Saturday, July 12 & Sunday, July 13
registration opens april 1, 2025
REFUND POLICY: We are unable to refund registration fees after June 1, 2025. You can contact Rachel and make arrangements to transfer your registration to someone else or convert it to a pre-payment of 2026 conference.
2025 Saturday schedule
8:00 - 9:00 - Registration - Sign In & Choose Classes
9:00 - 9:30 - Welcome
9:30 - 10:50 - Session One Location
The Four Humours - Lisa Tent #1
Reiki - Eve Tent #2
Pollinators and Medicinals - Shea Tent #3
11:00 - 12:30 - Lunch Served in Learning Center
Dining – Tent #4
12:30 - 1:50 - Session Two
Mother Elder - Mollie Tent #1
The Liver - General and Traitor - Paige Tent #2
Tensor Rings To Improve Plant Health - Jason Tent #3
2:00 - 2:30 – Break/Shopping
2:30 - 3:50 - Session Three
Ethnomycology and Conservation - Rebecca Tent #1
Blending Tasty Herbal Teas - Amy Tent #2
Celtic Herbs and Healing Traditions - Rachel Tent #3
4:00 - 4:30 - Snack/Breaks/Shopping
4:30 - 5:50 - Session Four
Charm Stones and Plant Spirit Spells - Dustin Tent #1
Foraging Wild Herbs - Bob Tent #2
Bitters Make Life Sweeter - Sara Tent #3
6:00 – Supper on your own
7:00 – Campfire and Drumming with Jerome Kills Small
2025 Sunday schedule
8:00 – Coffee, Tea and Light Breakfast in Learning Center - everyone is welcome
Sunday Intensive Classes - 9:00 – 12:00
Crone Project - Lisa Tent #1
Crystals 101 - Karen Tent #2
TBA - Kate Bodmann Tent #3
saturday Class Descriptions
The Liver - The General and The Traitor - Paige Hill
Explore the Liver's foundational role in your health. As an ally, it fuels one's drive and keeps the blood running smooth and clean. As an enemy, it can throw off hormone balance, ravage the digestive system and turn one's immune system against them. Learn easy diagnostics and some clever tricks to bring the Liver back onto your side.
Charm Stones and Plant Spirit Spells: Animist Relationality in the Western Esoteric Tradition - Dustin Clayton
Hidden within the body of folklore, myth, natural philosophy, and magical practice commonly known as the Western Esoteric Tradition, there lie hidden survivals of the West’s animist past. Often modern westerners can feel excluded from the access other cultures have to intimate relationship with the more than human world. Or we may feel that our culture has no deep-seated traditions for engaging with the community of life. If you’ve ever wondered how to deeply connect with the living world in a reciprocal and communicative way, without misappropriating the traditions of other cultures, then this introduction will provide you with several avenues for exploration.
Pollinators and Medicinals: Enhancing Human and Ecosystem Health - Shea Harkness
I am excited to present some remarkable allies that have supported humanity for thousands of years. While you may be familiar with some of these plants, their names might be less known to you. Others may be entirely new discoveries. All of these plants thrive effortlessly in Nebraska; many are native, while a few are introduced species that have successfully adjusted to their environment. We will explore ways to integrate these plants into your landscape, how to harvest them, and how to prepare them for medicinal use.
Blending Tasty Herbal Teas - Amy Seger
Join us as we use practical guidelines & our own senses to blend herbal teas that are tasty & medicinally useful for the body and mind. We will cover organoleptics, basic plant chemistry, & how these principles affect your own water-based extraction techniques.
Living Summer through Body, Mind and Spirit - Lisa Grabenbaur
In medieval life, the observation of nature’s cyclical patterns provided structure to daily life – the daily movement of the sun, the monthly path of the moon, and the annual journey through the seasons. Hildegard described the divine life force that runs through all things, eloquently calling it “viriditas”. This is also relevant for our busy, modern lives. We apply her seasonal insights for modern, healthy living, and restoring balance in our lives in the season of summer.
