Herbal Medicine Basket Workshop

Our April workshop – Herbal Medicine Basket – was so beautiful!  Nearly two dozen women gathered in Lauren’s beautiful ranch home to make herb bundles, tinctures, herbal oils and salves. There was an overview of the benefits of herbal medicine and a booklet with herb profiles and recipes, and above all we had a lovely afternoon in one another’s company.

White sage is being over harvested in the wild, so I chose not to harvest any for such a large workshop.  Instead, I harvested other fragrant plants from the back country of Carpinteria that are more abundant around here and are not in any danger of becoming scarce any time soon. Sagebrush, mugwort, hummingbird sage and purple sage were arranged differently by each guest to create unique and beautiful smudge bundles.  Everyone’s turned out gorgeous.

Every medicine basket needs an all-purpose healing salve.  We made three different kinds at the workshop with plantain, chickweed, and yarrow, and everyone chose her favorite to bring home.  Other important parts of the herbal medicine basket are herbal oils and tinctures.  Each guest made one of each, choosing the herbs for their specific actions – catnip and passion vine for calming and relaxing, calendula for it’s affinity for the skin, borage for the adrenal support, or as a galactagogue, etc.  They would not be ready for four weeks, so everyone took theirs home in mason jars, with little glass dropper bottles to strain them into once they were finished.

Emma made a spread of delicious refreshments, which included Wild Pie with sourdough crust made from foraged wild dock and strawberries, kombucha treats, and dandelion root tea.

We had such a wonderful afternoon, making medicine and just spending time with a fantastic group of women. A huge THANK YOU to everyone who came out for this! We can’t wait for the next workshop!

Love, Ashley

 

Photos by Brittany Smith