BIO - Cascade is very happy to return to Dandelion Herbal Center’s Festival of Herbs program this year. She brings with her decades of training and experience, starting with her family background and extending to people from around the globe who live close to the Earth. She was the primary educator of the botanical medicine program at three naturopathic colleges from the 1970’s until the 1990’s. She was a founding member of Portland’s Everett House Healing Center (now Common Ground) where she began her practice as an herbal clinician in the 1970’s. She has also founded food co-ops, an herb store, as well as a family, raised by practicing what she preaches. Cascade is also dedicated to political activist work that includes: maintaining public control of land and drinking water, keeping American herbalism diverse and out of the control of large corporations, and disconnecting herbs from animal research. She serves on the advisory board of United Plant Savers. For her education, Cascade honors the Earth, her family, elders such as Canadian herbalists Ella Birzneck of Dominion Herbal College and Norma Myers of Alert Bay, European herbalist Juliette de Bairacli Levy, and her many herbal colleagues.

TOPICS - The Healing Power of Plants – Therapeutic Uses of Highly Pigmented Plants. The seen, and unseen, pigments of plants signify constituents and properties. This class combines interesting information with practical ways to prepare many colorful plants for healing.
Herb Walk  Identify and learn about the many wonderful wild, and cultivated, plants of the Dandelion Herbal Center.  Those participants interested in leading herb walks may benefit from an emphasis on how to make an herb walk more effective, even when there’s a crowd.
The Healing Power of Plants - Healing Abilities of Fresh Herbs, Fruits and Vegetables Available in the Produce Aisle. Using demonstrations and samples, this class will focus on how to choose and prepare produce for all kinds of healing.  

BIO - Karyn Sanders practices herbalism from a south-east native american approach. She is the co-founder and teacher of the Blue Otter School of Herbal Medicine. She also produces and hosts the live radio show: The Herbal Highway (94.1 fm/ kpfa.org.). She has been practicing herbalism and teaching for the last 38 years.

TOPICS - Native American Herbal Energetics In this class we will explore how energy runs through the body, how to start to see energy and understand how to use it for health. We will talk about different animal medicines and the energetics of herbs. We will talk about what is health and balance from a native outlook and how to live your life in a balanced way and what it means to be in your power.  This will all be from the perspectives of: South Eastern Native, Mexico and Northern Mid-West Native cultures

BIO - Kathi Keville has been teaching and writing about herbal medicine, aromatherapy, herb gardening, wild foods, and ethnobotany for over 40 years. She presents seminars throughout North America, including at her Green Medicine Herb School in Nevada City, which offers a year-round program and individual classes that include wild herb walks and garden tours. Kathi has taught for 40 institutions, including San Francisco University, UC Davis, UC San Francisco, San Francisco University, International Herb Conference in Boston, and New York’s Omega Institute, and is on the staff of Blue Sky Educational Foundation in Wisconsin. Her 14 books—published in nine countries and translated into eight languages—include the newly revised Aromatherapy: The Complete Guide to the Healing Art and Women’s Herbs, Women’s Health. She has written 150 magazine articles and consulted for numerous magazines, such as National Geographic, Newsweek, and Woman’s Day. Kathi also appears on the Dish Network TV show, “Everybody Nose” and on The Garden Forum: Herb Edition on KVMR radio (89.5). Oak Valley Herb Farm sells herb products at the school and through the internet. Kathi is Director of the American Herb Association, editing the AHA Quarterly <www.ahaherb.com>. She is a founding member of United Plant Savers, was a founder of American Herbalist Guild, and was awarded honorary membership to the National Association of Holistic Aromatherapy and the American Aromatherapy Association. She is an aromatherapy product consultant for numerous companies.

TOPICS - Aromatherapy: the Healing Art

BIO - Howie Brounstein is the owner of Columbines and Wizardry Herbs, Inc. and primary instructor of the Columbines School of Botanical Studies. He has taught botany, herbalism, and wildcrafting extensively for decades, including such herbal establishments as the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine. Howie has a clinical practice in Eugene, Oregon.

TOPICS – Understanding Adrenalin Stress – Join me on a tour of the dark recesses of your body to explore the effects of adrenalin stress.  This “fight or flight” response reaches the digestive, reproductive, muscular-skeletal, and central nervous systems, in addition to the liver, spleen and kidneys and even causes predictable changes in blood chemistry.  These changes are perfectly orchestrated to keep us alive when approached by a large predatory animal while foraging in the wilderness.  Unfortunately, in today’s world we get the same physiological changes when the phone rings and we think it might be the student loan company again.  Learn to recognize the larger picture, the predictable patterns that stress can cause.
Herbal Strategies for Adrenalin Stress: Calming Herbs and Adaptogens – We will discuss an overview of herbal strategies to reduce adrenalin stress and help us cope with today’s hectic world.  These are arguably some of the most popular types of herbs used today.