Foraging Wild Edible Plants for Food & Medicine - Bob Henrickson
Edible plants are all around us - you just need to know which ones to look for. Join horticulturist Bob Henrickson for an edible plant hike, and he’ll show you how to identify some of the wild edibles growing in our woods, plus some tips on how to harvest and prepare them. The possibility to gather our own food in the wild is an opportunity to revisit our roots. Wild foods are not only tasty they are loaded with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and healing properties. Spending time outdoors also allows you to spend time in nature, which has been proven to reduce stress and boost your immune system!
Mother Elder - Medicine and Magic for All Seasons - Mollie Morehead
Learn and connect with the wild, ancient, storied and abundant Elderberry. From folklore, modern science, and the practical, day-to-day of gardening and home remedies, elderberry spans the worlds. I (Mollie) have been growing and working with Elder for a few years now and would love to share my experiences, recipes, and learnings with all who are called to this wonderful plant. Beginners welcome!
Nebraska Ethnomycology and Conservation - Rebecca Chandler
Join Rebecca for an in-depth class exploring the relationships between humans and fungi throughout history. Rebecca will discuss the many uses of our mushrooms as food, medicine, art, building materials as well as their pivotal role in this region’s ecosystems. This class will also cover foraging ethics and ways in which citizen scientists can positively impact the outlook for fungal conservation in Nebraska. Classroom discussions will be complemented with hands-on activities and mushroom samples!
Introduction to Reiki and Energy Healing - Eve Conners
What is reiki? A Japanese healing art that uses energy to heal. Reiki has been used for centuries and is growing in popularity for natural healing. Eve will demonstrate the process she uses with the usui method, explain how it works and describe the numerous benefits that come from receiving reiki.
Celtic Herbs and Healing Traditions - Rachel Liester
What started as a research paper for an Ethnobotany Certification program has grown into a fascination with Celtic traditional healing and two trips to Scotland to learn about the ethnobotany of my ancestors: visiting the Scottish School of Herbal Medicine, meeting sacred trees, strolling through physic gardens, offering stones at clootie wells, visiting magical glens and adventures in hedgerow and seashore foraging. This class will lead you on a journey into the fascinating world of Scottish healing practices that include plants, trees, magic, myth, stones, water, metals and more.
Bitters Make Life Sweeter - Sara Brubacher Steinbrink
You may have heard that taking bitters or eating a salad before a meal is good for you, but have you ever wondered why? Come learn how bitter-tasting phytochemicals interact with our bodies, supporting our digestive and nervous systems to rest and digest, and so much more. We will discuss how to formulate your own bitter blends and ways to add bitter elements to your meals.
The Four Humours (an ancient system of health, as taught by St. Hildegard von Bingen) - Lisa Grabenbauer
For much of history, until the early 1900’s, the study of the four humours was the foundation of medical practice. St. Hildegard, a medieval nun and scholar, published treatises that described how this ancient method was used to understand the balances needed to maintain health in the body. We find that this is still useful in understanding our own bodies, and what we need to restore vitality and resilience to our bodies in a complex modern world.
How Tensor Rings Work to Improve Plant Health - Jason Adams
We will explore tensor ring technology, and how it can be used to improve plant health and vitality. As herbalists, we often consider our plants’ health to be quite important, as that essence will be imparted into our teas, tinctures, and remedies. A few questions we will consider: Why do plants respond so well to tensor ring tools? What kinds of tools work best with plants? And what results can we expect if we incorporate these into our gardens and greenhouses?
SUNDAY CLASS DESCRIPTIONS
Crystals 101 - Karen Green
Whether you call them rocks, stones or crystals, Karen will guide you through learning how they can help bring health and harmony to your life. She will explain the difference between raw and polished stones as well as how stones are attracted to you, and you are attracted to them. She will cover the basics of cleansing and recharging stones and how to let them bring positive energy to your life and help you let go of negative energy.
The Crone Transformation Project - Year 4 - Lisa Grabenbauer
The Crone Project is about growth of the spirit in a safe and supportive environment. For many of us, life is chaotic, and we find ourselves tossed about, disconnected from our true, core self, and questioning what we once believed. Join us for our fourth year of discovery – we will continue to explore the rites of passage through rituals that allow these sometimes-abrupt transitions to take place.
