The workshop on Saturday rocked! We went waaaaayyyy over time with rambles, chats and questions – just like a good learning experience should.
It was a cold and wet Saturday that followed a decidedly stormy night when many of the world’s computer systems crashed (hooray) and I was afraid that folks may pull out but 6 people attended. We started late and ran late, but what is time after all if you’re having a good one? Like so many other herbal events we’ve held, participants were all women. That’s kind of normal, as women have been called to be healers throughout the centuries but it is always nice to shake up the gender bias and have some non binary folks or males attend. Maybe one of the attendees were non binary but didn’t identify…
We covered a wide range of herbal topics and techniques based around using water as our solvent – teas, infusions and decoctions. We actually ran out of time for everyone to make their own decoction but I did a demo so that everyone got the idea.
Andrew (the name behind Andrew’s Urban Farm) put on a great soup for lunch that warmed us and grounded us in our bellies after spending so much time in our heads and hands.He also chatted for a while about bees because, two other breeders were among the group. It’s always fascinating to hear about bees and- our world relies so heavily on them.
Folks who have attended any of our workshops have commented about how they love the free-form, rambling style and feel that they learn more that way than more structured courses. We provide course notes to help people through the day and give them something extra to take home and peruse at their leisure.
I didn’t get to take any pics, so if any of the participants took any nice ones that I can use here and on my website, I’ll be very grateful. The lovely pic below was snapped by Julie. Nice hat but where’d my teeth go?!
A big thanks too for the benefactor (anonymous of course) who paid extra to help subsidise others to get there. We’re experimenting with a sliding scale of prices with the desired price in the middle, lower prices for folks who are struggling and a higher price so that folks who are cashed up and feeling benevolent can pay a little extra to help other folks make the price and help build the kitchen herbalism community through Ligaya Garden and Joe’s Connected Garden in that way.
I always give my all during our events and was happy but exhausted after. My health issues mean that I am easily exhausted. I went for a lay down at 5pm when I was home and settled and didn’t get up until 4pm the next day. Actually, I did wake once earlier in the afternoon but it was cold and raining outside and the bed was so warm…
I’d prefer to give my energy to folks who will use the skills and knowledge to do good, healing work rather than fritter it away in any other way.
Other herb pages on Ligaya Garden
We cover a lot of ground on many herb related topics here on our website. There are whole pages devoted to different topics as well as frequent posts. Some of the links are –
