Matthew Wood Institute of Herbalism

Matthew Wood Institute of Herbalism MWIH is an herbal education Institute, dedicated to the highest standards and helping bring understanding of herbalism to the masses.
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Save the date. Next Thursday, September 17 at noon CT (Chicago), Matthew Wood sits down with Robert Rogers, RH (AHG) for...
09/14/2026

Save the date. Next Thursday, September 17 at noon CT (Chicago), Matthew Wood sits down with Robert Rogers, RH (AHG) for a live class on mushrooms.

Robert Rogers has spent decades on medicinal fungi, and this is the corner of the materia medica most herbalists know they're thin on. If mushrooms are the part you've been meaning to get to, this is the hour.

More details this week. Save the date for now.

Calendula oil is the one to make this weekend, because you want it in the cupboard long before you need it.CALENDULA OIL...
09/13/2026

Calendula oil is the one to make this weekend, because you want it in the cupboard long before you need it.

CALENDULA OIL

1. Dry or wilt fresh flower heads for a day so most of the water is gone.
2. Pack them loosely into a clean, dry jar.
3. Cover completely with olive oil, leaving a good inch of oil above the flowers.
4. Cap it and keep it somewhere warm, out of direct sun.
5. Leave it four to six weeks, and shake it at least once a day for the first week.
6. Strain through cloth and squeeze the flowers out.
7. It should come out gold. If it comes out cloudy, there was still water in it.

Next month, youre ready, whether you're skin is feeling dried out or you have swollen glands. Just apply to the skin.

Here's the part of a cold that many people don't prepare for.It's not the beginning of an illness. It's the next couple ...
09/12/2026

Here's the part of a cold that many people don't prepare for.

It's not the beginning of an illness. It's the next couple of week afterwards, when the illness itself has gone, you're techincally feeling fine, but you still feel wrung out. You might have swollen glands or maybe your energy starts to slump again. That stretch has its own set of herbs, and calendula is one of them, working on the end of an illnees the same way it works on the front.

Most cupboards are ready for day one of being sick, but may not be ready to deal with "round two" of an illness. It'sworth a look at yours.

Comment BASICS and we'll send you yesterday's recording.

Knowing an herb is one thing. Knowing where it fits is another.Today the team got into the practical details: different ...
09/11/2026

Knowing an herb is one thing. Knowing where it fits is another.

Today the team got into the practical details: different preparations, specific uses, and how an herb can make more sense at one point than another.

Calendula gave us a great example of an herb that can help clean things out, both before and after. Goldenrod showed us another side of the picture, including where it can fit when you’re exhausted after an illness.

Those little distinctions are what turn a list of herbs into something you can actually use.

Comment BASICS and we’ll send you a link to where the recording lives.

Today at noon CT (Chicago). Cold and Flu Basics with the MWIH team, free and live.If you're looking for a practical way ...
09/10/2026

Today at noon CT (Chicago). Cold and Flu Basics with the MWIH team, free and live.

If you're looking for a practical way to apporach illness with herbs, this is the class. We'll discuss what to keep in the cupboard, what to do on day one, and what helps most in the week afterwards.

Comment BASICS and we'll send the registration link so you're in the room.

09/10/2026

Two gold flowers that help you at different stages of illness.

Swipe for which is which, then join us tomorrow for the whole subject: Cold and Flu Basics, free and live at noon CT (Chicago).

Comment BASICS for the registration link.

09/09/2026

Most people know about calendula as a skin herb. The salve, the oil, the orange petals. Matthew Wood tells it differently. He quotes a colleague: calendula is for the places where the sun does not shine. Under the jaw. The armpits. The groin.

Those are lymph nodes. The places that come up when the body is working hard the clear things out.
It's the same plant that's been sitting in your cupboard for scrapes all summer.

Thursday at noon Central we are running Cold and Flu Basics, free and open to everyone. What to have ready, and when to use it.

Comment BASICS and we will send you the link.

In September, calendula does a different job than it did in June.In summer it's the skin herb: the one in the salve tin,...
09/08/2026

In September, calendula does a different job than it did in June.

In summer it's the skin herb: the one in the salve tin, the one for a scrape, a sunburn, or a patch of raw, irritated skin. In September, it goes to work in the lymphatics, on swollen glands, and the puffy feeling under the jaw.

That's what makes it valuable through the fall and winter season: it's useful at the front of an illness, and it's useful again at the end. Not all herbs can do both.

On Thursday the MWIH team takes on the whole subject: Cold and Flu Basics, free and live at noon CT (Chicago).

Comment BASICS and we'll send you the registration link.

It's Sunday, so here's something free to explore.People ask us fairly often what studying here is like, and it's a hard ...
09/07/2026

It's Sunday, so here's something free to explore.

People ask us fairly often what studying here is like, and it's a hard question to answer in a caption. So we put a sample together instead.

The MWIH Year One Sampler is a free look at the first year of the program: how a class runs, how an herb gets taught, and what you're expected to do between one class and the next. There's no pitch inside it. It's just the thing itself, so you can decide for yourself.

Comment SAMPLER and we'll send you the link.

It's elderberry syrup season, and one rule matters more than any other: the berries must be cooked. Raw or undercooked e...
09/06/2026

It's elderberry syrup season, and one rule matters more than any other: the berries must be cooked. Raw or undercooked elderberries cause nausea and vomiting, and most people are making this for a whole household.

ELDERBERRY SYRUP

1. Measure roughly one part dried berries to four parts water into a pot.
2. Bring it up to a boil, then turn the heat down.
3. Simmer gently for half an hour or more, until the liquid has reduced by about half.
4. Strain through cloth, pressing the berries to get everything out of them.
5. Let the liquid cool until it's warm rather than hot.
6. Stir in honey to taste.
7. Pour it into a clean jar and keep it in the fridge.

Make it now, before you need it. That's the whole trick with elderberry.

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