Class Sabbatical in 2008

We are taking a year off from teaching on the farm this year in order to have some precious family time together. Truth be known, our ol' farmhouse needs to get caught up with its sagging self as well . . . and a construction site is no place for guests! Please do read on about our class plans for coming years as we encourage people to start making plans to attend these fun and informative (and delicious!) sessions on learning about herbs and apples.

2009 Classes at Heartsong Farm

We welcome you to join us for a Green adventure that will immerse your heart, mind, and soul in the world of healing herbs. Our program will be an in-depth experience for anyone wanting to use herbs for health and well being. We will identify, grow, harvest, prepare and use herbs together. This course will provide you with the practical skills necessary to become a home herbalist. People well versed in other healing arts find our Foundations program a holistic complement to their own work. The Herbalist's Way will be used to augment the hands-on learning here at our farm, along with core handouts and preparation assignments.

Nancy ventures down many fun avenues of herbal exploration in her foundations course: Hands-on plant identification, making herbal body care products, medicinal preparations, nourishing & tonifying herbs, harvesting & drying techniques for medicinal herbs, wild food foraging & cooking, body system therapeutics, herbs for children, medicinal formulation, plant allies, herbs for first aid, supporting the ever-vital immune system, and much more. Michael will join in each weekend to share gardening insights and ethical wildcrafting tips for native herbs.

Dates: We intend to condense our Foundations program into a more travel-friendly version starting in 2009. Will three 3-day weekends in June, July, and August work for those of you who are interested? Please let us know. We envision classes starting on Friday morning at 10 am and finishing on Sunday afternoon by 3 pm. We will incorporate a delightful meal plan into our time together, allowing you to "get the connection" between healthy eating and good health. We encourage people to camp here on the farm while recognizing that some folks will prefer to stay in a "real room" at one of the local inns listed below.

Cost: We expect to continue offering this program at a cost of $850, based on a maximum class size of twenty students. We want this to be an intimate experience for everyone who chooses our back-to-the earth approach to herbal learning!

Our dynamic intermediate training program for herbalists will resume in 2009. Plans are already taking shape with some of our favorite herbal teachers. Both Kate Gilday and Kathleen Meier have indicated a willingness to spend a weekend furthering our herbal wisdom here at Heartsong Farm. We'll have more to share about this exciting series once we confirm weekend dates and course topics. Gourmet herbal meals by Nancy will always be part of these learning experiences. What fun!

We'd love to have you join us!
Email us with any additional questions.

Lost Nation Apple Intensive

Hands-on Learning with the author of
The Apple Grower

This "organic apple everything" weekend with Michael at the farm inspires people to pursue their own orchard dreams. Come gain the practical insights needed to establish your own fruit planting based on the biological systems approach used here at Lost Nation Orchard.

Holistic orcharding involves a wide breadth of knowledge and timeliness, yet one fact stands clear -- we can have beautiful apples grown without chemical intervention. Sustainable agriculture works only when we have fun and get people involved with growing healthy food. Michael's workshops point the way for organic apple growers to meet their unique site challenges.

Michael will lead participants in a walk through the orchard season. He will discuss the key role understory management and soil health plays in an organic orchard, and look at varietal and rootstock choices. Tree planting, pruning, grafting, branch training, and trunk protection will be woven into our time together along with a look at righteous equipment for the small-scale orchard. Michael will also identify insect and disease dynamics from a holistic perspective aimed at achieving maximum diversity, pointing out a few of the culprits and beneficial allies on hand around bloom time. The weekend ends with a rambunctious wassail sure to kindle those hopes of offering the "good fruit" to one's own family and community.

The apple intensive will begin on Saturday morning at 10 am and run through Sunday afternoon till 4 pm. The actual weekend date will be announced at the start of the new year but you can plan on one side or the other of Memorial Day. Meals will be included (lunch and dinner on Saturday; breakfast and lunch on Sunday) along with a cider tasting on Saturday evening. The cost for this orcharding weekend is expected to run about $275 per person.

We aim to be as accommodating as we can when people come to the farm for one of our classes. Setting up a tent to camp in the orchards and pastures can be a great part of the herbal experience. Just as the wooden floor of our post'n'beam barn makes for cozy slumber parties. Our family bathroom is open to all, and there's an intriguing outhouse by the gardens as well. Understandably, some of you may want to spring for a real bed with private facilities. Here are several places to stay (all within 20 minutes of Heartsong Farm) that come complete with a fair share of northern New Hampshire character:

• Stark Inn: (603) 636-2644
• Applebrook Inn: (603) 586-7713
• Jefferson Inn: (603) 586-7998
• Lancaster Motor Inn: (603) 788-4921