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 red barn, the large event tent, the small red barn or in the fields or forests in the case of the walks.
Stay tuned because the schedule is still filling out and getting finalized, there will be some changes and additions.
Esoteric, Astro, Spiritual
Tangible Skills & Knowledge
Plant Walks
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.
We'll have a potluck dinner Thursday night from 6-7:30pm so bring something to share if you can.
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 if folks bring their instruments!
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 time.
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
Property walk with Isaac Hill, Meet on the Front Porch
Qi Gong with Brian Wilkins in the Big Tent
Yarrow Deep Dive Class with Gert Cole in the Small Barn
And one other class TBA
6:00-6:30pm Break (30 min)
6:30-7:30pm Dinner & Music in the Big Tent
7:45-9:00pm Live Music in the Big Tent
Saturday
July 27th
7:30-10:00am Registration in Big Barn - Welcome to folks just arriving!
7:30-9:30am Breakfast in the Big Tent
8:00-9:00am Morning Movement: in the Big Barn
9:30-10:00am Break (30 min) Gather in the Big Tent for the Orientation and Keynote
10:00-10:45am Orientation Circle in the Big Tent with Isaac and AC
10:45am-noon Keynote in The Big Tent with Pam Montgomery
Noon-1pm Lunch in the Big Tent
1:00pm-1:30pm Break (30 min)
1:30-2:45pm Breakout Sessions
Plant Walk with Becky Beyer, Meet on the Front Porch
? in the Big Barn
JoAnna Farrer on Divination in the Big Tent
? in the Small Barn
2:45-3:00pm Break (15 min)
3:00-4:15pm Breakout Sessions
Fungi walk with Olga Tzogas, Meet on the Front Porch
Lisa Fazio on Italian Folk Medicine in Barn
? in the Big Barn
? in the Small Barn
4:15-4:45pm Break (30 min)
4:45-6:00pm Featured Presenters
Sound Healing Gong and Percussion with Mike Tamburo
7Song's Talk on Herbs for Anxiety
6:00-6:30 Break (30 min)
6:30-7:30pm Dinner and Music
7:30-9:30pm Live Music
Sunday
July 28th
8:00-8:45am Morning Movement with Brian Wilkins doing Tai Chi with Trees. Meet in the Barn.
8:30-9:45am Breakfast
10:00-11:45am Panel
12:00-1:00pm Lunch
Bring your own lunch or purchase the meal plan.
1:15-2:30pm Breakout Sessions
Plant & Garden Walk , Meet on the Front Porch
Zambonifunk in the Big Tent
? in the Big Tent
2:45-3:15pm Closing Ceremony in the big white tent
3:15-4:30pm Pack Up and Part Ways
*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, journalist, author, and clinical hypnotherapist, specializing in hypnotic dreamwork. In May 2023, he published Mastering Traditional Astrology: A Depth of Beginning in the Celestial Art. He is the founder of Oraculos School of Astrology (OSA), where he offers a rigorous training program in concrete, event-based astrology. He practices Renaissance and Uranian Astrology in his client work, focusing largely on predictive and medical astrology research. Within his healing practice, Mychal is also a Certified Iyengar Yoga Teacher (CIYT) and Jikiden Reiki teacher. An avid student of the Western mystery tradition, he is entrenched in the world of Jewish mysticism, hermeticism, alchemy, geomancy, and the Qabalistic Tarot. To study with Mychal, visit: www.OraculosAstrology.com
Website:
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:
Taylor Rae
Session: The Weight of Stigma
While holistic spaces offer respite from harmful aspects of colonial medicine models, they are not invulnerable to their influence. The Weight of Stigma highlights the ways that diet culture and fatphobia show up in herbalism and holistic health spaces while identifying their roots in Anti-Blackness and colonialism. Through the exploration of health and wellness as expansive and diverse, this class invites us to find our ways back home to our bodies and see ourselves through the eyes of our ancestors rather than our colonizers.
About:
Taylor Rae of Raeflower Holistics is a community herbalist, clay worker and archivist who grounds their work in Black land traditions. After studying plant science in university, Taylor craved a way of relating to nature that was more rooted in her ancestry. Now, Taylor works to create avenues for the collective remembering and return to the land traditions of her lineage for herself and her community, especially as a method of combating the systemic barriers that exist between Black folks and our relationships to nature.
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.
Website:
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/