Plant Cunning 2024 Conference
Schedule
Learn and grow alongside some extraordinary speakers who are coming from near and far to share their crafts and wisdom.
The conference begins Friday afternoon, continues for a full day Saturday including music at night and ends Sunday afternoon.
Sessions will be held in the Big Barn, an event Tent, the Small Barn and the plant and fungi walks will meet on the Front Porch.
This is pretty much the final schedule as we know it, that being said,
things can happen and any changes will be posted and announced at the event.
Esoteric, Astro, Spiritual
Tangible Skills & Knowledge
Plant Walks
Conference Schedule
Thursday Night (Pre-Conference)
July 25th
3pm-8pm: Welcome Campers
Anyone who would like to arrive early to set up camp to wake up on the land Friday is welcome to register as a camper ( $25 camping fee). Try to arrive before dark so that you can get oriented in the daylight.
6pm-7:30pm: Potluck Dinner, Bring a dish to share
We'll have a potluck dinner Thursday night from 6-7:30pm so bring something to share if you can. We're making a big batch of vegan chili with beef on the side to add.
In the evening folks are welcome to hang out, light a bonfire in the fire pit and perhaps we can have a lil song circle or music jam- bring your instruments, drums, voices, etc. We have a few fire spinning folks bringing their gear too!
Friday
July 26th
11:00am-3:00pm Registration is open, Welcome! Come set up your camp, explore the land, make new friends, relax. Bring your own lunch or head to town for a bite, as we won't be serving food until dinner.
3:30-4:15pm Opening Circle -in the big white tent behind the house
4:15-4:30pm Break (15 min)
4:30-5:45pm Evening Sessions
Magical, Medicinal, and Mystical Yarrow with Gert Coleman in the Small Barn
Lammas Herblore: The 1st Harvest Festival of the Year & Magical Uses of Plants with Rebecca Beyer in Big Barn
"Cooking with Mushrooms" with Olga Tzogas in the Big Tent
5:45-6:30pm Mocktail Mixer in the Big Barn featuring Weathertop Farms delicious fruit and herb shrubs & switchel drink mixes
6:30-7:30pm Dinner in the Tent
8:00-9:30pm Weaving Waters Ecstatic Free Form Dance in the Big Barn with Alexandra Wendt
9:30-11:00pm Family Jam in the Big Barn with some improv instrumentals by Falcon Arc, other musicians in attendance and you! - bring your instruments or a song to share or be ready to dance along to whomever is inspired to play.
Saturday
July 27th
8:00-10:00am Registration in Big Barn for new arrivals Saturday
8:00-9:00am Morning Movement: Qi Gong with Brian Wilkins in the Big Barn
8:30-9:45am Breakfast in the Big Tent
9:45-10:00am Break & Shopping Vendor Alley (15 min)
Begin to gather in the Big Barn for the Orientation and Keynote
10:00-10:30am Morning Circle in the Big Barn with Isaac and AC
10:30-11:45am Keynote- "Restoring Our Original Brilliance" with Pam Montgomery in The Big Barn
Noon-1pm Lunch in the Big Tent
1:00pm-1:30pm Break & Shopping Vendor Alley (30 min)
1:30-2:45pm Breakout Sessions (1hr 15min)
Plant Walk with 7Song, "Clinical Uses of Common Plants" Meet on the Front Porch
"Amanita muscaria: From Myth to Medicine" with Michael Wilson in Small Barn
"Female Reproductive Health and Medical Astrology" with Mychal Bryan in the Big Barn
2:45-3:00pm Break (15 min)
3:00-4:15pm Breakout Sessions (1hr 15min)
"Plant Walk- Garden Tour" with Isaac Hill, meet at Front Porch
"Italian Folk Medicine" with Lisa Fazio in the Big Barn
"Maximize Memory and Focus" with Charis Lindrooth in the Tent
4:15-5:00pm Iced Herbal Tea Time in the Tent (45 min)
5:00-6:15pm Featured Presenters (1hr 15min)
"Sound Meditation and Instrumentals" with Mike Tamburo in the Big Barn
Featured speaker, 7Song's Talk on "Herbs for Anxiety" in the Tent
6:15-6:30 Break & Shopping Vendor Alley (15 min)
6:30-7:30pm Dinner in the Tent
7:30-9:30pm Live Music in the Big Barn with Average Joey, Liana Gabel and folk family band, The Hills and the Rivers
10:00-11:00pm Family Jam (bring your instruments)
Sunday
July 28th
8:00-8:45am Morning Movement-
Yoga with Meghan Kirkpatric in the Big Barn (bring your own mat if possible)
8:30-9:45am Breakfast
9:45-10:00 Break and Shopping Vendor Alley
10:00-11:45am Breakout Sessions
Plant Walk with Rebecca Beyer, meet on the Front Porch
Breathwork Session with Meghan Kirkpatric in the Big Tent (limit to 12 people- Pre-Register for Free Here)
"The Garden: Anatomy, Physiology and Pleasure as the Path" with Tere Marie in the Big Barn
12:00-1:00pm Lunch
Delicious lunch will be served with the meal plan or pack your own lunch.
