Come join us for this Wise Woman (and Wise Guys too) Wednesday Workshop on growing and harvesting medicinal and culinary herbs. This lecture is designed for folks who have some very basic growing experience but want to develop or expand their skills; however, we will also cover some introductory topics for those who have yet to experience the joys of gardening. The first half of the evening will cover topics such as: obtaining seeds, inside seed starting versus starting seeds in the garden, the unusual requirements of some herbs such as cold stratification, weeds and pests, how to harvest and preserve your herbs, how to promote pollinators, seed saving, and favorite resources. The second half of the evening will cover as many of our favorites as we can, such as Holy Basil, Ashwagandha, Echinacea, Lemon Balm, Nettles, Milky oats, Sage, Rosemary, Fennel, Marshmallow, Lavender, White Sage, Comfrey, Catnip, California Poppy and more. For many, growing and harvesting our herbal friends can be an essential part of the healing journey, and we will talk about using our senses, instincts, hearts and hands (and a few good books) to expand our skills to work and play with our green allies. Due to time constraints we will not be focusing on the traditional uses of these herbs. We will close with a small seed give-away to get everyone's gardening season off to a fun start.

Your host for this workshop is Melody Wright, owner/farmer of Pleasant Valley Botanicals, and teaching assistant at Twin Star. Pleasant Valley Botanicals is a small farm in Northwest CT working to provide the highest quality, fresh, vibrant medicinal and culinary herbs to the local community. Melody grows @100 different herbs, and for the past two seasons at least 60 different herbs were included in her fresh herb Community Supported Agriculture program, or as she prefers to think of it, FSA- Farmer Support Apothecary.