All One Day Intensives take place at the Wise Women Center, Woodstock, NY
April 28: Hands-on Herbal Medicine: Spring Tonics
Join Susun for a wild ramble as we encounter and learn how to use the special green allies of spring. We will explore birch water, root beer, dandelion wine, rampions, wild horseradish, and triple goddess vinegar. We will bite buds, pick and eat a wild salad, smell roots, laugh, and think green!
April 29: Hands-on Herbal Medicine: Spring Treats
Ready to get your hands dirty harvesting herbs, drying them, and preparing vinegars, tinctures, a salad and more? Then join me as we make nettle soup, gather a wild salad, and prepare herbal medicines. Delight in violets, get back at garlic mustard, cheer chickweed, consult with cronewort, and possibly even dig some dandelion. A great class for beginners as well as the more experienced gardener or naturalist who wants to expand their horizons..
"The lessons you've given me will be my companions forever."
May 19: Hands-on Herbal Medicine: Herbal First-Aid
What do you do when you, or the ones you love, get cut, burned, scraped, stung, bitten, or bruised? How do you handle rashes, poison ivy, tick bites, snake bites and other nasties? Herbal first aid is immediate, effective, right at hand, and a great way to jump into herbal medicine. With the confidence you gain from using plants to stop itching, quell bleeding, counter infection, and eliminate pain, you will soon be ready to use herbs internally to deal with more complex challenges. A great class for anyone who spends time outside: children, beginners, and seasoned pros alike.
"You are a wonderful teacher and an incredible example."
May 20: Hands-on Herbal Medicine: Chronic Problems
Asthma and allergies, arthritis and dermatitis, digestive upsets and depression, dementia and auto-immune diseases, heart problems and gum disease – there are so many ways to have a chronic problem. Herbal medicine and the Wise Woman Tradition offer simple, safe, and amazingly effective remedies for many chronic problems. Bring your problems and your curiosity for a day full of ways to counter inflammation and feel a lot better fast.
"You opened a grounded, ancient, wise, visionary, magical world to me."
June 23: Hands-on Herbal Medicine: Great Remedies
Right now is the time to harvest the great remedies, the ones I rely on routinely, year after year, the mainstay allies, the ones who do so much. Roll up your sleeves, grab your basket, put on your sunhat and find your scissors, it's time to harvest and dry herbs for teas and infusions. Time to make herbal tinctures, vinegars, honeys, and oils. Which of the plants that I treasure the most will be with us today? Elder, comfrey, dandelion, nettle, motherwort, lemon balm, catnip, red clover, plantain, yarrow, and so many more. Our Talking Stick Ceremony and the Green Allies themselves will guide the teachings of the day. Everyone is welcome: beginners and adepts and everyone in between.
June 24: Hands-on Herbal Medicine: Tree Medicines
I love trees. Don't you? Wander with me in the forest, learning from and about the Standing People, the trees, and their allies, the mushrooms and their mycelia. Oak, ash, linden, birch, willow, maple, beech . . . Who will we meet? What will we discover? What medicines, what magic awaits us? What shamanic journeys will the trees open to us? Trees give us shelter, warmth, furniture, food, and medicine. Join me for a day devoted to thanking the trees and listening to them for a change. A wonderful class for naturalists and those just steeping into herbal medicine and opening the door to the otherworld of plants and green blessings.
July 28: Hands-on Herbal Medicine: More Great
Remedies
Which of the great remedies will we play with today? Nettle, motherwort, red clover, yarrow, burdock, comfrey, plantain, linden, St. Joan's wort, and so many more want our attention. The days are independent, but complementary. As always, we will begin with Talking Stick, break for a wild food lunch around 1pm, and enjoy ourselves immensely. Green blessings are everywhere.
"The simplicity of your approach is amazing and empowering."
July 29: Hands-on Herbal Medicine: Holy Ferment
Before there were tinctures, there were herbal wines and beers. Before there were refrigerators, there were lacto-fermented foods of all kinds: pickles, miso, kefir, yogurt, sauerkraut, kimchi, and more. Join me in celebrating the old ways and learning how easy and satisfying it is to make your own. Fermented foods of all kinds feed gut flora that keep us happy and healthy. Students are welcome to take home starter cultures from my mothers. Everyone welcome.
"I continue to relish the special communion I felt in that amazing circle of Wise Women."
Sept 29: Hands-on Herbal Medicine: Magical plants
Some herbs are medicine, and some are food. And some change our minds. Throughout the world, magical and mind-altering plants are the first plants studied by those who wish to be healers and helpers. This is one of the hidden secrets of Western herbalism. You don't have to go to Peru to find and use plants that open your mind to the worlds around you. While some are exotic, many grow right around us. In addition to mind-altering plants, we will talk about – and perhaps visit with – the fairies and the plant devas. You will make a dream pillow to take home. We will explore flying ointments, third eye opening tinctures, and love potions. If your expertise has not included this important group of plants, please join us. Beginners will benefit enormously from this class but it is not suitable for children. Experienced herbal folk will find much to delight them in this day.
Sept 30: Integrated Cancer Care
Description coming soon
"Your dynamic presence and remarkable story telling make learning fun and easy."
Oct 27: Conquer Colds and Flu
Here come colds, the flu, coughs, congestion, sore throats, and all the ways that winter can whomp you. Whomp back with simple, safe, effective herbs. Learn how to tell the difference between hot colds and cold colds, and the best ways to counter them. Be astonished by the magic of sauerkraut and the mystery of elderberry. Gasp at the truth about vitamin C. Become confindent about the best way to use echinacea. Meet boneset and hear her story. Be amazed at the power of yarrow. Learn all about antibacterial, antitiviral, and anti-inflammatory herbs and why they are better by far than essential oils. Bring your questions about sinus infections, bronchitis, laryngitis, pneumonia. A great class for beginners with plenty to excite more experienced folk.
Oct 28: Hands-on Herbal Medicine: Digging Roots
Come get your hands dirty as we dig burdock, yellow dock, teasel, dandelion, and/or chicory and make herbal medicines. We will create tinctures and vinegars, dry and infuse roots. We will find ourselves deeply grounded and loving the Earth. As the days shorten and the nights get chilly, plants start to store up medicine and food in their roots. Let's be there to take advantage of these intense medicines. Stories, songs, Talking Stick, and the fairies will be part of our day. Geared toward beginners, this class offers those already experienced interesting new ways of connecting to their roots.
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