You're invited to join us at the farm for our annual harvest season celebration in mid-September to honor the rebel Saint Hildegard von Bingen - 12th century herbalist, healer, poet, musician and prophetess who coined the term viriditas to describe the animating life force she perceived within all things.
Our herbal apothecary will be open, 10-3, everything will be freshly prepared. ..you are free to roam around the garden or take a trail walk down to the stream. It's beautiful down there this time of year.
A fun and lively procession through the garden, up past the orchard and around the pollinator field in honor of Saint Hildegard is one of he highlights of the day…it happens at 2PM! Bring drums, shakers, noise makers, flags, banners and your walking shoes! If you’re walking impaired, come anyway - we have the kioti to carry those with walking limitations.
Our School House is being turned into Saint Hildegard Central for the day - her music will be playing and talks and presentations will take place in there as well.
At 11am Gail will offer a visual and spoken presentation, entitled Our Lineage as Herbal Healers, followed by a brief biography of the life of Saint Hildegard.
Suzanne Stone will be offering a presentation on some of Saint Hildegard’s favorite herbs and recipes, as well as her teachings on the energetics of plants and people. Suzanne will share some of Saint Hildegard’s music too!
Kathy Gray will talk about the Preparation of Herbal Salts and will share samples of her freshly made Chanterelle Salt.
Cecilia Quimby will have her Reiki table set up and will offer Reiki treatments from 10-2.
There will be a sacred fire burning throughout the day, with Jenn Hartman as Fire-Keeper.
There will be a few vendors set up to sell their wares as well!
A fabulous lunch as well as beverages will be available, prepared by Rosa Rosario.
We’ll have some natural hemp flags you can paint to wave in the procession if you’d like.
As gardeners and herbalists we all carry a spark of Saint Hildegard in our wild hearts. Her viriditas, perfectly describes the life force we all work with on a daily basis, most of us with great reverence. Saint Hildegard was a woman centuries before her time - she was a rebel of the highest order, a teacher and leader of women, a prayer warrior, poet, musician, artist, healer, seer, and much more.
We are privileged to engage the greening force as an integral part of the work we do. Each of us transforming earth, water, fire and air into the foods and medicines that become, in the process, a unique expression of who we are. We carry a great treasure, the wisdom of the earth, in our veins. We offer our gifts without hesitation and are grateful for the work we do in this world.
Let's celebrate and give great thanks to the land and the plants, for calling us, and for all the multitude of ways that they support us. Rejuvenate us. Make us Holy.
Let's honor a great ancestor herbalist together, She Who Led the Way, Saint Hildegard von Bingen, as we bring our 2023 growing season to a lively end.
Harvest Blessings, Gail Faith Edwards and the Blessed Maine Herb Farm Family
