Upcoming Community Classes

I teach classes at over forty different libraries, community centers, herb stores, farms, schools, and more! Details and registration information for all upcoming classes is available on this calendar:

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“There are so many things to appreciate about Mo’s “how” in leading us, including honoring plants as our community members and elders and giving us all permission to set aside the notebook and relish in wonder. Mo is a fabulous educator!”

Class Offerings 2026

Interested in booking me for one of these classes? Email me at mo (at) mokatzchristy.com!

Medicine Making

DIY Bitters

Come learn the art and science of making your own digestive bitters! We’ll discuss how our bodies and cultures evolved with the bitter flavor and how we can use bitters to regulate our guts, mood, blood sugar and more. We’ll explore how to choose bitter herbs that are appropriate for our individual constitutions, and how to balance a formula to make it delicious and get it where it needs to go in the body. We’ll each make an individualized bitters tincture specially formulated for our bodies that we can take home!

Demystifyting Tea Blending

Anyone can make a delicious herbal tea blend! In this class, we will discuss a handful of common herbs for tea: their uses, flavors, energies, and what they add to a blend. We will smell each of the herbs and taste some as well, learning how the flavors blend and how they complement each other.

We will discuss different considerations for the process of making tea including infusing versus boiling, temperature of the water, and length of time infused.

Part information and science, part sensory exploration, this class will be as playful as it is educational!

The Art of Medicinal Spice Blending

Food is medicine! And medicine can taste delicious.

Did you know that we have far more bitter taste receptors than any other, and when we taste something bitter our whole body reacts? Or that aromatic molecules ease gut spasms by irritating our smooth muscles so that they contract and then relax?

Come deepen your understanding of how flavor shows up physiologically in our bodies! In this class, we will learn how to use common kitchen spices to promote circulation, ease gut spasms, modulate blood sugar and more!

After we’ve fully nerded out on chemistry, Mo will guide the class in making our own medicinal spice blends! Each participant will have the opportunity to make their own individualized blend to take home for their household or to gift to someone they love. Part science, part play, this class is for anyone who knows that cooking is the best way to care for our communities.

Grow Your Own Medicinal Herb Garden

No matter how dark and tiny your apartment is, you can grow herbs! Herb gardens are stellar for urban spaces because herbs thrive in a wide variety of ecological niches. We will focus on herbs for gut health, stress regulation and sleep, and immune support. We will discuss herbs you can bring inside for the winter, herbs that you can grow in lead soil, and herbs that can handle neglect. Leave with the information to grow, tend, harvest, and use herbs that you grow here in Boston!

Make Your Own Herbal Tincture

Learn how to make an alcoholic herbal extract! Infusing herbs in alcohol is a great way to preserve them so that you have them readily on hand. And they last for years!

This workshop will teach the aspiring herbalist everything you need to know to make a high-quality tincture. We will go over each step of the process including sourcing herbs and alcohol, measuring the appropriate ratios, macerating the tincture, straining, and finally using your tincture.

Each participant will leave with a jar of herbal tincture and a cheesecloth to strain their tincture at home.

Make Your Own Herbal Syrup

The sweetness of honey combined with the flavorful tartness of medicinal berries…come learn how to make an herbal syrup! In this class, we will discuss what herbal syrups are, what they are used for, and how to make one.

From the immune activity of elderberry syrup to the nourishment of an iron syrup, herbal syrups are certainly delicious and nutritious. We will learn how to make a syrup shelf-stable as well as methods of preserving or prolonging the life of perishable syrups.

Finally, we will make one ourselves! We will mix medicinal berries and honey to make a delicious immune and heart support syrup. We will learn about each of these plants (+ honey) and how they each contribute to the medicine of the syrup. Each participant will get a small jar to take home and share with their family and community. Come prepared to enjoy the sticky sweetness of herbal syrup!

Fresh Herb Tea Blending

Discover the fragrance of fresh herbal tea blends! Bring a mug and join us in the garden to learn about the uses, flavors, and energies of different tea herbs. This class will be primarily play and exploration, with science and botany blended in.

