What exactly is Milkweed Herbarium? It is a home-based business built on knowledge and medicine. Educational offerings range from single evening classes to nature walks and multi-week intensives. My select apothecary includes punk rock-inspired and custom tea blends, as well as handcrafted flower essences. These items can be shipped within the U.S., or picked up by appointment or during class by registered students. For details and requests, email dani@milkweedherbarium.com
Milkweed Herbarium is proudly owned and operated by me, Dani Otteson. I am a Colorado herbalist who offers courses, herb walks, and study tools for budding herb folk. I am the editor of a quarterly zine, entitled Aceae: A Family of Plant Tales in which people drawn to plants are invited to share their stories, visual art, and dreams. My passions for plant families, language, and history provide a unique perspective in medicinal plant education.
I unknowingly began my journey into botanical healing in 2004 in the world of natural products retail. The allure of flower essences, herbs, and beautiful food inspired me to cultivate a relationship with the plant kingdom. I began my formal study of herbs in 2012 with Shelley Torgove of Artemisia & Rue, working and teaching in the apothecary and earning certificates in both Community Herbalism and Women’s Ethnobotanical Studies. I hold a BA in History from MSU Denver, and am fascinated by antiquity and myth. Milkweed is my nearest and dearest plant ally.
Milkweed Herbarium offers punk rock-inspired herbal tea blends, handcrafted flower essences, and zines through this website. I host classes and intensives at a variety of locations in the Denver metro area. You can find me on instagram @milkweedherbarium.
I hope you’ll join me!
PS: If you’re asking yourself, “What is a milkweed and why are you obsessed with it?”
I’m glad you asked! Milkweed is indeed very near and dear to my heart. It’s a genera of beautiful flowering plants that is crucial to pollinators and the ecosystems that it inhabits. I’ve had profound experiences the presence of these plants and I published a short work on Milkweed in the Summer 2018 issue of ACEAE: A Family of Plant Tales zine and plan to publish a longer work here before 2024. In 2019, I taught a class entitled Milkweed Medicine: The Healing Wisdom of Asclepias at the Good Medicine Confluence at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado.
PPS: If you’re asking yourself, “What is an herbarium and why do you use that term?”
I’m glad you asked that too!
An herbarium is a collection of preserved plants and data used for botanical study. Generally an herbarium would be housed within a room or building – they are often located within universities or botanic gardens. However, making the study and use of plants accessible and relevant to others is precisely what I’m passionate about. I aim to bring the concept of the herbarium to life within local communities <3