2023 Registration is now open!
Wellness Simplified!
This is a hands-on course in herbalism, gardening, seasonal eating, and food as medicine at a working farm.
On this journey, you will learn by growing, harvesting, nourishing, and healing with the herbs and vegetables as you learn to make them part of your everyday life.
We will lay the groundwork for healthy living by exploring and learning how to live in rhythm with the natural world. Mother Nature has so much to offer us and we must learn to be still, observe, connect, build awareness and relationships to explore all the bounty that is available. We then move forward in developing our knowledge base to work with herbs safely and instill confidence to use them to nourish and heal yourself, your family and your friends.
This is a hands-on course in both gardening and herbal medicine skills. You will work on deepening your knowledge and connection with the plants over a growing season. Through the use of this knowledge, you will learn how to make quality medicine from the plants. The herbs in combination with whole foods will provide you with a foundation for healthier living and fulfillment of a more self-sufficient lifestyle.
Course Topics
- Learn 125+ Herbs!
- 85 hours of in class learning throughout a growing season on a working farm (14 classes).
- Wildcrafting: ethics & safety of wild plants.
- Harvesting Medicinals: learn the right parts to harvest, when to harvest, and drying times and methods.
- Medicine Chest: herbs for first aid, colds & flu and everyday ailments.
- Medicine Making: teas, tinctures, glycerites, elixirs, syrups, oxymels, oils, vinegars, infused honey, flower essences, salves, liniments, poultices, shrubs, herbal candy/gummies, smudging and aromatherapy.
- Herbal Body Care and recipes.
- Herbs and Food as Medicine: delightful culinary dishes, everyday food as medicine, seasonings and seasonal eating to support the body systems includes a full recipe cookbook for the seasons.
- Body Systems: overview with common aliments and support to gain back wellness.
- Foundational Herbalism: Individualized Constitutions, Plant Energetics, Tissue States, Herb Tastings, Diagnosis and Formulations.
- Cordials, Meads, Water Kefir and Kombucha/Fermented Drinks
- Navigating the Food Systems: learn about cooking with herbs and healthy foods as well as the preparations for obtaining optimal nutrition from your food.
- Fermented Foods: kefir, yogurt, sodas, kombucha, and vegetables.
- Preserving Herbs & Vegetables: dehydrating, pickling and fermenting.
- Gardening From Seed: ordering, starting, storing, transplanting, saving seeds and greenhouse growing.
- Soil: amending & creating biologically active soil.
- Fertilization: organic materials, natural amendments and understanding soil samples.
- Vermicomposting: make your own worm bin to take home.
- Preparing Beds: layering/ no till, when to rototill, raised beds and containers.
- Companion Planting: the science and enhancement of growing complementary plants.
- Crop Rotation, Cover Crops & Natural Mulches
- Herb Growing: planting & tending.
- Vegetable Growing: planting, tending, protecting, harvesting and preserving.
- Insects: beneficial insects & pest control.
- General Garden Care for Success
Modern Sustainable Living
Whole Living Class focus is primarily based on herbs that can be grown in Central Virginia.You learn to identify and connect with the culinary and medicinal herbs that are grown at Forrest Green Farm and you make medicine from them. During Whole Living, we build relationships with our herbal allies and begin to see how they help us maintain daily wellness. This gives you a connection with the plants and the medicine you make from them.
Krista & Rob have been farming and gardening at Forrest Green Farm for 30 years. They use their practical experience from their own success and failures to help mentor you, in a realistic way, on how to incorporate Whole Living principles into your own life.
Join us for our 14th year of Whole Living class at the farm for a growing season of observing and learning the beauty, harvest, food/nutrition and medicine from the plants that we grow. Wellness Simplified! ✨
This is a hands-on class!
You will take home something from every class. You will take home 70 projects! This is a learning opportunity as well as a chance to produce and immediately start using your new skills to enhance your lifestyle with the projects that you make in class.
Cost: $2,200 which includes 70 take-home projects, a copy of our book Wellness Simplified! Herbalism From The Ground Up, a copy of our cookbook Wellness Simplified! The Everyday Seasonal Cookbook, a gardening textbook, samplings of seasonal whole food recipes, and all other project-making materials (except for alcohol for tincture making). Space is limited!
Payment Plan Options: Class cost is $2200
Option 1: Pay in full: $2,000. This is a $200 discount for upfront, full payment in one transaction.
Option 2: Pay $500 deposit now to hold your space. Then make three payments of $566 each. You must be paid in full by the first class on March 18, 2023.
Suggested timeline for the Payment Plan-
- Payment 1: January
- Payment 2: February
- Payment 3: March
Classes will meet on Saturdays from 10am-4pm (March-October). Interested in Thursday’s class? Click here.
Saturday Class Dates: 2023
Upon completion of this class, you will receive a certification of completion.
Please complete this registration form and then you will be directed to pay your deposit or to pay in full, please complete all of these steps to be considered registered in Whole Living class.
ONLY FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE ALREADY REGISTERED. When making your payments online there will be a 3% credit card processing fee.
