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| Participants in the 2023 Plant and Place Connection Series bundling goldenrod. |
I am beyond excited announce the launch of the School of Plant and Place Immersion program! This comprehensive program has been a long time in the making. Ever since I attended herbal medicine school back in 2010, I have dreamed of offering a similar program. However, it took many years of further study, hands-on experience wildcrafting, innumerable hours teaching others through walks, workshops, and seminars, and most importantly, slow time with the plants themselves before I felt ready to create and share such an all-inclusive program with you.
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| Heart-shaped violet leaf, baskets freshly harvested. |
I know from personal experience how daunting it can be to dive into the plant realm. Most of us are not raised working with the plants that surround us. We live a great part of our lives never knowing the names of the plants with which we share place, let alone knowing how to work with them for food and medicine. But I assure you, your first steps need not be overwhelming. The plants await. They have insights to share, stories to tell, nourishment and healing to offer, we need only open to them. Through this program I will facilitate your relationship with the plants, but I won't be the only one guiding you on your path, the plants and your willingness will ultimately show you the way. And once you get started, learning how to identify a few plants and how to weave them into meals and medicines, learning dozens more and diving deeper into relationship with the natural world will come easy. You are, after all, a part of the natural world. Humans have worked with plants as food and medicine for all of human history. We need only remember.
So, just what can you expect from the Plant and Place Immersion? Firstly, we'll gather two consecutive days in-person every four weeks. We'll be an intimate group of less than 10 people. We'll spend all of our time outside. We'll meet the plants where they live in forest and field. You'll learn the language of botany and plant morphology and gain experience in using a plant key. You'll also come to know the plants through spending slow time with them. By slow time, I mean greeting and getting to know them just as you would a new friend. You'll have an opportunity to touch, taste, smell them. This is what makes an in-person program superior to online learning. You'll come to know the plants personally.
During these full days in the field, we'll harvest select plants to craft into healthy snacks or herbal preparations. You'll acquire experience working hands-on with the plants, pinching flowers, shucking stalks, pressing tinctures, infusing oils, blending pesto, and preparing wild salads. Through practice you'll discover how to harvest reverently and sustainably, and what tools and methods work best to respectfully harvest and prepare plant medicine and food.
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| Peeling black birch bark during a recent workshop |
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| Participants crafting tincture together |
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| A wild salad with violets, garlic mustard, and chickweed, created during the Plant and Place Connection Series 2023. |
We'll also take to the garden to learn about cultivated plants, how to start them from seed, tend them through their life cycles, and harvest them for medicinal and culinary purposes. There are many precious plants that we can create relationship with, some are not native to our region but have been valued by cultures around the world. Some these plants have a long history of use in Ayurvedic medicine or European herbal medicine. And nurturing a plant from seed to harvest is just one way that we can practice reciprocity with the natural world. We nourish and are nourished in return and the cycle continues.
By gathering in-person with your fellow participants, you'll learn from each other, share stories and laughter, insights and stumbles along the way too. Today, more than ever, we need community. The Plant and Place Immersion offers you an opportunity to create community with not only the plants but with the whole of the natural world and that includes humans too. Your enthusiasm will grow exponentially when surrounded by others that share your passion for the natural world and plant medicine.
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| Some happy participants during a yarrow harvest with the 2023 Plant and Place Connection Series |
When not gathered in-person, we'll keep our connection strong and continue learning through evening zoom sessions (two per month). In these sessions we'll dive deep into the applications of the medicinal plants that we've met or perhaps haven't had an opportunity to meet in-person. We discuss how to match plants to people through plant/human energetics and human constitutions. Many herbs share the same actions on the human body, but by understanding both a plant and a person's unique characteristics we can decide which plant may be most supportive to overall health and well-being.
Throughout our time, you'll build a materia medica of in-depth plant monographs. A plant monograph is essentially a profile that details the medicinal actions, applications, and preparations of a particular plant. A collection of monographs makes up a materia medica, which is a catalogue of medicinal plants. When considering a plant, I still turn to monographs that I documented back in my first herbal medicine course. I have continued to expand upon these as I've learned more and have added dozens more plants to my materia medica over the years. The knowledge that I'll share with you comes directly from this personal materia medica, and encompasses the wisdom shared with me by my mentors and gathered from my experiences with the plants. Today, you can download plant monographs from a number of online sources, but learning in this way is to enter into a lineage of herbalists.
You'll cultivate relationships with the plants that grow around you and ultimately the place in which you live. The plants are a conduit connecting us to all of the living world. By getting to know the plants, we come to know the animals and insects that visit them, the damp earth beneath our feet, the gurgling nearby creek, the late afternoon light that spills through the trees, and the lichen-covered rocks speckling the woods. And through such experience you more than know your place, you become of that place. You'll be inspired to create medicines and meals from the plants with whom you share place. The possibilities of where your experience with the plants will lead you are endless. That's what makes herbal medicine so special. Through our dedication to the plants, we never stop learning and evolving.
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| Become of place and learn how to barefoot walk too! |
Lastly, I've got some fun bonuses planned, too. A hiker will who's hiked thousands of miles barefoot will get us padding around sole to earth. With a local naturalist, we'll discover birds and insects and common critters sure to cross our paths while botanizing. We'll even do a little tracking, following in the footsteps of these critters and sharpening our awareness to our surroundings. We'll explore medicinal mushrooms and trees too!
Since it won't be easy to fit all this into May to September, I've planned for two optional walks. One in April before the program starts and one in October after the program has concluded. These are optional but will provide an introduction to spring ephemerals and autumn plants.
I hope you'll join me for this place-based herbal medicine immersive. Registration is now open. Sign up by January 15th to receive 10% off. We're sure to have an incredible time together. Where will your plant path lead you?
To learn more or to secure your spot, visit: Immersion (schoolofplantandplaceconnection.com)
