us to become medicine makers, regardless of our prior experience and I am incredibly excited to be able to bring what I have learned to the communities I plan to work with.
Nicole’s approachable, easygoing nature made learning a joy, but what truly shone through was her deep commitment to the causes she believes in—quietly but powerfully helping to make the world a little bit better, one herbal medicine at a time.
If you are interested in Nicole’s work, herbal medicine and/or serving communities, I cannot recommend this course highly enough."
"I cant recommend learning with Nicole enough. She has an extraordinary depth of knowledge which comes from deeply lived experience and a place of really profound compassion and radical care. All this comes together in a learning environment which is really really supportive, unjudgemental, and rich with information, tips, insights, jokes, experience, stories. She is a generous and warm and gracious teacher, and it really felt both enabling and a privilege to participate in her work. Working with Nicole and engaging in her work as the Solidarity Apothecary feels like one of the lessons I’ve needed in our connections and capacities with plants and one another."
"I came away from a weekend of herbal medicine making completely blown away and so inspired to start making my own remedies. Nicole was an amazing teacher and packed so much into the three days with her amazing knowledge and great sense of humour. I would recommend this to anyone wanting to put their love of plants and herbs into practice...a month later and I am still fired up, excited and have a row of my own tinctures and vinegars brewing..so far!! The course was very hands on and practical which brought it all to life for me..thank you so much Nicole."
"I had the best time I could possibly imagine at the weekend medicine making course: the location was gorg, the people were so friendly and fun, and of course Nicole and Kerri were the best hosts. Accessibility to the course is paramount for Nicole and I was able to access it thanks to a rescued pricing on the sliding scale, which is something you don't find in most places. The course was perfectly paced, with a great combination of learning and breaks which felt effective and not overwhelming. I've learnt so much and I feel much more confident now about using that knowledge for my own personal as well as for community projects I'll be exploring with my local herbalist collective. Can't recommend enough."
"I had the best time I could possibly imagine at the weekend medicine making course: the location was gorg, the people were so friendly and fun, and of course Nicole and Kerri were the best hosts. Accessibility to the course is paramount for Nicole and I was able to access it thanks to a rescued pricing on the sliding scale, which is something you don't find in most places. The course was perfectly paced, with a great combination of learning and breaks which felt effective and not overwhelming. I've learnt so much and I feel much more confident now about using that knowledge for my own personal as well as for community projects I'll be exploring with my local herbalist collective. Can't recommend enough."
"I recently attended the Practical medicine making intensive and was blown away by Nicole’s deep knowledge and relentless kindness!
I learnt so much in a fairly short amount of time which is usually a challenge for me but I found the course to be perfectly structured and a great pace.
The hands on approach really helped me to truly digest all of the information and I really felt part of something special.
The location of the course is beautiful and really nurtured a positive and inspiring experience .
I’m using the skills I have learnt to continue making medicine and hope to learn even more in the future."
"This was such an informative and immersive weekend. The beauty of the land, Nicole’s teaching style and her genuine care for the whole group made for a safe and nourishing learning environment. It’s also a great place to meet and connect with other plant lovers working towards collective liberation. Highly recommend."
"The herbal making intensive weekend was packed with useful information that was paced and presented in a really digestible way. It left me inspired to pursue community herbalism in my local area and I have already brought back what I learned to my local herbalism group. I would definitely recommend this course, it has been really helpful in demystifying the practical side of herbal medicine making for me. It was especially useful to have access to tools and ingredients that I may not yet have at home."
"Attending the Practical Medicine Making Intensive was an incredible experience. The site was beautiful, surrounded by fresh country air that instantly grounded me. I loved connecting with like-minded individuals who share a passion for community care and building deeper relationships with plants. The hands-on experimentation, inspiring recipes, and space for creativity made it both fun and empowering. Nicole was wonderfully organised, approachable, and generous with her knowledge—she created a space that felt welcoming, inspiring, and deeply nourishing. I left feeling more connected, capable, and inspired."
"Everything about this workshop met my needs - from the consent-based agreements on the first morning to the mostly outdoor and flexible classroom style, regular breaks and hands-on learning. I was also really inspired by all the people who came along and shared their projects and visions around mutual aid and accessible herbal medicine. Thank you Nicole for your generosity and easeful learning environment. It was one of the best experiences of my year."
“Just so good, so so good. Nicole and her whole family are kind, humble, down to earth, but very conscious and intelligent people who I see as custodians of the land - which is beautiful by the way. There was everything I needed really right there: amazing home cooked food, learning in an environment that was not overstimulating and was largely outdoors with all the plants and trees, plus the sweet doggo and sometimes baby Lee making an appearance. Sauna and swimming pond. Did I mention the sauna and swimming pond?? Wood fired saunaaaaaaaaaa, yippee! Then there was the wonderful Nicole and glamorous assistant who were both super knowledgeable in a way that was helpful and grounded, instead of rooted in ego.
I felt welcome to be exactly as I was and to do exactly what I needed, which is bloody rare. Compared to a more pricy summer school with another quite well known herbal school this was 10x better and way cheaper too, plus it was full of beautiful rainbow neuroqueers. So, basically, a very very very great time, with outdoor fires and connecting with the land, the plants, each other, making friends and getting to meet the wonderful Nicole. We did some dreaming at the end of what kind of projects we'd like to do, which was great and again very grounded in material realities of how to offer care and love and solidarity through working with the land. I also loved that we made some medicines to send to Calais, as this felt very purposeful and important to see how to scale up medicine making. We came away with lots of goodies and full hearts.”
"What a dreamy experience learning with comrades (plant and human)! Nicole is so knowledgeable and approachable, Kerri is the most amazing facilitator, and Michelle provides the best snacks. The campsite is extremely very gorgeous, and it feels llike the middle of nowhere even though it's really close to places. The whole experience was like a holiday with good pals I was meeting for the first time, with the added bonus of learning herbal medicine! There's no phone signal, which I enjoyed, but there is wifi in some areas for people who need to stay in touch and a pub in the village just across the road from the campsite."
I felt welcome to be exactly as I was and to do exactly what I needed, which is bloody rare. Compared to a more pricy summer school with another quite well known herbal school this was 10x better and way cheaper too, plus it was full of beautiful rainbow neuroqueers. So, basically, a very very very great time, with outdoor fires and connecting with the land, the plants, each other, making friends and getting to meet the wonderful Nicole. We did some dreaming at the end of what kind of projects we'd like to do, which was great and again very grounded in material realities of how to offer care and love and solidarity through working with the land. I also loved that we made some medicines to send to Calais, as this felt very purposeful and important to see how to scale up medicine making. We came away with lots of goodies and full hearts.”
Photos from the Previous Courses
