Classes & Teachers

Showcasing the brilliance and expertise of the teachers, practitioners, and medicine makers of the Western Mass region & beyond! Check them out below. This page is best viewed on a desktop.

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Taína Vargas-Sosa

  • Explore the medicinal benefits of common culinary and medicinal herbs found in your kitchen pantry. Dive into the Art & Science of formulating your own immune-boosting spicy vinegar tonics to support your wellness.

  • Taína Vargas-Sosa is a mother, artist, educator, wellness entrepreneur, urban gardener & budding forager. She is the founder of Sankofa Anacaona Botanicals, a woman-of-color-owned small business that specializes in plant-based holistic wellness. Taína aims to educate and empower our communities to reclaim and expand cultural traditions of plant medicine. Her work is grounded in her Afro-Taino roots from Ayiti-Kiskeya (Dominican Republic). Currently, Taína splits her time between Boston and Western Mass (Massachusetts, Pawtucket and Nipmuc Indigenous lands). Find Taína on IG @sankofa.anacaona.botanicals

frieda kipar bay

  • By observing the tongue, we learn about our constitution, what organs need balancing, and which herbs to reach for. This is a vital tool in supporting yourself and family through acute and chronic illness - and its free and easy to use!

  • Frieda Kipar Bay (RH, AHG) is learning to live her life as a landscape, weaving many aspects to know wholeness. She has been a practicing clinical herbalist for 15 years, and works with bio-regional plants through the Daoist lens of healing. Her practice and teaching incorporates her study of CPD pulse diagnostics, tongue and facial analysis, Daoist path dreaming, and holistic herbal formulations. She also writes, dances, and teaches qigong alongside un-schooling her two children and building community in Montague, Mass. For a fuller story, visit www.friedakiparbay.net.

Ryn Midura

  • Herb-drug interactions are best understood not by rote memorization or by consulting a database, but by learning the ways herbs and drugs work in the body. Herbalists working today need to be able to navigate this information efficiently, because we will rarely have the chance to work with clients who are not taking any pharmaceuticals. This class will teach critical perspectives and methods of investigation which will allow you to assess the reality of safety cautions and interaction warnings, and give good - safe - advice to your clients.

  • Ryn is an herbalist who didn't get outside enough as a kid, and is making up for lost time. He and Katja Swift founded CommonWealth Holistic Herbalism in 2011 to provide education and training to herbalists at all levels, from home hobby to clinical consultation. He is a preceptor for advanced practice pharmacy students at MCPHS University and Northeastern University. A few of his favorite herbs are solomon's seal, calamus, pine, and evening primrose. Learn more about Ryn at commonwealthherbs.com

Mo Katz-Christy

  • Why do all alliums have that strong garlicky smell? How do I know if the dried herbs you’ve had in my cabinet for five years are still good? In this class we will begin to practice using our senses to learn about the chemical constituents in foods and medicine. You will get to see, smell, and taste different preparations of the same herbs to learn the flavors and mouthfeel of specific molecules, and to learn which preparations extract which constituents. Bring your favorite mug and a pen and come join me where experiential and scientific knowledge meet!

  • Mo Katz-Christy (they/them) is a queer Ashkenazi Jewish herbalist born and raised in Cambridge, MA on unceded Massachusett land. They approach herbalism by connecting folks to the knowledge they already have about their body and herbs through working with kitchen medicine, ancestral traditions, and mulberries falling on the sidewalk!

    Mo graduated from a three-year clinical herbalism program at the Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism in 2022. They work one-on-one with clients to address the root imbalances that are causing dysregulation and to build long-term healing. You can find out more about their work at mokatzchristy.com.

Hannah Morano

  • In this workshop Hannah will share the ways she formulates herbal teas and tinctures for efficacy and taste. The art of formulation is key for designing wellness protocols for oneself and clients. Every person is unique, so when we customize formulas, we may have more effective results. Open to everyone- beginners and practicing herbalists. Hannah will bring dried herbs and tinctures from her apothecary to demonstrate formulating. 

  • Hannah Morano (formerly Jacobson-Hardy), founder of Sweet Birch Herbals and Full Moon Ghee, is a holistic health coach, ghee producer, and community herbalist devoted to providing the region with high-quality plant-based medicines that are locally grown and sustainably wildcrafted. Check out her natural product line and learn more about Hannah’s services at www.sweetbirchherbals.com or contact sweetbirchherbals@gmail.com.

