Start Here

This page–the home base for our virtual garden–also happens to be good jumping off point to dive into the many possible paths of exploration related to this land we call home.

Basic Navigation

On the left sidebar, you will find many different paths of exploration. Starting with our home base where we're at right now with a link back to the online community directly underneath, followed by:

• Writings – this section is home to our various public writings and blog that aren't specific to any of the courses included in the virtual garden.
• Monographs – this section hosts an ever expanding library of plant and mushroom monographs (kind of like encyclopedia entries) detailing the medicinal, food, and craft uses of different plants and mushrooms, along with profiles of ecologically significant plants native to our bioregion. There are several subcategories within the 'Monographs' section to help orient you.
• Courses – this section offers a collection of short courses exploring some essential learning topics for us nature-loving folks. Each course has its own curriculum and learning sequence outlined in the primary course page.
• Resources – this section includes:
  • Text Resources providing a treasure trove of resources that were mostly not written by myself that I find incredibly helpful for budding herbalists and nature lovers. Resources like early medicinal texts, resources on different traditions of herbal medicine, harm reduction, ethnobotany resources and more.
  • Apothecary Resources provides an ever growing list of resources related to building an maintaining your home apothecary.
  • Bookshelf which will take you to the Greenspell Bookshelf on bookshop.org where you will find many of the books that I recommend students and clients interested in herbalism, herbal medicine making, ecology, and stewardship.
  • Chicago Herbalist Directory contains a list of herbalists I’m aware of or have connected with in the Chicago area.
• Greent Currents Zine contains a pdf of all past issues of our physical Green Currents Zine compiled by students of the Bioregional Herbalism Intensive
• Feedback directs you to a form to provide feedback on your experience in the virtual garden.

I absolutely encourage you to wander around the virtual garden in any way that feels right for you–there is no right way to explore.

On occasion, wandering off the beaten path may find you stumbling upon a side quest or other unexpected discovery.

Search Bar

You can also always use the search bar on the top-left corner of the page find a specific post you are looking for.

iNaturalist Project

• Learn more about how to use iNaturalist in relation to your explorations here.

Greenspell Online Community

Where the Virtual Garden allows for self-directed exploration and learning, the Online Community allows you to connect with other Virtual Garden members to discuss and share any insights that arise in your explorations, ask questions, arrange meetups, share plant photos, and more!

Once you sign up for the 'Virtual Garden Access' membership here on the virtual garden, you will receive an email from 'Heartbeat' inviting you to join the Greenspsell Online Community (the email is sent from hello@heartbeat.chat). If you can't find this invitation email after signing up, send me an email at alex@greenspell.org and we'll get you connected.

Once you've officially joined, you can click the link below to access the online community:

Or, you can always just click the 'Online Community' link in the left-hand sidebar near the top of the page.