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   A new series of workshops, one 3-day weekend each month on

  HERB CULTIVATION 

 DAOIST GARDENING 

MOUNTAIN HERBS 

 BIODYNAMIC AGRICULTURE  

Tentative schedule:

APR 17-19   indoor seed sowing, potting soil, bed preparation

MAY 22-24  outdoor sowing, potting, cuttings & division

JUN 12-14  planting, soilprep, fertilizing

JUL 10-12  maintenance, pruning/training

AUG 7-9  harvesting, drying

SEP 18-20  herb processing,

OCT 9-11  seed collecting, winterizing

  Each session we  will be working on identifying and developing habitats for specific herbs (light, moisture, soil texture, pH, etc.)  

At the same time, we will be studying Daoist principles of landscape design.

The garden is comprised of  a variety of environments / habitats, each of  which is home to a variety of plants / herbs: we will be growing plants, identifying / developing /creating environments, making a garden.

   In addition to working in the garden, we will be spending time in the mountains. Mountain Gardens is at the base (last place on the road) of the highest mountain in E. N America.  The experience of being in the mountains and gathering mountain herbs is central to Daoist herbalism.

Each 3-day session will include a hike to identify and perhaps harvest native herbs which are related to TCM herbs, with discussion of current opinion regarding how to use these herbs in a TCM practice.

    This year we will be joined by Florence Rewinski, biodynamic expert with the Josephine Porter Institute, who will be providing instruction and guiding the conversion of Mountain Gardens to biodynamic methods.  

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NEED A SPEAKER?
I am available to teach the following workshops at Community Colleges, for garden and herb groups, conferences, etc.

MOUNTAIN GARDENS: A ‘PARADISE GARDEN’
IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA
Mountain Gardens is a single unified project with many aspects: a botanical garden of useful plants, grown ecologically and arranged ornamentally (including the largest collection of medicinal plants in E. US); a demonstration of the potential of simple living in a direct relationship with the environment; an herb shop including a complete Chinese herb pharmacy and 100+ herb tinctures prepared from the garden; a library and research center; a seed business and small nursery specializing in useful plants; a demonstration of alternative (low cost, sustainable) building and energy; an exercise in visionary ecological theater. This 90 min. ( more or less) lecture describes all of the above, their gradual development, interconnectedness, current status and future plans. Slide show illustrates development of the gardens from woodland over a period of 35 years.

GROW YOUR OWN MEDICINAL HERBS:
This workshop has a dual focus: incorporating herbs in your life, and in your environment. General information and techniques of propagation and cultivation are followed by detailed consideration of as many species as time allows, from my valuable handout 120 important, easily grown medicinal herbs. 90 min. - all day.

HERBS FOR AGROFORESTRY:
Useful species (medicinal, edible and craft) suitable
for growing in woodland or shady areas. Introduction to woodland plant communities and selection of appropriate herbs for each. Propagation, cultivation and uses of the plants. 90 min - half day. slides available.

GROWING AND USING THE TONIC HERBS:
This workshop focuses on Chinese (and several Western and Ayurvedic) "tonic" (longevity, rejuvenative) herbs, with a discussion of the traditional and contemporary understanding of this important category of health-promoting herbs, their potential use in our lives, and propagation and cultivation of these plants in America. 90 min. - half day.

THE (#) MOST USEFUL, EASILY GROWN PLANTS FOR OUR AREA:
(# ranges from 10-100 depending on time allowed).
A brief introduction to the concept of ‘useful plants’ - in our gardens, and in our lives - followed by detailed
consideration of individual species: perennial (and self-sowing annual) food plants, medicinals and craft plants. Focus is on easily grown, multiple-use (including ornamental) species.

PLANT ID WALKS:
(At Mountain Gardens or anywhere)
Identification, ecology, cultivation and uses of edible, medicinal and otherwise useful species encountered. At Mountain Gardens hundreds of species are displayed in a landscape setting and in the immediately adjacent Pisgah Nat’l Forest most of the major native medicinal and edible herbs can be seen in their natural habitat. 
   But almost any area will include enough species for an interesting walk. 90 min. - all day

MAKING TINCTURES AND OTHER MEDICINAL HERB PREPARATIONS:
Discussion and demonstration of techniques, proportions and apparatus for making tinctures, extracts, decoctions, oils and salves, lotions, medicated syrups and wines, etc. 90 min - 3 hr workshop. A valuable handout provides detailed information on appropriate methods for specific plants.

SEED SAVING:
Techniques for collection, cleaning and storage of seeds. Discussion of the emerging understanding of seed dormancy mechanisms and appropriate nursery practice for germination of difficult species. Specific
information on storage and germination requirements of important useful herbs. 1 - 2 hours.

GARDEN HEROES FOR OUR TIME:
A personal selection of favorite inspirational characters and episodes from garden history, ranging from ancient Chinese garden poets and herbalists through renaissance paradise gardeners and an eighteenth century political firebrand, to contemporary ‘outsider’ artists. 1-2 hours