Suzanne O'Gara

  • In this workshop, we will explore the medicine and magic of Sacred Blue Lotus - a somewhat controversial and misunderstood plant with a rich history of spiritual use going back to Ancient Egypt. We will discuss Nymphaea's history as well as some of her key actions and constituents, before imbibing some Blue Lotus tea and going into a deep guided meditation and divination session.

  • Suzanne O'Gara, owner of Alchemy of Avalon tea and herb company, is a Certified Herbalist, Priestess of Morgan LeFay, and practicing Witch, having studied under Joann Sanchez at the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts. She has been teaching classes in Herbalism and Witchcraft for more than 12 years, most notably for her own nine month online course, "Herbs of Avalon: Morgana's Materia Medica", as well as for the Morgan LeFay Mystery School, directed by Demelza Fox. Suzanne is honored to have been a presenter for the first Western MA Herbal Symposium in 2024, and has also guest taught for SCNM's Herbalists Without Borders chapter, the Ninefold Festival, the Water Priestess Confluence, the Unbound Priestess Summit, and more. She is an active member of the Sisterhood of Avalon, United Plant Savers, and is furthering her studies with Lisa Ganora's "Phytosapiens" course.

Chaya Leia Aronson

  • This is for you, if you have a womb, regardless of what phase of life you are in. When we can understand the changes in our brains and hormones that will come, we can better prepare and navigate. In this play shop, we will focus on the context of the “big change” in our current culture and how to support our bodies and psyches through these changes. Included in our conversation will be herbal support, womb attunement practices and a few other practical suggestions. Bring your open heart and curiosity!

  • Chaya Leia Aronson, RN BSN is a mother, partner, lover and ecosensensual earth worshipping clown goddess dancer. Chaya maintains a private practice offering Maya Abdominal Massage, Holistic Pelvic Care and Health, Movement and Sexuality coaching for well over a decade. Chaya has also facilitated a number of transformational and alchemical rituals related to grief, wombs and eros. She has great passion and skill in supporting people and relationships to have clear conversations about desires and boundaries and to unpack our wounds and traumas gently to find more capacity for love and pleasure. She connects to Divinity through Dance. Chaya maintains a private practice, where she sees clients in person and virtually, in the Northampton, MA area.

Denise Rodriguez

  • Choosing herbs for our cycle can be overwhelming. How do we know which ones or how much? What if we're struggling with a hormone imbalance? In this class, I'll go through each phase and talking about the anatomy responsible for our cycle and what herbs would be most supportive. By the end, you'll have the much needed foundational knowledge to create your own herbal formulas!

  • Denise is a clinical herbalist, cycle and sexual health educator. She is the owner of Eclipsic Herbs, where she teaches in-depth cycle tracking and personalized cycle health support. Denise's work focuses on bridging together body literacy and plant medicine. She believes that our cycle is not our shackle, it is our compass. Learn more at eclipsicherbs.com

Ezra Wool

  • Come learn how to grow fungi in a hands on, easy to grasp, workshop! This class will be a hands on practice demonstrating how to grow oyster mushrooms at home. It is based in low tek, DIY methods, and is a technique that is incredibly cost effective and reliable. In addition to the specifics, the workshop will cover general information that is applicable to growing all kinds of fungi!

  • Ezra is a fungal enthusiast who has experience cultivating in a variety of settings. From lab work to low-tek, Ezra has dabbled in a wide swath of mushroom cultivation techniques. He is passionate about making fungal cultivation easily approachable and understandable. In addition to growing and foraging fungi, Ezra loves to tend to beehives, hangout with his cat, and enjoys playing music in sunshine. Learn more at @fromthesourcefungi on Instagram

Nitya Eisenheim, ND

  • Come learn about how children with challenges such as such as attention/focus issues, ritualistic and compulsive behaviors, oppositional behavior,  irritability, anger, autisim, social anxiety, fatigue and pain can transform from children who are barely functional or not functional at all into thriving, healthy children who are full of energy, compassion, enthusiasm and life with the use of herbs, nutrition and other tools from the Naturopathic medicine toolkit. Learn some of the many causes of these issues that are on the rise and plaguing our children (gut dysbiosis, environmental toxins, mold, vaccine reactions, infections, trauma, isolation). We will also discuss Dr. Nitya's go to herbal formulas to help re balance the gut, calm the mind, & balance the nervous and immune systems.

