The yurt was buzzing this weekend as our herbal school community braved the cold like intrepid snowdrops for our first annual student and alumni gathering. Students from each of our cohorts to date got to meet each other, chat about shared interests and, of course, feast on plenty of gorgeous food by one of our very own students!
We did have a few fun activities planned, including a herbal pub quiz game (how could we not?!), which had teams shouting out Latin names of herbs and identifying plants based on their folklore with great enthusiasm, as well as making a herbal craft that will be gifted to our incoming students to welcome them into our community.
We also had a sharing table, so our community could bring anything they had an abundance of. There were seeds and seedlings (someone actually let out a squeal when she saw them and happily took a St. John’s Wort seedling home!), herbs fresh and dried from students’ gardens, surpluses from remedy make supplies orders and books ready to be enjoyed in another home. There were no obligations, but people brought what they had to share, and everyone took as much as they wanted. Only a few stray sprigs of rosemary were left behind, which I have happily kept.
But to be honest, we didn’t need any ice breakers or activities to get the gathering going. We could have just had our great food, our herbal tea and the wood burner going, because when like-minded souls gather, there’s never a shortage of conversation. Everyone made the rounds and someone managed to remember to take a few photos at some point - always hard for our groups, as we are always so present to the people we’re with and what we’re learning when our courses are in session. I think that’s a good thing.
One of our rising second-years brought her baby she had last year, and he definitely did not go short of cuddles!
And as I watched our community weaving together, it was a potent reminder of how it should be, of what we should be able to rely on as humans, regardless of the era in which we live. Connection. Celebration. Support. Understanding. Sharing abundance.
While I was chatting with one of our students, she mentioned how she feels like the world she lives in with her family is a wonderful world. It’s natural, it’s connected, it’s nourishing, it moves more or less at the pace of nature. Her world runs in parallel to the world full of negative news, heavy marketing, tension, stress and the demand to be always on and always productive. I couldn’t agree more. Every time we gather in the yurt, whether it’s one cohort or many, time slows. Everyone exhales. The phones are off and put away. The wood burner crackles. The rain patters on the yurt roof. The nearby sheep bleat.
It’s almost like being in a portal. Or like a giant mug and everyone who enters is a tea bag. Each time students come to the yurt, the longer they steep, the stronger their brew becomes - the stronger their confidence, the stronger their vision of what they want their family’s world to look and feel like, the stronger their creation of their own joyful, healthy, connected world becomes.
Regardless of what’s happening in the world out there, that’s what’s happening in our herbal medicine school, tucked up in the Yorkshire countryside.
If you’d like to join our real-life herbal community and weave your own wonderful world and you’re here in the UK, you’re very welcome to join us on our intensive herbalism course - Awaken Herbal Wisdom - which spans all four seasons. With up to three years of development available, our course gets herbalism both deep into your bones and your daily life, without either having to do a clinical degree or a traditional full-time apprenticeship. Although it is intense, it’s suitable for a wide range of herbalists, including beginners! You can learn more about our herbal medicine course here.
Be sure to join our mailing list to see what the current cohorts are up to, as well as read some of the golden nuggets that emerge from our sessions and other school updates. Enrolment opens after dates are announced each spring for the following year, and places are filled on a first-come, first-served basis. If you’re ready to join us on the journey, you can enrol on an upcoming cohort here.
Whatever the next step is creating your own joyous world, I hope you enjoy the journey!
At Rhodes Roots & Remedies School of Herbal Medicine, our practice of herbalism is rooted in the belief that we must remember, reclaim and relearn our knowledge of our bodies, our autonomy and how to work with plant medicine in order to bring control of our own health back into our families and homes for a sustainable future for ourselves and the planet. Through our intensive herbalism course, we facilitate the development of confident, empowered herbalists, attuned to the messages of their bodies and the natural world. Living the deep wisdom of herbal medicine within themselves, their homes and their communities, they uplift themselves and others, creating a stronger society organically. We do hope you'll join us on your journey!
