CONNECTING WITH
THE LIVING LAND
a journey of:
community + kinship
herbalism + gardening
body + spirit
service + healing
community + kinship
herbalism + gardening
body + spirit
service + healing
* The course is now filled *
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Location:
Muddy River Herbals 2468 Washington Street Canton, MA www.muddyriverherbals.com Enrollment in the in-person class will also give access to the online class |
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2023 Dates:
We are offering two class sessions (either on Saturdays OR on Sundays), which will take place one day per month from April through October 2023. Each class day is 6 hours long. Summer sessions (June, July and August) will be from 9 am to 3 pm. All other sessions run from 10 am to 4 pm. April 29 or 30 May 27 or 28 June 24 or 25 July 29 or 30 August 26 or 27 September 30 or October 1 October 21 or 22 November 5th: optional make-up day |
Overview:
We invite you to join us on a journey into the plant world. Throughout our seven months together we will deepen our relationship with forest, field, and garden by learning their rhythms and remembering how we fit into them. Our time will be spent among the soil where we will learn how to work with plants and tend to the earth by sowing, planting, weeding, and harvesting. We will honor the plants we work with by transforming them into medicine and handicraft.
Our spirits -- and the spirit of nature -- will be acknowledged in each gathering through practices of meditation, journaling, reflection, and offerings of gratitude to the land. Together we will remember our deep connection to plant medicine as we work to recover our sense of kinship to the wild world of which we are a part.
Our gatherings, which take once a month from April through October, will each feature medicine making, plant profiles, earth connection practices, and holistic gardening techniques. We will often participate in other activities as well, such as plant walks throughout the Muddy River Herbals farm and The Bradley Estate (where the farm is located). Each gathering will revolve around a specific theme that corresponds to a plant guardian which will serve as a guide in that month’s work. Our time in the garden will be centered on ecologically sound methods, with a special emphasis on ancestral techniques, permaculture principles, and the importance of plants that sustain not only ourselves but the birds, pollinators, and members with whom we share our neighborhoods.
Our days together will be spent outdoors: rain, snow, wind, or shine.
We invite you to join us on a journey into the plant world. Throughout our seven months together we will deepen our relationship with forest, field, and garden by learning their rhythms and remembering how we fit into them. Our time will be spent among the soil where we will learn how to work with plants and tend to the earth by sowing, planting, weeding, and harvesting. We will honor the plants we work with by transforming them into medicine and handicraft.
Our spirits -- and the spirit of nature -- will be acknowledged in each gathering through practices of meditation, journaling, reflection, and offerings of gratitude to the land. Together we will remember our deep connection to plant medicine as we work to recover our sense of kinship to the wild world of which we are a part.
Our gatherings, which take once a month from April through October, will each feature medicine making, plant profiles, earth connection practices, and holistic gardening techniques. We will often participate in other activities as well, such as plant walks throughout the Muddy River Herbals farm and The Bradley Estate (where the farm is located). Each gathering will revolve around a specific theme that corresponds to a plant guardian which will serve as a guide in that month’s work. Our time in the garden will be centered on ecologically sound methods, with a special emphasis on ancestral techniques, permaculture principles, and the importance of plants that sustain not only ourselves but the birds, pollinators, and members with whom we share our neighborhoods.
Our days together will be spent outdoors: rain, snow, wind, or shine.
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Course Outline:
APRIL Dandelion + Violet + Nettle Cold Water & Hot Water Infusions Sowing Seeds Intro to Wheel of the Year Land Acknowledgement MAY Lady’s Mantle + Hawthorn + Mugwort Infused Vinegars & Shrubs Creating an Herb Spiral Earth Offering Plant Meditation JUNE Rose + St. John’s Wort + Lavender Infused Wines Flower Essences Intro to Harvesting Solstice Celebration & Flower Crowns JULY Mint + Comfrey + Calendula Infused Oils & Salves Pollinator Strip & Ecological Communities Comfrey Compost Tea Lughnasadh Ritual AUGUST Elderberry + Tulsi + Mullein Infused Honeys & Electuaries Harvesting & Drying Skills Intro to Permaculture Intuitive Plant Drawing SEPTEMBER Goldenrod + Oat + Sweetgrass Aromatic Medicine & Smoke Wands Home Composting Hugelkulture Beds Autumn Equinox Celebration OCTOBER Ashwagandha + Elecampane + Burdock Tinctures & Cordials Harvesting & Processing Roots Mullein Torches Samhain Ceremony |
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Working Towards Decolonizing Herbalism
While we strive to follow the wild cycles of the seasons and practice reciprocity with the places we call home, we do so as settlers living and working on Pawtucket, Massa-adchu-es-et, and Wampanoag land. Our work is born of an awakened remembrance of our own ancestral traditions rather than a place of cultural appropriation, and we are committed to doing our part in the decolonization of herbalism while providing an open-hearted space where all are welcome.
