Registration for 2024 now open!

Join us for this in-depth, hands-on course on wild-harvesting medicinal plants of the PNW.

Step out your door and meet with the living apothecary of wild plants growing all around you! Peer beyond the wall of green, to meet with the magic and mystery of the plant world. Become empowered to identify, sustainably gather, and make medicine with a wide array of wild local medicinal plants while building a living relationship with the land.

PROGRAM DETAILS

About Your Instructor
Jessy Delleman is the founder of Ravensong Seeds & Herbals, and has been a practicing herbalist, wildcrafter, herb grower, medicine maker since 2008. Forever a student of nature, Jessy is passionate about the healing that comes from connecting to the land we call home, and helping to foster a deep relationship to nature for her students through direct perception, hands-on and experiential learning.

Location
All classes take place in person, on location in Black Creek, Comox Valley, Vancouver Island BC. Classes take place partly in our geodesic dome classroom at Ravensong Farm, with many outings and field trips to local natural areas for plant identification walks and wild harvesting.

Accommodation
Accommodation is not offered on site. There are several campgrounds accommodating vehicle and tent camping, as well as several Airbnb rentals available in the area. Plus dozens of cabin rentals at nearby Saratoga Beach, and camping at Miracle Beach.

Course fees
$1080 total (tax incl). Fees include all course books, printed notes, materials, and medicine making supplies for all lessons. A tuition deposit of $360 is required upon registration. The remaining tuition can be paid in full on the first day of class; a 3 instalment payment plan is also available.

A printed and bound materia medica course book written by the instructor is provided to students and included with the tuition. With beautiful full-colour images, the book provides detailed monographs for 40 different local wild plant species, with information on medicinal uses, harvesting, identification, and medicine making.

Class Dates
Classes take place on three weekends spread throughout the growing season. Each class day runs from 9am-4pm. Class dates are as follows:
May 25th & 26th 2024
July 13th & 14th 2024
Sept 7th & 8th 2024

Learning objectives
To develop a real, living relationship with the land, that is empowering and reciprocal in nature. To learn the medicinal uses of a wide variety of local plants; how to identify and harvest them in a respectful and sustainable way. To gain a basic working knowledge of how to make medicinal preparations; and use the wild medicines to support yourself, your family, and community with complaints such as cold & flu, wounds & infections, sleep, mood and so much more.

Assignments & Homework
For the main assignment, students will be building a herbarium with live plant specimens collected on plant walks throughout the course. The herbarium will include notes on plant id and medicinal uses and become a valuable resource that the student can turn to for many years to come. Students will require 2-3 hrs of extracurricular time per month to work on their herbariums. Fun, practical hands-on quizzes will also be given throughout the course to help reinforce plant id skills.

COURSE SYLLABUS

Sustainable Harvesting
When we understand basic botany and the manner in which each plant grows, we can learn harvesting techniques that will act to increase a plants growth and well-being, rather that harm it or deplete it in any way. Sustainable harvesting requires the awareness of the needs of the plants, as well other species and traditions that exist in relationship with the plants.

Learning how to harvest wild plants in a sustainable way requires building a relationship to the land and takes many years of observation and dedication. It is something that, just like in all of nature, is always evolving and changing. It requires one to tread lightly on the land, often returning to the same harvest spots year after year to seek to fully understand how we may be impacting the plants and the ecosystem.

During the course we will explore not only how to take gently from the land, but also ways in which we can give back to the land. Students will have the opportunity to practice wild harvesting hands-on with several plants. Wild harvest field trips will take place locally in the Comox Valley.

Local Materia Medica & Plant Identification
While encouraging strong plant identification skills, students will learn the medicinal uses and actions of 40 different individual plant species. Materia medica for the course covers a wide array of wild plants (native and non-native) growing locally including the following:

Cedar (Thuja plicata)
Fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium)
Oregon Grape (Mahonia nervosa)
Sword Fern (Polystichum munitum)
Giant Horsetail (Equisetum telmateia)
Devil’s Club (Oplopanax horridus)
Mullein (Verbascum thapsus)
Gumweed (Grindelia stricta)
Yarrow (Achillea millifolium)
Poplar (Populus trichocarpa)
Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica)
St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum)
…more

Nature outings and walks during the course will allow students to meet the plants in person, learn their natural habitats and identify them in the wild. The opportunity to identify many wild food plants, such as berries, greens, and wild roots will also be given.

A printed and bound materia medica course book with detailed monographs for each of the 40 herbs is provided to students. Students will also be building a herbarium with plant specimens collected on plant walks throughout the course.

Harvesting through the Seasons for Medicinal Potency
Each plant species and plant part (root, bark, leaf, flower, seed) that we harvest has a unique window of peak potency for medicinal use. During the course we will discus the optimal harvest times for each herb. Students will also learn to engage their senses so that they can gage first-hand through taste, touch, smell, and feel when a plant is ready to harvest.

Basic Medicine Making
This course offers basic instruction on how to prepare different types of medicinal preparations including teas, tinctures, infused oils, salves, liniments, and infused vinegars. Students will have the opportunity to practice hands-on medicine making with several of our wild medicine plant species.

Plant Spirit Medicine & Indigenous way of Knowing
Nature is our greatest teacher and ally. No book, video, podcast, program, or individual, can instil in us the deep-rooted knowledge that comes from learning directly from the plants themselves, and nature as a whole. Speaking a language that we once all new and understood, the plants can offer us direct knowledge of their medicine. Learning this language is a practice, a refining and reawakening of the senses we already have laying dormant within us, and were the common language of indigenous cultures around the world. During the course students will have the opportunity to practice sitting with plants in heart-centred communion.

Upon completion of the course, I feel I can safely identify dozens of wild herbs, and respectfully harvest, dry, and confidently make a multitude of medicines to add to my healing herbal apothecary. I also understand the basic principals of Vitalist Herbal theory…and profoundly, the way Indigenous people have honoured these native plants for a long, long time. With new tools and a sparked curiosity, I feel confident I can develop a truly harmonious relationship to these native plant allies (and beyond!). The program has lifted my heart space to resonate with nature and our plant allies, opening me to understand their deeply penetrating ancient wisdom. Thank you for crafting this offering, my heart is open and the world around me feels bigger, more alive, and more connected than ever before. ~ Nicole

To register please fill out the form below

Confirmation of your registration will follow in an email which will include details on methods of payment (e-transfer, cash). If registration fills up, an email will confirm if you wish to be on the waitlist.