Welcome! Wisdom of the Herbs School offers unique experiential programs, weaving knowledge and wisdom of the local wild plants. Participants learn through herb walks and nature adventures, hiking and meditating in wild places. Our programs feature harvesting wild foods and making herbal home remedies with intention and gratitude, in sacred tradition. The core of our programs is communion with the plant-people, in a context of sustainable living skills and healthy life-style practices, all in a relaxed, magical and grounded atmosphere. Our School is located in South Woodbury, Vermont, 20 minutes north of Montpelier and one hour from Burlington. The surrounding wild lands offer a series of beaver ponds, waterfalls, and woods trails, accessible in four seasons. Our small class size maximizes the transformation that comes from multi-dimensional-adventuring with the plant-people.

Annie McCleary offers the wisdom of over 25 years of working and playing with wild and cultivated plants. Annie is a medicine maker, community herbalist, herb teacher, a former herb-grower and a lover of plants. Her teaching is grounded in her deep intuitive sense and connection with the plant-people. She is the former owner and founder of Purple Coneflower Herbals. "I really sensed your presence as an elder/teacher and the authority that you spoke from, the fruit of your decades of work with the plants, and medicine." W.P. George Lisi is a naturalist, guide and birder who weaves outer knowledge of the natural world with an easy flow of colloquy and communication with the multi-dimensional sentience of the Nature Kingdoms. Grounded in years of experience and study, his teaching taps a playful and profound well of creativity that engages students on many levels. "George enhanced my powers of observation 1000%!" E.G.

Wisdom of the Herbs 2009: An Experiential Journey Through the Seasons. Wisdom of the Herbs is a unique Certification Program spanning the arc of three seasons, meeting eight weekends from May to November. Our focus is on the local wild plants, holistic healing and healthy life-style, skillful use of intentionality, and fostering sustainble living skills. Our hands-on curriculum includes herb walks, nature adventures, communion and play with nature, and many aspects of knowing the wild plants: identification, plant spirit communion, sustainable wild harvesting, wild edibles and herbal home remedies. Equally important, we address health and healing as profoundly holistic endeavors involving food as our first medicine, healthy life-style practices and skillful use of intention - synergistic, foundational practices for harmonious personal, community and planetary evolution. Learn spiritual dowsing, fire making with bow drill, and cordage making with natural fibers. Dates: May 16-17, June 6-7, June 27-28, July 18-19, Aug. 15-16, Sept. 12-13, Oct. 10-11, and Nov. 7-8. Tuition: $1750.For complete information on early registration discounted tuition, grants, payment plan and credit card, please visit our website.

During the Wild Edible Intensive, participants will learn which wild plants can be eaten, when to eat them, and how to prepare them. Learn how to sustainably harvest, naturalize wild edibles in our gardens, dooryards, towns and urban areas, and put wild edibles up for winter use. At the core, we will practice being who we really are in the natural scheme of things - just one species among many on the Earth, honoring the real source of our food and sustenance, taking only our fair share, deeply connecting with Nature, and offering gratitude. Two terms: Spring Term: $240 -May 24, June 14 and July 12, 2009. Summer Term: $300 - Aug. 9, Sept. 20 and Oct. 4, 2009. For complete information on tuition, early registration discounted tuition, grants, payment plan and credit card, please visit our website.

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