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Upcoming Classes and Workshops

Check out our new Spring start date, March 15th.
Join instructors Allie Livesey and Philippa Joly for a 5 month dive into the waterways of our inner and outer lives. With story, song, game, craft, art and the written word as our guides and the rhythms of season, the reciprocity of nature and the generosity of plants as our muse, we will wander wetland and river, lake and sea edge. Our journey across land and waterway will explore decolonization and culture, creating deepening connection to ourselves, each other and the place that we live. Each month we will meet at a different location, spending the day getting to know the unique way that water flows through this place, the plants and animals it supports and listening to how our own inner waters can find belonging here too.
Dates: 10am-3 (subject to change as the seasons shift!)
march 15
april 26
may 24
june 14
july 19
Various watersheds around the Comox Valley. Please note that hiking on uneven surfaces is required for this course.
Cost is $300-$500 sliding scale. Payment plans are available upon request. Cancellation policy will be provided with registration. Please register by March 15th. Min 6, max 12 participants.
Email alysialivesey@gmail.com for more details, inquiries and to register.
What we will explore together over the seasons:
– weaving story, ecology and history into the landscape
– plant exploration: harvesting, medicine, plant energetics, crafting
– story telling
– play
– inner stillness practices on the land
– journaling
– seasonal cycles
– community tending and coming together as a collective
– fire making
– learning of the animals we share our homes with
– sharing song
– naturalist skills
– hiking and wandering practice
– creating comfort in exploring landscape close and far from home
About us:
Allie Livesey is a nature educator, certified BC teacher and outdoor guide who has a deep love for connecting meaningfully to wild spaces and places. She has worked with various outdoor schools for over 10 years, bringing people of all ages into the mysteries of our landscapes to explore the relationship between humans and place. Through play, naturalist skills, song, storytelling and exploring our own ancestral roots, she brings a meaningful and curious perspective to her offerings. Most recently has been creating programs to explore rites of passage for young women, various programs that explore the intersection of care between land and self, and other nature connection programs.
Philippa Joly has been a nature educator for the past 15 years, combining her love of nature and her skills as a clinical herbalist to offer adults and children alike meaningful connections to the wild world. She has worked at Oak and Orca Bioregional School in Victoria and has run Salix School, an outdoor school for children and adults for the past 7 years. She offers ongoing workshops in local medicinal and edible plants, sensory awareness, animals and bird song, nature connection, herbal medicine making and more. Bringing an anti-colonial awareness and a love of art and the wild world, Philippa’s workshops and classes are engaged, playful and hands on. She has recently published the best selling book “A Kid’s Guide to Plants of the Pacific Northwest.”

See below past and upcoming workshops. Below that is a listing of classes and workshop I can offer to individuals and groups. Please contact me to set one up today!

Courses

Reading the Ecological Landscape

The land is like a book if we know how to read it properly. Full of stories as old as geological time, or tales told by the plants and animals who live there, there is much to discover when we take our time travelling across the pages of the land.

 

 

Sensory Awareness Skills

We often move through the world forgetting that we have more senses then sight and hearing. In this workshop we will learn to connect to all of our senses and through them, deepen our connection to the world around us. Using games, group activities and solo time we reengage our senses and regulate our nervous systems to becoming more present to the environments around us.

 

Plant ID walks

Learn about plants by meeting and identifying them in their natural surroundings. Walks can be general or focused on Native plants, Medicinal plants, edible plants,or plants for first aid.

Ethical Wild Crafting

In this workshop we will focus on the ethics and practices of wild crafting. Some theory will be presented in the field and then I will share plant harvesting techniques. Participants will also get hands on experience. Class also includes some basics of plant processing.

Herbal First Aid

There are many plants that are useful in a first aid application. This class is especially of interest for people who spend time in the out of doors, but will be applicable to all. We will go through what an herbal first aid kit might contain and learn about what plants people can use when they are out and about. Traditional first aid training not necessary, but helpful.

Basic and Advanced Medicine Making

This is a series of workshops that give participants hands on experience making herbal medicines that they can bring home. We will make oils,intermediary extractions, salves, tinctures, percolations, honey, and powders.

From Identification to Medicine (and all the in between)

Get up close and in depth through a series of classes about specific plants. Each 3 hour long class focuses on one plant. We meet the plant, learn how to harvest it, how to process it, what kind of medicines we can make with it and everything it is good for. Also included is some

basic anatomy and physiology, ethics and theory of herbal medicine.

Plant Spirit Meditation

People often wonder how we know what plants are good for what. One science says that the plants themselves tell us. Learn some techniques to sit quietly with plants and learn their medicine directly from them. We use visualization, meditation, writing and art to deepen our observations and plant connections.

Plant Play for Children

Children inherently are drawn to the natural world. Plant play for children includes games, arts and crafts, fun facts about plants and some basic identification skills.

Herbs for Cold and Flu season

There are many herbal remedies on the market for colds and flus. Learn about what plants are helpful and why, and how to match a remedy to the symptoms you are having for effective treatment. We will also meet some plants in person and do some hands on medicine preparation.

House Hold Herbal

Without our knowing it, there is usually a wealth of medicine in our own kitchens. Learn about the healing secrets of house hold culinary herbs and spices and the healing powers of some common foods.

Safe Herbs for Babies and Children

As parents, we want the best for our children. The natural remedy world can be confusing to get clear information about what is safe for babies and children. We will look at a number of safe and effective remedies for common child hood upsets.

Herbs for Pregnancy

Pregnancy is a special time, nausea, heart burn and all. We will talk about remedies that are safe and effective for common pregnancy related symptoms, birth and post- partum healing.