Make Your Own Herbal Coffee

Coffee is essential to so many of our bodies and rhythms: it boosts energy, promotes digestion, and provides a ritual of connection. For some people it can also interfere with sleep, cause digestive upset, and dysregulate our cardiovascular system.

In this class, we will learn about the medicinal plants we can add or substitute to coffee to promote digestion, support the liver and cardiovascular system, and balance energy. We will discuss the benefits we receive from coffee and how other plants might be able to provide similar effects.

We will taste different blends and each participant will make one designed for our individual constitution to bring home!

The Art of Fire Cider

What do you get when you mix honey, vinegar, ginger, horseradish, and whatever else hot and spicy you find in the back of your fridge? A powerful and delicious fire cider that can help our immune system kick out colds, flus and more. In this class, we will discuss the ingredients in fire cider, different recipes for different conditions, and when and how to use them (salad dressings! mocktails!). Each participant will leave with their very own jar of fire cider to share with their community.

Vegetable Fermentation for Gut Health

What’s all this fuss about fermented foods? Why are fermented foods essential for gut health, and why are they so expensive? In this class, you will learn how to use any old vegetables to make delicious and nutritious fermented foods that replenish the microbiome, regulate our immune system, and more! Leave with a jar of kraut that you can share with your household.

Plant Walks

Medicinal Plant Walk

(Example Description) Join herbalist Mo Katz-Christy for a meander through Danehy park to meet wintertime city plants and explore their medicinal uses! We will explore weeds and cultivated plants, trees and shrubs, and have lots of space for questions and conversation. Bring a notebook if you like, and meet us at the parking lot on Sherman Street (if you’re late you should be able to find us – we won’t move too far too fast!).

Medicine from your Backyard Foraging Walk

Join herbalist Mo Katz-Christy for a meander through Habitat Audubon sanctuary to learn how we can harvest local plants to use as medicine! We will explore weeds and cultivated plants, trees and shrubs, and have lots of space for questions and conversation. Bring a notebook if you like and get ready to nibble and use all our senses to explore our botanical neighbors.

Herbal Tea Walk

Come discover the delightful art of harvesting medicinal herbs for a fresh tea! We will start with a walk around the farm, woods, and fields, learning about the medicinal uses of the plants we find. We will harvest as we go, and bring our herbs back to make a delicious herbal tea!

Bring a mug and join us to learn about the uses, flavors, and energies of different tea herbs. This class will be a mix of play and exploration, botany and science!

Wild Weed Fall Herb Walk

Let’s welcome fall by exploring the wonder of wild weeds! Join clinical herbalist Mo Katz-Christy for a stroll along the Community Path to learn about the medicine, botany, and magic of medicinal herbs. We will ask, what does it mean to look towards our local plants for medicine, especially when our soils are contaminated and invasive plants abound? What does it mean for a plant to be a “weed”, and where do humans belong in relationship to our ecosystem? We will discuss the bounty of medicinal plants in Somerville and their specific indications and properties. Bring a notebook and get ready to scribble fast as we delight in the bounty of our neighborhood!

Wild Weed Medicinal Pesto

Together, we will walk the farm, woods, and fields, learning about the medicinal uses of so-called weeds. Baskets in hand we will harvest as we go, bringing back a bounty of delicious and nutrient-dense greens that we will make into pesto to enjoy together.

We’ll learn how local weeds can soothe a hyperactive immune system, modulate the digestive tract, and regulate blood pressure. We will ask, what does it mean to look towards our local plants for food as medicine? What does it mean for a plant to be a weed, and where do humans belong in relationship to our ecosystem?

Senior Medicinal Wellness Walk

Join herbalist Mo Katz-Christy for a slow meander through the fields of LexFarm to learn how we can harvest local plants to use as medicine! We will explore weeds and cultivated plants, trees and shrubs, and have lots of space for questions and conversation. Bring a notebook if you like and get ready to nibble and use all our senses to explore our botanical neighbors.