1:15-2:30pm Breakout Sessions
Mushroom Walk Intro to Fungal Ecology + Wild Mushroom Identification with Olga Tzogas, meet on the Front Porch
"Hands on Mutual Aid: Crafting Community Care Kits" with the People's Cauldron in the Big Barn - we're asking attendees to bring donations of herbs, tinctures, first aid and harm reduction supplies to craft the kits together in the Small Barn
"Divination and the Land through the Seasons" with JoAnna Farrer in the Big Barn
2:45-3:15pm Closing Ceremony in the big white tent
3:15-4:30pm Pack Up & Part Ways, or Linger & Lounge until Monday morning for campers staying over one more night 🙂
*See the class descriptions and speaker bios below for all the deets.
Speakers & Topics
Pam Montgomery
Sessions: Keynote: Restoring Our Original Brilliance and Panel Discussion
Restoring Our Original Brilliance
Our lives begin in a flash of light at conception. This light brightens as more and more cells develop biophotons at their nucleus. We were born into original brilliance as beings of light. This light is what informs us to communicate coherently, heal fully and connect via interbeing. We have the potential to be fully enlightened if we just continue to feed our light. However, modern day life tends to dim our light via chemicals, EMFs, separation from Nature and continually imprinting traumas. Nature, especially plants and trees, reflects our original brilliance back to us which helps us remember who we truly are. The green beings are vastly intelligent and can help us restore our blueprint of brilliance. Epigenetic research shows that we can evolve within a generation. Is it possible that, right now, we can live to our full potential healing, wholing and partnering with Nature? Get ready to shine your light as we explore ways to restore our original brilliance!
About:
Author, teacher, international speaker and Earth Elder who has passionately embraced her role as a spokesperson for the green beings and has been investigating plants/trees and their intelligent spiritual nature for more than three decades. She is the author of two books one of which is the highly acclaimed Plant Spirit Healing; A Guide to Working with Plant Consciousness and Partner Earth; A Spiritual Ecology. She operates the Partner Earth Education Center at Sweetwater Sanctuary in Danby, Vermont where co-creative partnership with Nature research takes place. Pam also teaches internationally on plant spirit healing, spiritual ecology and people as Nature Evolutionaries. She is a founding member of United Plant Savers and more recently the Organization of Nature Evolutionaries or O.N.E. Her latest passion is to engage ceremonially in full symbiosis within the plant/human matrix where the elder common plants and trees initiate and guide us into being truly human.
7Song
Sessions: Talk called"Herbal Medicine for Anxiety" and Plant Walk "Clinical Uses of Common Plants"
Herbal Medicine for Anxiety
Anxiety is one of the most common health conditions seen in clinical practice. Anxiety comes in many forms and often interferes with daily activities and sleep. This class will focus on a number of plants that can be helpful in reducing feelings of anxiety and stress and help with sleep.
Clinical Uses of Common Plants
This plant walk will focus on the medicinal uses of common plants along with basic botany, and ways of preparing them as medicine.
About:
The story of 7Song's birth remains a mystery. He was 'found' one day hitchhiking on a New York State turnpike with a sign saying, "My name is 7Song, please teach me how to be an herbalist." The language he spoke was indecipherable but seemed to be a cobbled mix of Latin and Greek botanical names (which led to speculation that he likely was tutored by some type of botanist, though this was never proven).
Coincidentally, the first person to pick him up was a retired ethnobotanist on a field trip to find the origins of Sassafras. From there, they eventually reached the mountains of Chimborazo in Ecadour, where 7Song spent the next 7 years living in a hollowed-out tree, absorbing all he could from his surroundings.
Afterward, he traveled the hippie circuit, learning all he could about herbal medicine and making beaded crystal necklaces.
Since then, he has made it his mission to help others learn the value of herbal medicine (but let the necklaces go, as they kept breaking while he was wildcrafting).
Mychal A. Bryan
Session: Female Reproductive Health & Medical Astrology
Medical Astrology provides a means of assessing the fundamental vitality and wellbeing of a person. It also enables us to identify areas within their constitution that are most prone to becoming “morbificant” or sources of illness within their lifetime. Join Mychal A. Bryan for this deep dive into classical medical astrology, in which we will explore various female reproductive health issues and the combinations of stellar influences that directly correlate with these issues within the natal chart.
About:
Mychal A. Bryan is a Bahamian-Jamaican astrologer, author, and clinical hypnotherapist living in Boston, Massachusetts. He is the founder of the Oraculos School of Astrology, where he offers a rigorous training in concrete, event-based astrology. Mychal is actively engaged in a project to write the entire curriculum of teaching offered at OSA in a series of textbooks. Thusfar, he has published two volumes in this series: “Mastering Traditional Astrology” and “Horary Astrology & the Natal Promise.” A respected teacher, Mychal regularly provides public astrology demonstrations where he proves the validity of astrology as a means of identifying concrete events that occur within people’s lives.
Website:
Rebecca Beyer
Session: Lammas Herblore
Explore the herblore, of folkloric uses, of the herbs associated with Lammas on August 1st. This pre-Christian English holiday has many folkways and traditions and is the first harvest festival of the Wheel of the Year. Go beyond the edible and medicinal and discover the historical magical uses of these special plants.
About:
Rebecca Beyer is the woman behind the Blood and Spicebush School of Old Craft. She lives in the mountains of Western North Carolina, where she lives on a rural community owned land project and teaches traditional witchcraft, foraging, and Appalachian folk medicine and magic. She has studied both in academia and far without, with a BS in Plant and Soil science from the University of Vermont and a Masters in Appalachian Studies and Sustainability, concentrating in Appalachian Ethnobotany at Appalachian State University. She spends her days trying to learn what her ancestors did and finding ways to share traditional skills by living in line the Old Ways.
Website:
BLOOD AND SPICEBUSH - Blood and Spicebush
Mike Tamburo
Session: Sound Meditation with Mike Tamburo
Enter a timeless space of listening as Crown of Eternity's Mike Tamburo orchestrates his way through 40+ overtone rich instruments including Gongs, Bells, Sound Sculptures, Hammered Dulcimer and tuned metal instruments. Listeners have described Mike Tamburo's music as an adventure in listening; sonic bliss; a deep and lasting vibrational rejuvenation for body and spirit; a profound aesthetic experience; a journey through the senses and a perceptual rollercoaster. Allow yourself to be still and listen.
About:
Mike Tamburo is a world-renowned musician, composer, artist and educator. He is known and loved for his transformational live concerts performed on his personally curated set of gongs, bells and other metal instruments. A lifelong multi-instrumentalist, Tamburo has focused his talents on metal percussion instruments, string instruments (hammered dulcimer, guitar, zither, shahi baaja), as well as electronic instruments (synths, looping). Since 1994, Tamburo has shared more than 2,000 concerts and workshops. He has recorded over 70 albums, both solo and in collaboration with Crown of Eternity, Meisha, Arco Flute Foundation, Psychic Frost, Brother Ong and more, ranging from epic gong music to ecstatic and transcendental string music, as well as folk, drone, space rock, ambient, mantra music and sometimes unclassifiable sounds. This man loves music in all its forms!
He teaches gong music, both in person and online with School of Gong. He is also a part of the far-reaching ethnomusicology trio, Dig Deeper, with Mitch Nur and Thomas Orr Anderson. Their online classes have explored countless musical concepts with a focus on the cultural and personal uses of sound for healing, meditation, trance, ecstatic states, relaxation, self transformation, perception, psycho-acoustics, scientific discovery, time and community. An early adoptee of meditation, Tamburo’s music offers space for journeying, self-exploration and deep introspection. During many of his early performances, he experienced altered states of consciousness and out of body experiences. To understand these experiences, he explored kundalini yoga, energy work, the therapeutic use of sound and how sound impacts consciousness, human perception and self healing. His love for long sustained drones, overtones and psychoacoustics continues to inspire him to explore music in further directions.
Tamburo is also an interdisciplinary sound artist, instrument builder, video artist, sound therapist, writer and meditation teacher.
Website:
Mike Tamburo (miketamburomusic.com)
Charis Lindrooth
Session: Maximize Memory and Focus
Maximize Memory and Focus Are you ready to unlock the full potential of your memory and focus? Dive deep into the fascinating world of neurochemistry and plant wisdom in this class designed to empower you with the knowledge and tools to enhance your cognitive abilities naturally and effectively. Demystify the complex mechanisms behind memory and focus while understanding the pivotal roles of key neurochemicals like adrenaline, cortisol, and dopamine. Discover the most effective herbs and holistic routines that align with your body’s natural rhythms, enhancing neurochemical balance and cognitive function. Conquer procrastination, fuel your motivation, boost memory, and cultivate a mindset geared toward growth and boundless creativity in this transformative class.
About:
Charis Lindrooth is the founder and director of BotanicWise, a platform dedicated to authentic herbal education, where plant wisdom can be shared and where like-minded people can connect and build a community to steward land, medicinal plants, and supportive relationships with each other. As a practicing herbalist and chiropractor for three decades, Charis has devoted years of study to the workings of the brain and holistic solutions to support better cognition and memory. After her diagnosis of Parkinson’s, her journey with brain health took a more personal turn, and it is her mission to share what she has learned with anyone interested in holistic and plant-based solutions to support the nervous system.
Website:
Gert Coleman
Session: Magical, Medicinal, and Mystical Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
Plants have long been used to interpret the natural world and our responses to it. Revered for milllenia, yarrow (Achillea millefolium et al) is a plant with powerful stories to tell. Beyond its profound and practical medicinal uses, yarrow offers protective support, eases grief, and helps us to regroup and set protective boundaries, ultimately connecting us both to our deepest selves and to the communities around us. From scientific research to poetry to personal experience, yarrow – sometimes called the “warrior plant” or the “plant of invulnerability”-- aids in the struggles between life and death, healing and surviving, adapting and divining. In this workshop, we will taste a yarrow tea, connect with the plant, and learn how to know, grow, and use yarrow in all aspects of daily life.
About:
Herbal educator, writer, gardener, editor, and herb enthusiast, Gert Coleman loves, grows, eats, and reads avidly about herbs. Retired professor of English, she lives on 100+ acres in Central New York, growing herbs, flowers, trees, and at-risk native plants with her husband and dog. As an herbal educator, she has taught humorous and informative programs for all ages at parks, museums, and conferences; helped maintain a 70' x 70' colonial herb garden for 3 decades; apprenticed with Rosemary Gladstar; compiled and edited five Herb of the Year™ books; and writes about the legends, lore, and poetry of herbs. In addition, she teaches workshops on nature writing in the wild places of New York and beyond.
Olga Tzogas
Sessions: Fungi Walk and a Cooking with Fungi Class
Learn to cook mushrooms beyond just the classic white button or portobello! There is such diversity within the mushroom world that includes the different flavors and textures they naturally have. Mushrooms are loaded with proteins, fiber, and complex carbohydrates that nourish us from within. Join Olga's session for delicious and educational mushroom cooking and exploration within the mushroom kingdom!
She'll also be leading a fungi walk through the grounds and forests.
About:
Olga's journey with Fungi and plants started over a decade ago. Working with these allies by foraging in both urban & more wild settings, and developing skills to identify for food and medicine. In 2011, Smugtown Mushrooms was established because there was a need for mushrooms & growing supplies, workshops, events & community based science in her area of Rochester, NY. While continuously learning more and embracing the never-ending, unlocked potential of mushrooms & fungi. She teaches workshops throughout the region about wild mushroom identification, medicinal mushrooms, biology, and mushroom cultivation. She's the instigator of the New Moon Mycology Summit, an annual event to learn about and celebrate mushrooms and fungi enthusiasts in the North East.
Website:
https://www.smugtownmushrooms.com/
Lisa Fazio
Sessions: "Medicini Popolare" Italian Folk Medicine
Italian folk medicine is a collection of diverse place-based practices originating from the peasants of Southern Italy and the Italian diaspora with roots from the ancient people of the Mediterranean. It is not a standardized system but instead a living way of being that emerged in diverse forms throughout the village communities and of Italy and in the immigrant enclaves here in the United States.
Also called “medicina popolare” or the “medicine of the people”, Italian folk medicine is more than a healing tradition but is also a way of facilitating the human connection to the sacred. In this class we’ll discuss the basics of Italian folk medicine, its connection to the ancient Greek and Roman physicians, animism, folk Catholicism and Traditional Western Herbalism. We’ll learn about some of the most important traditional plants and the methods of treatment that they’re used in.