TBA - Kate Bodmann
2024 Presenter Biographies
Paige Hill
Paige has always been interested in medicine and, while preparing to go to medical school, she took a class on Medical Botany. This is the study of how plants are used in the creation of pharmaceuticals and the chemistry behind how they work. She was impressed by the stories of people using everyday plants for serious conditions, with success! Excited to learn more, she turned from medical school to herbal school. Even after years of practice, she is still inspired by these humble healers. “I am continually amazed by the endless power of plants.” She and her husband, Aaron, are the new owners of Prairie Star Botanicals. Prairie Star Botanicals Herbal Products
Dustin Clayton
Dustin is a craftsman, animist, folk magician, and perennial student of the living forest. He very much enjoys helping people build reciprocal relationships with the land on which they live, through the twin practices of traditional craft and mythic engagement. He believes, as did the alchemists of old, that the divine is present within and throughout the whole world. And that by digging into nature we can recognize our sacred connection with the rest of the community of life. In addition to these heady pursuits, Dustin enjoys playing music, reading books, spending time with his wife Clarissa, and walking alone in the woods.
Mollie Moorhead
Mollie is a consulting astrologer and astrology teacher as well as an herbalist, artist, gardener, tea lover, cat lady, and friend. Mollie volunteers as a clinical herbalist with Wild Roots People’s Clinic in Omaha, NE, a free non-profit herbal clinic serving South Omaha. She studied ayurvedic medicine in California and had her own business as an ayurvedic practitioner and massage therapist in Oakland, CA for five years before returning home to Lincoln, Nebraska and getting into wild, local plants instead of the imported powders and pills of her ayurveda days. She also studied ethnobotany at the University of Alaska. She began studying astrology seriously in 2019 after a decade as an enthusiast. She has taken several great astrology classes and continues to learn, as well as teach and read charts for anyone who will let her, in her business Soil & Stars. You can find her at http://soilandstars.art
Rebecca Chandler
Rebecca Chandler is a certified ethnobotanist through the University of Alaska Fairbanks, an organic farmer, and an outdoor educator. For the past 10 years, she has worked in the field of conservation, local food systems, and outdoor education. In Peru, she learned to recreate terra preta de Indio (Amazonian Dark Earth) and taught this method in local schools. She also spent a summer in Ecuador studying ethnobotany and several months in Mexico teaching about monarch butterfly conservation. From being a Garden Educator with Community Crops in Lincoln, NE to currently managing an organic vegetable farm, Rebecca has the expertise to develop a curriculum and educate others.
Shea Harkness
Shea has tended a garden since she was a toddler at her grandfather’s side. She now has the honor of caring for land in southeast Nebraska in the rolling Platte River Valley. She operates Curious Roots Herbs, an herb farm, bookstore, and herbalist’s supply shop on a historic farmstead. She cultivates 80+ different species of medicinal and culinary herbs with the help of her family. She also teaches part-time for North Star Herbal Studies in Omaha, NE. Curious Roots Herb Farm | Nebraska (curiousrootsherbs.com)
Bob Henrickson
Bob attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and graduated with a B.S. in Wildlife Biology in the School of Natural Resources. Currently, Bob is the Horticulture Program Coordinator with the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum, Inc., a private, non-profit organization and program of the Nebraska Forest Service. His responsibilities, in part, include to acquire, propagate and produce native and exotic plants for plant sales to our members and the public. Bob has hosted a live, call-in gardening talk show called How’s it Growin’ on a community radio station in Lincoln since 2000. He is passionate about native plants, herbs, dried flowers, vegetable gardening, wild mushrooms and wild edible plants.
Amy Seger
Amy Seger has been interested in nature, plants, & gardening since her childhood in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee. After studying Horticulture & Plant Sciences in college, she focused her studies on herbal medicine. Since moving to Holt County, NE, she has worked as an assistant grower in hydroponic tomato production, a horticulturist at a local nursery & garden center, and an herbalist with her own business, Mint & Mullein Herbals. She is also a founding and managing member of Wildflour Grocer, in O’Neill, NE, a small grocery store & community kitchen focused on local food. She enjoys sharing her love of plants & herbal medicine with her family, friends, and community. Wildflour Grocer
Eve Conner
Eve began her healing energy journey in February of 2023. She started with a deep dive into learning about the healing energy of crystals, which led to learning about other forms of healing such as herbs, sounds, lights and reiki. As she was learning she discovered that she had been doing reiki since she was 7 years old. At that young age she didn’t know the name for it. She just knew she could do it. She studied with Reiki Master Amy Kauffman to become certified. Eve is also a professional clown. She graduated from Red Skelton Clown School in 2012 and started a business called Lifting Spirits, that now includes reiki, crystals and full moon retreats.
