Herb Walks - Nature is the Classroom
"Native Americans made their living and got all of their sustenance from wild foods, many of our grandparents used them to supplement their diets, raw foodists believe that they are the most vital of all raw foods, authors like Euell Gibbons and the back-to-the-land movement brought them back from the grave of obscurity, and modern primitive technologists can't learn enough about them. Edible wild plants are everywhere, abundant, local, free, and a sustainable source of variety in the diet. Support your local organic farmers, pull their weeds by the bushel-full, and eat them! Expand and supplement the vegetables you pull/harvest from your garden. Glean foods from hundreds of plants in your neighborhood. Connect with the primitive Earth-based part of yourself that forages in nature for sustenance." -
~ Dr. John Kallas
Learn about the many common, renewable, edible and medicinal wild plants growing in your neighborhood.
What are the edible species that fill our ecosystems during our growing season?
Herb Walks
Wild plants and herbs that occur naturally in the wild, and are abundant in this native region of Carolinian Canada. Containing up to 100 times more health enhancing elements than cultivated plants due to environmental differences in soil, air, water, weather and other required elements for cultivation, wild plants are considered by herbal practitioners to be the best healing remedy for aging illness, ulcers, allergies, body character change, nervousness, stress, and constipation.
Experience the array of edible herbs and plant medicine through the various seasons. Come to one, a Series, or attend all of them. There are thousands of species of edible and medicinal Plants in the world, yet fewer than 20 species provide 90% of our food. There are hundreds of less well known delicious and nutritious edible plants that live in our back yards and fields. Find out if they're in your back yard!
Forest Medicine Trail
If we compare a large cultivated field to a natural woodland forest, the forest receives no intervention but produces lush growth and diversity of plants and animals, yet, the cultivated land supports very few species. The quality and depth of soil in a forest is maintained and improved yearly whilst erosion and loss of soil structure plague the cultivated field. Why is this so?
Learn to identify and use many edible, nutritional and medicinal plants that grow wild, through the medicine wheel herb garden ~ on our 50 acre sanctuary which has over 1,000 species of plants. These herb walks introduce wildcrafting, plant lore, botanical pharmacology, and recipes for teas and edible wild foods. Learn the basics of holistic living where nature is the classroom.
These plant walks emphasize understanding the energetic and medicinal actions of plants through taste and smell, as well as through traditional, nutritional and practical application.
~ Find out how you may safely identify, collect, and use our delicious, healthful wild foods & medicinals.
~ Learn more about foraging & conservation practices.
~ Learn about innovative and tasty vegetarian wild plant recipes.
~ Learn how to recognize the poisonous plants.
* Come out with your harvesting basket and take home some of the bounty. Each walk will be totally unique as we focus on what's in season and is at its peak.
Herb Walk Guide: Shantree Kacera, D.N. Ph.D.
We invite you to arrive early, hike the Medicine Trail, visit our beautiful Medicine Wheel Herb Gardens, Wild Flower Meadows and Magical Forest.
"In the first age food came by wishing and grew from the Earth without tending." ~Ramayana
"I think the herb walk went amazing today and all the feedback was wonderful over lunch. Many said you made it very comfortable and easy to learn others saying you were mesmerizing to listen to. Anyways I want to send as many thanks as I can for the wonderful and informative walk today. Helping inspire others to get back to the earth. I hope we can do another one in the Springtime." Many Thanks! ~Jane
Topics & Dates
The Original Medicine
Tuesday, April 24, 6:30 p.m.
Renowned naturalist Shantree Kacera, D.N., Ph.D. will share the fascinating wisdom of ancient plant medicine, the story of how the first medicine came to be, and how the ancient peoples of this area would use the plants of this region as medicine. Interspersed in a story telling way Shantree will share his own experiences as a child with the ‘gift' and how he became a plant medicine teacher.
Discover how you can integrate many of these thriving native plants and trees into your own daily life. Learn how plants that flourish in this bio-region are herbs which will help you to also thrive in this climate.
Creating a Medicine Wheel Herb Garden
Tuesday, May 8, 7:00 p.m.
Through a beautiful well-established medicine wheel garden, you will learn about many of the herbs and wildflowers which grow here in Carolinian Canada. Our medicine wheel was created to be a sacred space for peace and healing. A sacred garden provides a sacred space upon which to call forth the healing energies of nature to support inner transformation. Design your own medicine garden and plant the herbs that will support you on your own healing path. Detailed growing and harvesting information will be included as well as the natural history of these herbs.
Buds, Barks, Berries & Resin: A Woodland Study
Tuesday, May 22, 7:00 p.m.
The heart of my work, my life and passion, rests in the woodland of this Carolinian zone. I have learned much in the company of trees, and delight in time spent walking among these old friends. The gifts of the trees are the finest example of nature's renewable resources; from flower, pollen and leaf to bark and resin; there is a rich harvest of food, medicine and more. I invite you to walk with me through an enchanted forest. I will share my practice of the Wild, including ways of harvesting and using tree medicine to ensure a vibrant spirit ecology in the woodlands and in ourselves!
