TerraVita Herbal Symposium – August 17-19th 2012

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Sponsors

Thanks to our generous sponsors Alchemy Solutions, Vitalist School of Herbology  and Herb Pharm  we  can be  flexible with our fees and offer discounts for the young and elderly.

A special thanks to the Northern California Women’s Herbal Symposium for their inspiration and teachings throughout the years.

TerraVita Springs

The symposium will be held at TerraVita Springs, a working educational farm and regenerative land project on the Greensprings of Ashland Oregon. It is 30 minutes from downtown Ashland and just off the Pacific Crest Trail.

TerraVita is 166 acres nestled in the heart of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, the first U.S. National monument set aside solely for the preservation of biodiversity. It is recognized as one of the most bio-diverse ecosystems  in North America. Cascade–Siskiyou National Monument is especially noted for its significant botanical diversity.

TerraVita offers a mix of stunning vistas, opportunities for deep connection with the natural world,  and an inspirational space for learning, engaging, and growing. With multiple meeting spaces both indoors and out  and a variety of housing options, TerraVita is the perfect place for this symposium. The land holds space for  a 2,200 square foot straw bale home, a teaching kitchen and medicinal herb lab, a 33 foot geodesic dome greenhouse,  and outdoor gathering spaces. The property can host  any number of activities. Our gardens, trails, forests, buildings and creeks have been developed and maintained with the goal of engaging our guests to care for our planet, care for each other,  and share Nature’s bounty.

A map and directions will be sent to you with registration confirmation.

Teachers

We are thrilled to have a diverse group of teachers at the symposium, each offering  unique gifts and talents.

Jon Carlson

Jon Carlson began his studies of western herbalism, clinical nutrition, and Chinese medicine in 1991.  He established his own clinical herbal practice in 1999 and founded the Vitalist School of Herbology in 2003.  He received his formal training from the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine (with the late Michael Moore) and the Acupressure Institute in Berkeley, CA, as well as completing a 3-year acupuncture apprenticeship in Prescott, AZ. His teachings are heavily influenced by Chinese 5-Element theory, principles of permaculture, and reviving traditional ways of life.   Jon resides in Ashland, Oregon, where he wanders the woods, eats weeds, makes medicine, teaches, and sees clients for private consultations.

Cascade Anderson Geller

Cascade’s herbal roots reach back to the rugged mountains and people of the Southern Appalachians. A graduate of Dominion Herbal College, and having trained with various herbal elders, Cascade was a founding member of the Everett House Healing Center (now Common Ground) where she had an herbal practice and taught classes beginning in 1979. Most of her apothecary was composed of preparations she had made and many from wild-crafted plants. She was Department Chair of Botanical Medicine at the National College of Naturopathic (now Natural) Medicine from 1979-1992. She has been affiliated with the founding of the two other naturopathic medicine colleges and has taught at many facilities. She owned and operated an herb store in Portland in the late 1980”s. Cascade consults with practitioners about herbal therapies and is a frequent speaker at conferences throughout the globe. She resides in Portland, OR.

Autumn Summers

Herbalist, BA Ethnobotany
From her first herb class 18 years ago, Autumn has been exploring the many facets of herbalism with a focus on plant, seaweed and mushroom identification and the uses and growing of  medicinal and edible plants. She is passionate about sharing this empowering knowledge with others in an enthusiastic, hands-on way. She currently lives in Williams, Oregon and teaches for the Herb Pharm Herbaculture Program and the California School of Herbal Studies.

Tom Ward

Tom Ward has been practicing and teaching permaculture in southern Oregon for almost 30 years.  He is a well known character in permaculture circles throughout the Northwest.  Tom holds a vast reservoir of scientific and historical knowledge, practical experience, colorful stories and thoughtful philosophy which he shares with students, audiences and friends.  He advises many local organic farms and manages a social forestry experimental station where he is demonstrating natural building, fuel hazard materials utilization, multiple products woods-crafting, wildlife enhancement and desert forest water management.

Tom teaches the Permaculture Design Course, as well as advanced courses attended by students from throughout the West Coast.  He is the author of Greenward Ho! Herbal Home Remedies: An Ecological Approach to Sustainable Health.

Pilar Chandler

Pilar has been working in natural health since ’98 in her own clinic as well as with acupuncturists, Md’s and chiropractors as a certified Holistic Health Practitioner and Ayurvedic Practitioner. She has taught 100′s of massage therapists the art of bodywork, and was awarded “2010 Teacher of the Year” by Healing Hands School of Holistic Health in California where she was a principal instructor for over 10 years. She loves traveling the world with her partner and daughter teaching, learning and loving!

