Spirit of Spring
Explore the essence and herbs of springtime with community herbalist, farmer, and educator AC Stauble for an in-person class at the Weathertop Farmacy. It is on Sunday, April 28, 2024 at 1pm at 11 Main St, Cherry Valley NY.
She will discuss some of the springtime activities, traditions, and archetypal elements of the spring season, especially in the Northeast US. You'll get to know some of her favorite plants that are beginning to appear here in Central New York like cleavers, chickweed, nettles, cutleaf toothwart, burdock root, yellow dock root and more with lovely pictures in the slide deck and some live plants if they are available at the time of class.
We begin by exploring some of the archetypal elements of the spring season by examining this beautiful painting called, "Spirit of Spring" and discuss the feelings that spring can invoke in us. We may feel the yearning for summer warmth. We may be ready to get our bodies moving again, roaming the land looking for signs of green. Or perhaps we ache for more of the quietude, stillness and wood stove tea that winter brings and feel like spring is rushing forth. We haven't processed all of the losses that the prior seasons may have brought. It's a time of transition.
We discuss some spring traditions like creating posies, decorating eggs, making flower crowns, walking the land or "beating the bounds", eating spring greens and herbs and more. These traditions have some physical benefits to our lymphatic system, our immune system, digestive system and emotional regulation so we talk a bit about those body systems in more detail.
Throughout the class we do deep dives into plants, their constituents, the ways they interact with our body and some of the historical uses and lore of the plants of spring.
AC integrates art, books she loves and used as resources for the class research, and the use of all of our senses through tasting, touching, smelling, and seeing herbs in class. She offers tips on how to harvest and wildcraft (or weedcraft) plants with heart and intention, and directions or pro-tips for harvesting the different plant parts like leaf, flower, seed, or root.
Suggested donation of $30. NOTAFLOF - No One Turned Away For Lack Of Funds.
More about AC Stauble:
AC is a community herbalist based in Central NY at a beautiful herb farm and homestead called Cohosh Creek. AC creates hand made, high quality herbal products with home grown or wildcrafted with care herbs, roots and fungi for her business called Traveling Herb Farmer. You can find her products such as skin soothing salves, muscle rubs, teas and tinctures at the Cooperstown Farmers Market and online at https://www.travelingherbfarmer.com/.
One of the best parts about being an herbalist and farmer for AC is being able to share knowledge and love of the plants with other people. She can see how much healing and kinship is available between humans and the natural world and loves being able to celebrate and foster that connection.
She and her partner Isaac Hill steward the land, grow medicinal and interesting plants and explore the forests often. They co-host the Plant Cunning Podcast and host an annual in person Plant Cunning Conference at the farm. This year the conference is on July 26-28th with some incredible speakers like educator and earth elder Pam Montgomery, herbalist 7Song, mycologist Olga Tsogas of Smugtown Mushrooms, and many more. It is a weekend of classes, plant walks, music, cool vendors, great food and community.