  • Dr. Nitya Jessica Eisenheim, ND is a Naturopathic doctor specializing in Lyme Disease, chronic digestive concerns, children with complex issues, fertility, preconception care, female body health and autoimmune disorders. She enjoys working with families, young children and teenagers. She practices in Greenfield and is founder of cedarroseheals.com.

    Nitya is passionate about herbal medicine, cooking, healthy food and community building. Through learning herbal medicine, Ayurveda, Integrative nutrition, Naturopathic medicine, Craniosacral therapy and Visceral manipulation, she learned ways to listen to the body and be in harmony with it, instead of feeling confused by the body’s signals or feeling like she was in a constant battle with it. Nitya incorporates multiple modalities into patient care.

Gina Shvartsman

  • What is a weed? So often perceived with annoyance and disdain, these resilient and abundant plants are food, medicine, companions, organic matter, cover crops, and living mulch. What a gift growing all around us, if only we know how to properly witness the abundance! This class will be a mix of plant walk and medicine making/ food preparation inspiration. Plants may include (based on who’s around): nettles, chickweed, plantain, dandelion, yellow dock, burdock, comfrey, lambs quarter, purslane, knotweed, etc.

  • Gina is an Earth lover, often covered in dirt or plant matter. Passionate about living in rhythm with the seasons, she has a strong curiosity for how people lived in pre-industrial-technological times. She is a farmer, community herbalist, shiatsu practitioner, wild crafter and the herbal-artist of Radical Rose Botanicals, a compilation of herbal remedies with a focus on practical daily plant supports. www.radicalrosebotanicals.com

Alan Surprenant

  • Foliar feeding fruit trees and berries during the growing season. Biodynamic orchardist will focus on 4 herbal cold fermented teas from plants that grow here.

  • Alan Surprenant of Brook Farm Orchard, a 40 year old Biodynamic fruit orchard in Ashfield MA. We grow 45 varieties of apples, plus peaches, plums, pears and nuts and sell over 400 bushels/year at the Ashfield Farmers Market yearly.

Brenna "B" Regan

  • This workshop intends to be an exploration of the plants that can support us physically, emotionally and energetically/Spiritually during the season of Bealtaine (Celtic word for the month of May, also refers to late spring/beginning of summer season) within the social context that we are currently living in in so-called "u.s.a". Guided by plants of Irish lineage and their associated lore, we’ll share space in hopes of gaining inspiration and clarity around how to most powerfully show up for ourselves, each other and the greater collective during these times.

  • Brenna "B" Regan (they/she) is a community herbalist, organic farmer, facilitator, organizer, and devotee of Holy Wild Spirit. They began their formal herbalism studies in 2018 with Amanda David at The People’s Medicine School, and are on track to receive their Clinical Practitioner Certificate from The Plant Medicine School with Nikki Darrell in December 2025.B’s herbal practice is shaped by their ancestral link to the myth and magic of Éire/Ireland and their deep gratitude to the bioregion who raised them in northeastern “u.s.a”/ Turtle Island. B is growing a wee biz called Other + Earth, which aims to expand access to herbalism and nature connection for queer folx, people committed to liberatory social movements and those most systemically harmed by racialized capitalism. Learn more at @otherandearth.

rowan walker

  • Join us for an extended workshop to explore what kind of herbalism we long to practice. This is a community discussion for settler practitioners trained in TWH who seek to offer herbal care + cultivate plant relations aligned with their values. We will chat about the histories of TWH, the severance of white immigrant healing lineages in N America, and the lifelong process of unsettling and reweaving cultural herbalisms.

  • rowan walker (they/them) is a qt herbalist, somatic bodyworker, researcher, facilitator and anarchist. Through their practice, of hawthorn and yew, rowan teaches, writes, and supports queer community. They are passionate about facilitating spaces for folks of Celtic Isles’ descent to reconnect to ancestral lineage, reweave plant kin connection and deepen into relations with the holy wild. Find their work at: ofhawthornandyew.com or @hawthornandyew on IG

PAMPI & ANYA

  • In this workshop, we will explore the herbally infused traditions of sauces and oils across diasporic foodways, focussing on Sicily and Bengal, tracing the complex naturalization of the tomato introduced to regions connected by colonial trade forced on Turtle Island. Together, we will uncover the flavors that shaped these traditions—what foods and herbal infusions were central before the tomato’s introduction, and how culinary practices transformed after its arrival. Through hands-on preparation and storytelling, we’ll honor the resilience of diasporic food knowledge, experiment with traditional and reimagined infusions, and reflect on how trade, migration, and survival continue to flavor our kitchens today.

