Richard is available to teach and/or lecture on a wide variety of topics related to plants and herbal medicine, including the following:

Clinical uses of herbal medicines on a wide range of topics
Diet and Nutrition
Field Botany and medicinal plant walks
Organic herb gardening
Herbal medicine making

Current Teaching Venues

ArborVitae School of Traditional Herbalism, New York, NY
David Winston's Center for Herbal Studies, Washington, NJ

Lectures and Presentations

Richard is available to lecture on a range of topics for a wide variety of audiences, from fellow herbalists to the general public, to physicians and other health care professionals. Some current and past venues include the International Herb Symposium, the Symposium of the American Herbalists Guild, Green Festival, and the Columbia University Stroud Center.

Check out these free classes with me and my fellow faculty members at David Winston’s Center for Herbal Studies. Register here.

Field Botany and Plant Identification Classes - 2023

Small group classes, meeting on separate full days this spring and summer in a wild or semi-wild location such as a state or local park, with a focus on botany, herbal medicine, ecology, and field identification skills.

To register for any of these classes, email me at nyherbalist@gmail.com - see below for payment information.

Dates and Locations

To see what you missed this year (and get a sense of what type of walks are offered yearly, though specific locations vary):

Saturday October 14 at Inwood Park in Manhattan, 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM: Inwood is a wonderful park - a corner of rocky, wooded wild left on the northern tip of Manhattan, with large trees and beautiful views of the Hudson. There are a lot of diverse plants to see and study, and I have usually found good edible mushrooms as well. Inwood is part of Lenapehoking, and there was a Native American presence in what is now Inwood Park into the 20th century; it is a strong and beautiful place. $75. To register, email Richard at nyherbalist@gmail.com.
Sat May 20 Bowman Hill Wildflower Preserve near New Hope PA; focus: botany and ecology– a wonderful native plant preserve with lots to see; (additional $12 entrance fee). 9:00 AM – 4:30 PM.
Wed May 31 Alley Pond Park, Queens – this park has a diverse forest ecology, including some massive, ancient trees. During the day we’ll visit the Queens Giant, NYC’s oldest and largest tree. (Note that while most of the day is easy walking, there is some off-trail walking over uneven ground, dodging some poison ivy patches, to visit the tree. But oh it is worth it!). 9:30 AM – 5:00 PM
Mon June 19 Stokes State Forest NJ; focus: medicinal uses of local and native plants – we’ll spend the day in this botanically rich forest, including NJ’s largest waterfall, and one of my favorite places to go. If it is a hot day, a bonus will be to visit a local swimming hole in a hemlock ravine. To honor Juneteenth we will also visit the nearby Walpack slave cemetery, which is on an unmarked woodland trail on Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area land. 15% of registration fees from this day will be donated to the James Still Education Center in Medford NJ. 9:30 AM – 5:00 PM
Wednesday June 21 Aquatic Plants evening paddle at the Basha Kill, Wurtsboro NY – celebrate the solstice on the water of this local treasure of protected wetlands, getting to know our local aquatic plants. This is a public event, hosted by the Mamakating Environmental Education Center and will be free with a small donation to MEEC. BYOB: bring your own boat! Registration is through MEEC and can be found here.
Monday July 10 Forestburgh NY; focus: spore-bearing plants / ferns and mosses! - this will take place at my home so we can make use of microscopes for part of the day. The unofficial goal for the day will be for everyone to learn ten or so fern species, and a dozen or so common mosses. And if you’re lucky, you might learn a liverwort or two as well! Time permitting we’ll travel to a nearby wilderness area to learn more ferns and clubmosses (Lycopods). 9:30 AM – 5:00 PM
THIS CLASS IS FULL! Saturday July 15 Making Sense of Labs, in-person at ArborVitae, New Paltz, NY: This full-day intensive will do a deep dive into how to read and assess a client or patient’s lab results, utilizing examples derived from whole-person cases to relate numbers on the page to real-life scenarios. Although the focus will be on blood work, we will also look at some urine-based testing. Register here.
Sunday July 30 morning walk, near Narrowsburg NY with the Outside Institute, 10 AM - 12 PM. Registration is here.
Sunday July 30 afternoon lecture on 18th Century Herbal Remedies, Fort Delaware, Sullivan County NY - an afternoon lecture on herbalism in colonial America at historic Fort Delaware, Narrowsburg, NY. The lecture is free with admission to the Fort; you can find more information here.
[Full!] Sunday August 6 Basha Kill, Wurtsboro NY; focus on trees and shrubs and using field guides – we won’t exactly ignore the herbaceous plants, but we’ll focus a bit more on our woody plant friends. 9:30 AM – 5:00 PM
Wednesday August 30 East Mongaup River Park, outside of Monticello NY – a lovely county park that takes us along this small tributary of the Delaware, with a nice mix of wetland and dry forest. 9:30 - 5:00 PM

More information will be sent to all participants, including: list of what to bring and what to expect, handouts, and detailed directions / google map links to meeting locations.

Time: Everyone is expected to arrive 10-15 minutes early; once we are walking off down a trail you may not find us.

Class fee: The fee is kept low to be as accessible as possible, and is discounted when you sign up for multiple classes. If you are able to pay a higher amount, I will reserve 100% of it for scholarships for people who need it!

If you sign up for one all-day class: $75
If you sign up for two all-day classes: $70 each class ($140 total)
If you sign up for three or more all-day classes: $60 each class.

Payment can be made by paypal, venmo, check, or cash. Contact me to register and to arrange payment. Your place in the course is secured when payment is received.

Paypal: send payment to nyherbalist@gmail.com
Venmo: send payment to @Richard-Mandelbaum-1

Cancellation policy: because I keep these classes small and affordable, I am unable to offer a refund for cancelling. If I am able to find someone to fill your spot, I can refund you minus a 15% processing fee, but I can’t make promises. So please be sure you’re on board before you sign up!

Some important notes about the walks:

We limit the number of people to keep these classes small; they usually fill up.
This course presumes some experience at field identification of plants, but that said, beginners and more advanced students are both very welcome.
We’ll practice skills at field identification including species identification and familiarization with common plant families, amid discussion of plant physiology, plant intelligence, taxonomy, and ecology.
We'll weave in information about harvesting, wild food and medicinal uses as a bonus. (In general we will not be foraging as we’ll be in parks.)
This class will meet rain or shine. No rain dates! “There is no bad weather; only bad clothing.”
People are responsible for their own transportation to the class locations. (I will try to help with carpooling as I can if you let me know, but can’t promise anything.)

The following event has already passed but I am leaving the info here in case it is of interest!