BIO - Christa Sinadinos is the director of the Northwest School for Botanical Studies. She offers a two-phase clinical herbalist training program. She has practiced herbal medicine since 1994 and has studied herbs since 1989. Christa is the proprietor of the herbal extract business Alpine Meadow Botanicals. She maintains a demonstration garden containing more than 200 species of medicinal herbs.

TOPICS - Herbal Therapeutic Treatments for the Thyroid – Students will gain an understanding of thyroid physiology and will learn to recognize the symptoms of hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism.  Herbal materia medica and therapeutic treatment strategies for managing thyroid conditions will also be covered.
Herb Walk

BIO - Autumn Summers is an herbalist, has a BA in Ethnobotany, and is the program coordinator of the California School of Herbal Studies. From her first herb class 18 years ago, Autumn has been exploring the many facets of herbalism with a focus on teaching plant, seaweed and mushroom identification and uses and growing medicinal and edible plants of the West Coast. She is currently a staff teacher at the California School of Herbal Studies. She is passionate about sharing this empowering knowledge with others in an enthusiastic, hands-on way.

*Autumn and Kevin will be teaching classes in tandem*

TOPICS -

See topics below with Kevin's information

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BIO - Kevin is currently the principle scientist at Herb Pharm and was a founding faculty member of the first Masters of Science degree in clinical herbal medicine at Tai Sophia Institute. Kevin has practiced western phytotherapy, informed by the Ayurvedic system and the medical sciences, since 1989. His previous experience includes a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institute on Aging. Past work has included proteomics, molecular biology and clinical investigations on the bioactivity of medicinal plants, as well as international research including the analysis of nutrient levels in women of early childbearing age in West Africa, working with children with neurological disorders in Central America and malaria research in Paris.

The Endocannabinoid system: CB Activating plant molecules from Cannabis spp. and other medicinal plants. The endogenous cannabinoids are ubiquitous in mammalian physiology and affect many tissues and pathways including immune function, metabolism and neurological tone. Their are dozens of plant cannabinoids in Cannabis spp. but there are also plant cannabinoids found in plant species such as Echinacea and Prickly Ash. We will review the role of the endocannabinoid system and discuss various medicinal plant species, the synergy of cannabinoids and their impact on human health.

*Autumn and Kevin will be teaching classes in tandem*

TOPICS - Ecological Pharmacology and Constitutional Medicine - the Subtleties of People and Plants Ecological Pharmacology

- Plants and humans have coevolved for some 10 million years. We will inquire into this key relationship with plants through lecture and out in the field with local foods and medicines and explore the implications and applications of the role of plants in human well being.
Constitutional Medicine - The understanding of morphological and physiological constitutional types has great potential to refine the selection of medicinal plants in clinical practice. This adds a wonderful tool, well beyond phytochemistry, that allows for the therapeutic use of plant energetics.

BIO - Rosemary has been practicing, living, learning, teaching and writing about herbs for over 30 years. She is the author of nine books including the popular Herbal Healing for Women and the Gladstar Family Herbal. She is the founder/director of Sage Mountain Herbal Retreat Center and Botanical Sanctuary, Founder of United Plant Savers, The International Herb Symposium and the director of the NE Women’s Herbal Conference. Along with creating community and loving people, herbs are her passion and joy in life.

TOPICS - Adaptogenic and Tonic Herbs; Herbs for Longevity and Wellness. Experience Well Being and celebrate every Stage of Life. We’ll discuss herbs used around the world that have earned a reputation for improving and maintaining energy, vitality and health. The adaptogenic/tonic herbs are also the foundation of many health protocols for both acute and chronic disorders.  Special considerations concerning those in their ‘sageing years’ will be addressed including herbs for improving eyesight, digestion, bone health, and sexual well being. Favorite herbs and recipes for longevity and well being will be shared. 
Constitutional Medicine. Planting and nurturing our herbal dreams. Starting and growing an herbal practice or business is much like growing a garden. You start with a seed, full of potential and life force, and nurture it with patience, love, compassion and all of the right nutrients ~ and then pray that it grows.   In this informal discussion Rosemary will share her insights and experiences growing and nurturing an ‘herbal practice’ whether that be in the form of an herbal business, healing work, gardening, farming or family herbalism.  We will witness each other’s dreams visions, do art and ceremony to ‘seed’ them, and share stories and insights that will help each of us further our work on the green path…