    Join us as we stir, press, and pour our way through the layers of history embedded in our meals!

  • PAMPI - A darker-skinned, nonbinary, second-genX casteD-Bengali newcomer-settler of lands stewarded by the Wompanoag, Mattakeesett, Pennacook, Sokoki, and Nipmuc peoples, PAMPI creates community-centered art that unlocks creative potential and fuels change-making. With over 15 years of practice, Pampi weaves poetry, dance theater, and gardening into hands-on, immersive workshops that invite deep engagement with land, body, and collective memory. Their facilitation bridges traditional knowledge with contemporary struggles, guiding participants through intersectional shifts in thinking that center liberation. Whether leading a community garden project, choreographing movement-based storytelling, or co-creating spaces of cultural reclamation, Pampi cultivates experiences where learning and healing grow side by side.

    ANYA - A Sicilian-American herbalist and hedgewitch from Eastie, Anya is passionate about exploring their cultural roots through food and plants. They encourage participants to embrace herbs as a part of everyday life, discovering how they can enhance both our meals and well-being. Whether blending herbal infusions, preserving seasonal harvests, or crafting leather, candles, and tinctures, with Anya expect hands-on engagement. Current projects for both include Neighborhood Grow Apothecary, Neighborhood Grow Lab, Diasporic Herbal Transmission and We Are Forests

Bear Crevier

  • If you have ever wondered about the edible and medicinal plants and mushrooms that grow all around us come join Bear for his walk so you can learn about them in a fun, tasty, and interactive way. The Earth is home to many plant and mushroom allies who want to share their food, wisdom, and medicine with us. Join Bear for a walk that will change the way you see and interact with the world around you.

  • Bear Crevier is an educator, public speaker, nonprofit worker, community leader, and military veteran. Bear has been teaching for more than 20 years in a variety of formats. Bear runs a nonprofit called Ancient Healing Paths with his wife and partner Aidale. You can regularly find Bear teaching plant and mushroom walks all throughout New England from April to November.

Alice Glass

  • Our dogs mean everything to us - they give their love unconditionally and truly become part of our families! When they face challenges, it’s natural to want to give them the best support we can across a wide range of modalities. Did you know that you can address concerns like joint pain, cognitive decline, rashes, and so much more wit thoughtful application of plant support? With the right approach, these natural remedies can be a powerful tool in maintaining and improving your canine bestie’s health and well-being!

  • Alice is a queer massage therapist, death doula, folk herbalist, community builder, homeschool parent, fire spinner, and animal lover. As a relatively recent Western MA transplant, she thought she might learn to slow down and enjoy all of the gifts of this area but instead has found it overflowing with inspiration! Her dream life involves being able to share her knowledge and skills with her community while simultaneously knitting and snacking all day long with her dog by her side. Learn more at @riotandrex

Nicole Crouch Diaz

  • Learn how to use flower essences to help manage anxiety and stress in daily life. Add some useful remedies to your tool kit and explore how plant spirit medicine can help us untangle and release the root cause of these common states.

  • Nicole Crouch-Diaz is a healer, earth worker, and energetic herbalist trained in Sacred Anatomy Energy Medicine and Bach Flower Therapy. Her background includes aromatherapy, herbal medicine, trauma healing, nutrition, and several types of transformational growth work. She has a private practice in Southern Vermont where she works with people one-on-one and online. Learn more at www.aeracuraessences.com

Nico Lebreux

  • During these current times it is so easy to fall into despair and sorrow about the suffering we see all around us. However, you can learn to connect and collaborate with our generous plant allies for hope, optimism, and a renewed path forward. In this exploratory workshop we will discover the potent medicine that Rose has to offer us physically emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. Through ancient folklore, personal experiences, herbal wisdom, and a guided Rose plant spirit meditation, we will dive deep into the infinite wisdom of our expansive hearts through Rose, discovering our own resiliency in the process.

