The Wild Herbal Field Trip is led by teachers who know the edible and medicinal uses of wild plants. Participants will be bussed to the Leatherwood Wilderness & Ozark-St. Francis National Forest (picnic lunch is included). The selected trails and the hiking pace is designed for people who can walk on woodland paths and who wish to increase their knowledge of herbalism and plant identification. Autumn in the Ozarks is glorious!
This year's Medicinal Plant Symposium features Jane Hawley Stevens, Susan Belsinger, Bo Brown, Kathleen Connole, Sasha Daucus, Marisa Frazier, Breath Alicen Valentine, and Tina Marie Wilcox. These teachers will demonstrate how to make simple remedies at home; garden with natural rhythms and protect life forms with whom we share the planet; and how to keep herbal wisdom alive.
Preregistration is required by midnight, October 3. Registration for the Medicinal Plant Symposium is required for participation in Friday or Sunday's Wild Herbal Hike. Lunch is included in the symposium and fieldtrip registration fee.
The International Herb Association's Meeting of Members and Herbal Education Workshop will take place Thursday, October 17, 2024, in conjunction with the Ozark Folk Center’s Wild Herbal Hike and Medicinal Plant Symposium. Note this requires a registration for IHA and a separate registration for the medicinal plant symposium and field trip. Tickets and details for the International Herb Association event are here: https://internationalherbassociation2021conference.ticketleap.com/international-herb-association-meeting--herb-workshop-2024/
You can reserve accommodations at the The Ozark Folk Center's Cabins at Dry Creek by calling (870) 269-0863. Accomodations and camping in the area may be found at https://mountainviewarkansas.com/.
Wild Herbal Field Trip Friday, October 18 or Sunday, October 20, 2024*
8:00-8:45 Breakfast available, on your own, at the Skillet Restaurant
8:45 Orientation in the White Oak Theater inside the Visitor Center
9:00-5:00 Board the bus to the Leatherwoods Wilderness and Ozark-St. Francis National Forest. Picnic lunch is included in registration fee.
Saturday, October 19, Medicinal Plant Symposium (*required for Field Trip participation)
8:00-8:45 Breakfast available, on your own, at the Skillet Restaurant
Meet in the White Oak Theater inside the Visitor Center
9:00-9:15 Welcome Announcement
9:15-10:15 Cosmic Cultivation: How Lunar & Planetary Cycles Shape Organic Herb Gardening—Jane Hawley Stevens, Four Elements Organic Herbals
10:15-11 Knowing Nettles—Bo Brown
11-11:15 Break
11:15-11:45 Passing Along Herbal Wisdom—Sasha Daucus
11:45-12:15 Preparing a Pine Oxymel for Respiratory Health—Marisa Frazier
12:15-1:15 Herbal Luncheon (included in workshop fee)
1:15-2:15 Chamomile Cultivation: From Medicinal Farm to Backyard—Jane Hawley Stevens & Susan Belsinger
2:15-3 Herb of the Year Home Remedies: Violet, Ginger, Yarrow—Kathleen Connole
3-3:30 Break & Stage Change/Visit Craft Village
3:30-4:45 Greener Gardening Panel—Moderator Susan Belsinger
Panelists: Breath Alicen Hand, Bo Brown, Jane Hawley Stevens, and Tina Marie Wilcox
About Our Teachers
Bo Brown is a self-taught naturalist that has been teaching foraging and outdoor skills for over thirty years. He has worked as an avian field biologist since 1985 and is the founder and director of First Earth Wilderness School on the Niangua River in the Missouri Ozarks. Bo regularly leads courses on foraging, stone-age wilderness survival, and nature education throughout the Ozarks region, including weekly foraging walks and primitive skills demonstrations at Johnny Morris’ Dogwood Canyon Nature Park near Blue Eye, Missouri. His book Foraging the Ozarks was released by Falcon Guides in 2020, his second book Foraging Central Grasslands was released in 2023. Follow his various outdoor activities at www.firstearth.org.
