Last updated: March 22, 2026
Herb Whisperer, Inc. (“Herb Whisperer,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) operates the website herb-whisperer.com and its associated services, including the East West School of Herbalism, the Herb Whisperer shop, the digital library, community forums, and the organic nursery catalog. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and protect your personal information when you visit our website or use our services.
By using our website, creating an account, enrolling in a course, making a purchase, or subscribing to our communications, you agree to the practices described in this policy.
1. Information We Collect
Information You Provide Directly
Account registration: When you create an account, we collect your name, email address, username, and password. You may also provide a biography, location, and profile photo.
Course enrollment: When you enroll in a course through the East West School of Herbalism, we collect your enrollment details and track your course progress, quiz scores, lesson completions, and certificates earned through our LearnDash learning management system.
Purchases: When you make a purchase through our WooCommerce-powered shop, we collect your billing name, billing and shipping addresses, email address, phone number, and payment information. Payment processing is handled by Stripe — we do not store your full credit card number on our servers.
Communications: When you subscribe to our newsletter via Mailchimp, submit a contact form, or send us an email, we collect your name, email address, and the content of your message.
Forum participation: When you post on our community forums (hosted on Discourse at forum.herb-whisperer.com), we collect the content you post, your username, and associated metadata. The forums are hosted on a separate server from our main website.
Herbal consultations: If you book a consultation with Dr. Garran, we may collect health-related information you voluntarily share during the consultation process.
Information Collected Automatically
Usage data: We use analytics tools to collect information about how you interact with our website, including pages visited, time spent on pages, referring URLs, and general geographic location (country/region level). We do not track individual user behavior across other websites.
Cookies and similar technologies: Our website uses cookies for essential site functionality (login sessions, shopping cart), analytics, and preference storage. See Section 7 (Cookies) for details.
Video viewing: Course videos are delivered through Bunny.net, which may collect technical data such as video play events, buffering metrics, and device type for delivery optimization purposes.
Server logs: Our hosting provider (Bluehost) automatically collects standard server log data including IP addresses, browser type, and pages requested.
2. How We Use Your Information
We use your personal information for the following purposes:
Providing our services: To create and maintain your account, deliver course content, process orders, provide access to the digital library, manage forum access based on your enrollment status, and facilitate herbal consultations.
Communication: To send transactional emails (order confirmations, enrollment notifications, password resets), respond to your inquiries, and — with your consent — send newsletters, course announcements, and promotional communications via Mailchimp.
Access control: To determine your membership tier (Home Herbalist, Professional Herbalist, Library Member) based on your course enrollment, which controls your access to forums, the digital library, and restricted shop products.
Improving our services: To analyze website usage patterns, improve our courses and content, optimize site performance, and develop new features.
Legal compliance: To comply with applicable laws, respond to legal requests, and protect our rights.
3. How We Share Your Information
We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information. We share your information only in the following circumstances:
Service providers: We work with third-party service providers who process data on our behalf, including:
- Stripe (payment processing)
- Mailchimp (email marketing and transactional email)
- Bluehost (website hosting)
- Bunny.net (video content delivery)
- Discourse (community forum hosting, on a separate server we control)
Each provider is bound by their own privacy policies and data processing agreements.
Legal requirements: We may disclose your information if required by law, regulation, legal process, or governmental request.
Business transfers: If Herb Whisperer, Inc. is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction.
4. Data Retention
We retain your personal information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide our services. Specifically:
- Account data: Retained until you request account deletion.
- Course progress: Retained as long as your account exists, so you can access completion records and certificates.
- Order history: Retained for a minimum of 7 years for tax and legal compliance purposes.
- Email marketing data: Retained in Mailchimp until you unsubscribe.
- Forum posts: Retained as long as the forums are active. You may request deletion of specific posts.
5. Your Rights
Depending on your location, you may have the following rights regarding your personal information:
- Access: Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
- Correction: Request that we correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
- Deletion: Request that we delete your personal information, subject to legal retention requirements.
- Data portability: Request your data in a structured, commonly used format.
- Opt-out of marketing: Unsubscribe from marketing communications at any time using the link in any email or by contacting us.
- Withdraw consent: Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.
To exercise any of these rights, contact us at the address listed in Section 10.
6. Data Security
We implement reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect your personal information, including SSL encryption for data in transit, secure password hashing, and access controls limiting who can view personal data. However, no method of electronic transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
7. Cookies
Our website uses the following types of cookies:
Essential cookies: Required for basic site functionality, including login sessions (WordPress), shopping cart contents (WooCommerce), and security tokens. These cannot be disabled without breaking core features.
Analytics cookies: Used to understand how visitors interact with our website. We use these to improve our content and user experience. You may opt out of analytics tracking via the cookie consent banner.
Third-party cookies: Some embedded content (such as videos from Bunny.net) may set their own cookies. We do not control these cookies — please refer to the respective providers’ privacy policies.
You can manage cookie preferences through your browser settings or our cookie consent banner.
8. Children’s Privacy
Our services are not directed to children under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe we have collected information from a child, please contact us immediately and we will take steps to delete it.
9. International Users
Our website is hosted in the United States. If you access our services from outside the United States, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States, where data protection laws may differ from those in your country.
For users in the European Economic Area (EEA) or United Kingdom: We process your data based on contractual necessity (to provide services you requested), legitimate interests (to improve our services and communicate with you), and consent (for marketing communications).
10. Contact Us
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to exercise your rights, contact us at:
Herb Whisperer, Inc.
P.O. Box 62
Huntington, MA 01050
Email: [email protected]
11. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of material changes by posting the updated policy on this page with a revised “Last updated” date. Your continued use of our services after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.