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Cultivating Wellness Conference
September 13 & 14, 2008
A celebration of Land
Stewardship
and Community Wellbeing
in the White Mountains of
New Hampshire
featuring educational classes, hands-on workshops, field and forest
plant walks, and healing sessions with New England holistic
practitioners and wellness experts
Herbal
Medicine ● Organic Food
Energy Healing ● Yoga ●
Nutrition ● Spirituality
Massage Therapy ● Wild Edibles
View Conference
Workshops
Scholarships now
available! Learn more:
Registration
The U.S.A. is in the midst of a health
crisis. We are seeing increasing incidences of diabetes, obesity, and
cancer evident even in our children. While our health problems rise in
number and severity, we are simultaneously polluting and depleting our
natural resources.
In a
society where the stress levels in our daily lives continue to
skyrocket, antibiotic resistance is rampant, and healthcare is becoming
less and less affordable, we need solutions that are holistic and
community based. To realize these solutions, we must re-identify a
connection to the land and develop a healthy ecosystem that includes
people. Practices including traditional herbal medicine use, seasonal,
local food consumption, and exercise for body and mind can ecologically
and sustainably promote health and healing.
We invite you to
join us for an
experiential weekend
of healing to
learn how YOU can
Cultivate
Wellness in your world!
KEYNOTE ADDRESS:
Wellness Through Simplicity,
with Jim
Merkel, author of Radical Simplicity
Perhaps
you've heard a friend say, “I can't afford to be sick.” For many
Americans, car payments, mortgages, and college loans are piling high
while grocery and gas prices continue to rise. Unpaid sick time away
from work can be detrimental to a struggling family and, coupled with
the rising costs of medical care, prevents many people from seeking
help. Simplicity offers the antidote to “affluenza” and related stress,
illness and disease. Jim Merkel, author of Radical Simplicity, will
speak about how to detangle yourself from the stranglehold of the
American dream while having more time to exercise, eat healthy, local,
organic foods, learn about healing herbs and permaculture, and quiet the
all-too-busy “monkey mind.” Simplicity helps us to focus our attention
on a life with room around the edges, a life where we take charge of our
wellness. The crown jewel is material simplicity, inner peace, and an
outward purpose that benefits all life on planet earth.
WORKSHOPS
Please check back regularly...more
workshops & practitioners to be added soon!
Medicinal Uses of Fruits and
Fruiting Plants with Michael Phillips
Modern research reveals just why an organic apple a day holds so
much healing potential. We’ll discuss the antioxidant qualities of many
tree fruits and berries, the making of real cider vinegar and its use as
an acetous menstruum for mineral-rich herbs, the tonifying powers of
hawthorn, and the healing enchantment of elder. Growing tips for
fruiting plants will fit in along the way.
Apitherapy- Health and
Healing with Products from the Hive with Ross Conrad The
honeybee and hive products have historically played a large role in
disease care and prevention. Today science is finally catching up to
what naturalists, herbalists, and acupuncturists have known for years.
Covered are the healing properties of Honey, Pollen, Propolis, Royal
Jelly, Beeswax and Honeybee Venom.
The Herbal Kitchen with
Maria Noel Groves Get inspired to turn your garden
herbs into fantastic treats you can use year-round or give away as
gifts. We’ll discuss techniques (and demonstrate a few!) to make herbal
vinegars, oils, honeys, butter, cheese, cordials, pastes, spice blends,
sugars and salts.
The Essentials of
Aromatherapy with Joann Vollmer Ancient history is
steeped with lore of the mystery and healing power of plant fragrances.
Through the ages, essential oils have been found to be highly effective
in treating many common health problems. Bring aromatherapy into
your home medicine chest by exploring the healing properties of specific
oils and learning the various applications for enhancing wellness of
body, mind, and spirit!
Garden of Your Soul –
Preparation, Planting and Pruning with Lynn Durham
To cultivate true wellness, you need to use the interconnectedness of
mind/body/spirit to your advantage. There are all sorts of possibilities
for your life. In order to produce what you want, there are certain
gardening techniques that will help. Join Well Being Coach Lynn Durham
to consider preparing the soil in your life and raising your awareness
as to what to plant and what to pull so your life’s harvest is in
keeping with your heart’s desire.