 Kiki

Kiki is entranced by plant~people relationships and has been studying herbal medicine for over 20 years. She is the Founder of Poppy Swap and Moxa Northwest, and the Co-Founder of the Northwest Medicinal Herb Network a program that unites local farmers and herbal practitioners who work together with a goal of cultivating medicinal grade herbs through local farms. She is the past President of the Northwest Vipassana Meditation Trust and Herbal Pharmacist for Bastyr University. She has an M.S. in Traditional Chinese Medicine and has had the joy of watching this medicine come alive in her full time community clinic and the Wellness program that she started to introduce integrative medicine to the local hospital. She lives immersed in an island ecosystem and the tranquil cedar forests of the Pacific Northwest.

Schedule

Friday, August 17th

12-4 Check In

3-5 Herb Walk with Cascade

Come and learn about some of the many plants that grace this area on the northern edge of the beautiful Siskiyou Mountains at an elevation of about 5000 feet. Herb walks are about respectfully connecting with the plants by looking closely at them (botan-eyezing), touching, smelling, tasting, and opening to their multi-dimensional generosity. We will also discuss all kinds of uses of the plants we meet.

3-5 Plant Crawl and Native History with Tom Ward

Most times when I start an herb exploration with a group of fellow seekers we do not get very far.  Right at our feet are lots of medicinals and plants of interest.  We can learn to identify herbs in early germination stage or as wispy ghosts.  When we do look up and view the far slopes, we can also identify ecological mosaics (especially in the monument) and get some idea of where to head to find which guilds of eco-cooperators.  The indigenous folks (Shasta clan mountain stewards in this case, and Karuk river dwellers on the Klamath) who loved this land before we came here used burning to maintain diversity and fecundity.  We can find some remnants of these practices.  I will share some stories of how things were.

6-7 Dinner

8-9:30 Keynote Presentation The Beautility of the Plants of the Pacific Northwest - Slide Presentation with Cascade

During the City Beautiful movement of the nineteenth-turning-to-twentieth century, the word beautility was coined to describe the concept that some thought good architecture, public works projects, and landscaping should embody. This period left us with some of the nation’s most memorable architectural icons like Washington D.C.’s National Mall. The concept of combining beauty and utility is perhaps most attained in the plant world. A flower fully lives up to the highest standard of beautility. In this slideshow we will meet some of the most lovely and utilitarian of the plants growing in the magnificent landscape of the Pacific Northwest including those that heal, are tasty foods, can be woven, worn, used for building, or fuel.

Saturday, August 18th

7-8 Yoga with Pilar
Start your morning at TerraVita in union with the Earth, Sun, breath and body. A yoga class for all levels, heart centered and connected. We’ll be guided through an asana (posture) practice, followed by gentile pranayama (breath control) and meditation, in the tradition of Ashtanga (8 fold path yoga) with Anusara inspired alignment techniques.
Bring you own mat.

7:30-9 Breakfast

9:30-11:30 Adaptogens – Great Herbal Aids for Better Health with Cascade

Adaptogen herbs can help promote better health even when compromising conditions complicate matters. This class session will feature specifics on how to use whole herbs like Panax ginseng, Eleutherococcus, licorice, schizandra, rhodiola, gotu kola, ginger and others. Details about making effective, and often tasty, preparations will be shared along with recommended duration of use with attention to the importance of courses.

9:30-11:30 Rescuing the Reputation of Maligned and Misunderstood Plants with Tom

There are a few plants that folks are wary of and yet these plants have deep stories and many uses.  We will explore the multiple uses of plants such as StarThistle, Nettles, Lacquer Bush and others:  their medicinal, craft, permaculture and magical aspects.  There is no such thing as a weed!

12-1 Lunch

2-4 Using Plant Resins for Wounds – Preparing a “Wound Shellac” Preparation with Cascade

Plant resins are disinfecting, healing, and help to form a protective
barrier to the plants themselves when they are wounded or attacked by
insects or microbes. Plant resins can also be healing, and protective,
on our skin when we are wounded or suffering  from insects or
microbes. In this class we will learn about the amazing properties of
resin as a healing agent and natural bandage, especially for the skin,
and prepare a wound shellac. Each student will get an applicator
bottle of wound shellac for  personal use.

2-4 Learn your Local Medicine Shed with Autumn

There is a bounty of local wild and naturalized medicines and foods that grow from Northern California to Southern Oregon to include in your wellness kit and kitchen pantry. From the first spring blooms of Indian Warrior to the herbs of summer and fall – Yarrow, Oshala, California Poppy, Yerba Santa, Aralia, Ceanothus – we are surrounded by medicine if you know what to look for. We will cover how to identify, properly harvest and use these herbs as well  tasting savory acorn dip, manzanita berries and roasted bay nuts.