While we strive to follow the wild cycles of the seasons and practice reciprocity with the places we call home, we do so as settlers living and working on Pawtucket, Massa-adchu-es-et, and Wampanoag land. Our work is born of an awakened remembrance of our own ancestral traditions rather than a place of cultural appropriation, and we are committed to doing our part in the decolonization of herbalism while providing an open-hearted space where all are welcome.
Your Guides:
Jenny Hauf
Jenny is a teacher, grower, and writer. She was raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on the wild shades of green found in her father's and grandparents' beloved gardens. After formally studying creative writing she embarked on a study of plants that took her from an urban farm in Milwaukee to the sandhill crane's mating grounds of northern Wisconsin; the sheep and goat pastures of Italy's Piemonte to the technicolor fields of County Cork; a suburban French herb farm to an apple paradise on the back roads of central Maine.
In 2015 she created Muddy River Herbals, a farm devoted to bringing a wealth of herbs, biodiversity, and community to the Boston area. Now in its eighth season, Muddy River has unfurled into a hub of vibrant plants and the humans, pollinators, and other wild lives that love them. Jenny also works extensively with native plants as a landscaper, helping people reclaim their yards so that they can be transformed into ecologically rich gardens that delight the senses and provide habitat for creatures such as butterflies, salamanders, and dragonflies. Empowering people to live in engaged reciprocity with their environments is among her greatest passions.
Jenny is a teacher, grower, and writer. She was raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on the wild shades of green found in her father's and grandparents' beloved gardens. After formally studying creative writing she embarked on a study of plants that took her from an urban farm in Milwaukee to the sandhill crane's mating grounds of northern Wisconsin; the sheep and goat pastures of Italy's Piemonte to the technicolor fields of County Cork; a suburban French herb farm to an apple paradise on the back roads of central Maine.
In 2015 she created Muddy River Herbals, a farm devoted to bringing a wealth of herbs, biodiversity, and community to the Boston area. Now in its eighth season, Muddy River has unfurled into a hub of vibrant plants and the humans, pollinators, and other wild lives that love them. Jenny also works extensively with native plants as a landscaper, helping people reclaim their yards so that they can be transformed into ecologically rich gardens that delight the senses and provide habitat for creatures such as butterflies, salamanders, and dragonflies. Empowering people to live in engaged reciprocity with their environments is among her greatest passions.
Steph Zabel
Steph is a mother, gardener, herbalist, keeper of chickens, facilitator of community and student of the wisdom traditions. She spent her childhood in the south, and her early adult years living abroad before moving to the Boston area. She has a deep love for the shifting seasons of this part of the world and its connections to her ancestral homeland of Ireland.
Steph is a graduate of the clinical herbalism program at the CommonWealth Center for Holistic Herbalism and holds a MSc in ethnobotany from the University of Kent at Canterbury. She has also studied with the Gaia School of Healing, The Boston School of Herbal Studies, Sage Mountain, and many other teachers who have been influential on her path. For many years she worked in the botanical collections at the Harvard University Herbarium. She is the creator of Herbstalk, a lively community-based gathering, which brings together herbalists, teachers and students from across New England. Steph draws upon her Celtic heritage and the earth-based spirituality of her ancestors. It is her joy to help others remember the beauty of the natural world, the wisdom of the heart, and our inherent relationship to both Earth & Spirit.
Steph is a mother, gardener, herbalist, keeper of chickens, facilitator of community and student of the wisdom traditions. She spent her childhood in the south, and her early adult years living abroad before moving to the Boston area. She has a deep love for the shifting seasons of this part of the world and its connections to her ancestral homeland of Ireland.
