Virtual Herbstalk

Virtual Herbstalk
< Saturday, August 29th >

Free Online Classes

Join us on Facebook and Instagram from 10:30 am - 4 pm on August 29th for online virtual classes. Our classes will feature a variety of holistic, herbal, and plant-based talks.

To view, simply go on the Herbstalk Facebook page between the appropriate times, and/or head to our speakers' Instagram accounts to watch live.

Check out our class schedule below for more details.

Virtual Marketplace

Shop our vendors' online shops below, and browse their incredible array of handmade products. Many of our vendors are offering discounts for all purchases this weekend using the coupon code HERBSTALK2020.

You can see more details about their products and hear messages shared from our vendors on our Instagram account on August 29th.

Herbstalk Vendors
Shop Online on Saturday, August 29th

Many of our vendors are offering discounts
using the coupon code HERBSTALK2020.

Discounts from participating vendors range from free shipping to 20% off their products.

Sign up for a Gaian Tarot reading with Jennifer of Tarot Blessings, who has been sharing her wisdom at Herbstalk since the very beginning! Each 20-minute session meets on Zoom and costs $30 (payable via Paypal or Venmo prior to your reading). Half of the proceeds will be donated in Herbstalk's name to Somerville's Arts at the Armory.
<< Learn more and sign up here! >>

Thank you to our amazing partners
for making Herbstalk events possible!

Because of their generous support Herbstalk is able to offer free
and low-cost herbal education. Check out partners' offerings here:

Virtual Class Schedule: August 29th

Tune in from 10:30am to 4pm on Instagram
and Facebook to view these free classes:

*Please note there have been some last minute changes
so check below for the updated schedule.*

Watch the following classes on our speakers' Instagram accounts:

10:30 AM
Harriet's Gourd
with Arira Adeeke
< Join on Instagram and follow @seedofosun to watch >

Harriet Tubman was known to carry healing plant ancestors in her gourd for every trip to heal, guide, and protect. This class will follow these sacred plants and their legacy through the transatlantic and the road to freedom.

11:30 AM
Plant Allies for Resiliency
with Irischa Valentin
< Join on Instagram and follow @delatierrabotanicals to watch >

In this mini-workshop, we learn to remember and re-learn the plant beings that uphold our resilience. We learn from the plants/herbs that support our ability to protect ourselves in challenging times.

12:30 PM
A Community Discussion on Natural Products
with Joye Williams
< Join on Instagram and @joyefullynatural to watch >

Join Joye of Joyefully Natural in an interactive discussion around natural personal care products. Come ready to share your views, opinions, and experiences on today’s growing natural products industry. Are natural ingredients in your personal care products important to you? How do you learn about natural products in today’s environment? Together we can learn from each other’s experiences and perceptions so that we can better navigate and align with our goals in this self-care journey.

1:30 PM
Plants and Poetry
with Maggie Haaland
< Join on Instagram and follow @maggieruth to watch >

"Instructions for living a life: pay attention, be astonished, tell about it." -Mary Oliver.

Poetry can be a pathway into the present moment in time, a place to inhabit just like a garden or forest. Make yourself a cup of tea and join Maggie in this exploration of nature poems and the plants that inhabit them. Part herbal education, part rest practice, this is a time to be together and remember the medicine of late summer, language and connection.

2:30 PM
Plant Medicine + Meditation to Restore Your Nervous System
with Nicole Lebreux
< Join on Instagram and follow @nicolelebreux to watch>

In this interactive class you will learn meditation practices + breathing techniques to help bring peace and relaxation into all parts of your being. Also meet plant medicine allies that have an affinity towards supporting your nervous system.

3:30 PM
Ancestral Work: Indigenous Traditions of North Africa
with Leila Bihkak Gutierrez
< Join on Instagram and follow @jaiadevi to watch >

Join Jaia on this exploration of ancestral wisdom through her North African indigenous folklore, mythology & mysticism. Many of us are embarking on a journey of cultural empowerment as we reconnect to our ancestral legacy. Through this class, highlighting her Amazigh indigenous roots and how her ancestors influenced many cultures of the region, Jaia aims to leave you feeling empowered to break free from patriarchal constructs and to conduct your own research in an enlightened manner as you embrace the wisdom your DNA carries.

