- This event has passed.
Join us as we open our tenth-anniversary conference!
Special guests will be joining us to celebrate the occasion, followed by a keynote address from Marc Williams and a concert from Holy River.
Weaving and Mending: Herbalism from the Past, in the Present, for the Future with Marc Williams
We all come from a deep legacy of an existence intertwined with the life of all the land around us wherever that may have been. We also all have trauma and necessary healing from what it takes to live on this Earth. There is no doubt as well that some lineages have thrived and suffered unequally across the span of time and space. By honoring the wisdom of the past and working to repair the wounds therein, while embodying that which we can best personify in the now, we allow for a better world for the generations of the future. This talk is a journey linking the threads of human experience around a holistic herbalism grounded in tradition, inspired for the now with consideration for the realities to come.
Marc Williams is an ethnobiologist. He has studied the people, plant, mushroom, microbe connection intensively while learning to employ botanicals and other life forms for food, medicine, and beauty. His training includes a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies concentrating in Sustainable Agriculture with a minor in Business from Warren Wilson College and a Master’s degree in Appalachian Studies concentrating in Sustainable Development with a minor in Geography and Planning from Appalachian State University. He has spent over two decades working at a multitude of restaurants and various farms and has traveled throughout 30 countries in Central/North/South America and Europe as well as all 50 states of the USA.
Marc has visited over 200 botanical gardens and research institutions during this process while taking tens of thousands of pictures of representative plants. He is also Executive Director of Plants and Healers International and on the Board of Directors of United Plant Savers. He has taught hundreds of classes to thousands of students about the marvelous world of people and their interface with other organisms while working with over 100 organizations and online at the website www.botanyeveryday.com. Marc’s greatest hope is that this effort may help improve our current challenging global ecological situation.
View the keynote slides
Concert to follow with Holy River
Høly River (formerly Lobo Marino) shares a brand of experimental folk that draws from a rich palette of international and folk influences.
Built primarily on harmonium, bass drum, banjo, and various unique instruments and voices, Høly River continues to evolve as the musical response to the continuous travels and ongoing spiritual journey of its members, Laney Sullivan and Jameson Price.
They are also the founders of Earth Folk Collective and Fonticello Food Forest in Richmond, VA. Deeply dedicated to environmental and social causes, when traveling they carry in their music a message of humanity’s need for reconnection with the earth. While at home, they spend time community organizing and running their donation-based educational homestead Earth Folk Collective. Learn more at www.holyrivermusic.com