2017 SUMMER HERBAL FAIR
SATURDAY, JULY 29th from 3pm to 9 pm, at Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism
We’ll have a schedule of great activities, including:
~casual mini-classes, demos, and herb walks in our gorgeous hill gardens
~make-and-take fire cider, hydrosol distillation, and fiber-dying with plants
~mini-chair massages and tarot readings
~kids’ face-painting, herbal snow cones, and tons of activities
There will be food from great vendors, including our famous mocktail bar, various musicians throughout the day, and plenty of herbal and healing related crafts, art and products for sale.
Mark your calendars, gather your crew, and plan to make a day of it! We can’t wait!
$10 entry gets you into all mini-classes, demos and walks, music, and vending area. (Bring extra funds for food and beverage vendors and small materials fees for some activities.) There is a $3 admission for kids 4 and up.
Herb Fair Tentative Schedule of Events:
Ongoing Activities
VCIH Student clinic mini-consults and tea station (by donation)
Massage with Rebecca Ruplin (fee)
Divination/Tarot Reading with Linda Valente and Carmen Reyes (fee)
Hydrosol Distillation with VCIH students (free)
Kid’s Activities ~ 3-7pm
Parents are asked to please stay with their children while they have fun!
(Kid’s projects are all free with admission; donations towards materials gladly accepted)
Bubble fun and hoola hoops
Making pollinator-friendly seed bombs
Plant-print flag making
Face painting
Medicinal plant coloring pages
Herbal scavenger hunt
Herbal board games
Music ~ 3-9
Erica Robinson and Forrest Newton – folk duet
Nate Gusakov – original banjo music
Kim LeClaire, Mike Warren and Jeff Cochran – eclectic modern folk
Food ~ 3-9pm
A variety of food and beverage vendors
Demo and Mini-class schedule
3:30 Dowsing for Herbalists with Fearn Lickfield, director of the Green Mountain Druid School
Fearn will give a talk and demonstration of dowsing using pendulum and L Rods. She will discuss the many useful applications of dowsing for herbalists, such as communication with Nature, siting of gardens, earth energies, divination and healing.
3:30 Flax Spinning demonstration with Joann Darling
4:00 Herb Walk with Betzy Bancroft, Co-Director, VCIH (focusing on medicinal uses of plants)
Meet your medicine! Betzy loves to introduce her plant friends, and along the way we’ll discuss their key medicinal uses, how to recognize them, and how they can be prepared.
4:00 Hydrosol Distillation demonstration with VCIH clinical students
VCIH students Rob Havens and Hannah Mitchell will give a tour of our beautiful copper still and our distillation set up, explaining the principles and process of distilling and preserving essential oils and hydrosols (plant waters) from fresh plants. Samples of past distillations will be on hand, along with what’s coming out of the still as it’s in process.
4:30 Plant Dye Demonstration with Jennifer Johnson of Plant Spirit Farm and Fibers
4:30 Preps with Fresh Plants with Heather Irvine of Giving Tree Botanicals
Heather will guide participants in turning blooming beauties from VCIH’s onsite medicinal garden into bright and potent medicinal herbal preparations. Learn a few gathering techniques and easy preparation steps to help you make the most of fresh harvested herbs and prevent errors and spoilage so you can enjoy plants you grow or wildcraft for longer.
5:00 Herb walk with Joann Darling, VCIH’s garden manager
5:00 Herbal Adaptogens for Resiliency: Choosing the Right One for You + Bliss Ball Making Demo with Nick Cavanaugh and Mica McDonald
Adaptogens are plants that help build resiliency to stress, providing a steady boost of energy while nourishing the body for long-term support. A fun and tasty way to get more adaptogens in your life is making “bliss balls”–herbal snacks with nut butter and honey. In this brief demo learn differences between common adaptogens and how to make bliss balls. Yummy samples provided!
5:30 DIY Fire Cider with Julie MacAdam
6:00 Tree Twig Oracle Casting demonstration with Carmen Reyes, Herbal Taroist
Connect with your intuition with the magic of trees. Tree twig oracle offers a symbolic way of working with tree energies. You will learn the tree oracle names, meanings, and how to do a reading for yourself.
6:00 Eat your weeds! with Katherine Elmer of RAILYARD Healing Center and Spoonful Herbals
Many common and abundant plants are tasty and packed with essential vitamins and minerals. You’ll tour the edible weedy plants, then taste and learn how to make “Wild Weeds Pesto”.
6:30 Wildcrafted Artist Materials: Making Paint from the Landscape. Demonstration with Nick Neddo
The event is located right here at VCIH. There is no rain date for this event.