CSCH is thrilled to continue the process of creating an Herbal Healing Center at Elderberry’s, our beautiful 4-acre farm in Paonia, Colorado! Experience traditional Nature Cure and Vitalist therapeutics among the gardens, herb beds, fruit trees, and wildlands nearby. For the Spring, Summer and Fall of 2018, the farm will be hosting workshops, apprenticeships, immersions and events to help you reconnect with the healing powers of Nature and to expand your knowledge of earth-based medicines. Elderberry’s is a place to rest, learn, heal, rejuvenate and connect in community.

 

The Farm

Elderberry’s is home to a charming, periwinkle-blue 1908 farmhouse, graced with Peach, Plum, and Apple trees, where chickens free-range among organic vegetable and herb gardens. Our botanical sanctuary is on the edge of town, in a quiet, peaceful, varied landscape with huge Cottonwood trees shading the lawns. It’s the perfect place to shed the chaos of city life and recharge your vitality. Eat fresh food right from local farms and gardens and rest in the camping meadow under brilliant stars or stay in one of our tiny houses. Find yourself at home among healing waters, where the Minnesota creek and mountain snowmelt converge to nourish the land and soothe the mind, body and spirit.

The Land

This breathtaking landscape is surrounded by an expanse of mountains and mesas, with clear air and pure mountain water. Sage and Juniper grow in wild abundance among other fragrant plants and wildflowers. Elderberry’s is located on the edge of Paonia, in the North Fork Valley, an area known for its fertile volcanic soil that supports the abundant growth of organic fruits and vegetables. This unique micro-climate is often compared to the Provence region of southeast France, as the valley mimics coastal Mediterranean terrain. Paonia is home to the highest concentration of organic farms in the state – truly a haven for plant-lovers, gardeners, herbalists and healers!

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2018 Workshops at Elderberry’s

Join us on our farm for another summer of herbal learning and reconnecting with the healing powers of Nature! Camp out down by the creek, use one of our new glamping platforms, or stay in a sweet tiny house …

We are currently updating this page with links to each workshop as we get closer to these wonderful events. Our first workshop of 2018 will be …

 May 11-13: Medicinal Herbal Meads

Learn to make traditional honey extractions of various medicinal herbs and berries, then turn them into exquisite semi-sweet and dry meads using the low-heat, slow-aging process. We’ll work with Elderberries, Cherries, Cacao, Ginger, Spruce tips, Juniper berries, and other medicinal herbs and fruits. You’ll get to experience all of the stages of mead-making, including extracting the herbs with honey, selecting and pitching the yeast, and the stages of fermentation, racking, clearing, bottling, and aging. We’ll also sample the herbal meads we started last May! With Lisa Ganora, CSCH Director, and friends. Lisa has been making herbal meads for more than 25 years and combines her love of all things herbal with her skills as an herbal pharmacist and phytochemist. Click the workshop title above to read more and to register online, or  email us for more information.
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June 1-3: Wild Foods Foraging

Join us for an amazing weekend of foraging and wild foods preparation with herbalist, wildcrafter, and author Briana Wiles and Kat Mackinnon, Director of CSCH’s Rocky Mountain Field Botany course and ancestral skills teacher. With these skilled guides, you’ll learn sustainable harvesting and practical techniques for preparing and cooking with native and naturalized wild foods and local herbs of the Western Slope. Come learn how surprisingly delicious Cattail Ash Cakes can be at our Saturday night Wild Food Feast! For more information or to register online, click the link above, or email Lisa.Ganora@ClinicalHerbalism.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

July 26-29: Wise Woman Weekend

With Maria Hodkins, Alicia Michelsen, & Lisa Ganora
Join us Thursday afternoon through Sunday noon for a long weekend during the July Full Moon. Together we’ll celebrate and learn the healing powers of traditional medicine plants and nourishing medicinal foods. Using ancestral herbal and healing skills from the Wise Woman tradition, we’ll learn directly from the Green Teachers themselves as we harvest and prepare our own medicines and cook health-empowering foods together (including lactic ferments for probiotic health). Explore the intuitive and experiential side of herbalism through plant communication, using our senses and instincts to observe and understand our local herbs and their actions; by making beautiful herb journals to teach us deep observation skills and help us record our experiences; and by joyfully celebrating the vitality and sacredness of life on Earth with the Green People … We’ll share story and song around the Fire, sing to the Moon, a connect with our roots as Wise Woman Healers! For more information or to register online, click the link above, or email Lisa.Ganora@ClinicalHerbalism.com.

 

 

 

Aug 25-26: Essential Oil Distilling with Eric Bresselsmith

Learn artisan essential oil distilling with Eric and Amber from House of Aromatics in Boulder, Utah. At this fascinating workshop, participants harvest, prepare and distill magical essences while connecting with the spirits, energies and medicine of the local Conifers. Eric returns for another popular workshop at Elderberry’s to guide us in harvesting the plants respectfully and sustainably, and experiencing the magic of distilling to capture “the Genie in the Bottle” in the form of essential oils and hydrosols.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oct 5-7: Experience Nature Cure with teachers from CSCH

Immerse yourself in the healing powers of Nature and prepare for Winter with traditional nourishing tonics, herbs, hydrotherapy, meditations, and movements to build Qi.