  • Nico Lebreux is a queer neurodivergent community herbalist, self care advocate, and herbal apothecary owner who operates Wild Heart Herb House in New Bedford, Massachusetts on unceeded territory of the Wampanoag Nation. Introducing others to herbalism and sharing how plants can benefit your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health is their passion. In Nico’s offerings there are no expectations and no judgments. She holds space for her students to strengthen their intuition, commune with the earth, and connect with source energy whatever that looks like and feels like for them. Learn more at wildheartherbhouse.com

Jiyanna Vagedes

  • Learn the subtle art of blending oils and waters, also known as emulsification and be at liberty to provide yourself with the creams of your needs and/or dreams! Basic to herbal-enhanced creams discussed and demonstrated.

  • Jiyanna Vagedes began making affordable and healthy creams, free of preservatives & chemicals many moons ago. When she's not sharing this art, you may find her caring for the woods, guiding volunteers at The People's Medicine Project apothecary, gardening or otherwise cherishing life.

Ezra Distler

  • One of the earliest photographic techniques, cyanotype has been used for over 180 years to document the natural world and create expressive, sunlight-based art. In this hands-on workshop, we’ll gather natural materials from the land around us and use them to create two unique prints: one on paper and one on fabric. We'll also explore anthotypes, an alternative process that uses plant-based pigments—like turmeric—to create images by slowly fading the pigment under sunlight. Everyone will leave with their cyanotype prints, along with paper coated in turmeric pigment to continue experimenting with anthotypes at home. There is a $10 materials fee. Additional printing kits and materials will be available for purchase.

  • Ezra Distler is a photographer and artist whose work is inspired by the intersection of art and nature. Learn more at @ezradistler

Jade Alicandro

  • We are surrounded by medicine if we just know where to look. Many common plants, often maligned and overlooked as unwanted weeds, are potent medicinals. When we get to know the abundant herbs around us we're practicing sustainable herbalism at it's finest, as often these are some of the most widely distributed plants in the world! In this walk we'll meet numerous abundant medicinal and edible plants that tend to fall into the category of "weeds" and learn identification, harvesting methods, medicinal actions and ways to capture their medicine in both herbal preparations and food as medicine.

  • Jade Alicandro weaves a love of bioregionally abundant herbs and kitchen medicine into her work as a community and clinical herbalist. She makes her home in the rolling hills of western Massachustts where she runs a small herb school with both in-person and online learning opportunities and offers heartfelt herbal consultations. Forever in love with the weeds, her current favorite plants are Wild Rose (Rosa multiflora), Japanese Knotweed (Fallopia japonica) and Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale). Learn more about her work at @milkandhoneyherbs or www.milkandhoneyherbs.com

Chris Marano

  • Chris Marano draws from his 30-plus years as an herbalist and 45-plus years as a student, practitioner and teacher of Eastern and Indigenous spiritual sciences to help speak about the various herbs from the Chinese Medicinal Tradition that can be found on the North American Continent.

  • Chris Marano is a clinical and community herbalist living in the Pioneer Valley with over thirty years experience and training in Western, Chinese, and Native American healing traditions. He is founder of Clearpath Herbals, which provides high-quality herbal preparations, and of Clearpath School of Herbal Medicine, dedicated to the teaching of herbalism, holistic health, and Earth-based wisdom and sustainability. Chris is also a Registered Herbalist with the American Herbalist Guild. For more information, visit Clearpath Herbals website (www.clearpathherbals.com) and/or contact Chris at chris@clearpathherbals.com

Julia Demillones Moore

  • The journey from first ovulation and menstruation through the teen years is a potent rite of passage. Young menstruators deserve support, witnessing, and encouragement—and so do their caregivers.

    This class is for parents, aunties, mentors, and trusted adults who want to offer grounded, holistic support through the puberty portal and the fire years beyond.

    We’ll explore plant allies and herbal recipes to nourish the nervous system, balance hormones, and support emotional well-being. You’ll also learn how to bring menstrual cycle awareness—including the inner seasons—into daily life, helping you better understand your child’s rhythms, needs, and moods.

    Come with your questions, your care, and your willingness to tend this powerful threshold with love and plant wisdom.