Botanical Biodiversity of Carolinian Canada
Tuesday, June 5, 7:00 p.m.
Join Shantree for an inspiring and educational plant walk using the ancient knowledge of traditional native healing practices for rejuvenation and renewal of for health and longevity. We will look at wonderful restorative herbs that grow right in our bioregion to increase energy and vitality, enhance immunity, and improve memory and mental performance.
The Doctrine of Signatures and the Soul of Nature
Tuesday, June 19, 7:00 p.m.
The doctrine of signatures teaches us how to interpret the "Soul of Nature". Each plant personifies a lesson from Mother Nature, which shines forth in its appearance, color, shape, and habitat. Nature is alive, we need to connect, and we can connect through the plant signatures. This is key to understanding the therapeutic and the essence of a living plant.
A Walk on the Wild Side: Learning Wild Plants
Tuesday July 3, 7:00 p.m.
Let's wander beyond the tame lawns and find the wild ones' growing on the edges, in the meadows and the wooded glades. We'll taste, touch and smell as we go along, letting our learning be a sensual delight, while gaining first-hand knowledge and experience of the plants we encounter.
Walk the Earth in Beauty & Power; Spiritual Principles for Health, Wealth & Happiness
Tuesday, July 17, 7:00 p.m.
Join Shantree in this exploratory walk of rich dialogue, ritual, sharing circle and joyful experiences to open the heart. Shantree will share prophetic information about the challenges ahead as we are going into this new paradigm and creating a Golden Age - translating ancient wisdom into practical uplifting tools. Come ready to be Rejuvenated, Empowered and Transformed.
Save - Steward - Seed
Tuesday, July 31 7:00 p.m.
Shantree will share visionary solutions and ancient practices to help make a difference for a better tomorrow. This walk will leave you feeling confident on how you can make a difference working with local plants that are needed to preserving our native biodiversity. A famous saying, 'Each time that a seed sprouts to life, means that there is a promise of a new tomorrow.'
Spiritual Activism for the Earth
Tuesday, August 14, 6:30 p.m.
An empowering and joyful plant walk. Shantree will speak about how each of us can make a positive difference, for Mother Gaia and All Our Relations for generations to come, through ritual and ceremony – both daily practice and special ceremonial gatherings. We will share our experience; learn about forming and performing ceremony using sacred plants and trees. You will also learn and participate in a simple ceremony for the Green Kingdom, which is the basis of our human life. Come ready to move and be moved to action.
Localizing Our Medicine Cabinet
Tuesday, August 28 6:30 p.m.
An exploratory evening of the steps we can all take toward increasing our local natural medicine and creating a shift to localizing our health care system. A localized medicine cabinet is a resilient system. Can stinging nettle, oatstraw, linden flower, red clover blossoms, burdock, chickweed, and dandelion really replace supplements? Why do I call them nutrition powerhouses? Come and find out!
Plants, People & Planetary Peace
Tuesday, September 11, 6:00 p.m.
During this International Peace week we'll bring our hearts to focus on the plants that can support our health and well-being on every level - body, mind, heart and spirit. Plants have been used for millennium for helping to remember who we are and why we are here. Each plant is unique in vibration and has it's own message and inspiration; all we have to do is learn to listen with an open heart. Our harvest during this evening will be in gathering the plants and roots that will help us stay grounded and yet see the light of who we really are.
Herbs for Ecological Regeneration
Tuesday, September 25, 6:00 p.m.
The regeneration of nature, an essential aspect of restoring our backyards and local communities is to bring in the restorative plants. Native herbs have a powerful way of rebuilding soil fertility. Deep rooted perennial plants draw forth nutrients that create an ecological balance in ecosystem function. By regenerating our ecosystems we regenerate ourselves.
From Shoots to Roots
Tuesday, October 9, 6:00 p.m.
Learn the nutritional superfoods of your own bioregion. You will discover the essential dozen edible plants, roots and tubers for this autumn season. This informative identification walk about the nutritional and medicinal plants that can be used as multi~nutrient~rich whole food supplements and can be integrated into one's diet - new information for the beginner as well as the experienced.
Time & Investment
Time
Tuesday Evenings (please check individual walk, times vary through the seasons)
There will always be time for Q & A. So, make sure you bring your questions. In other words the Times may vary depending on month and season, check calendar schedule>
Register
If you are signing up for one of our Series of Walks. You can mix and match with any of our Herb or Garden Walks.
Pre-registration is Required. Please call or email to confirm your attendance.
Please Call: 519-652-0230 or 519-652-9109
You may want to consider join as a CSA member and get further discounts and enjoy the bountiful harvest.
At The Living Centre we are a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and Community Supported Education (CSE)
What is a CSA and CSE>
We have numerous ways for people of all ages to connect into the centre and participate at whatever level works best at The Living Centre.
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