Learning for Life
Natural science public programs
These programs are designed for teens, adults, and seniors.
Herbalism at Home
Workshops with Erin Narey
Learn traditional uses of common medicinal plants! Each hands-on workshop will include a discussion of medicinal herbs appropriate for the season, including at least one local plant; a demonstration (and sample) of an herbal preparation (i.e. teas, tinctures, oils, salves); and the opportunity to make your own herbal formula(s) to take home. Enjoy a cup of herbal tea while learning about plant medicine and handcrafting your own botanical blend! Take one workshop or several, no experience necessary.
Instructor Erin Narey of Black Rabbit Botanicals is a community herbalist based in Kirby with ten years of experience studying traditional and evidence-informed herbal wellness practices. Erin has completed years of formal education, hands-on apothecary training, and clinical study with renowned practitioners from all over the world, and has taught herbalism classes, workshops, and demonstrations at schools, studios, and events throughout the Northeast Kingdom. Learn more at www.BlackRabbitBotanicals.com.
Cost: $25/session
11:00 AM – 1:00 PM at the Fairbanks Museum
Feb 8: Herbal Valentines & Love Potions
Can herbs really help us express love—for ourselves and for others? Explore how herbs (including rose and cacao) are used in traditions worldwide to alleviate stress, tension, and grief while opening our hearts, minds, and nerve endings to joy and pleasure. Learn to make botanical love potion, massage (or bath) oil, and truffles.
Mar 22: Planning your Medicinal Herb Garden
Whether you’re an experienced gardener, a total novice, or only have space for a windowsill pot, you can grow your own medicine this year. Enjoy tea blends from common wild and cultivated herbs while learning how to plan, tend, and use a low-maintenance medicinal herb garden that truly suits your resources and needs. We’ll get started in class, planting seeds you can keep indoors or move outside once the weather warms!
Apr 12: Spring Tonics & Lymphatic Herbs
After a long winter, the first plants of spring are exactly what our bodies crave. Learn why herbal medicine traditions value bitter spring herbs like chickweed, cleavers, and more to help jumpstart stagnant digestion, replenish vitamins and minerals, and put a little spring in one’s step!
May 10: Common Herbs for Topical Use
Did winter by the woodstove dry out your skin? Have spring chores left you sore? Maybe you’re interested in herbal support for tension—both mental and physical—but not crazy about bitter teas and tinctures? Learn about topical herb preparations including oils, salves, liniments, and soaks, for skin health, sore muscles, relaxation, and more.
Jun 7: Herbal First Aid
Summer brings a lot of minor ailments—sunburn, splinters, bee stings, bumps, and bruises—but it’s also peak season for helpful first aid herbs. Learn traditional uses of common plants to stock your home first aid kit with handcrafted herbal salves, sprays, extracts, and more.
Sep 13: Autumn Herb Harvest
Let’s see what’s blooming—red clover? mullein? St. John’s wort?—and explore their traditional uses and preparations. Past Autumn Herb workshops have included preparations of goldenrod for fall allergies, burdock root for liver support, daisy for recovery from injury. We’ll study at least two herbs, and learn to make two formulas.
Oct 18: Winter Wellness
Now’s the time to stock our pantries with herbal supports for cold and flu season. Learn what plant medicine is still available for harvest in the wild, and what surprise resources we already have in our kitchens. We’ll focus on immune support and remedies for cough, congestion, and respiratory ailments. Class will include recipes for prevention of illness as well as relief from symptoms.
Nov 15: Nervine Herbs
Even in winter, there are plants outside to help with stress and anxiety, but herbal support for the nervous system is easily found in the grocery store or kitchen cupboards as well. Learn about common herbs renowned for relief from stress, tension, anxiety, and insomnia, as well as a variety of preparations for ease of use.
Dec 13: Herbal Holidays
Learn about the medicinal properties of seasonal aromatics and flavors like ginger, peppermint, cranberry, orange, and pine. Sample some holiday-themed herb blends and craft your own formulas—maybe a cranberry hawthorn cordial or rosemary-orange bitters?—to add some immune-supporting, stress-relieving, heart-opening medicine to your seasonal celebrations.
Mushroom Foraging with Annabelle Langlois, M.Sc.
A series of hands-on presentations at the Fairbanks Museum with field programs at Matsinger Forest (Danville)
As both a nurse and a biologist, Annabelle Langlois brings a unique perspective to her passionate pursuit of mycology. Holding a master’s degree in ecology, she first discovered her love for wild mushrooms during an old-growth forest inventory in 2012. Since then, she has been eager to share her enthusiasm for mushrooms through leading educational walks and giving lectures on wild mushroom foraging. She currently serves as a volunteer expert for her local club in Quebec, offering introductory activities on mycology throughout the Eastern Townships region. Learn more at https://kingdomfungi.org/.
Annabelle will cover how mushrooms live, as well as how to confidently identify them. An overview of the common wild edible species and their toxic lookalikes will be offered. We will also share important responsible foraging practices. Participants should then know when, where, and how to look for wild mushrooms. These courses, each spanning two 2-hour sessions, empower participants to better understand and predict where and when to find various fungi species based on ecological conditions. With a strong emphasis on fungal ecology and the “why” and “how” behind their processes, the sessions provide an in-depth exploration of the intricate relationships between fungi and their environments.
Participants will have the opportunity to handle and study local mushrooms, reinforcing their understanding of identifying characteristics and ecological niches. Each session will be complemented by an optional foray-style educational walk the following day at the Matsinger Forest in Danville, providing participants with hands-on experience identifying fungi in their natural habitat.
You are welcome to join individual sessions or the entire series. Classes will be held in the Museum classroom.
Cost: $25/session payable directly to the instructor by cash or check