Harvest Guild Dinner

Inland Mendocino County Herb Guild

I’m so happy to be a vendor with my herbal buddies at the Harvest Guild Dinner this weekend. Celebrating herbalists in inland Mendocino County, the event will be focused on raising funds to sustain the Inland Mendocino County Herb Guild for 2020. A delicious local dinner will be prepared, featuring seasonally scrumptious food from local farms. Wine will be on tap from local winery (and also the first organic and first biodynamic winery in the United States) Frey Vineyards.

In addition to good company for a good cause, there will be speakers as part of the entertainment. Last year’s event included a rousing speech by my own herb teacher Donna d’Terra, who held an herb school in Mendocino County for many moons, educating locals in the way of herbal lifestyles. The keynote speaker was Corine Pearce, another teacher of mine, who encouraged everyone to have a meaningful relationship with the natural world; she recently released a book on the Pomo art of basketry and keeps the weaving alive by sharing her craft. For more information about Corine’s amazing work, click here.

What is the Herb Guild?

The herb guild is a volunteer run organization that has been created to support the advancement of herbalism in Mendocino County. In addition to offering several herbal products for wellness hand-crafted locally, the guild helps the community by teaching workshops and classes on topics related to herbalism.

Several exciting topics were discussed at the dinner last year. In addition to the services already offered by the guild, there are many folks who would like to see long term plans put in place to further herbalism in the area. Of particular note was the suggestion that there be a mobile herbal health clinic available for times of emergency. Like a first responder team, the clinic would travel as needed to places in crisis during a fire, etc.

Herbal Community

I’m excited to be a part of this particular event because herbalism has had one of the most profound impacts on my life. The people that I have met, the plants that I have befriended, and the skills that I have learned are all so very precious to me. Part of why I wrote “Wildfire Weeds” the way that I did was because I wanted to tell a story where herbalists are glorified. My main characters are pot farmers, but they also grow the herbs they brew for their teas, make medicines, and harvest wild plants. I like to joke that pot is a gateway drug because so many people in my area started growing cannabis and then found themselves in love with gardening their food, medicines, and so much more. Homesteading is catchy like that, and herbalism is something that nourishes the soul, body, mind, and spirit.