Discussion Classes

Plant Allies for Resilience and Resistance

Come cozy up with a cup of tea in Constellation studios and learn about how we can use plants to build our resilience so that we can keep resisting.

Part one will focus on herbs that have an immediate, acute effect on our nervous systems. These are herbs that help us fall asleep, energize us, and promote focus, relaxation, or joy. Participants will craft a tea or tincture blend to bring home with them with herbs that are specific for their bodies and needs – whether that’s a sleepy tincture, a focus tea blend, or a relaxation bath time tea.

Part two will focus on herbs that long-term regulate our nervous system. These are herbs that, over time, help our nervous system respond to stressors in a modulated and resourced way. We will make “adaptogenic bliss balls” – herbal powders combined with nut butters, seeds, chocolate, and more – that are both a delicious snack and will build our capacity to keep our fire going throughout the winter. Again, we will learn how to specifically tailor these to our particular bodies and needs.

This class is for anyone who wants to support themselves and their communities this winter to be nourished, resourced, and connected to our ecosystems. Though the classes will build on each other, you can attend one or both!

Taste the Molecular Rainbow: What Color and Flavor Tell Us About Chemistry

Why do all alliums have that strong garlicky smell? How do I know if the dried herbs you’ve had in my cabinet for five years are still good?

In this class you will begin to practice using your senses to teach you about the chemical constituents in your foods and medicine. We will discuss the primary atoms that make up plant molecules, and some common forms that they take. You will get to see, smell, and taste different preparations of the same herbs to learn the flavors and mouthfeel of specific molecules, and to learn which preparations extract which constituents.

Bring your favorite mug and a pen and come join me where experiential and scientific knowledge meet!

Trust Your Gut: Herbs to Regulate, Nourish, and Heal Your Digestive System

Digestion feeling wonky? Come learn how our bodies evolved with plants and how we can work with them to regulate our gut, and in doing so, our whole bodies.

Did you know that our gut sends more messages to our brain than our brain sends to our gut? Or that the liver can regulate our hormones? Or that most of our immune system is in our gut? Whenever our body is dysregulated, the gut is likely to play a role in healing.

Come taste different herbal preparations that promote gut healing and learn how to balance and nourish your “second brain”!

From Chicken Soup to Elderberry Syrup: Herbal Immune Support

Something going around the daycare again? Still coughing from an infection that cleared months ago? From Covid to the common cold, keeping our immune system resilient is key to staying well and smooth recovery from infections.

Come learn how to keep your immune system robust all winter, address an illness when you first feel symptoms, support your body to fully clear the infection, and regain strength afterwards. Believe it or not, each of these stages of illness requires a different approach!

We will discuss herbs, foods, and supportive strategies, focusing on the most accessible methods. We will discuss different herbal preparations including steams, syrups, tinctures. From chicken soup to elderberry syrup, this class will help you weather the infections that come your way.

Herbs to Hourish Frayed Nerves

Have you ever brushed past a lavender bush and felt your body react to the smell? The aromatic molecules in plants are some of the smallest active compounds they contain, and are so small that they can cross our blood-brain barrier and affect our nervous system.

In this class, we will discuss two main herbal actions: adaptogens and nervines. Adaptogens are herbs that long-term improve our resilience to stressors, and nervines are herbs that directly affect our mood. These can uplift, relax, stimulate, or sedate. We will explore how stress shows up in the body and how herbs can work with our whole bodies to modulate our stress response.

Come learn the science behind why you should “stop and smell the roses”!

Gut Care for Elders

Come learn how our bodies evolved with plants and how we can work with them to regulate our gut, and in doing so, our whole bodies!

As we age, our gut motility and absorption slows and plants can play a new role in maintaining a healthy digestive tract. In this class, we will learn about the primary ways plants can interact with the digestive tract: to heal the gut lining, regulate secretions and movement, and improve assimilation. We will taste different herbal reparations and learn how to use them to promote balance.

