Winter Herb Shares NOW AVAILABLE - order by Dec 1

NEW!  This season's Winter Herb Share CSA (or Community Supported Apothecary) is now available.  We have limited shares left, please order by December 1.  One-time pick up of your share by mid-December at Little City Farm (or by another arrangement).   

WHAT IS INCLUDED IN YOUR WINTER HERB SHARE

Give the gift of health & wellness to yourself or your loved ones!

Herbal CSA's are modeled after farm Community Supported Agriculture programs, where members purchase a "share" in the season's harvest and receive regular installments of farm goodies throughout the season. Our seasonal herb shares features locally grown and wild-harvested medicinal plants, tended and harvested by us in small-batches. We wish to promote health through preventative care, using "medicine as food" in daily life. Our herbal CSA will include hand-crafted items such as: herbal loose-leaf teas, herbal salts, medicinal honey, syrups, tonics, herbal vinegars, as well as soaps and body care items.

By participating in our Winter Herb Share project you are:

• SAVING 20% off from our regular prices by buying this share instead of individual items
• allowing us to continue to promote wellness in our local community through the use of and education about locally adapted plants
• learning about using locally grown plants for your own food and health
• minimizing waste (all products come in recycleable/reusable containers)
• supporting our local small business venture
• enjoying plants that are grown, harvested and prepared with the utmost respect

The Winter Herb Share includes 8 full-sized products. Find loose-leaf teas, elderberry syrup, fire cider tonic, winter salve, and winter lipbalm.

Other Herb Share member benefits: Also included is a short newsletter describing featured herbs, product descriptions and usage, herbal folklore, plant profiles, and additional recipes to try at home.

READ MORE & ORDER DETAILS HERE

Practical Home Herbalist classes

We are currently running our Practical Home Herbalist series again.  This is a four-part series of herbal classes for those who want to delve deeper into their relationship with healing herbs and remedy-making for home use.  We have a wonderful group of ten women taking part this time around, and also a local photographer who is going to document our classes for us.  Classes offer hands-on remedy making with samples to take home, harvesting and tasting herbs, plants to take home for creating their own herbal garden, learning about four focus plants each week, learning through artwork (each participant creates a traditional "herbarium" or herbal botanical journal as part of this series).  The hope is to provide participants with practical skills and knowledge for making simple safe remedies for their own friends and families, as well as building deeper understandings of the beautiful healing plants that are our allies.  This series is so much fun to create, host and offer to our community!  I look forward to sharing more - for now here are a few photos from our first session in which we featured: plantain, dandelion, nettle and lemon balm.  With these herbs we enjoyed making herbal shampoo (nettle, lemon-balm), herbal pesto (dandelion-plantain), herbal vinegar (nettle), and drinking deep dark green herbal nettle infusions.  Read more about the Practical Home Herbalist series here. 

Practical Herbalist series 2016

We wrapped up our 4 month long Practical Herbalist series here yesterday, with a busy class of making winter remedies like tinctures, fire cider, and cough syrup.  This wonderful group of 14 students has been meeting here once a month (June through Sept) as part of this 4 part series.  Over the months we covered all the basic approaches to making "practical herbal" remedies using simple home medicine-making methods in order to feel confident to handle the basic aches, pains, coughs and colds, cuts and scrapes of regular life.  Students also had the chance to watch the gardens grow throughout the season, harvest and dry herbs, and make further projects at home.  We plan to offer this series again in the new year, and details will be posted over the coming months on our workshop page.

The grand finale of this class was an amazing herbal potluck to end the morning.  Each student brought something to share made with herbs we had talked about during the class (or other favourite herbs).   We love to take our "medicine as food", and so we savoured herbal pestos, herbal oils, salads infused with spruce tips dressing, baked treats with lavender, herbed potato fritatta, fennel-rosehip kombucha, and much more! 

Petals & Roots Kids Herbal Club this spring (for 6 weeks, from May 24-June 28)

 

New!  Petals & Roots Kids Herbal Club

Tuesdays from 4-5:30 pm, May 24 to June 28 (6 weeks)
with Karin Kliewer, traditional herbalist
held at Little City Farm (508 Duke St West, Kitchener)
www.littlecityfarm.ca

Do you have a budding naturalist or green thumb in your family?  This kids herbal club will give the opportunity to explore the green world of herbal healing plants.  We'll spend 6 sessions outdoors at Little City Farm (a small permaculture-inspired urban homestead in Kitchener), tending & harvesting medicinal herbs of spring.  Kids will learn basic plant identification, make herbal smoothies, find a personal plant ally, build a botanical plant press, make botanical sketches in a plant journal, create several simple healing herbal remedies to take home, and more!  Hands-on, creative, informative, fun!

Limited to 6 kids.  Ages 7+
$15/per week ($90 total) - commitment for all 6 sessions please
Please contact Karin if you wish to sign up your child:
Contact: info (at) littlecityfarm.ca / 519-575-9174

Practical Herbalist Series 2016

An exciting unique 4-part workshop series, that includes hands-on learning, plus some "home" assignments and additional support between sessions.  Workshops will be held on 4 Saturday mornings at Little City Farm, from June to September so we can see the changes and experience the bounty throughout the growing season.  This series is led by Karin Kliewer (Master Herbalist).

