UPCOMING EVENTS
Authentici-Tea Conscious Conversation Circle
Every Thursday @ 7pm
Grounded Sound Journeys
with Terrie Weaver & Silvy Franco
1st & 3rd Fridays; occasional Saturdays
May 1st, 9th, & 15th
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Conscious Kids Story & Tea Time
with Lakeja Baylor
Medicine-Making Circles
May 23 ~ 1-3:30
Herbal Oxymels & Infusions
Let’s get to know Nettle and Milky Oats with all the creative and nourishing possibilities these plants offer. We will meet them and then incorporate them into teas and vinegars, exploring creative ways to receive mineral rich and tasty herbal infusions. You’ll take a nourishing herbal oxymel home with you.
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Mother’s Day Cacao Ceremony
May 10th, Mother’s Day
9:30-10:30am
w/ Silvy Franco
Come and begin your Mother’s Day with a guided heart-opening experience. We’ll learn about cacao, where this beautiful sacred plant comes from, how she is prepared for ceremony, and enjoy a cup while being guided back to your heart by the sound of the drum and guided meditation. You will leave feeling uplifted, reconnected to your emotional heart (seat of the soul) and to others.
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Rooted & Restored: Body, Breath, and Botanicals
with Elizabeth Greer, MA, PMH-C, Ms. Black WV 2026
Saturday May 9, 2026
11am – 2:00pm
Join us for a 3-hour workshop that is, at its heart, a love letter to women. We will spend the first part of our time together learning the science of feminine and reproductive/perinatal wellness, the evidence base for somatic bodywork and breathwork, and the brilliant convergence of healing traditions that have supported birthing women since before anyone was writing things down. We will talk about why this knowledge was suppressed, who kept it alive anyway, and why reclaiming it is not nostalgia — it is medicine.
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3-Day Immersion: Reading the Body Immersion
with Margi Flint
October 23rd-25th : 10am-4pm
Chickweed
/in Herb of the Month /by Ashley Davis(Stellaria media)
Ahhh, Chickweed. It’s such a refreshing sight this time of year. Its clumping, succulent carpets of bright green scream fresh new life after winter. It might be my favorite wild edible plant, partly because of its abundant accessibility, and partly because my body is so excited for a bite of fresh wild green nourishment this time of year. You can experience the full vitality of eating fresh greens by getting on your hands and knees, and taking a bite directly from the earth as if you were a rabbit:) It’s such a different sensation than eating even the freshest greens from the grocery store or farmers market. And this is what I unabashedly do when I first encounter this plant each year. I bow down and give thanks for this delicious & welcome gift.
Tastes/Energetics: cooling & moistening
Parts Used: aerial parts
Actions: nutritive, antiscorbutic, anti-pyretic, demulcent, emollient, vulnerary, pectoral, diuretic
Uses: Chickweed is primarily used either internally as a nutritive herb with cooling and detoxifying properties, or externally as a soothing remedy for cuts, itching, or irritation. Chickweed contains saponins, soap-like plant chemicals that emulsify and increase permeability of cellular membranes, thus, increasing the absorption of nutrients, promoting the excretion of metabolic waste, dissolving phlegm, neutralizing toxins, and even weakening bacterial cell walls, rendering them more vulnerable. Chickweed also has a reputation for dissolving cysts, especially ovarian cysts, and some wise country women say it helps with weight loss (soap dissolves fat). Chickweed is very soothing to the bladder & kidneys and is used as a cooling diuretic for cystitis.
Indications: signs of heat (fever, infection, coughs with yellow, concentrated mucus, inflammations, any condition ending with “itis”), chronic UTIs, internal or external wounds (to draw out splinters or infection, reduce swelling & inflammation), rashes (including chickenpox, measels, diaper rash, bug bites, or poison ivy), pink eye (as a wash), internally to support weight loss or dissolution of cysts.
Preparations: Internally as a tea, tincture, or fresh plant. Externally as a poultice, salve, or wash.
Cautions: None cited in literature.
2 cups chickweed
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
I TBSP lemon juice
optional:
3-4 oz hard cheese
3-4 oz nuts or seedsPlace chickweed, nuts & garlic in a food processor and blend until finely minced. Add the cheese, oil & lemon juice and process until blended. Transfer to a small bowl or tupperware & store in the refrigerator.Identification: Chickweed is out now, thanks to the warm weather & rain. You can often even find it growing under the snow. If you wish to harvest, remember to find a place away from the roadside & chemical sprays, and to harvest no more than 1/3 of what you find. I highly recommend that you get a field guide to help you with identification. It can be difficult early in the season, before the plant is in bloom. Here are some hints:The leaves of chickweed are small, ovate, oppositely arranged, and a little fuzzy. The leaves and stems have an almost succulent quality. This becomes more apparent as the plant matures. The stems are a little hairy, and if you look closely at the nodes, you’ll notice that these hairs change direction around each node. The flowers are also tiny and white in color. They appear to have 10 petals, when in reality they are 5 petals, each one deeply cut into 2 lobes. Happy Hunting!