Herbal Listening School 2024

Presented by MXED GREENS and Foxtrot Farm

Herbal Listening School is a two-month immersion for people who want to develop an intuitive, intimate, and creative relationship with plants. Over four Sunday afternoons, we will gather in the lush fields of Foxtrot Farm, to slow down together and intentionally shape a container to share food, connect with specific plants, and build a community of creative practice.

This is for people who are looking for hands-on study of medicinal herbs that centers engaging with the plants and each other in an interconnected web of reciprocal learning. We use plants as our muses to inspire art, in whatever form we choose, whether it be drawing, painting, writing, crocheting, or more. In turn, we listen to what these creative expressions tell us about the medicine and personalities of the plants themselves. 

Supplies and guidance will be available for various activities, including cyanotypes and flower essence making materials, but you are invited to bring your own materials!  Each month we will focus on one medicinal herb, and you will have the opportunity to harvest this plant for continued exploration or medicine-making in the weeks between sessions.

Dates

Sundays 12:30-4pm on 7/14, 7/28, 8/11, and 8/25

Location

Foxtrot Farm in Ashfield, MA
1237 Baptist Corner Rd,
Shelburne Falls, MA 01370

This is right for you…

  • If you would like to build your plant knowledge and herbal practice in ways other than book learning.

  • If you have been building relationships with plants for many years, or are just starting to do so this season.

  • If you would like to cultivate a creative practice with plants but aren’t sure where to start, or if you have an established practice and you’d like to share that with community. 

  • If you would like a no-pressure, spacious container in which to explore plants and creative expression.

  • If you can commit. In 2024, we are aiming to build a close cohort of participants who can commit to attending all 4 (or at least 3) of the sessions.

What we’ll do each session:

  • Spend time listening to the wisdom of plants and letting them guide and inform our creative practice.

  • Slow down, be led in meditation, and bask in the warmth of the summer fields.

  • Share food! Abby, Tasha, and Devon will provide water, herbal tea, and potluck-style dishes, and folks are welcome to bring treats to share.

  • Create work to contribute to a final collective zine in the style of ‘creative monographs’ that everyone receives a copy of at the end.

  • Have structured time for getting to know each other, individual creative practice and quiet time, small-group sharing, and opening and closing circles as a group.

  • Allow ourselves the space to be silly, to witness, to cry, to listen deeply, to experiment, and to delight in the magic of the high summer fields.

  • Harvest the plant of the week to bring home to continue your creative and herbal practice  

What if I don’t  art supplies at home or an established creative practice?

  • We’ll have cyanotype materials, flower essence supplies, pastels, colored pencils, and various paper available.

  • We will provide prompts to get your creative juices flowing.

  • Facilitators, depending on interest, can lead small groups in writing exercises, demonstrate how to make cyanotypes, botanical inks, flower and plant essences, and other creative mediums.

What will you come away with?

A small body of work inspired by four different plants, enough plant material to make medicine (or art!) with on your own time, new friends and community connections, and a collective zine of our creative monographs for each plant.

Access Notes

The entirety of the gatherings will be outside up in the herb fields. We will have tents set up for shade or rain. There is now an outdoor composting toilet up in the fields! There will be space to spread out for all activities, and masks are welcome but not required. If we need to transition to the barn due to inclement weather, masks will be required in the enclosed space. The farm truck will be stationed at the bottom of the hill to drive anything or anyone from the parking area to where we’re gathering. Otherwise, it is a 1/4 mile walk up a gradual incline on mowed grass. We will have a first aid kit and tick key on hand. 

COVID risk management: We will meet outside. In the case of rain, we may move to a barn or high tunnel space. Please bring a mask to all classes for times when we may need to be in close proximity/indoors. Please do not come if you are experiencing symptoms of COVID or have had close exposure in the past week.