Watch the following classes on our Facebook page:

11:00 AM
Home Nursing Skills
with Katja Swift & Ryn Midura
< Watch on our Facebook page >

It’s not just coronavirus, there’s a lot going on right now! Between the usual circulating strains of flu, some spring colds, and the stirrings of allergy season, plenty of folks are feeling rough. But it’s up to all of us to reduce strain on the medical system right now, so it’s more important than ever that we learn some herbal home nursing basics. These skills can help us to deal with minor issues on our own, so the health care workers can focus where they’re really needed.

12:00 PM
Intro to Herb Gardening
with Jenny Hauf
< Watch on our Facebook page >

Are you longing for an herb garden filled with beautiful and aromatic plants well-suited to both your teapot and the wildlife in your neighborhood? No matter what space you have, whether it's a backyard, windowsill, or fire escape, this class will help you to plan an herb garden gorgeously suited to your space.We'll also be discussing a few of the easiest herbs for beginner gardeners, such as aloe, tulsi, and calendula.

1:00 PM
Herbs for Seasonal Allergies
with Hannah Jacobson-Hardy
< Watch on our Facebook page >

Seasonal allergies got you down? Herbal remedies have been used for hundreds of years to prevent and relieve allergies. Learn which plants can be made into remedies for giving you relief during allergy season.

2:00 PM
Medicinal Garden Tour
with Lindsay Chimileski
< Watch on our Facebook page >

Join in for a tour through medicinal garden beds, lovingly cultivated by naturopathic physicians and students. Dr. Lindsay Chimileski will walk with the herbs and share their historical medicinal uses. We may see elecampane, althea, belladonna, hawthorn, melissa, yarrow, nettles, tussilago, motherwort, bloodroot, eleuthero, teasel, chelidonium, goji berries, wormwood, purslane, plantain, balloon flower, astragalus, valerian, passion flower, hops, artichoke, rue, datura, saint johns wort, echinacea, spearmint, ziziphus, albizia and more.

3:00 PM
Tick Bite Protocol
Jade Alicandro Mace
< Watch on our Facebook page >

Addressing tick bites, which are the vectors for potential infection, is an important part of Lyme Disease and co-infection prevention. In this class Jade will share her herbal protocol including herbs to use directly on the bite, internal herbal support, and dietary recommendations as well.

Our Teachers

<< Listed in order of the above class schedule >>

ARIRA ADEEKE
Seed of Osun
@seedofosun

Arira (she/they/he) is a mover, choreographer, Healing Artist, and Community Organizer. She was raised in a home where her grandma taught her to guard what she allowed to enter her physical and spiritual womxn, teaching her that plants have always been the primary source of medicine to heal the full body-spirit. They have traveled the world in search of how to create sanctuaries for Black bodies with the traditions of their ancestors. As a certified Reiki Master, practicing herbalist/Rootworker, and Master Gardener/Urban Farmer she offers a variety of healing services centered around African indigenous practices under the name Seed of Osun.

IRISCHA VALENTIN
De La Tierra Botanicals
@delatierrabotanicals

Irischa is a community herbalist based in the Wampanoag/Massachusetts territory. Irischa brings her Caribbean culture and connection into her plant-spirit world. She enjoys sharing wisdom about plant-healing medicines through workshops, discussions, and community-centered events. Her belief in social justice & equity drives her herbal work to often marginalized and historically oppressed communities. Irischa studied plant medicine at The Gaia School of Healing and Earth Education, she completed an herbal apprenticeship focused on women’s health (Spiral Path) at Twin Star and studied aromatherapy at The Eclectic Institute of Aromatherapy and Herbal.

MAGGIE HAALAND
@maggieruth

Maggie is a folk herbalist, gardener, pond swimmer and natural dyer living in western Massachusetts. She has studied with Steph Zabel, Jade Allicandro Mace, and Bryonie Wise over the past 8 years of plant exploration. She believes deeply in the power of vulnerability and community, and through her work seeks to nourish connection with ourselves, the natural world, and each other. She's very grateful to consider Herbstalk one of her heart homes.

JOYE WILLIAMS
Joyefully Natural
@joyefullynatural

Joye is the founder of JoyefullyNatural, whose mission is to create handcrafted organic herbal remedies and share insight on wellness and self care. Joyefully Natural also serves as an advocate for environmental protection and collaboration with other industries such as food and retail. Her work involves spiritual wellness, with products made in small batches in ritually cleansed spaces. JoyefullyNatural also holds one on one connections to provide custom herbal remedies to meet an individual's needs.