This class is for anyone who is an elder, cares for elders, or hopes to be one someday!

All About Adaptogens: How to Build Long-Term Resilience in the Body Without Depleting Ecoysystems

Adaptogens are the “Next Big Thing” in herbalism – and they truly are wonderful! Herbs that help us regulate our stress response over the long term – who doesn’t need that? However, more is not necessarily better and many adaptogens are endangered and overharvested. By selecting the appropriate adaptogens for our constitution and bioregion we can be more effective in regulating our stress response and connect our own health to the larger health of our ecosystem.

In this class we’ll learn how to figure out what adaptogens are right for our body’s needs, how to effectively extract them, and info on safety and dosage. Come prepared to taste and learn about many different adaptogens and leave with the tools to choose a blend specifically formulated for your body!

Herb of the Month Series

Come spend the afternoon getting deeply acquainted with one medicinal plant each month! We’ll spend time getting to know each plant through drawing, taste, science, and stories of herbalists’ experience. Bring your journal and leave with an in-depth account of botany, history, clinical use, safety issues, preparation and dosage, and much much more.

Come each month to build your materia medica or just once to meet a new plant friend!

Trans Tea Time

Calling all trans and nonbinary herb lovers! Join us over a cup of herbal tea to discuss how we can work with plants to care for ourselves and each other. Trans herbalist Mo Katz-Christy will share some herbs and blends that can support communal care, and we will have time to gather and celebrate Transgender Awareness Week. Bring your favorite mug, your questions, and your trans pals!

Jewish Herbal Classes

Medicine on the Seder Plate: Parsley, Lettuce, Horseradish, and More!

Bitter herbs, spring greens – these plants contain nutrients and flavors that are essential to our springtime bodies. In this class, we will explore the physiological wisdom in the plants we hold sacred. We will delve into the bitter flavor, as we discuss why neither horseradish nor lettuce – the foods typically included as “bitter herbs” on the seder plate – are particularly bitter. We will learn about the vital importance of the bitter flavor for the functioning of our body systems, as well as the uses of the other flavors in these plants.

We will discuss how our body’s needs correspond with the seasons of the year, and how these differ by climate. What does your body crave in springtime, and how is (or isn’t) that reflected in our Jewish traditions? We will taste the plants on the seder plate and learn how these tastes interact with our bodies.

In a time of great shifting of our climate, it is easy to feel out of whack. The apple trees certainly do when a late frost kills all their blossoms. The seasonal significance of these rituals can help us and specifically our bodies feel in sync with the season even in unseasonable weather.

Trees as Medicine for Tu B'Shvat

Join herbalist Mo Katz-Christy for a dive into the herbalism of Tu B’Shvat. We will explore the meaning of this holiday and this season as diasporic Jews on Turtle Island, as the sap begins to rise from the roots of our local trees! Using text, ecology, and our own bodies as our guides, we will study the different parts of trees and the medicine they offer.

Come sip some warm tree teas and taste other local tree medicine together as we prepare for Tu B’Shvat rooted in our bodies and ecosystem.

Honey Herbal Magic for Rosh Hashanah

Come join us for an evening of sweet herbal dreaming into 5786. Jewish herbalist Mo Katz-Christy will bring a bounty of fresh and dried herbs for us to smell, taste, and infuse in honey. We will explore: what plants do we want to bring into this new year? What flavors do we need in this year to come? We will discuss the magic, science, tradition, and awe of honey and the herbs we can infuse into it.

“Thank you so very much for hosting such an enriching and enchanting plant walk last week. People have been singing your praises in the days afterwards! Thank you for sharing your wisdom with the community here: your enthusiastic, warm nature made the whole experience so wonderful. I loved seeing people light up with questions, ideas, comments–a testament to the generous and affirming space and knowledge you cultivate.” -Librarian

Places I’ve Taught Include:

Symposiums:

Libraries:

Shops:

Farms + Gardens:

Jewish Organizations:

Other: