There will be no more updates on the wordpress blog via email, sorry
please subscribe to my newsletter instead. Here is the link:
http://eepurl.com/dNhAJE
Saturday 26th January 13:00 – 15:00
We will make fire cider and sauerkraut (the prebiotic and the probiotic)
Little medicine in your food can make all the difference to your health through the cold and darker months.
It can be so easy to keep this wondrous machine of ours the human body happy and healthy, but for some reason we tend not to. I mean we all do it. Self-destruction with nothing to gain or give, a very interesting side of human nature. Not like a plant that self-destructs and decomposes giving back to where it came from.
We will be talking about plants which are in season, why that may be and make them into some beautiful medicines: fire cider to carry, stimulate, move, feed and protect. And sauerkraut to support and aid.
Location, cost and registration for the workshop
Location:
Hedgewitch Kitchen Salon, Friedelstraße, Neukölln
Date and time:
Saturday 26th January 13:00 – 15:00
Fee:
35€ each
Registration:
Advanced registration is required due to limited places and will be completed after full payment is made. It is also possible to register a place for a friend as a gift. Contact: info@avantgardenlife.com
Cancelation:
Spots are fully transferable if you cannot make it, if you have someone else to take your spot this is not a problem. I will also try to fill it, but if this is not possible only half of the fee will be refunded.
About the teacher:
Tash is a medicinal herbalist, cook, artist and co-creator of AvantGarden a creative collective which brings herbs, food and art together through herbal workshops, intuitive cooking classes, interactive food/herb art projects and exhibitions.
The Hedgewitch Kitchen is a project created by Tash involving workshops in creating and learning about herbs, how to create your own herbal products, and using food as medicine.
I went for a long walk in the forest to hang out with the pines and forage for some pine resin for the workshop this coming weekend. I am always amazed how much it lifts my spirits. There is something about been away from all the noise, standing in a forest under those tall grandfather trees surrounded by all sorts of living allies from mosses under my feet to fungus on decaying trees, root systems to birds that sing. It is not just the things we see that effect us, but also the things we don’t. A system which oozes completeness and aids us to feel part of the whole. There is nothing that needs to be added, taken away or changed, it is perfect within its imperfections, something we so seldom experience in our modern society. The feeling of been completely enclosed within an amazing ecosystem, which is so interconnected, fluid and works so beautifully. Death and life as one. Everyone is equal, giving their part to the circle of life, so it can be sustained. That is real magic and we ought to look more to the forest for advice on how we humans should live and relate within our society. We just may, be all the more happy for it…….So rug up, get outside and take yourself into the forest to lift your January spirit, ground yourself, helping you to remember that life is so simple and happiness is in that simplicity. If your lucky the sun may just come out to say hello or some snowflakes may fall, kissing you as it touches your skin
Conifer Medicine
Saturday 19th January 13:00 – 15:00
Identifying different types of conifer trees and using them to make medicine
A workshop inspired by all those poor rejected Christmas trees laying on the pavements. Conifer needles are not exactly what comes to mind when thinking of medicine. What I love about Conifers is they can be collected all year round, even through the deep dark winter months. There is certainly something grounding about walking through the forest on a snowy winter day listening to the sound of snow falling off a pine tree or the rustle of a spruce or swishing of a fir or caress of a hemlock as you walk by.
This is an excerpt from “Braiding Sweetgrass” by Robin Wall Kimmerer, providing a guideline on how we can be more conscious when interacting with nature. I think it is a beautiful way to be and act when wildcrafting, foraging and gathering.
This tasty winter soup recipe is perfect for this time of year. The creamy sweet silky tenderness of the cauliflower and parsnip mixing with the heavy deep pungent tones of the topinambur and parsley root creating a delicate round smooth flavour with a punch.
I developed this yummy recipe with my gorgeous man (who is also an amazing cook), on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
A guide to skin care during winter, where you will be guided to create your own personalised lotion bar and herbal cream.
Presented by the Hedgewitch Kitchen
Saturday 15th December 13:00 – 15:00
Don’t we all feel the hard, cold winters and how they affect so many parts of our body. The skin, the biggest organ of our body is what really gets the short end of the stick in this season. All it really craves is summer breezes, the soft caress of sunny days, less restrictive clothing and the feeling of diving deep into a warm lake. But instead we must deal with icy winds, dry heating, our skin being restricted from breathing by clothing… and let’s not forget Berlin’s hard water which doesn’t help either. These factors affect our skin by drying it out, causing skin to crack, itch, form rashes, sting, and flake. As our biggest organ and the first barrier for our bodies against the outside world, it is essential to treat it with love and affection by feeding it with only the best food possible. That is, self-made organic skin products.
Algarve, remote amongst the orange trees. The quiet, still feeling one has in the openness of remote places. No distractions, expectations and no internet. Freedom to just be and breath. The figs forming, cactus flowers in full bloom, wild herbs under stone fruit trees and along paths running down to beaches with long open stretches of sand beautifully scattered with shells, covered by deep blues skies lapped and licked by the cold Atlantic ocean and caressed from the hot sunshine and gentle welcoming breeze. Small Mediterranean towns looking all so similar, but feeling all so different. Starry clear nights with trees dancing in the wind. Recession. Struggling to survive, rugged dry countryside, but within that environment a feeling of easiness, slowness, peacefulness, quietness. The languages and people so foreign and at the same time the environment so familiar. These were the impressions of my first taste of Portugal.
A two-part series of workshops
Presented by the Hedgewitch Kitchen
Sunday 28th October + Saturday 1st December
Getting intimate with herbs involving drawing them close to us and becoming its ally. Understanding it, learning from it, being in awe of it and respecting it. We will be exploring the medicinal qualities and uses of herbs through learning and personal experiences. We are the students and the plants are our teachers. They have a lot to say and a lot to teach us. We just need to know how to learn, to listen. Using all our senses we will hear the whispering of the herbs calling to us, telling us what is to be done.
Photo by Clare Holohan; I wrote this post for West Highland Herbal Facebook. A truly amazing, very talented herbalist in Scotland, who I had the pleasure of learning and working with and was first seen at; https://www.facebook.com/WestHighlandHerbal/
Her website; https://www.westhighlandherbal.com/
Taraxacum officinale (Dandelion), a yellow flowering plant almost impossible to miss when it crosses your path, bringing a smile to your face with its bright sunny flowers and toothy looking leaves. This plant is full of courage and enthusiasm growing virtually anywhere and everywhere. It will pop up in manicured lawns, poke through stone walls, creep up in garden beds and push through cracks in concrete.
AvantGarden 