Awaken Your Inner Herbalist: The 5 Flavors and Senses

8210 Murphy Road,Fulton MD 20759

20 June, 2021

Description

Learn to use your senses and the western herbal flavor wheel to intuit medicinal applications of new plants. Although many of our species have strayed from our roots of gathering herbal medicine and wild foods, humans still hold the keys to herbal mastery and companionship with plants, not through memorization, but through our senses! The tastes, smells, and sights of the plant world communicate with us in thousands of ways, if only we remember how to listen. Join community herbalist Michelle for a hands-on workshop to dial in your palate to the five essential flavors of the western herbal flavor wheel, surrounded by 300+ lively medicinal plant species in Jim Duke's Green Farmacy Garden. We will immersively interact with plants across the flavor spectrum of sweet, salty, bitter, pungent, and sour, as a journey into the deeply human path of understanding and harnessing herbal medicines for vitality and health. Bring paper and writing utensils to take notes, and be mindful of the weather as we will be outside in the garden! Sunscreen, hat, bug repellant, water bottle, and layered clothing are recommended. Masks covering mouth and nose are required onsite when using the indoor restroom or washing facilities and when unable to physically distance from others outdoors, according to mutual comfort level. Four scholarship spots for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) are available, email us at [email protected] to claim one! Located in Fulton, Maryland, The Green Farmacy Garden is a sanctuary for approximately 300 native and non-native species of plants that have been used traditionally and/or researched for medicinal applications. USDA botanist James A. Duke, PhD, and his wife, Peggy, collected medicinal plants for over sixty years.  In 1997, they transformed part of their pasture land into a teaching garden highlighting the plants that are featured in Jim’s book, The Green Pharmacy. The Green Farmacy Garden is also a part of the United Plant Savers network of sanctuaries around the country, which strive to educate the public and maintain native plant species that have become at risk or endangered. Since the garden is located on a large parcel of land, we are always in need of volunteers to help. We are also receptive to students who wish to work on independent projects with medicinal plants. Tours to the public are on scheduled days or by appointment.