  • Julia Demillones Moore is a pelvic steam practitioner, home herbalist, and mother. Julia utilizes pelvic steaming as a measure to support her body’s natural cycles, to connect with her Filipino ancestral medicinal practices, and as another way to relate to the plants and elements. It is a joy for her to offer guidance for and bring awareness to the practice of vaginal steaming.

    moonbeamsteams.com

Alex Klein

  • I love Spring. Earth is teeming with new growth, sap is running in the trees, greens are still tender and tasty, and ephemerals are blooming in the woods. We'll spend this walk savoring this moment in time. We'll look out for shoots and greens ripe for the picking, talk about the medicine at its peak harvest, and admire the strange and beautiful forms of new growth unfurling towards another season.

  • Alex Klein is an intermediary between people and plants. He is a practicing herbalist based in Boston, working with folks on a range of health issues. His joy is to help people connect to nature in tangible and intimate ways. He teaches all sorts of classes on herbalism, botany, ecology, and wild food, including a monthly herbalism program called the Puddingstone School. His favorite color is blue. Learn more at alexkleinherbalist.com

Toni Hall

  • In this workshop, we will discuss how principles of harm reduction and integrated pest management can be woven together to layout a holistic pathway to healing from addiction. The concept of a hierarchy of socially acceptable herbalisms will be introduced and discussed as a framework for holistic addiction recovery.

  • Toni Hall is the owner of Song Sparrow Farm, producing ready to drink teas, tonics & switchels. They have coordinated multiple educational garden programs, most recently at the Franklin County Jail. With a student centered philosophy they seek intersections between students' lives, holistic health, food, herbalism, and gardens. Toni identifies as a peer in the recovery movement, is a board member of Trans Farmers 4 Trans Farmers, a mental health working group, & lives in Franklin County on a farm with their sweet dog DandyLion. Learn more at www.songsparrowfarm.com

Annika McCann

  • CBD use has skyrocketed in just a few short years, making it one of the most popular herbal medicines in the US, but the CBD industry is riddled with misconceptions, misinformation, and poor quality and/ or fraudulent products. CBD can be a powerful treatment for a wide range of conditions, but it’s critical to choose products carefully and use them properly. Don’t get lost in the weeds - learn how to source and use CBD effectively.

  • Annika McCann is a registered nurse and has been an herbalist for more than 30 years. Her lifelong passion for health led her to Michael Moore’s Southwest School of Botanical Medicine, where she trained as a clinical herbalist in 1991. She became a nurse a few years later, but never stopped making her own medicines. When she began experimenting with CBD on family members, she was amazed by the powerful effect it had on physical ailments and on mental/emotional distress. Now Annika creates full-spectrum, certified organic CBD products to help ease physical and mental symptoms, so people can enjoy life to the fullest while minimizing reliance on medications. Learn more at https://primalbotanical.com

Jordann Funk

  • From the Bible to renown poetry, Calamus weaves into the myth and medicine of cultures around the globe. In this class, we’ll dive deep into relation with this “teacher plant”, acknowledging their role in stoking creativity, communication, and clarity. Meanwhile, we’ll address how Calamus can guide us to re-imagine how we approach anxiety and overwhelm with herbal support. Calling all creatives, sensitives, and bio-regional herbalist— let’s get to know this herbal neighbor through taste, smell, and story!

  • Growing up in the Appalachian foothills of Southwestern Pennsylvania, Jordann has immersed herself in the language of plants from an early age. Since 2013, she has devoted herself to herbalism, spending hundreds of hours in class and field learning from teachers and plants alike. She practices in Vitalist framework with a focus on bioregional herbs. Her teachings blend the perspectives of Plant Spirit Medicine and Clinical Herbalism— at once relying on the power of our intuitions as well as the traditional, scientific wisdom of herbalism. A skilled medicine maker and gardener, she runs her apothecary Sensitive Earth and tends a community herb garden in Kingston, New York, where she currently resides as a writer, musician, and mother.

Nat & Jovan

  • We are living through liminal times that call us to dig deep into our joy, relationships and circles of community care. What supports us to be in right relationship to our grief, our beloveds, and the Earth? This healing space will offer relational care practices, plant medicine teachings, and ancestral rituals for nourishing the heart, body, and spirit. Join us and fill yourself up with nourishing heartfood!