Susan Belsinger teaches, lectures, and writes about gardening and cooking, and is a food writer, editor and photographer who has authored and edited over 25 books and hundreds of articles. Susan delights in kitchen alchemy—the blending of harmonious foods, herbs, and spices—to create real, delicious food, as well as libations, that nourish our bodies and spirits and titillate our senses. Susan is a member of the International Herb Association, the Herb Society of America and was Honorary President of the HSA for the 2018 to 2020 term. Susan delights in each new Herb of the Year™: doing research, growing the specimens, taking photos, creating recipes, sharing her findings, and celebrating the plants. Her latest book about flavor, the perfect bite, was released in 2022. Find Susan online at: www.susanbelsinger.com, https://www.instagram.com/cookinwithherbs/, https://www.facebook.com/susan.belsinger, and https://www.facebook.com/CreativeHerbalHome
Kathleen Connole joined the Ozark Folk Center’s Heritage Herb Garden team in 2006. Before moving to Arkansas’ Buffalo River Country in 2005, Kathleen earned a degree in Plant Science from the University of Missouri-Columbia and worked at Powell Gardens and Farrand Farms in Kansas City, Missouri.
Kathleen researches the natural history of the Heritage Herb Garden’s diverse herbal collection. She composes interpretive signage for the Garden to tell the stories of these plants. Kathleen served as chair and is an active member of the Herb Society of America Ozark Unit, headquartered at the Ozark Folk Center State Park. She currently is secretary for the International Herb Association Board. She was editor of the IHA’s Viola, Herb of theYear™ 2022, Ginger, Herb of the Year™ 2023, Yarrow, Herb of the Year™ 2024, and currently is working on Chamomile, Herb of the Year™ 2025.
Sasha Daucus began her profession as an herbalist in her early 20’s when she joined Golden Light Center, a midwifery and family care practice in southern Missouri. Her work as a healer furthered and she became a regional authority on wild plants and herbs of the Ozarks. She now adds another layer as a facilitator for Earth Listening groups that are run as part of the Deep Adaptation movement. Almost 40 years later, she now owns the Golden Light Center and is an Avatar Master. She uses that discipline to increase the effectiveness of her work on behalf of the Earth.
Marisa Frazier is a Trauma-Informed Yoga Instructor; Holistic Health Coach; Certified Sacred Medicine Practitioner and Integration Specialist; Exercise Physiologist and Personal Trainer. She recently completed a 9-month herbalism apprenticeship with Sasha Daucus at the Golden Light Center in the heart of the Ozarks. Marisa has worked as an activist for clean water and environmental conservation with the Missouri Sierra Club for over 5 years. She believes that since we are of the Earth, we can nurture and heal from its gifts, and one of our great missions should be to take care of and protect it.
Jane Hawley Stevens, sponsored by the Committee of 100 for the Ozark Folk Center, is stepping out of her garden after 40 years of practicing meditation, herbalism, organic farming, and (recently) astrology to share her experience with the infinite wonders of Nature. Jane and local talent plant, harvest, and create herbal wellness for her brand, Four Elements Organic Herbals, from her 130-acre farm in Wisconsin. She and her husband, David, received the Organic Farmer of the Year award in 2020. Jane is a pioneer in organic farming and herbalist communities.
She spends her time gardening, hiking, biking, or skiing to be surrounded by the beauty and awe that can only be experienced outdoors. You can find her at night, gazing at the stars and planets with reverence for the opportunity to be an advocate for Nature and all of its wonderment. Learn how to live in this magnificent matrix of healing and beauty from the Earth and Heavens, featured in her recent book, The Celestial Garden, Growing Herbs, Vegetables and Flowers in Sync with the Moon and Zodiac.
Breath Alicen Valentine. Raised in the Ozarks, Breath has been hoeing rocky ground and learning from plants for decades. She returned to the Heritage Herb Garden in 2022 after studying biodiversity, ecology, soils, and conservation at college. Breath began working at the OFC in 1985. Currently a doctoral student in Environmental Science, Breath is a transdisciplinary scholar and researcher.
Tina Marie Wilcox has been the head gardener and herbalist at the Ozark Folk Center State Park’s Heritage Herb Garden in Mountain View, Arkansas since 1984. Tina's philosophy is based upon experiencing the joy of the process, perpetrating no harm, and understanding life through play with plants and people. https://www.facebook.com/OzarkFolkCenterStatePark/