Nutrition Botany – Do you
know what you are eating? with Barbara McCahan, PhD
This workshop is designed to provide basic information on the
distribution of nutrients throughout the various anatomical parts of
plants that we consume. By knowing something about basic plant anatomy,
and the botanical functions being carried out by different plant parts,
we can have a better understanding of how to build our cuisines for
nutritional balance and adequacy. Knowing about energy storage in roots
and seeds, the abundance of various types of dietary fiber and the best
sources of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants found in foods will
empower participants with information for enhanced personal nutrition.
The Garlic Connection with
Michael Phillips
If you understand the uses of garlic, you understand 50% of all
herbal medicine. Come learn how to successfully grow great garlic, and
then how to use this healing plant for effective medicine and delectable
eating. Michael hasn’t met a gardener yet who doesn’t derive profound
satisfaction from homegrown bulbs.
Knowing Your Intuitive Self,
Corey Calaio and Susan Lucas
This session is based on learning
how to recognize your Intuitive Voice and understand the connection
between your higher self and your connection to the Universal Light.
Corey and Susan will present exercises and literature to help you
llisten to your intuitive self, so that it may aid you in your daily
life.
Herbs for Dental Care with
Sandra Lory Let's demystify our teeth and gums! Take
home a protocol to follow for general dental health maintenance, and
discover supportive treatments for common oral health issues!
Homesteading for Health and
Happiness with Bob St. Peter Bob will present the
strategies and lessons learned from personal examination of physical and
mental health on a subsistence homestead in coastal Maine.
Mycological Landscaping with
your Gardens, Dave Wichland Explore the relationship
between mushrooms and garden plants, and discover the positive role
mycelium has on the garden ecosystem. Working together with
mushrooms and garden plants, you can cultivate a richly nutritious and
medicinal ecosystem in your own backyard!
Hands-On Soap Making with
Karen Lacharite Discover delightfully healthy
alternatives to commercially available body care products. Karen
will demonstrate and assist as we make our own handmade soap using
all-natural and/or organic ingredients and pure essential oils.
Transformation, Quantum
Physics, and Ourselves with Jahnay Pickett This workshop
entails the investigation of the authentic self, the
mind-emotion-ego loop, and “who’s running the show” in light of the
on-going and intensifying transformation of all life and matter as we
know it! Where do we fit in, and how we can make a difference by
transforming our own lives and our world?
Herbal Remedies & Your
Animals with Carole Lizotte This workshop will cover
the safe use of herbs and will as help you build an herbal apothecary
for the everyday occurrences in your animals' lives. We will also
discuss natural remedies for treating Lyme disease, fungal conditions,
and much more.
Craniosacral Therapy: What
is it, and how can it help you? with Kathy MacKay, PT, CST
Kathy will explain what craniosacral therapy is, how it affects the
body, and why it is a useful healing tool for a variety of conditions.
The workshop will also include a demonstration!
Break-Through Ceremony with
Karen Lacharite We will, as a group in a supportive
and encouraging environment, perform exercises and experiences that will
assist us in breaking through some of the barriers that hold us back in
life.
Mushroom Food, Mushroom
Medicine with Terry-Anya Hayes
Mushrooms are good food and better medicine! Meet mushroom allies
that please the palate as they boost the immune system, lower
cholesterol, strengthen respiratory function, and fight cancer.
Discover how to stalk, buy, store, and prepare a variety of delicious
and healthful fungi! We will sample Chaga Chai, Reishi Energy Tea,
and- if the Mushroom Goddess smiles- fresh Shiitakes cultivated right
here at D Acres!
The Art of Fermentation:
Step 1- Sauerkraut Making with Louise Turner
Lacto-fermentation was used before the days of refrigeration,
pasteurization, freezing, and canning as a means to preserve food.
A first, easy step to incorporating lacto-fermented foods into your diet
is to observe the preparation of old-fashioned sauerkraut and to learn
how it benefits your health and wellbeing.
SPEAKERS & PRACTITIONERS
Corey Calaio, CRT, CHT,
Certified Consulting Hypnotist, Peace of Infinity, LLC
Corey uses compassion and understanding in her practice to heal the
Body, Mind and Spirit. Through Intuitive Channeling, Hypnotherapy,
Reiki, EFT and Herbal recommendations, she teaches us about our own
Energetic and Emotional Sediment, allowing the break through in
destructive life patterns. Corey offers private consultations, private
channeling, group healing circles, and Herbal product and Self Hypnosis
Workshops.