Karen Green
Karen’s home and business, Karen’s Comfort Crystals, are in Arcadia, NE. She has been working with stones for over 35 years since she picked up a pink opal at a shop in Alaska (where she lived off-grid for several years.) From that moment on, she’s had a passion for connecting people with stones that can help them. She helps people understand how the vibration and energy of stones can bring well-being and balance into your life.
Rachel Liester
Rachel is an ethnobotanist, bioregional herbalist, educator, naturalist, writer and photographer. She specializes in prairie plants and has a five-acre herb farm and in northeast Nebraska where she's been teaching about traditional uses of herbs as food and medicine for 30 years. Red Road Herbs Retreat & Learning Center LLC is part of United Plants Saver's Botanical Sanctuary Network, a Certified Wildlife Habitat, a Monarch Waystation and a haven of peace and tranquility where Rachel hosts events, retreats, classes and wild herb walks and encourages visitors to experience Nature's healing touch.
Jason Adams
Jason Adams is one of the world’s leading experts of Sanskrit mantra. His recordings have reached every country in the world, with over 25 million streams to date. He is a well-known energy healer, having apprenticed with a number of experts, including Dr. Peter Ulikinov. As a master of the healing arts, as well as Sanskrit mantras, Jason creates a number of various energy healing tools with his company MantraWorks. As a highly experienced metalsmith and woodworker, Jason creates tools that can improve our physical & mental health, strengthen intuition, raise your consciousness, protect from EMF radiation, restructure water, enhance plant growth and vitality, and so much more. Jason has a long working knowledge of Āyurveda and has grown much of his own vegetables for many
Lisa Grabenbaurer
Lisa Grabenbauer is an herbalist, historian, crone, writer and explorer. Her mission is to connect with nature to heal body, mind, spirit and planet. She combines an interest in Old and New World herbs by merging the study of medieval gardens in Europe and research of the resilient native prairie plants of the Great Plains. She is fascinated by the relevance of medieval and indigenous medicine to our modern world, and is a scholar of Hildegard von Bingen, a twelfth century mystic who was a philosopher, healer, composer, and linguist. Lisa believes that a deeper connection and respect for the world around us comes through our greater relationship to plants through the lessons of the four seasons. You can find her on substack, Viriditas on the Prairie, and The Cloister Garden.
Sara Brubacher
Sara Brubacher Steinbrink studied Clinical Herbalism at the Institute of Traditional Medicine in Toronto, ON, Canada, and holds a Bachelor's degree in Peace and Conflict Studies and Religious Studies from the University of Waterloo. She was drawn into the herbal world after experiencing the repeated mental and physical health crises of people living in conflict zones and witnessing the healing power of plants. She moved to Nebraska in 2021, where she has expansive herbal gardens to supply her tea line and other herbal products, hands-on community classes, and one-on-one herbal clinic, Starflower Botanicals. She is located in Cambridge and Kearney, NE. Connect with her at StarflowerBotanicalsNE.com or on Facebook / Instagram @StarflowerBotanicalsNE.
Kate Bodmann
Kate Bodmann is a Registered Clinical Herbalist and Registered Aromatherapist who had been providing herbal consultations and classes for the past 10 years in Omaha, Nebraska. She is the owner of Land of Milk and Honey Herbs and Omaha Whole Living, a small health and wellness collective that provides massage, qi gong, and other energy healing practices. She has a passion for teaching others how to take a more active role in their health and longevity through the use of herbs and through her support as a Certified Holistic Health and Wellness Coach. She has taught Rosemary Gladstar’s Art and Science of Herbalism for the past 7 years in Omaha. She can be found at www.landofmilkandhoneyherbs.com