THE HERBALIST IMMERSION EXPERIENCE
WHAT IS THIS APPRENTICESHIP ABOUT?
These apprenticeships are some kind of boot camps, a 1 or 2-week all-included intensive education program. One where you will have the opportunity to consolidate all your knowledges and skills as you go, by experiencing the real life of a small scale unmechanised medicinal farm. A happy mix of theory and hands-on education.
This is a win-win CSA (community supported agriculture) experience in which you will receive an average of 2 hours a day of theoritical teaching, on top of a continued supervision which is in itself a high-profile education. A whole week of learning at the price of a week-end workshop!!
Theoritical teaching on medicinals is provided by your herbalist Marie-José Minard founder of Verte Santé, graduate biologist and teacher who has more than 30 years experience in herbalism.
We will also have the chance to welcome visiting experts on ever so relevant subjects (nutrition, permaculture, mindfulness. botanical drawing to work on identification skills, yoga, seed preservation, horticulture, massage, etc.) as we are working in a holistic herbalism perspective.
We are what we eat, breath, drink and think. That is why our health relies on our relationship to nature and environment in all our choices and actions, first and foremost the growing and processing methods used in herbalism as well as for food. Let's take care of nature as it takes care of us!
Pre-registration form (also at the bottom of this page)
WHO IS THIS PROGRAM INTENTED FOR?
This intensive program is about experiencing the real life of herbalists-producers. A life hands in hands with nature!
First, you need to be physically fit and ready to put a continued effort for all the duration of the program. You train regularly, you garden a lot, you jogg? Perfect, but expect to discover new muscles anyways.
In the garden, the hardest work is taken care of by a permanent gardener. What is left for us is weeding (an endless identification exercise and an abundance of superfood readlily available to you forever once you know them well), medicinals harvest and transformation.
Concretely, the herbalist must spend a lot of time in uncomfortable positions to harvest or strip leaves, and one must be able to stand the full sun, mosquitoes or a light rain. Let's consider also that all this apprentice work must ultimately generate a sufficient production to compensate fairly the tiny price of this education program. That is the essence of CSA. Exchange, cooperation and solidarity.
Learnings wise, The Immersion Experience will satisfy all levels of knowledge (except for the experienced herbalist of course). You have a good theoritical knowledge of medicinals but have worked very little with them in the garden or apothecary? You prescribe plants as tablets, tinctures, teas, etc. but have never seen or experimented how they are made from scratch? You are a beginner and have collected info from the Internet, friends or books but are unsure of their reliability?
The Immersion Experience will answer all those needs, as you will go through the holistic process of growing, and preparing the plants to obtain the highest possible quality (therefore efficiency) and using plants the right way and for the right purpose.
And wether you are weeding or havesting in the field, or stripping leaves or sorting a harvest in the workshop, while you are perfecting theese techniques under the vigilant eye of the herbalist and getting intimate with the plants, we will continue teaching. You will be learning about the human physiology, pathology or anatomy in link with the properties of the plants we are discussing or working with; learning about the chemistry, the parmakochinetics or the appropriate solvents for a given plant.
Topics are endless and will as much as possible match participants interests. Everyone will have the opportunity to ask their questions and try to answer others'. In the end, not only will you be able to craft your own high quality products, but you will also be equipped to chose the right product in a shop and assess their quality.
Finaly, we can't always be 10 at a time in the apothecary or the workshop or the same part of the garden. Therefore, there will be times where the group is going to be divided in half. This will be another opportunity to give content adapted to different levels of experience or knowledge.
LOGISTICS
Practically now, here is a typical weekly schedule, followed by details on logistics. The immersion experiences are offered as a 1 or 2-week programs. If you chose the 1-week option, only the first week of each program is available to you unless you have already done an immersion program with Verte Sante.
You can find the calendar of the Immersion Experiences at the end of this page.
To take part to the discussions about the Immersion and stay informed of the potential changes, join the private FB group
* Gardening = planting, mulching, waterring, vegetal liquid manures, home-made natural pesticides, etc.