Steph is a graduate of the clinical herbalism program at the CommonWealth Center for Holistic Herbalism and holds a MSc in ethnobotany from the University of Kent at Canterbury. She has also studied with the Gaia School of Healing, The Boston School of Herbal Studies, Sage Mountain, and many other teachers who have been influential on her path. For many years she worked in the botanical collections at the Harvard University Herbarium. She is the creator of Herbstalk, a lively community-based gathering, which brings together herbalists, teachers and students from across New England. Steph draws upon her Celtic heritage and the earth-based spirituality of her ancestors. It is her joy to help others remember the beauty of the natural world, the wisdom of the heart, and our inherent relationship to both Earth & Spirit.
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Testimonials From Our Students:
"Steph and Jenny have woven together a deeply moving and engaging journey around our relationship with the land and our Mother Nature. They have done so through ancient tradition and new practice, modern science and enduring arts, deep reverence and madcap humor! Jenny and Steph's knowledge, skill, intuition, humanity, generosity, vision and contagious heartwarming friendship have brought together something truly unique and special in this course and I am so happy and honored to have entered into this spirit/nature dance with them. Thank you, Steph and Jenny."
"This course is a joy. Learning practical skills and traditions in using herbs through the year for health, vitality and well being is such a gift, especially from Steph and Jenny, who have such a depth of knowledge and great chemistry as a teaching duo."
"This is by far the best investment in self-care I have made in a long time. It has been such an important way to feel inspired and connected. I get great, mind-revving ideas; enjoy the company of two smart, gentle and grounded women; and I have a sense of the world around and within me in a new and powerful way."
"I love this course! Now I feel much more confident in identifying and using wild plants, aka 'weeds'. And before, I would read about tinctures and liniments and all kind of 'complex apothecary words', and I would go: yeah yeah that's something for serious, full on practitioners. Steph and Jen explain this in such an accessible way that now, kid you not, even I can do this! And, of course, learning techniques to sow, grow, and harvest in a way that respects and honors nature. With just the right amount of spirituality."
"You work beautifully together to bring the spirt of nature into all you do. You have totally enriched my life and deepened my love and knowledge of nature. Thank you both for your amazing work!"
"Steph and Jenny have woven together a deeply moving and engaging journey around our relationship with the land and our Mother Nature. They have done so through ancient tradition and new practice, modern science and enduring arts, deep reverence and madcap humor! Jenny and Steph's knowledge, skill, intuition, humanity, generosity, vision and contagious heartwarming friendship have brought together something truly unique and special in this course and I am so happy and honored to have entered into this spirit/nature dance with them. Thank you, Steph and Jenny."
"This course is a joy. Learning practical skills and traditions in using herbs through the year for health, vitality and well being is such a gift, especially from Steph and Jenny, who have such a depth of knowledge and great chemistry as a teaching duo."
"This is by far the best investment in self-care I have made in a long time. It has been such an important way to feel inspired and connected. I get great, mind-revving ideas; enjoy the company of two smart, gentle and grounded women; and I have a sense of the world around and within me in a new and powerful way."
"I love this course! Now I feel much more confident in identifying and using wild plants, aka 'weeds'. And before, I would read about tinctures and liniments and all kind of 'complex apothecary words', and I would go: yeah yeah that's something for serious, full on practitioners. Steph and Jen explain this in such an accessible way that now, kid you not, even I can do this! And, of course, learning techniques to sow, grow, and harvest in a way that respects and honors nature. With just the right amount of spirituality."
"You work beautifully together to bring the spirt of nature into all you do. You have totally enriched my life and deepened my love and knowledge of nature. Thank you both for your amazing work!"
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Registration Details & Reciprocity
The fee for this course is $1200.
Receive $100 off for payment in full.
Our discounted intern/assistant spots are now filled.
Payment plan options are available -- please inquire!
Registration for the in-person course will automatically
give you access to our entire online course (a $300+ value),
which includes additional content.
* Both class sessions are now filled / Email us to be on the waiting list *
Please email us with questions:
livinglandcourse @ gmail.com
The fee for this course is $1200.
Receive $100 off for payment in full.
Our discounted intern/assistant spots are now filled.
Payment plan options are available -- please inquire!
Registration for the in-person course will automatically
give you access to our entire online course (a $300+ value),
which includes additional content.
* Both class sessions are now filled / Email us to be on the waiting list *
Please email us with questions:
livinglandcourse @ gmail.com