Ross Conrad, Dancing Bee
Gardens Ross Conrad learned his craft from Charles Mraz,
world-renowned beekeeper, father of apitherapy, and founder of Champlain
Valley Apiaries in Vermont, and his beekeeping son Bill. Former
president of the Vermont Beekeepers Association, Conrad is the author of
Natural Beekeeping: Organic Approaches To Modern Apiculture, and has
written numerous articles on beekeeping, organic farming, natural
healing, and health issues. His 12-year-old small sideline beekeeping
business, Dancing Bee Gardens, supplies his friends, neighbors, and
local stores with honey and provides bees for Vermont apple pollination
in the spring. Ross lives in Middlebury, Vermont.
Lynn Durham, RN
Lynn Durham, RN is a Well-Being Coach who incorporates her experience as
a professor, author, columnist, professional speaker and mother of three
sons to help clients and audiences feel better. She has been called “a
glass of Prozac” by a fellow attendee at the Harvard Deaconess Mind Body
Medical Institute and a corporate consultant dubbed her “a creative
antidote to the everyday stressors of business . . . and life.”
Maria Noel Groves, Wintergreen Botanicals
Maria Noel Groves, clinical herbalist, runs Wintergreen Botanicals, a
small clinic and herbal education center nestled in Bear Brook State
Park in Allenstown, NH. Her primary herbal teachers include Michael
Moore, Rosemary Gladstar, and Nancy Phillips.
Terry-Anya Hayes
Terry-Anya is a
Maine-based writer, herbalist and educator who lectures widely and leads
mushroom and herb walks wherever the herbs and fungi beckon. She
is a past president of the New York Mycological Society.
Karen Lacharite, Ancient Fire
A Certified Firewalk Instructor and Personal Empowerment Leader, Karen
has been leading people through these exercises for several years.
Karen has years of experience making all natural handmade soap and
herbal products using pure, natural ingredients and essential oil.
Carol Lizotte, Green Gems Herbals
An Herbalist to the Animals, Carol completed her herbal apprenticeship
in 1998, did advanced studies in 2000, has a certification in
Aromatherapy, is a Flower Essence Practioner and a Shamballa Reiki
Master.
Sandra Lory, Mandala
Botanicals Sandra is a holistic health educator,
grassroots health activist, herbalist, artist, and gardener in Barre,
VT. She has worked at Sage Mountain Herbal Retreat Center in East
Orange, VT for the past seven years.
Susan Lucas, BS, CRT, CHT,
Wise Woman Tradition Herbals
Susan is a spiritual and energy healer focused on balancing the body
through herbs and "ki" energy. She teaches techniques for stress
reduction and pain release using intuition and energy flow to gain inner
peace and personal power. Susan offers Reiki treatments, herbal
consultations and products, and also conducts herbal workshops and
offers certification in traditional Usui Reiki I, II, and III to
Mastership.
Kathy MacKay, PT, CST
Kathy has been a physical therapist for 15 years. She
began studying CranioSacral therapy 9 years ago, and received her
CranioSacral certification in 2004. Kathy is active as a Teaching
Assistant for levels one through four CranioSacral Therapy courses, and
has been practicing in Plymouth, NH since 2006.
Barbara McCahan, PhD,
Plymouth State University Dr.
McCahan is an Associate Professor of Health and Physical Education in
the Department of Health and Human Performance at Plymouth State
University. She received her MA and Ph.D from UC Santa Barbara in
Cellular Biology and BA from Revelle College at UC San Diego in LaJolla,
CA. She teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses in health and
exercise science including Applied Nutrition for Healthy Living. She
resides in Plymouth with her husband Ted and her two daughters, Claire
and Molly. Additionally, she has been a Director for the Community
Guaranty Savings Bank in Plymouth since 1985. She is an active advocate
of healthy, sustainable, active living and supports the educational
efforts of D Acres toward this end.
Jim Merkel Jim is the author of
Radical Simplicity. Originally a military engineer and
arms trader, Jim changed his life at the time of the Exxon Valdez
disaster, quitting his job and devoting himself to environmental service
and world peace. He downsized his life and lived on $5,000 a year for 16
years. Jim founded the Global Living Project (GLP) and initiated the GLP
Summer Institute where teams of researchers attempted to live on an
equitable portion of the biosphere.
