Red Road Herbs Retreat & Learning Center LLC

10/20/2026

Although travel is not all rainbows and unicorns, our trip to Scotland had a little of both...

Where there is rain there are rainbows and this beauty greeted us on our last full day in Scotland on the way to Edinburgh while driving through the Cairngorms and Perthshire. The unicorn is Scotland's official national animal and has been associated with royalty since the 12th century. This one sits at the top of a Mercat Cross in Edinburgh's Old Town marketplace.

10/18/2026

Congratulations to the 2026 Year 1 Home Herbalist Program graduates (and Clive.)
Lindsay, Michelle, Kathy, Amber, Sue and Karen 🎉 👏 🎉
Not pictured - one in-person student who could not attend this month (Denise) and two on-line students (Deb and Laura). Our last class included learning about herbs for winter wellness, herbs for the respiratory system and a harvest of fresh horseradish roots to take for making Fire C***r.

Many thanks to Kathy who treated us with her delicious sourdough bread for every class and the gifts the other students brought to share throughout the program. It was a joy to see them each month and learn from all of them.

10/17/2026

Keeping it real...
The trip to Scotland was not without it's share of struggles, but through the stress and mishaps my daughter was such a trooper. There are so many unfamiliar things about being in a different country, even one where the language is mostly the same (sometime the accents seemed like a foreign language.) The water taps, the electrical outlets, the food and the single-track roads with passing places; all of them can throw you for a loop, especially the airport TSAs and long flights. However, Jazmine was a jewel to have by my side. She drove with confidence and a great sense of humor. (I was a nervous wreck when driving.) She also navigated the airports and helped me haul luggage for what seemed like miles. I can never thank her enough for her patience with me and for being an excellent travel partner.

10/17/2026

Although plants were the main reason for our trip to Scotland, one of the special treats we had while visiting was a chance to see dolphins. Chanonry Point, on the Black Isle near Inverness, is known as one of the best places in the UK to see bottlenose dolphins. It's a peninsula with a single-track road that has a golf course on either side. While we were there we met Fiona, a volunteer dolphin-watcher for the University of Aberdeen. Like most people with a passion, she was full of information and loved being able to share it with people who are interested. She showed us how dolphins are identified by notches on their dorsal fins and told us all about their individual personalities. While we were talking to her my daughter spotted one named Trail Scoop, a favorite of Fiona's. The deep water of the Moray Firth attracts salmon which attracts dolphins, porpoises and seals to the area. For land-locked Nebraskans it was very exciting to see!!

10/15/2026

It was an honor and pleasure to be able to share my passion for prairie plants and Lakota ethnobotany at Dilston Physic Garden in Hexham, Northumberland, England while on our visit to Scotland. With informed consent from Jerome Kills Small I shared traditional uses of seven sacred plants - Sweetgrass, Prairie Sage, Flat Cedar, Cottonwood, Wild Bee Balm, Purple Coneflower and Bitterroot - along with recordings of him pronouncing each of the Lakota names for the plants. I brought gifts for each of the students - a sweetgrass braid and a sample container of our Prairie Spirit Salve. They were also given a Cottonwood twig to break and find the star inside. One of the highlights of the class was listening to a recording of Jerome drumming and singing.

Many thanks to Nic, who is the daughter of the Elaine Perry (founder of the garden), for inviting me to teach and for the opportunity to sell our salve in their gift shop.🥰

10/14/2026

From the first day to the last, the trip to Scotland with my daughter was an incredible experience. We giggled like school girls, saw beautiful places and met delightful people from the southern border to the majestic highlands. We drove over 1,000 miles and were able to check off everything on our "must see" list:
✅ Highland 'coo'
✅ Falls of Clyde
✅ Mull of Galloway
✅ Carlisle Cathedral
✅ Glencoe
✅ Viking headstone at Luss kirkyard
✅ Clava Cairns
✅ The Hermitage
✅ Birnam Woods
✅ Beatrix Potter Garden
✅ Clootie Well at Munlochy

09/25/2026

Tap into the limitless potential of water💧
Water Is LOVE
Featuring Jerome Kills Small and Brenda Bejot

Join us on October 18th for an afternoon with Jerome Kills Small and Brenda Bejot as they dive into the transformative potential of water. Brenda will explore groundbreaking concepts from the books "The Hidden Messages in Water" and "The Miracle of Water" by Japanese author, Masaru Emoto. Jerome will enlighten us with information on the sacredness of water in the Lakota culture. Together they will explore the healing power of water.