Spring Leaves
Summer Blossoms
Fall Harvest
Winter Roots
 
 At the end of this series you will have gained:
~ confidence and knowledge of growing/using basic medicinal herbs at home
~ a well-stocked pantry of simple herbal home remedies you have made
~ hands-on experience making 10+ herbal products (e.g. oils, salves, poultices, decoctions, tinctures, cough syrups, etc)
~ familiarity with 20+ medicinal herbs (see list of focus herbs for each session below)
~ guidelines for herbal dosages and basic herbal first aid for home use
~ general understanding of plant identification and ethical wild harvesting
~ hands-on experience harvesting, storing, drying,using medicinal herbs (leaves, blossoms, roots, berries, seeds, bark)
~ basic understanding of herbal gardening, herbal propagation, planting and seed saving
~ simple outline for starting your own medicinal herb garden at home
~  knowledge of where to source quality herbs and herbal product-making supplies
~  a collection of herbal recipes, hand-outs and other useful resources
~ a network of other community members interested in natural herbal healing
~ 10% discount on medicinal herbs during the annual Little City Farm Seedling Sale!
~ please see below for more details on specific topics we will cover in each session
~ a copy of Rosemary Gladstar's book Medicinal Herbs: A Beginners Guide   

Limited space to 10 participants.  As one goal of this series is to create a continuous small-group shared learning environment, priority will be given to participants who can commit to taking all 4 sessions.

Read more & register here...

Winter Herb Shares Now Available from Little City Farm/Homestead Herbals! Discover Community Supported Herbalism

What is a Winter Herb Share?
Similar to a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) our Winter Herb Shares offer members unique limited edition herbal remedies made with herbs grown here at Little City Farm, or sourced from local/organic sources. These winter remedies are mindfully prepared in small batches with your best winter health in mind. Winter Herb Share members pay upfront, and Herb Shares are picked up at Little City Farm (by appointment), starting January 15, 2016. More information about this upon registration.  Please note that Winter Herb Shares are limited, so please do sign up soon if you wish to become a member.  Registration open until shares fill.

What is in a Winter Herb Share?
The Winter Herb Share includes:

• Elderberry Syrup - 8 oz
• Sage Cough Syrup - 2 oz
• Winter Wellness Tincture - 2 oz
• Warming Winter Elixir - 4 oz
• Breathe Easy Cold & Congestion Oil - 2 oz
• Winter Flu Fighter Tea Blend - 40 grams
• All Purpose Healing Salve - 4 oz
• Your choice of 1 Herbal Lipbalm: (lemon-thyme, lavender-honey, peppermint-red clover, or calendula cacao)

Winter Herb Share Cost: $105 (20% off regular retail value!)

PURCHASE YOUR WINTER HERB SHARE HERE

Include your choice of lipbalm:

Lavender Honey Lemon Thyme Peppermint Red Clover Calendula Cacao

Winter Herb Share Ingredient Details:

Elderberry Syrup - a classic winter remedy that is highly beneficial for colds, cough, flu, bronchitis, sinus infection, viruses
Made with organic elderberries, local honey, alcohol.


Sage Cough Syrup - a delicious herbal syrup to ease sore throats and coughs
Made with organically grown sage, horehound, local honey, alcohol.

Winter Wellness Tincture - to boost the immune system, anti-viral properties
Made with organic elderberries, organically grown echinacea, thyme, boneset, astragalus, alcohol.

Winter Warming Elixir - this delicious fiery sipping vinegar ("shrub") is sure to beat any flu
Made with organic local apple cider vinegar, organically grown thyme, rosemary, organic turmeric, organic ginger root, organic garlic, organic onion, organic cayenne.

Breathe Easy Oil - massage and bath oil used for coughs, colds and congestion
Made with organic olive oil, organic grapeseed oil, pure essential oils of eucalyptus, rosemary, wintergreen.

Winter Flu Fighter Tea Blend - an immune boosting blend that also soothes sore throats
Made with organically grown herb blend: yarrow, peppermint, thyme, marshmallow root, anise hyssop, hyssop, and organic elder flowers.

All Purpose Healing Salve - for dry and chapped skin, healing cuts and scrapes
Made with organic olive oil, organic beeswax, vitamin E oil, organically grown calendula, organic St. Johns wort, organic yarrow, organic comfrey, organic cocoa butter, rosemary essential oil, geranium essential oil.

SHIPPING / PICK-UP
We will contact you after you purchase your Winter Herb Share.  For Local Customers the pick up for your Winter Herb Share is at Little City Farm (and no shipping costs necessary!).  For other orders, we offer limited shipping of your Winter Herb Share but shipping costs will apply.  Please contact us at info(at)littlecityfarm.ca if you have questions regarding shipping.