Please join us for these exciting upcoming webinars with experts in their field. Lilium Initiative members are always welcome to register for free.
“Cultivation: What can Chinese Medicine Farmers and Practitioners Learn from Each Other?"
with Sabine Wilms, Ph.D.
Friday, September 8, 2023
10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
PLEASE JOIN US IN WELCOMING SABINE WILMS, PhD ON september 8TH, 2023 AT 10AM PT/11AM MT/12pm CT/1pm ET
For this event, we at the Lilium Initiative are invited to join together with her students, most of whom are practitioners, as part of The Imperial Tutor learning series called Tea Time. First, Dr. Wilms will present on the traditional Chinese medicine concept of cultivation as it relates to practitioners as well as farmers. The rest of the time will be open to discussion with everyone. Some questions relative to this discussion:
What does it look like, in concrete and abstract terms, to promote sustainability, restoration, transformation, and cultivation for practitioners as well as farmers?
The word "cultivation" with respect to land has, in China as well as in the West, meant "to till.” It is also a metaphor in both East and West for self-cultivation as a human being.
How do we define "cultivation" in modern times if we are regenerative farmers and don't till or till minimally?
Can we learn something from each other about "cultivation" from our new definitions? How does this influence "self-cultivation?”
How does "self-cultivation" influence how we cultivate farms and gardens?
How do self cultivation and cultivation of land, using our own definitions of "cultivation," influence how we are as practitioners/doctors?
Ultimately, how do each of our daily and yearly, personal and professional, practices serve to “harmonize heaven and earth” in the uniquely human role in the middle? Do we even want to be there?
Sabine Wilms, PhD is a former farmer currently living in Washington state, a translator of Classical Chinese medicine texts, and an independent teacher of Classical Chinese Medicine translation. Her online program, Imperial Tutor, has several different options to help practitioners and farmers go to the root of Chinese medicine cultivation. Learn more at her website Happy Goat Productions.
THIS EVENT IS FREE FOR ALL LILIUM INITIATIVE MEMBERS. BECOME A MEMBER AND ATTEND MANY OF OUR EVENTS FREE OF CHARGE HERE.
IF YOU ARE NOT A MEMBER, YOU ARE WELCOME TO JOIN THIS EVENT WITH A SLIDING SCALE DONATION TO SUPPORT OUR MISSION HERE.
"Making a Plan: Plotting and Organizing Your Medicinal Garden & Crops” with Denise Cusack
Thursday, September 21, 2023
5:00 PM 7:00 PM
PLEASE JOIN US IN WELCOMING DENISE CUSACK ON September 21st, 2023 AT 5PM PT/6PM MT/7PM CT/8PM ET
Home to small scale herb growers, let’s talk about planning your garden and crops. Do you grow medicinal plants for your family, your practice, or your herbal business? This webinar will cover using tools to plan, organize, and manage your gardens. Get tips on how to organize and plan your space for growing medicinal herbs that are annuals, perennials, and multi-year root harvest medicinals. Denise will share some of the tools she uses to layout the gardens, plan seed starting, organize seedlings and planting out, ongoing management and harvesting, and drying/storing and managing your inventory so you know what you have as well as saving seeds for next year. While everyone has a different space and needs, we all can better use technology and tools to organize our processes, plan out what we need and can use in a year, and maximize the returns. Denise will also share a few downloadable sheets to help you plan your own gardens and crops.
Denise Cusack is a clinical herbalist, certified aromatherapist, and a certified permaculture designer with over 20 years of experience in the natural health and wellness community.
Denise loves speaking and sharing with others how to use permaculture principles and ethics to make our gardens, families, businesses, and communities better via regenerative practices, mutual aid, collaborative community models, and sustainable smart systems.
Denise is owner of Wholly Rooted Farm, a small family homestead and medicinal herb farm, where she grows over 250 varieties of medicinal herbs, and over 500 species including food, on a few acres. Denise is an avid seed saver and medicinal plant grower, and has volunteered as the Herbalists Without Borders Seed Grant Coordinator and US Donation Distribution Coordinator since 2018. Wholly Rooted Farm is a United Plant Savers Botanical Sanctuary, where we also grow at-risk and endangered medicinal and native plants. Wholly Rooted Farm is a medicinal herb farm, plant conservation space, and an online school educating folks on topics including permaculture and regenerative practices for herbalists, aromatherapists, and holistic practitioners. Find out more about Denise & Wholly Rooted at www.whollyrooted.com.
THIS EVENT IS FREE FOR ALL LILIUM INITIATIVE MEMBERS. BECOME A MEMBER AND ATTEND MANY OF OUR EVENTS FREE OF CHARGE HERE.
