49. Herbal Medicine is the People’s Medicine: Sharn Harper on Herbal Education

Sharn Harper is a traditional herbalist with over two decades in the field of natural health and herbal medicine. Armed with a Bachelor of Health Science, and Diploma of Herbal Medicine, Sharn's journey as a herbalist has taken her through various roles and experiences.

She worked for over 8 years at Mullumbimby Herbals, and over 8 years and Koda Phytorium as a practitioner and herbal manufacturing educator and managed Koda Phytorium for 5 years.

Sharn's commitment to education has played an important role in nurturing some of the next generation of herbalists and naturopaths.Over the past two decades, she has actively produced herbal medicines and mastered the art of herbal percolation, contributing significantly to the field's practical knowledge.

Sharn founded Byron Botanicals 20 years ago and less than 2 months ago sold this beautiful business. She has now established The Urban Apothecary in Port Noarlunga South, South Australia, where she continues to provide the community with natural remedies and herbal solutions and invites students of herbal medicine to learn from her. She also currently works for Switched on Health, marking students assignments.

In Sharn's current herbal dispensary, she makes around 99% of her own tinctures and other medicines that she dispenses, and this is one of the stand out things in what she offers.

In this interview Sharn shares her journey from romance starting at a compost heap to meeting Paul Stamets.  We talk about the importance of staying away from competitive mindset and industry mindset, instead fostering an inter-connected community of mutually supportive herbalists.We talk about ways that herbal medicine can be re-integrated back into the hospitals and doctors clinics.

Sharn shares her dreams for more affordable and hands on education opportunities in Australia. Her dreams for herbal education being less corporate and and more heart-based. I love her unending passion, dedication, humility and inclusive nature. I hope that you all enjoy this chat as much as I did.

Shownotes:

The Urban Apothecary FB:https://www.facebook.com/Sharnsherbaldispensary

Sharn's new book "Preparing Herbal Extracts using Cold Percolation":https://byronbotanicals.com.au/product/preparing-herbal-extracts-using-cold-percolation-by-sharn-harper

Byron Botanicals:https://byronbotanicals.com.au/

Koda Phytorium:https://www.webstore.kodaphytorium.com.au/

Mullum Herbals:https://mullumherbals.com.au/

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The intro and outro song is "Sing for the Earth" and was kindly donated by Chad Wilkins.  You can find Chad's music here and here.