NICOLE LEBREUX
Cosmic Earth Collective
@nicolelebreux

Nicole Lebreux is a community herbalist, yoga teacher, and meditation guide who lives and works in coastal Rhode Island on sovereign Wampanoag land. She specializes in teaching people how to deeply connect with their multidimensional selves and the living world within and around them through simple everyday techniques that are available to all. In her offerings there are no expectations and no judgments. Nicole holds space for you to strengthen your intuition, commune with the earth, and connect with Source Energy whatever that looks like and feels like for you.

LEILA BIHKAK GUTIERREZ
JAIA DEVI
@jaiadevi

Jaïa Devi is a global citizen. Indigenous to North Africa, she was born in Colombia, raised in Morocco, she has then bloomed in Canada and more recently in the United States of America. She carried on her studies of the healing arts, earth based spirituality and mental health. Jaïa bridges her understanding of the mind, body & soul connection in her practice through a non dogmatic and accessible approach. Deeply rooted in trauma theory, Jaïa Devi cultivates an authentic and non-competitive space for growth.

KATJA SWIFT & RYN MIDURA
CommonWealth Center for Holistic Herbalism
@commonwealthherbs

Katja & Ryn are a wife-and-husband team who founded the CommonWealth Center for Holistic Herbalism in 2010. They offer online and in-person instruction in foundational, advanced, and clinical herbalism, as well as holistic business building, movement skills, and wilderness first aid. Learn more and take a free mini-course at commonwealthherbs.com!

JENNY HAUF
Muddy River Herbals
@muddyriverherbals

Jenny Hauf was raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on a steady diet of Laura Ingalls Wilder, L.M. Montgomery, and the wild shades of green found in her father's and grandparents' gardens. In 2015 she created Muddy River Herbals, an herb farm devoted to bringing a wealth of herbs, biodiversity, and community to the Boston area. Jenny is a writer, ecological landscaper, and educator who has taught workshops about herbs at the Harvard Medical School and elsewhere throughout eastern Massachusetts.

HANNAH JACOBSON-HARDY
Sweet Birch Herbals
@sweet_birch_herbals

Hannah is a community herbalist and founder of Full Moon Ghee and Sweet Birch Herbals in Ashfield, MA. Hannah offers herbal consultations, custom made formulas and teas, workshops, and a wide variety of products for sale, including Full Moon Ghee at the Farmer’s Market in Northampton. Learn more about where to find ghee at fullmoonghee.com or contact hannah@fullmoonghee.com

LINDSAY CHIMILESKI
Hawthorn Holistic Health
@thebotanicaldocta

Lindsay is a naturopathic physician, acupuncturist, registered herbalist, professor, naturalist, lifestyle coach, writer and public speaker. She is an expert in local plant identification and continues to explore more in the world of mushrooms. She is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Bridgeport College of Naturopathic Medicine. In her spare time, she enjoys nature, greenhouses, hiking, and practicing yoga.

JADE ALICANDRO MACE
Milk and Honey Herbs
@milkandhoneyherbs

Jade Alicandro Mace weaves a love of bioregionally abundant herbs and kitchen medicine into her work as a community and clinical herbalist. Through her Patreon community she offers monthly online classes and plant study groups, and she teaches an online kitchen herbalism course each winter as well. She draws on the wisdom and traditions of her Sud Italian (Campania, Sicily) and Greek ancestral lineages and makes her home in the rolling hills of western Massachusetts in Nipmuk territory.

FUNDRAISER FOR BLACK AID BOXES:
Through this event we are helping to raise funds for the Ile Ase School & Sanctuary at Seed of Osun which is developing a project called Black Aid Boxes. These are wellness boxes for mind, body and spirit that will be distributed to the Black community in the Boston area.

Please consider supporting them in honor of this free event. Donations can be sent via Paypal to sistahsofthecalabash@gmail.com. Thank you for your support!

Want to Learn More About Lavender, Our Herbstalk Plant-of-the-Year?

Check out this FREE course offered by the wonderful CommonWealth Center for Holistic Herbalism.

In this course, you’ll learn how to work with Lavender to strengthen digestive health, to work with sports injuries, to manage burns, and of course to boost mood and aid in relaxation. You’ll also learn how to grow your own Lavender and harvest it too!

<< Use the Herbstalk coupon code, "HERBSTALK2020" upon check-out to receive this course for free >>

Thank you, CommonWealth Center!