Date: October 18, 2026
Time: 1:00 - 5:00
Location: Red Road Herbs, Stanton County, NE
Registration Required
Tap link to learn more and/or register

https://www.redroadherbs.com/shop/p/water-is-love

09/15/2026

Rescheduled - the Drum-Making Workshop with Jerome Kills Small previously scheduled on Sunday, November 1st, has been rescheduled to Sunday, November 8th.

Red Road Herbs Retreat & Learning Center will host Oglala Lakota elder Jerome Kills Small as he shares his knowledge of traditional hand drum crafting. In this four-hour workshop, you will craft your own 15-inch hand drum out of high-quality materials including brain-tanned buffalo hide and rawhide lacing.

For those of you who don't know Jerome, he is a storyteller, drummer, singer, Lakota linguistics expert and respected elder of the Lakota Nation. He was raised by his grandparents and learned "the old ways" from them.

Click on the link below to join us for this rare opportunity to learn drum-making skills and much more from a knowledge-keeper who generously shares wisdom.

Sunday, November 1st • 1:00–5:00 PM Create your own 15-inch hand drum using premium brain-tanned buffalo hide, rawhide lacing, and your choice of drum stick. Guided by traditional storyteller and Lakota educator Jerome Kills Small , this hands-on workshop offers an opportunity to learn the cultu...

09/11/2026

Good News! We have scheduled another Drum-Making Workshop with Jerome Kills Small on Sunday, November 1st.

Red Road Herbs Retreat & Learning Center will host Oglala Lakota elder Jerome Kills Small as he shares his knowledge of traditional hand drum crafting. In this four-hour workshop, you will craft your own 15-inch hand drum out of high-quality materials including brain-tanned buffalo hide and rawhide lacing.

For those of you who don't know Jerome, he is a story-teller, drummer, singer, Lakota linguistics expert and respected elder of the Lakota Nation. He was raised by his grandparents and learned "the old ways" from them.

Click on the link below to join us for this rare opportunity to learn drum-making skills and much more from a knowledge-keeper who generously shares wisdom.

Sunday, November 1st • 1:00–5:00 PM Create your own 15-inch hand drum using premium brain-tanned buffalo hide, rawhide lacing, and your choice of drum stick. Guided by traditional storyteller and Lakota educator Jerome Kills Small , this hands-on workshop offers an opportunity to learn the cultu...

09/08/2026

Goldenrod has an undeserved bad reputation. Many people think it's Goldenrod that is the cause of their autumnal allergies, because she is so showy and obvious. It's really the insignificant flower of Ragweed that sneaks up on us and causes most problems. Goldenrod is actually a remedy for sinus allergies.

Goldenrod is a native plant to North America and was called "Liberty Tea" by the early Colonists, who used it as a substitute when the British overtaxed their tea. Eventually, Goldenrod became so popular, the Chinese began importing the flowers for use as a beverage and for the medicinal properties.

Yesterday I made a simple and quick Goldenrod tincture by placing fresh blossoms and leaves in a small jar and covering them with Everclear (vodka can also be used.) After labeling, the jar is stored in a dark place for six weeks. The herbs (marc) are strained (decanted) from the liquid (menstruum) and stored in a dark bottle for dispensing by the dropperful.

If you'd like to learn more about making tinctures, liniments, elixirs (alcohol-based extractions) it's easy to set up a convenient date/time for a class at Red Road Herbs Retreat & Learning Center. Call/Text/Message/Email to schedule an herbal learning getaway:
(402) 640-0744
redroadherbs.com
[email protected]