Medicinal Herbs for Summer Fun
In this playful, hands-on workshop, we will make an herbal bug spray, a healing salve, and an ointment for bug bites, burns and rashes, as well as sun teas, popsicles, herbal salad dressings, and other medicinal treats.
Herbalist, gardener, forager, yogini and mother, Sarah Naciri has been studying plants and making plant-based herbal medicine for the past fifteen years.  Sarah’s love and interest in the natural world and the interconnectedness of all beings and life forms was present at a very young age.  Following a childhood working with her father in his gardens, compost pile, and kitchen, Sarah worked on organic farms in her late teens and early twenties and slowly began to identify and use native medicinal plants and trees.  She attended Smith College, studying biology, ethnobotany, and sustainable agriculture at Smith, Hampshire College, and UMass Amherst.  While traveling in India and working on an amla farm in Rajasthan and a small vegetable farm in the Himalayas, Sarah was deeply intrigued by the presence and use of Ayurvedic medicine in modern-day India.  Upon her return to Massachusetts, Sarah immersed herself in the study of Western and Native American herbalism—she interned at an apothecary and herb farm, began attending the International Herb Symposium and surrounded herself with plants, books and teachers.  While living in the Pioneer Valley, Sarah created medicinal gardens around a public housing complex and hosted herb walks and a daily community Tea Time, serving medicinal, healing teas and soups to neighbors.  Living now in North Truro, Sarah and her two year-old daughter Leela hike, explore, and forage together year-round throughout the woodlands, dunes, and beaches.  Breathing in the salt and cedar air, Sarah feels blessed to be surrounded by the wildness and natural beauty of Cape Cod.  In the upcoming seasons, keep your eyes open for herb identification/wild-crafting hikes for kids and adults with Sarah!