Every day will start with a little stretching or yoga in the garden while discussing the planning of the day. Because the reality of agriculture demands that we adapt to weather conditions and unforeseen things (infestations for ex.). A daily outlook on production management to acquire precious notions on that sometimes tricky reality.
The nature of the garden work will of course depend on the season, among other things. There will always be diversified harvests to make. At the beginning of the Summer, we will plant seedlings, and sometimes also in the Fall. Otherwise, we must sometimes water, sometimes craft or spray natural insect repellents, sometimes put mulch or protection blankets, and of course, weed, weed and weed again.
At the end of each day, after putting away the tools and cleaning the working areas, we will have a sharing circle where we will review the day's learnings and everybody can voice their feelings about their experience.
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In a one-week program you will acquire all the necessary knowledge and skills to be able to grow, harvest, transform and use safely and efficiently 5 major plants. You will also master all the major types of transformations/crafting. You double that number in the 2-week program. That is only a basis, because as you work in the field and workshop you will learn a lot more about a lot more plants, including some superfood wild plants that we will harvest as we weed.
Regarding fees, my guess is that you will be happily surprised!
"But, but, but... that is the price for a week-end workshop ?!?!"
Yes it is ! But we expect that while being in an all-included learning process you will put all your heart an energy at contributing with a real production to fairly compensate for the top quality teaching and supervision time that you will be receiving.
There will be a couple of places for those who would like to just observe and learn. For those spots, triple the fees you see for the accommodation of your choice.
Every day will start with a little stretching or yoga in the garden while discussing the planning of the day. Because the reality of agriculture demands that we adapt to weather conditions and unforeseen things (infestations for ex.). A daily outlook on production management to acquire precious notions on that sometimes tricky reality.
The nature of the garden work will of course depend on the season, among other things. There will always be diversified harvests to make. At the beginning of the Summer, we will plant seedlings, and sometimes also in the Fall. Otherwise, we must sometimes water, sometimes craft or spray natural insect repellents, sometimes put mulch or protection blankets, and of course, weed, weed and weed again.
At the end of each day, after putting away the tools and cleaning the working areas, we will have a sharing circle where we will review the day's learnings and everybody can voice their feelings about their experience.
.
In a one-week program you will acquire all the necessary knowledge and skills to be able to grow, harvest, transform and use safely and efficiently 5 major plants. You will also master all the major types of transformations/crafting. You double that number in the 2-week program. That is only a basis, because as you work in the field and workshop you will learn a lot more about a lot more plants, including some superfood wild plants that we will harvest as we weed.
Regarding fees, my guess is that you will be happily surprised!
"But, but, but... that is the price for a week-end workshop ?!?!"
Yes it is ! But we expect that while being in an all-included learning process you will put all your heart an energy at contributing with a real production to fairly compensate for the top quality teaching and supervision time that you will be receiving.
There will be a couple of places for those who would like to just observe and learn. For those spots, triple the fees you see for the accommodation of your choice.
Join the private Facebook group (by clicking on this paragraph) to see the pictures for all the accomodation options and facilities. Moreover, I warmly encourage you to participate in the discussions with other participants about the organisation and content of the Immersion programs.
To register in an Immersion program, use the Pre-registration form below. You will find the calendar for all the 2019 Programs to chose from and all the info on refund and payment conditions. Once you send this completed form, we will check on the availability of the accomodation chosen. If available, we will send you a bill that you will have 7 days to pay. If not available, we will communicate with you to make other arrangements.
Your place will be booked ONLY upon receiving your payment.
For any question, do not hesitate to contact us : [email protected]
To register in an Immersion program, use the Pre-registration form below. You will find the calendar for all the 2019 Programs to chose from and all the info on refund and payment conditions. Once you send this completed form, we will check on the availability of the accomodation chosen. If available, we will send you a bill that you will have 7 days to pay. If not available, we will communicate with you to make other arrangements.
Your place will be booked ONLY upon receiving your payment.
For any question, do not hesitate to contact us : [email protected]