Join Jonah Hill and learn about the history and uses of the gourd plant/fruit and how cultures across the world have devised various methods to treat and handles gourd fruit. He will also show how he utilizes the gourd in his art and how to grow the plant.

Peggy Sue Sorensen and Mike Clow will be giving a presentation on the incredible edible Mesquite bean pods.

You will learn:
• How to identify a Mesquite tree
• When and how to harvest the bean pods
• What to do to prepare the bean pods for storage
• How to dry and store the bean pods
• How to grind the bean pods into flour
You will have the opportunity to taste a bean pod, some freshly ground flour and some treats that Peggy Sue will make.

Come with me as we get up close and personal with some native (and cultivated) plants. We will use our senses for an organoleptic experience as we learn about the many therapeutic gifts they can share with us. The garden and the forest are not museums where we come to gaze upon the plants. It's important that we interact with our plant allies in order to form deeper connections, so what we learn isn't just words on paper, but taken into our bodies and truly felt.

Darcey Blue is a plant whisperer, student of sacred nature, practicing clinical herbalist, animist, ceremonialist, medicine maker, wildcrafter, gardener, teacher and wilderness fast guide from Flagstaff, AZ.  She has studied herbalism, shamanic practices and earth based ceremony for 20 + years in Arizona, the Rocky Mountains and the Eastern Woodlands of the US.

Darcey primarily wildcrafts and grows her own medicinal plants and has a small online apothecary at www.sacredwildness.org, and supplies her students and clients with handmade herbal remedies from her apothecary in Flagstaff.  She works with people of all ages and experience with an open mind and heart who are eager to listen and learn from the plants and nature spirits around them, cultivate a relationship with plant medicines and the earth, and are willing to commit to the healing and wisdom available to them through ceremony, rewilding and the living land.

Mike Clow of the Desert Life Ranch is an engineer and entrepreneur who enjoys spreading the word about the edible plants in the desert Southwest.

I am Erica Guinn, an herbalist, a teacher, and a plant medicine maker. I have been studying herbalism and developing relationships with the plants for 10 years with a focus on the therapeutics of the native plants. I specialize in making topical herbal remedies and I also love to make tinctures, glycerites, flower essences, elixirs and cordials. I wildcraft whenever I can and I also grow many of the plants I partner with in making my products. I'm always trying to better my relationship with the plants that grow around me and consider the ecology of place when choosing who and when to harvest from...the plants have so much to teach us! It is my honor and my purpose to bring people and plants together, through direct connection – meeting the plants where they are – or through herbal products, in order to rekindle our relationship to nature, to plants, and remind ourselves that we are all in this together. To read more about me and my journey or to see my products, check out my website www.bytheroots.shop or connect with me through Instagram @bytherootsllc.

I am a local artist and educator from the Hopi and Quechan tribes and reside in Flagstaff Arizona. I worked in a medicinal herb shop and studied under Ethnobotanist Phyllis Hogan and grew up using natural plant based medicine. I use various plants in my artwork and help to educate students and community in the various uses of plants.

Kaweah (they/she) lives, teaches and conducts ceremony at Singing Willows Urban Farm in Phoenix, Arizona.

Hi, I'm Kaweah.

I am of Native, Asian and Russian ancestry and grew up appreciating plants as founts of beauty and balance. The meals and medicines we prepared at home came not only from the store but from our gardens and wild places.

As a teen in the 1970s, I started on the Red Road, learning traditional Native and Asian ways of healing. I went on to earn a Master's degree in Social Work, specializing in community organizing and trauma recovery.

In 2019, I was introduced to the Principles of A Renewed Indigeneity by a sacred tree who took me on a healing journey and became my mentor and guide.

This prompted me to earn a diploma in Western Herbalism, specializing in bioregional herbalism with a focus on stewardship and community education.

The Principles of A Renewed Indigeneity remind us that the natural world is always talking to us. We can learn to listen and respond. In partnership with plants, animals and elements, we can find creative solutions to adapt to a changing world. People of all ancestries can learn once again to belong to the land where we live, as equal partners and co-creators in the Web of Life.

Visit www.sacredspacespirituality.com for more information and to access a free video documenting my journey.

I am Coatl Xochitl-Snake Flower, my name is Eliza McQuaid.  Using plants and herbs as medicine was part of my family and cultural upbringing. My great grandmother of Cabezon, New Mexico was a curandera/Medicine Woman in the Latino community.  Three years ago I began my own formal training in curanderismo; I have been initiated in the Mexica tradition to continue the traditional healing practice. My training includes learning and sharing ancestral methods.
We are taught to live in harmony and work with our Mother Earth, Father Sky, Father Sun, and all the elements to empower others to heal themselves.  Part of this balance is found by working in a close relationship with the land on which we live and using the knowledge of the sacred plants growing near and around us. The use of plants as medicine has potential to bring healing to the body, mind, emotion, and spirit. Treatment for clients is individualized and can include many modalities.

"La medicina es para todos!"
The medicine is for everyone!

Melissa has been studying herbalism for 13 years. She was introduced to the wonders of plant medicine while working in an organic garden in Taos, New Mexico. There she formed a connection with the plants that was life-changing. She continued on to study in Flagstaff at the Forager's Path School of Botanical Studies with herbalist Mike Masek in 2011, then interned at the Herb Pharm in Williams, Oregon in 2013. She returned to Flagstaff in 2014, where she worked and apprenticed at the local apothecary Winter Sun Trading Co. for 9 years with herbalist Phyllis Hogan. She now works for the Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine. Melissa is truly passionate about sharing the empowering wisdom of plant medicine. She can be reached via email at apothecavulgaris@gmail.com.

Peggy Sue Sorensen of The Desert Kitchen is a wild-foods enthusiast and herbalist who enjoys helping people discover the edible and medicinal cactus, trees and weeds that grow in the desert southwest but are usually not recognized as food.  She gives plant walks, presentations and harvest events.  You may contact her at 623-217-4922 or go to DesertKitchen.net for more information.