4-6 Open Space / The  Market Place

6-7 Dinner

After dinner Party with Music, Song and Dance (Bring your instruments and talents)

Sunday, August 19th

7-8 Yoga with Pilar or Hike to the Pacific Crest Trail

7:30-9 Breakfast

9:30-11:30 Growing Medicinal Herbs with Autumn

Come learn how to grow medicinal plants from seed, cuttings, and divisions. We will talk about how to successfully propagate  medicinal herbs in Southern Oregon and Northern California and what plants  do well in our climate.  You will go home with cuttings and seeds to grow in your own garden.

9:30-11:30  Diagnostic Tools: Observing the Tongue with Jon

Tongue diagnosis is an invaluable skill for the holistic herbalist.  It is easy to learn and  provides quick feedback on the effectiveness of herbal, dietary, and lifestyle treatments.  Learn the significance of cracks, coatings, scalloped edges, engorged veins, and the geography of the tongue as correlated to specific organs.

12-1 Lunch

1:30-3:30 Diagnostic Tools: Reading the Face and Eyes with Jon

Why do some people get crow’s feet?   Why do others develop a permanently furrowed brow?  What can the irises tell us?  Learn facial and eye diagnosis as a way of assessing a person’s constitution, health history, and disease process.  By determining a client’s constitutional tendencies, the herbalist can create more individualized and effective therapies.

1:30-3:30 Smoke Medicine: The Art and Meaning of Moxabustion with Kiki

This class will provide you an in depth look  at the medicine of mugwort. Learn the history of this               medicine and why it is one of the most important herbs in Traditional Chinese Medicine (which has           a pharmacy of over 2,500 plants). The class will teach easy home applications of moxabustion and             step-by-step instructions on how to make your own moxa!

Logistics

Lodging

Housing options include tipis or camping  and picturesque spots to pitch your own tent.

Camping

Camping is included in the symposium fee. Bring your own tent and bedding. You may pick a spot near the main area or chose to find your own private paradise on the property; however, please be respectful and pick a space in the marked designated camping areas.

Tipi

There will be  three 22 foot tipis. They accommodate eight people per tipi. You must reserve a spot in a tipi on the registration page. These spaces are limited, so register early. The tipis will be filled on  a first come first served  basis as those people who have  pre-registered for a tipi arrive.  Bring your own bedding. A foam sleeping mat will be provided. Fee $30  for the weekend per person. $20  per child 3-12 years,  2 years and under free.

If you are planning on coming to town early or would like to extend your stay, consider staying nearby at Green Springs Inn.

This is a rain or shine event, so prepare for all weather.

Food

Six organic, locally sourced vegetarian meals with be served throughout the weekend by Chef Chris Fowler. Meals will be served from Friday night’s dinner to lunch on Sunday.

Bring your plate, bowl, drinking vessel and utensils. Bring your own snacks if you eat  between meals.

Herbal tea and fresh, clean mountain water will be available for your drinking pleasure.

What to bring

Childcare

We will be offering a nature based child-care program for ages 3 through 12 during workshops on Saturday and Sunday. Please be respectful to the caregivers and pick up your child promptly after your class. All children must be registered to attend childcare. Space is limited.

Children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

If you have a child under the childcare age and are bringing them to class with you, please be respectful to the other participants by taking your child out of class if behavior is disruptive to the learning environment.

Childcare costs include meals for the weekend

• 1st Child Cost $110-
• 2nd Child Cost $100-
• 3rd Child Cost $100-
• Infant attending 0-2 years- no child care, no fee

Parking and Driving Directions

You will be emailed or sent directions with your registration confirmation.

Please, once you get to our road, drive SLOWLY. Do not exceed 15 mph.  It is of the utmost importance  to be respectful to our neighbors. Remember you are sharing the road with lots of wildlife. Drive slowly and safely. To promote being stewards for the Earth and alleviate parking congestion, we are charging a fee for parking if you are not carpooling.

Bring $10 cash to be given to the parking attendant if you are driving by yourself. There is no fee for cars with two or more people in them.

Community Service

It takes a village to run a symposium. Please sign up for two hours of community service when you check at the registration table. Shifts will be available in the kitchen, serving meals and childcare.

Body workers may choose to give two  hours of their services. The lucky recipients’ names will be drawn on Friday night.

Cost of the Symposium and Registration

We provide a sliding scale so that all can attend.

Space is limited, so register early. Reservations are a must.

Symposium Fees
*Choose the appropriate fee for you. Childcare is limited and must be confirmed.

• Regular Sliding Scale Cost $195-$250
• Young Adult, ages 13-20 Cost $125-
• Elders Discount, if needed, ages 60 and over Cost $150-
• Other pre-approved fee

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