Michael Phillips, Heartsong
Farm Healing Herbs Michael is an herb farmer,
organic apple grower, and passionate observer of nature’s mysteries.
Along with his wife Nancy, he operates Heartsong Farm Healing Herbs, an
herb farm and educational center in the northern mountains of New
Hampshire. The Phillips family sells herbs and herbal products to their
local community and through a mail order business. Nancy and Michael
co-authored the book The Herbalist’s Way—The Art & Practice of
Healing with Plant Medicines. Michael’s first book, The Apple
Grower: A Guide for the Organic Orchardist, is now available in a
newly expanded edition.
Jahnay Pickett, Designing
Devas Walking a central path between the
metaphysical and physical worlds, Jahnay is a Certified Absolute
Balanced Mastery Practitioner, Certified Bioenergy Balancing
Practitioner, Shamballa Reiki master, ordained Minister, and
transformational energy healing facilitator. Over the years, Jahnay's
area of expertise has become one of facilitator and interpreter between
these two worlds, guiding the client in conscious dialogue with their
body consciousness, their multiple energy bodies, their personal
Guides/Angels/Unseen Friends, and parallel lives affecting and impacting
their current reality.
Bob St. Peter, The Good Life
Center Bob St.Peter is the Executive Director of The Good
Life Center at Forest Farm in Harborside, Maine. He works, gardens, and
loves at home with his wife and two daughters.
Louise Turner, Journey to
Wholeness Louise is a chapter leader for the Weston A.
Price Foundation as well as an occupational therapist in the medical
field. She is interested in showing people how to take their
health into their own hands through the preparation and preservation of
nutrient-dense foods.
Joann Vollmer, Wise Way
Wellness Center Joann Vollmer, a licensed massage
therapist since 1988, provides treatments at Wise Way Wellness Center in
a peaceful setting amidst her medicinal herb gardens and geodesic Grow
Dome in Thornton, NH. In her practice, she integrates a variety of
healing modalities, including Maya abdominal massage, aromatherapy,
raindrop therapy, CranioSacral therapy, lymphatics, and energy work, to
meet an individual's needs.
Dave Wichland, Wichland
Woods Wichland Woods is a unique, local myco-business located in
the Monadnock Region of New Hampshire. We have trained under Paul
Stamets of Fungi Perfecti and have spent 8 years studying and
experimenting with growing mushroom in a plethora of different indoor
and outdoor mediums. We educate the public on the techniques of
“backyard mushrooming” and how everyday resources can be used to
cultivate their own mycelia network. By educating the public about
mycology, we strive to promote people’s awareness about the health and
ecological benefits of mushrooms.
************************************************************
CONFERENCE
REGISTRATION
Two-Day Registration:
$100
-Including Two Organic Lunches: $125
-Including Five Organic Meals
and Camping: $150
*Scholarships now available!*
Due
to a generous grant from the Robin Colson Memorial Fund, we are able to
offer financial assistance to folks in need who wish to attend the
Cultivating Wellness Conference! To apply, please send us a brief
description of what you would like to learn at the conference and how
you plan to share that information with the broader public. Please
apply via mail or e-mail by September 1st.
*Ask us about group discounts
and work-exchange opportunities!*
To register BY MAIL, please print the
Registration Form and return to:
Lauren Buyofsky, D Acres of New Hampshire
P.O. Box 98, Dorchester, NH 03266
To register BY PHONE, please call (603) 786-2366. A $50.00 deposit
(check or money order payable to D Acres)
to hold your reservation must be mailed to Lauren Buyofsky, D Acres of
New Hampshire, P.O. Box 98, Dorchester, NH 03266 within 10 days
of making a phone reservation to hold your place. Your registration will be complete
when your deposit/payment is received.
There is a 25% discount for residents of
Grafton County and a further 25% discount for members of D Acres of New
Hampshire. Members who live in Grafton County receive a total 50%
discount!
Please contact
Lauren Buyofsky if you have questions:
(603) 786-2366 or
info@dacres.org
Thank you...we'll
see you in September!!
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2008 is the year of
Gardening for Health, Cultivating Wellness No one will be denied access to D Acres
workshops & events due to inability to pay.
A
25% discount
on all workshops and events is
offered to members of D Acres and to residents of Grafton County, so...
50% off
for Local Members |