  • Nat Rodríguez (they/she) is a curandera, mother, and relationship counselor descended from a long lineage of Afro-Cuban healers and Gallega intuitives. Their community herbalism work is guided by joy, Ancestral wisdom, and lived experience with illness and death. Nat is skilled at creating space for liminal times of initiation and transformation. They weave play, ritual, and storytelling into their personal herbalism practice and teaching.

    Jovan Sage (they/she) is a Heart Consoler, Death Midwife, and Grief Weaver who threads sacred space and heart medicine together. Their work is to guide those navigating deep transformation and tender thresholds of grief. Their practice is grounded in Black ancestral healing and land practices, queer liberation, and intimacy with the natural world. Their teaching centers tending to our body’s way-knowing, and our communities of Ancestors, people, plant, and animal kin.

Maggie Ruth Haaland

  • We will get a taste and intro to botanical prints and natural dyeing! Using what’s in bloom (and dried plants), we will get to practice the basics of natural dyeing and create our own eco-printed bandana to take home. A taster for those curious about natural color, participants will get to try their hand at working plant magic into a garment as a way to connect in to the natural world, themselves and each other!

  • Maggie Ruth Haaland (they/she) is a fiber artist, natural dyer, visible mender, folk herbalist and gardener living and tending in Eastern Massachusetts. They believe deeply in the power of vulnerability and community as sources of great strength and joy, and are lit up by anything that connects us with what’s growing around us. Learn more at www.maggieruthmends.com

Amy Shake Ortiz

  • Dive into the vibrant world of Caribbean herbal healing with a focus on Boricua traditions. We’ll explore the rich scents, flavors, and healing powers of Puerto Rican plants, sharing remedies passed down through generations. Come connect with the magic of Boricua botany and learn how to bring these ancestral practices into your daily life.

  • Amy Shake Ortiz (she/they) is an educator, an ally, a speaker, an activist, an herbalist, a performer, and a lifelong learner. Amy came to holistic and herbal medicine instinctively as a response to her own chronic health issues, and over the span of more than a decade they have continued to learn and grow their capacity as a healer, herbalist, and educator. Their health and herbal education is rooted deeply in cultural and experiential learning, and her identity as a queer, neurodivergent, psychiatrically disabled Latine woman informs her study and practice entirely. Learn more at www.dandelioncollaborative.com

Tony(a) Lemos

  • Effective resistance requires endurance, resilience; discipline, and spiritual strength to remain healthy in the face of danger, extreme stress and ongoing challenges. In this class I will be sharing ideas on how to maintain wellbeing, connection and balance both Physical, Spiritual and Emotional during these times while working with both the medicinal and spiritual properties of herbs. We will create a healing toolkit of valuable remedies for living on the Earth in these changing times while connecting with Herbal Allies, Herbal protocols, Spiritual Practices, and Nourishing Foods.

  • A lifelong environmentalist and plant person, Tony(a) Lemos works at the intersection of herbalism and art. She believes art and creativity to be an integral part of the healing process. Her work centers around well-being, creativity, connection, and co-existence. As a Creative entrepreneur, Community Herbalist, and Artist she is inspired by all aspects of the green world (plants, lichen, moss, and fungi). Tony(a) has worked as a community herbalist and educator for over 25 years, helping people connect with plants as allies for physical, mental, and spiritual healing. She currently teaches an annual year-long herbal apprenticeship, which is now in its 24th year which begins in April, as well as a botanical art studio program at Blazing Star Herbal School in Conway, MA Tony(a) is a well-known lecturer on current herbal medicine topics, Botanical Art, alternative photography methods. She is a published writer, community herbalist, ecological activist, artist and beloved mentor. She has studied with some of the most influential herbal practitioners of our times and, in turn, has trained many gifted and entrepreneurial practitioners.

Arielle Bareket

  • Antidepressants are among the most commonly prescribed medications, and many clients seeking herbal support will also be taking them. What should clinical herbalists know to work safely and effectively in these cases? In this one-hour class, we’ll explore the most common antidepressants, their mechanisms, side effects, and safety considerations. We’ll discuss herbal allies, contraindications relevant to these medications, and the clinical herbalist’s scope of practice when working with clients taking antidepressants.

  • Arielle Bareket (she/her) is a community and clinical herbalist, Registered Nurse, and Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner student (PMHNP) based in the Green Mountains of northern Vermont. Inspired by the natural world, she views humans as part of a larger interconnected whole and is passionate about integrating diverse tools to support healing and well-being.