Medicinal Plants Class

Print
PDF

MEDICINAL PLANTS OF CALIFORNIA:
PROPAGATION, CULTIVATION, AND PREPARATION METHODS

Date/Time: August 29. 10am-4pm
Location: Wildheart Gardens. Berkeley, CA
Instructors: Tellur Fenner / Christopher Shein
Registration:  Phone: 510-428-1810
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

With the popularity of herbal medicine increasing at an exponential rate in the U.S, real concerns arise with regard to the sustainability of the practice. Back east, sustained high demand for industry favorites such as Goldenseal, Black Cohosh, American Ginseng, and Echinacea have left once thriving plant communities on thechinacea_pinke brink of extinction. Unethical harvesting practices in conjunction with ever increasing urban and agricultural expansion are the main culprits in this tragedy. Here in the west, we are starting to see some of these same impacts on our own unique medicinal plant communities. Obviously, in a liberal minded urban center such as the Bay Area we would be in serious trouble if all those interested in plant medicine traveled to the outlying areas to harvest. To remedy this dilemma it is imperative that we begin to expand our cultivation of such useful plants in yards, gardens, and other areas around the cities where we live. This class will take place on a “converted” urban plot which has undergone such a transformation. Many of the more popular (and lesser known) medicinal plants of California will be covered in the class including both natives and "weeds". Each student will take home a medicinal plant cutting from the garden in addition to an herbal product s/he helped prepare.  Fee: $55

Summer Guild Workshop and Fall Permaculture Class

Print
PDF

Two Permaculture classes taught by Christopher are starting up in late August.  The first is a one-day workshop at the Eco-House on Fruit Tree Guilds and Food Forests, and the second is the Fall Permaculture Class at Merritt College. See below for details.

 


Fruit Tree Guilds and Food Forests

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Learn how to create a food forest in your yard. Fruit tree guilds have a central element (fruit tree or nut tree), mulch plants, nitrogen fixer, nutrient/dynamic accumulators, insectaries for beneficial insects, vine layer, mushrooms and the soil food web. The fruit tree guild is a way of blending certain categories like edible, ornamental, artistic and functional. The food forest is on a larger scale. There are seven layers of the food forest; the canopy layer, the understory, the shrub layer, the herb layer, the ground cover layer, the vine layer and the root layer. Come see how you can put these in action in your yard at this summertime workshop. Taught by Christopher Shein. Please specify when registering if ASL interpretation is requested, (at least 10 working days in advance).

 

Time: 10am - 1pm.

Location: EcoHouse, 1305 Hopkins St., (enter via garden entrance on Peralta), Berkeley.

Cost: $25 general, $20 EC members, no one turned away for lack of funds.

Info: 510-548-2220 x239, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Wheelchair accessible.

Upcoming Permaculture Classes

Print
PDF

Are you interested in planting perennials vegetables in your garden and want to learn more about them?

The Ecology Center is hosting a class on Perennial Vegetables on Saturday May 29th at the EcoHouse in Berkeley and taught by our own Christopher Shein.


Here is the ad from the Ecology Center Calendar:

Join us for a lecture and Q & A with Christopher Shein of Wildheart Gardens and Instructor at Merritt College Landscape Horticulture Program. Learn to select and grow low-maintenance edible plants and how to naturalize annual crops such as lettuce, arugula, chard, collards and potatoes by seedsaving. Bring questions about garden vegetables and fruits. There will also be culinary herbs, native flowers, and fruits for sale. Plant sale starts at 12pm and is a fundraiser for the EcoHouse. Unusual perennial vegetables such as Bolivian Sunroots (Yacon), Tuberous Nasturium (Mashua), Tuberous Oxalis (Oca), Egyptian Walking Onions, Sunchokes, Tree Collards and more will be available.

 

Also be aware that Christopher's Permaculture Class at Merritt is already enrolling for Summer and Fall terms, so if you haven't been able to take the class yet, be sure to visit the Merritt College website and reserve a spot soon!

 

 

Wildheart Gardens SFExaminer

Print
PDF

Check out this recent SFExaminer article featuring Christopher and Wildheart Garden's!

resized_shein___intern_sm
"We all wear multiple hats. Christopher Shein is certainly no exception: he is a landscaper, a horticulturist, an award-winning permaculture designer, a husband and a father. Upon visiting his home and garden on Earth Day, what sticks out most about Shein is that he is a teacher.

The sun shone strong as I dropped my bike on the stone path to Wildheart Gardens, the backyard of Christopher Shein’s home in Berkeley. Wildheart Gardens is “a community garden of sorts” he says, as various interns packed up their tools for the day."

Read More Here: http://www.examiner.com/x-29883-SF-Environmental-News-Examiner~y2010m5d11-Christopher-Shein-of-Wildheart-Gardens

Warmer Days in East Bay

Print
PDF

Warmer days are here! I can finally plant tomatoes and some warm season staples like scarlet runner beans, basil, corn, winter squash, summer squash, peppers and a lot more warm season crops. This has been the most rain in 3 years and I’ve gotten word that its about 27” for Berkeley this year, with our average being 22”. With such abundant rainfall, it makes for easy weeding (and lots more than usual) and planting.

Raised_Bed_LettuceKale2This weekend I finally got in my first early season tomatoes. I got the starts from Merritt College at the plant fair this weekend. That was a great event with lots of interesting and usual varieties of edibles, affordable prices and some great bands and food.  I’ve been putting most of my energy into a garden tour that came by last weekend.

So last year I agreed to have my backyard opened for a school fundraiser for the Park Day School in Oakland, CA. On Saturday last week there were around 75 people that came to look at the garden. And on Sunday, there were over 600 people wandering around, snapping pictures and admiring the plants, the straw bale design studio and the chickens and duck and buying nursery plants. I’m sure a lot of people came away seeing the beauty and abundance of an urban homestead and were inspired to plant something they can eat.

Read more...