Topics will include: How this “natural magic” offers us the innovative, adaptive, and regenerative healing skills we need now, Italian herbalism, preparations, how Italian witchcraft, folk Catholicsm, and folk medicine have syncretized, and Benedicaria (the American form of Italian folk medicine).
About:
Lisa Fazio is an Irish/Italian American folkloric witch, heretic, herbalist, astrologer, and una donna che aiutana (one who helps). Her primary focus is ancestral revival and remembrance within the Italian American diaspora. She practices the Folk Catholic and animistic traditions of her Italian ancestors who were the original people of Calabria; the Brutti people, and Benevento; the Samnite people. She is a mother of 4 children and Nonna to 2 grandchildren. She is the author of the forthcoming book “Della Medicina: The Traditions of Italian American Folk Healing” to be released October 2024.
Website:
JoAnna Farrer
Sessions: Divination and the Land through the Seasons
Divination deepens our understanding of the places where we live and the more-than-human world that surrounds us. In this interactive workshop, we'll explore divination techniques and basic oracular practices that can be used throughout the year, changing with the seasons, and how they can best be combined to create intuitive connections with the local Spirits of the places where we live.
About:
JoAnna is the host of the Coffee and Divination podcast, and the co-founder of the North Wyldewood Tradition of Witchcraft. She is a full-time professional violinist, and also practices a form of oracular divination inspired by the trance traditions of ancient Greece. On her farm in northern VT, she combines her deep love of ecology and Pagan animism through permaculture, and shares her homestead with her husband and their many farm animals.
Websites:
https://www.coffeeanddivination.com/
Michael Wilson
Sessions: Amanita muscaria: From Myth to Medicine
Amanita muscaria is the most occult mushroom, it is featured in popular media, myths, children's books, holiday greeting cards, and the mushroom emoji on your phone... but what is true about this enigmatic mushroom? Join us in a presentation about what we know about this sacred and mysterious mushroom. Michael will cover some of the history and indigenous shamanic use, as well as the mythology and lore behind the Amanita muscaria mushroom. He will also discuss the identification, chemistry, preparation and safety that must be known before working with this mushroom; also covered will be the dosage and effects of amanita muscaria. Finally, he will close with sharing where the market around amanita muscaria is going now and safe places to procure knowledge and products.
About:
Michael Wilson has been immersed in the world of entheogens since 2008, intertwining his journey with meditation and yoga since 2010. A permaculture designer and Reiki-certified practitioner, Michael's holistic approach to healing led him to explore the realm of wild foraged mushrooms in 2016, where he began crafting medicines from nature's bounty. After completing an organic farm apprenticeship and yoga teacher training, Michael delved deeper into the world of medicinal mushrooms and plants. In 2021, his path led him to the profound healing potential of Amanita muscaria, sparking a transformative journey of personal healing and exploration.
Today, Michael runs a thriving business centered around medicinal mushrooms and plants, offering high-quality extractions and dried mushrooms to retail and wholesale customers worldwide. His offerings extend beyond products, as he provides one-on-one consultations, facilitates ceremonies, and leads workshops and lectures on the healing power of nature. You can often find Michael sharing his knowledge and wares at mushroom festivals and other events, where he sets up his tinctures and non-alcoholic elixir bar. Supported by an incredible team who shares his passion, Michael is dedicated to bringing nature's medicine to those in need. Amanita muscaria has become the focal point of Michael's journey, as he explores its various potencies, preparations, and species, delving deep into communion with the mushroom spirit. In addition to his work with mushrooms, Michael holds sacred space in diverse capacities, offering trauma support, harm reduction, energy healing, sacred song circles, medicine ceremonies, and teachings in Yoga and Qi Gong. Michael's greatest joy lies in providing support and guidance to individuals on their healing journeys, believing that we all possess the innate ability to heal ourselves with a little support along the way.
Website:
Harmony Acres Farm - Mushroom Tincture, Wild Foraged Items (harmonyacresfarms.org)
Alexandra Wendt
Session: Weaving Waters Ecstatic Dance & Vocal Opening
Friday, after dinner in the Big Barn
About:
Website:
Tere Marie
Session: The Garden: Anatomy, Physiology and Pleasure as the Path
About:
Website:
http://teremariemartini.com/
http://wylliefoxfarmstore.com/
