Gaia School Workshops
2024
Gardening with the Wild
Six Online Sessions
May - August 2024
Gardening with the Wild ~ Supporting Plant Diversity in the Garden
Six Zoom Classes ~ May 14th, June 4th, June 25th, July 16th, August 6th & 27th
4 – 6:30 pm EST on Tuesdays
Come learn how to garden in partnership with the plants themselves! For over 20+ years Sage has been learning how to partner with nature in gardening, leaving room for wild plants to grow freely alongside cultivated plants in the garden. This way of gardening with wild nature allows native and naturalized plants a chance to grow in our gardens, sharing space with the seeds we plant. We will explore supporting certain wild plants in our vegetable, flower, and medicinal herb gardens, identifying them from early spring as small sprouts.
Gardening with the wild allows more medicine and food plants to grow naturally in our gardens, giving native and wild medicinals the space they need. This method gives us a much more abundant source of food and medicinal plant harvests, as well as greater diversity of plant species in our gardens! We increase food for pollinators and create healthier plant ecosystems. Gardening with wild nature allows us to confront and transform our tendency to want to dominate and control nature, plants, and the communities that surround us.
Students will keep a garden journal, practice plant identification, and study their local naturalized, native, invasive, and medicinal plants. Class will include discussion about different plant species, their medicinal and food uses, as well as each plant’s growing cycles and personalities in the garden.
OPTION TO ATTEND GAIA GARDENING GATHERINGS ~ Weekend dates TBA
Note ~ All classes will be recorded for future viewing.
Botanical Art Class
Six Online Sessions
June - October 2024
Drawing & Painting Botanicals with Sage
Six Zoom Classes ~ June 11th, July 2nd, July 23rd, August 20th, September 10th, October 1st
4 – 6:30 pm EST on Tuesdays
Enjoy an exciting dive into the world of botanical art! Each class we will view botanical art from around the world to inspire us with the many different ways to illustrate the beauty of the plants. Together and between classes we’ll create images of plants we love using different styles from abstracted to detailed and illustrative. We will draw and paint from live plants as well as from photographs, dreams, journeys, and meditations with the plants. We will explore different mediums together from pen and ink, watercolor, charcoal, pencil, and acrylic paint. No previous experience necessary! Sage will guide you through beginning to advanced techniques of drawing and painting.
Sage will bring her 30 years of drawing and painting, offering techniques to create with freedom, looseness, and joy! We will draw and paint outside in the garden with the plants, share our loose sketches, create finished works, and free inner creative blocks of self-judgement and fear. Drawing is one of the best ways to spend time with plants in the wild! It brings greater appreciation and attention to details of plants our eyes usually miss, and helps immensely with plant identification. Let your creative self play in the realms of the plants!
OPTION TO ATTEND GAIA GARDENING WEEKENDS ~ Dates TBA for sketching, drawing, and painting in the garden. Open to all regardless of previous experience.
Note ~ All classes recorded for future viewing!
The Medicine
of Trees
Six Online Sessions
May - December 2024
Ethnobotany & Medicinal Uses of Trees
Six Zoom Classes ~ May 21st, June 18th, September 17th, October 15th, November 12th, December 10th
4 – 6:30 pm EST on Tuesdays
Trees have been our teachers, healers, and guides for thousands of years. Many of us feel a special call to learn directly from these ancient beings who carry such incredible wisdom and medicine. Sage has been guiding students in the medicine and magick of trees for over 20 years, and for the first time will offer a course completely devoted to tree medicine.
Join us for a series of six classes where we will explore the lore, history, ethnobotany, and pharmacology of important medicinal tree species around the world. Each class will focus on a handful of trees, with guidance around identification, harvesting, and medicine making. We will cover over 33 trees total, including evergreens, deciduous trees, and tropical trees. Sage will share her 25+ years of working with these powerful teachers from personal experience and research.
OPTION TO ATTEND GAIA GARDENING WEEKENDS & Tree Harvesting & Medicine Making ~ Dates TBA
Note ~ All classes recorded for future viewing.
Alder ~ Apple ~ Bay ~ Birch ~ Cherry ~ Cottonwood ~ Elder ~ Evergreens – Pine, Juniper, Cedar, Spruce, Hemlock, Fir
Ginkgo ~ Hawthorn ~ Linden ~ Magnolia ~ Mulberry ~ Oak ~ Peach ~ Sassafras ~ Walnut ~ Willow ~ Witch hazel
Tropical Tree Medicines ~ Cacao ~ Cinnamon ~ Coconut ~ Eucalytus ~ Guava ~ Mango ~ Mimosa ~ Moringa ~ Noni ~ Orange/Citrus ~ Soursop/Guanabana ~ Ylang ylang
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