IF YOU ARE NOT A MEMBER, YOU ARE WELCOME TO JOIN THIS EVENT WITH A SLIDING SCALE DONATION TO SUPPORT OUR MISSION HERE.
Herb in Profile: Paeonia lactiflora, Bai Shao, the "Empress Herb" with Julia Urcis, L.Ac.
Thursday, October 26, 2023
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
PLEASE JOIN US IN WELCOMING Julia urcis, l.ac. ON october 26TH, 2023 AT 5PM PT/6PM MT/7PM CT/8PM ET
In this presentation we will take a look at the herb Paeonia lactiflora, Bai Shao, the “Empress Herb.” We will review its growing conditions, where it is historically cultivated in Asia, explore how Chinese medicine uses it in herbal formulas, discuss how people are using it in modern ways, and learn how it is prepared and processed for consumption.
Photo courtesy of Julia Urcis, LAc.
ter Julia is a licensed acupuncturist, interdisciplinary herbalist, gardener, and geographer who is humbled by the incredible lineage of Chinese medicine and the legacy of Asian herbal wisdom. She/her/they/them has resided in Nevada County since 2013, with a break from 2017 to 2020 to attend acupuncture school in Santa Cruz, CA. Julia had the fortunate experience of cultivating many Chinese herbs we use in our pharmacopeia in Nevada County, as well as with the celebrated farmer Peg Schafer at her Chinese Medicinal Herb Farm. She completed a two-year academic program in GIS and geospatial mapping. She is currently practicing the medicine in Truckee and Nevada City, CA and loves it. Julia advocates the domestic cultivation of Chinese herbal medicine with the non-profit Lilium Initiative and hopes that other practitioners will support the movement.
THIS EVENT IS FREE FOR ALL LILIUM INITIATIVE MEMBERS. BECOME A MEMBER AND ATTEND MANY OF OUR EVENTS FREE OF CHARGE HERE.
IF YOU ARE NOT A MEMBER, YOU ARE WELCOME TO JOIN THIS EVENT WITH A SLIDING SCALE DONATION TO SUPPORT OUR MISSION HERE.
"Global Herbalism: Applying Chinese Herbal Theory to Effectively Use Herbs From Anywhere”
with JulieAnn Nugent-Head
Thursday, November 16, 2023
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
PLEASE JOIN US IN WELCOMING Julieann nugent-head ON NOVEMBER 16TH, 2023 AT 5PM PT/6PM MT/7PM CT/8PM ET
Chinese medicine is not limited to the prescription of solely Chinese herbs. In actuality, the principles of Chinese herbology can be applied to any herb one encounters around the globe. In this lecture JulieAnn Nugent-Head will discuss the very simple and yet immensely brilliant principles of Chinese herbal theory, how to apply those principles to any herb, as well as share insights gained from her experience of both practitioner and farmer.
JulieAnn Nugent-Head fell in love with Chinese medicine in 1997 when her infant son's pneumonia was successfully treated with herbs. This led to pursuing a master's degree in TCM, hospital internships in Beijing in 2003 & 2004, and relocation to live full time in China in 2006.
JulieAnn learned Chinese and became the dedicated student of the last generation of traditional practitioners born and educated prior to 1949. Fortunate enough to be welcomed into their clinic and homes, she spent 8 years observing these older doctors treat serious conditions, and benefitted from discussion on Chinese medicine and the classic books. This deep relationship with the old doctors changed how JulieAnn understood the medicine and the Chinese culture at its foundation.
With the increase in pollution in Beijing, JulieAnn and husband Andrew moved to Hangzhou, to live in the famous tea villages of the Westlake. For nearly 5 years they were Immersed in rural village life, consisting of farming, wildcrafting and tea cultivation, and became the village doctors and an integral part of the community. During this time, JulieAnn completed a doctorate level degree in medicine with an emphasis on the classical application of Chinese herbs.
In 2014, political changes and increased costs of living in China led the Nugent-Heads to return to the United States. They settled in Asheville, NC, finding the climate quite similar to the tea hills of Hangzhou. JulieAnn and Andrew terraced the hillsides to grow tea and herbs, which has greatly deepened their understanding of cultivation and herb processing. JulieAnn also teaches internationally and practices at the Alternative Clinic, a teaching clinic designed to share the classically based, tangible Chinese medicine she learned in China with others. Lectures from the Nugent-Heads and their teachers can be found at traditionalstudies.org.
THIS EVENT IS FREE FOR ALL LILIUM INITIATIVE MEMBERS. BECOME A MEMBER AND ATTEND MANY OF OUR EVENTS FREE OF CHARGE HERE.
IF YOU ARE NOT A MEMBER, YOU ARE WELCOME TO JOIN THIS EVENT WITH A SLIDING SCALE DONATION TO SUPPORT OUR MISSION HERE.