Upcoming Events
Fruit Tree Pruning Workshop
Black Mountain Community Garden 99 White Pine Dr. Black Mountain, NC 28711
Please RSVP by emailing Leonora Stefanile leonora.stefanile@tobm.org. This class will be capped at 20 participants.
Cost: $20 (cash, check, or card at event). We strive to make our workshops accessible to all; please contact Leonora to inquire about reduced ticket prices.
About: Learn the basic principles of fruit tree and shrub pruning before participating in a demonstration implementing these practices on Apples, Blueberries, Hazelnuts, Pears, and Pawpaws growing at the Dr. John Wilson Community Garden. If you have pruning tools, bring them! Community tools will be available for practice.
Time: 1 - 4:30Fee: $20
Late Winter Ethnobotany and ID
Red Moon Herbs in Candler, NC
Join Ethnobiologist Marc Williams on a plant walk around the Red Moon Herbs gardens and forest during the end of the most challenging time to botanize during the year. When the flowers, fruits and leaves are mostly gone, we must learn to distinguish more subtle clues to determine the identification of many plants. That said by the end of February some plants are already coming out to play with their flowers in particular. We will take note of these early bloomers especially while we engage in a dialogue about off season woody plant characteristics, ethnobotanical applications and various resources available for further study.
https://redmoonherbs.com
Fee: $25 - 50 Sliding Scale
Fruit Tree Pruning Workshop
Tempie Avery Montford Park: 34 Pearson Drive Asheville, NC 28801
About: Learn the basic principles of fruit tree and shrub pruning before participating in a demonstration implementing these practices on Apples, Blueberries, Mulberry, Pears, Persimmons and Pawpaws growing at the Tempie Avery park in Montford. If you have pruning tools, bring them! Community tools will be available for practice.
Time: 1 - 4:30 p.mFee: Suggested donation $10-20
NC Rare Plant Discussion
UNC Chapel Hill Botanical Garden
Fee: Priceless: Free!
Ethnobiology and Sustainability
North Carolina State University
A lecture for the Ethnobiology class of Dr. Jillian de Gezelle at NC State and not open to the public though the hope is to also give a presentation to the Ethnobiology club as well that may be then open.
Time:Fee:
Phytoremediation
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Botanical Garden
Phytoremediation entails the use of plants to mitigate the effects of some type of environmental toxin or damage. Humans have introduced tens of thousands of novel compounds into the environment just since World War II while only a fraction of these have been adequately tested for safety and even proven toxins continue to often be used. Phytoremediation may be used to remove contaminants from soil, air, water or simply re-vegetate and stabilize a disturbed area. In the process, phytoremediation may offer a suite of benefits familiar to those who work with plants including carbon sequestration, erosion control, increased water quality, aesthetic value, food for wildlife, craft materials etc. The potential threat from toxins to folks interested in foraging or community gardening in polluted urban environments will be a focus in particular.
Time: 1:30 - 4:00Fee: Variable Pricing
Botany by Plant Family: The Key to See
Duke Gardens in Durham, NC
Learning to notice plant family patterns can greatly aid in demystifying the “green wall” of plant species around us. Nearly 350,000 species of flowering plants are known to global science, and these species have been grouped into over 400 flowering plant families. By learning the top 30 plant families growing around you, you will begin to recognize plants everywhere you go. After an indoor presentation on the major plant families common to the Southeastern US, reinforce your plant identification skills on a walk in the Gardens to observe family patterns in leaf, flower and fruit types. Discuss edibility, medicinality, craft, wildlife support and landscape beauty as you gain a more holistic understanding of the major plants comprising Southern US flora and their potential ecological and ethnobotanical applications.
Accessibility: This will be a small group program that takes place partially seated indoors and partially outdoors traveling on a combination of paved and unpaved paths with some uneven surfaces and moderate inclines.
Register at the link below
https://gardens.duke.edu/learn/adult-programs/
Fee: $32 and 20% discount for garden members
Field Botany–Foraged Snacks & Teas
John C. Campbell Folk School
Discover the joys of botanical exploration. Walk the Folk School’s gardens, fields, and forests as you observe plants and practice a patterns method of identification. Deepen your awareness of plant life stories and their relationships to other life forms like animals and fungi. Recognize plant families and their representative members, practice sustainable plant collecting, and learn from presentations. End each day with samples of delicious snacks and teas featuring wild foraged ingredients.
https://folkschool.configio.com/pd/3686/field-botany-foraged-snacks-teas?st_t=2077&st_ti=2492&cid=2527&returncom=productlist&source=search
Time: 6p.m. 4/12 - 12p.m. 4/18Fee: $870
Medicines from the Earth Conference
Blue Ridge Assembly in Black Mountain, NC
Excited to be returning to one of my favorite conferences ever! Will also be nice to be at the amazing venue of the Blue Ridge Assembly again after being displaced last year due to the damage from Hurricane Helene. It will certainly be an incredible scene! My classes this year include Ethnomycology and the Poisonous Plant Path.
See more info at the link below.
https://www.botanicalmedicine.org/pages/medicines-from-the-earth
Fee: Variable Pricing
Wild Indigo Herb Fest
Terrapin Hill Farm, Harrodsburg, KY.
Excited to be one of the keynotes along with friend and inspiration Linda Black Elk for this inaugural iteration of a new herb conference for Kentucky. Will probably teach another class or two while in the area as well.
More details at the link below
https://wildindigoherbfest.com/about/
Time:Fee: Variable Pricing
Cullowhee Native Plant Conference
Western Carolina University
One of the oldest native plant conferences in the country having just celebrated its 40th birthday! Always a highlight of the teaching schdule every year with enough high qulaity class offerings to make ones head spin!
https://www.wcu.edu/engage/professional-enrichment/conferences-and-community-classes/the-cullowhee-native-plant-conference/
Fee: Variable Pricing
Southeastern Permaculture Gathering
The Patterson School
Come to our annual gathering at the beautiful Patterson School outside Lenoir, NC This is certainly one of my favorites of all time, even in a place and a life with many amazing events! i will most definitely be helping to facilitate a plant/mushroom walk and will also be working in the kitchen if you want to help make food for everybody. Almost all the meals are sourced locally or from participants of the gathering. Some of the best food experienced by many at any gathering bar none. An amazing outdoor sculpture park is another incredible component of this locale too. http://www.southeasternpermaculture.org/
Time: 8a.m. 7.31.26 - 4p.m. 8.2.26
Fee: Sliding Scale
Great Lakes Herb Faire
Cedar Lake Outdoor Center outside Chelsea, MI
This is one of my favorite events ever attended of the over 100 experienced over the decades. Will update info once the schedule is announced.
https://www.greatlakesherbfaire.org/
Fee: Variable Pricing
Gullah Geechee Herbal Gathering
John's Island, South Carolina
Excited to finally attend this annual gathering. For one of the few times in my career in the last fifteen years my role will be solely as a student and at least not formally as a teacher. That said excited to absorb as much as possible of the wisdom of the elders that they care to share.
https://www.gullahgeecheeherbalgathering.com/
Fee: Variable Pricing