Green Path Academy: School of Herbalism
Our family has been walking the green path for many generations, following in the footsteps of our elders who came before, who always reached a hand behind them to lead the next in line. We feel it is our turn to reach out a hand, not only to the next generation, but to members of our community who are ready to place their own feet on the green path. Walk with us.
The Green Path Academy: School of Herbalism started with the earnest desire to share the art of natural healing. Our family has maintained a deep connection with the natural world through more than ten generations of learning with our eyes, hearts, minds and spirits open, as well as our hands in the soil and our feet grounded upon mother earth. The creators of Woodland Herbal, Brandon Elijah Scott & Jenni Parsons, have decided to recognize the need in our community to share a common sense approach to health care and wellness. They take a down-to-earth approach, employing methods and techniques of western herbalism with their Scottish heritage and Appalachian roots, with the ultimate goal being to return the power of self healing and plant knowledge back to the people.
In recent decades, there’s been a renaissance in herbal medicine and while many herbalists take the path of studying in a classroom in an urban setting, we wanted to offer a different path. We call this path the Green Path, because we believe learning about the plants from a textbook can never replace hands on experience. In order to understand the plants, you must have a connection to the plants. Our family is eager to share our enthusiasm, generational wisdom, and fresh ideas with the members of our community.
12-Course Herbalist Certificate Track:
Imagine a world where nature handed you what you needed, when you needed it. No cost to you. No trip to the store. Did you know the “weeds” around you had value to your health and could feed and nourish you and your family? What if we told you right out your back door are plants that can do all this and more. What if these plants were your pharmacy, grocery store, beauty parlor, spa, and pain clinic? What if when you looked at your garden, you saw friends instead of weeds that need pulled, you knew them by name and you understood their value?
This imagined world is our family’s reality, and it’s a beautiful way of life. While we’ll never stop walking the path and learning more, we recognize the responsibility to reach a hand behind to the next in line. We’re eager to teach what we know and to learn new things from our students. [Jenni just called all this word salad… Writers take a break. "Do you realize how difficult it is to pull multiple lifetime’s of hard work, passion, and experience, as well as sensory, emotional, and spirituality input into a few concise paragraphs? This is ridiculous, but I digress. Back with the spiel!”]
The Green Path certificate track is a hands-on practical course made up of 12 classes, designed to introduce you to the world of herbs, taking you along the whole process from seed to harvest to medicine. This transformative experience will put the power of your health back in your hands. This is not your traditional seminar at a podium, but more of a roundtable of friends and peers. All classes will be held at the lovely Clary Gardens botanical sanctuary, a non-profit dedicated to education and environmental stewardship.
Everyone is welcome from beginner to intermediate to elder, who want to share time with people who are passionate about plants. In these classes, you can expect to learn cultivation to preparation, recipe making to how herbs effect the systems of the body, and how to invite plants into your life to keep your body in balance. You will learn just enough to get excited and want to go home and play, and to learn more. The green path is never ending, and we are still ever learning, and we believe this is an art that can never be mastered. It’s ever changing and there’s a world of knowledge constantly growing… isn't that awesome? [Brandon thinks this is rambling. Jenni says, “Just do it!”]
Learn more at www.GreenPathAcademy.org
Comments
I am currently attending classes at Clary Gardens. Very informative with hands on opportunities. Listening, gathering, and enjoying plants and sharing knowledge and recipes has been great. I love taking nature walks with my grandchildren. Learning more about local plants and herbs will be a great opportunity to share with them and others of the same interest. I mainly have dried and used various herbs for teas and vinegars. I am anxious to learn more of the medicinal preparations and uses.