Knowledge Share Description

Join us for a transformative three day retreat set in the woods and mountains of upstate New York at Herba Cura: Plants to the People Farm.  This immersive experience will allow you to reconnect with the earth, exploring the intersection between sustainability, spirituality, and ancestral practices. Through hands-on workshops and activities, you'll gain practical skills while deepening your understanding of the land's ancient wisdom.

Retreat Schedule:

• Day 1: Friday, June 20th

  • Morning Session: Cob Oven Building

  • Lunch and Break:  Pottery Play

  • Evening Session: Continue Cob Oven Building & Optional Pottery Play

• Day 2: Saturday, June 21st Food Processing: Cacao Butter 

  • Morning Session: Cacao history and processing 

  • Lunch and Break

  • Evening Session: Continue cacao butter processing 

  • Optional Solstice activities: 

  • Visit the Waterfall

  • Fire Ceremony

• Day 3: Sunday, June 22nd Herbal Medicine 

  • Morning Session: Learning the Plants

  • Lunch and Break

  • Evening Session: Make Herbal Balms and Oxymel

Retreat Structure:

• Arrival: 9:30am

• First Activity: 10:00am – 1:00pm

• Lunch & Break: 1:00pm – 3:00pm

• Second Activity: 3:00pm – 5:30pm

Takeaways

• Cacao Butter

• Herbal Balm

• Oxymel

• West African Herbalism Booklet

• Northeast Herbalism Booklet

• 3 delicious meals made from all local ingredients 

Key Offerings

Cob Oven Building:
In this hands-on workshop, we’ll explore the importance of fire in bringing people together. Through the construction of a cob oven, we will discuss how communal fires have historically been central to social life, and how the shift of fires from the commons to indoors has altered the fabric of our communities. You’ll learn how to use natural materials like straw, sand, and stone to build a sustainable oven, with insights into the broader social and cultural implications of communal fire practices.

Cacao Butter
Experience the full journey of cacao—from roasting and de-shelling the beans to extracting rich cacao butter. Along the way, we’ll also explore the fascinating history and politics of cacao, especially its relationship with communities in Mexico and Ghana.

Herbal Medicine:
Spend time connecting with the plants and discover the healing power of nature. This workshop will emphasize the importance of knowing the herbs native to our bioregion, especially in the face of a changing climate. Learn how these plants support our resiliency and how we can integrate them into our health and wellness practices. You’ll also make herbal balms and oxymel to take home.

Retreat Highlights:

• Solstice Celebration: Celebrate the solstice with special activities, including a visit to a beautiful waterfall and a fire ceremony focused on offering gratitude to the land that nourishes us. This ceremony and these offerings will help us attune to the energy of the summer season and fortify us for the cycle ahead 

• Hands-on Opportunities: This retreat is packed with opportunities to deepen our relationships with plants, to explore and connect more intimately with cacao, and to engage in important collective discussions. We will also reskill ourselves in various crafts, from natural food processing to herbal medicine making and cob oven building.

This retreat is designed for those looking to deepen their connection with nature, learn hands-on skills, and embrace the principles of sustainability and spirituality. Our workshops encourage participants to reconnect with their senses and tap into the wisdom of ancient practices.

Important Information:

• Meals: We provide lunch for all three days.

• Accommodations: Participants are responsible for finding their own accommodations.

Additional Information:

We’ll provide the materials for the Cob Oven workshop (including straw, sand, and stone), and some of the construction will be done before the group arrives to allow for more hands-on learning during the retreat.

Cost

Sliding Scale: $600 - $900

Our Sliding Scale is meant to make these offerings as accessible as possible while also honoring all of the labor and resources that have gone into the preparation and facilitation. Please reference this sliding scale resource to support you choosing the amount that best reflects your resources and capacity.

Only 20 spaces available

This retreat promises to be a life-changing experience that will leave you feeling renewed, grounded, and deeply connected to both nature and ancestral wisdom. Secure your spot today!

Facilitators

Joshua Kwaku Asiedu hails from Ghana, West Africa. With over a decade of travel across Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Oceania, Joshua has immersed himself in indigenous and rural communities, learning traditional knowledge and practices. He now lives on ancestral land in Ghana, where he has developed a thriving mini ecovillage, built by hand, with sustainable infrastructures such as a hand-dug water well and a hand-built clay home. Joshua has been hosting educational events and holistic retreats for the past five years, sharing his deep knowledge of ancestral living with people worldwide.

Antonia Estela Pérez is a Chilean-American clinical herbalist, gardener, educator, community organizer, and founder. Born and raised in New York City, in a first-generation household which nurtured the values and principles of nature appreciation, land stewardship, interdisciplinary education, and social justice—Antonia’s lifelong passion for herbs and plant medicine helps to bridge the relationships between rural and urban spaces. Antonia combines a decade of experience studying and working with plant medicine, with her studies in environmental and urban studies at Bard College, Clinical Herbalism at Arborvitae School of Traditional Herbal Medicine, and learning with herbalists and elders throughout Central and South America. Antonia facilitates workshops and produces events as the co-founder of NY-based collective—Brujas—and as founder of Herban Cura: An herbal medicine and education project which centers the knowledge and stories of Indigenous, Black, Queer and Trans communities. Antonia’s work is rooted in her passion for sharing knowledge that interrupts notions of individualism and separatism from nature to grow towards collaborative and symbiotic communities.

Herban Cura: Plants to the People Farm is both a school and a sanctuary, dedicated to supporting our community in deepening its relationship with plants and the land. We focus on cultivating medicinal herbs, diasporic and native ancestral seeds, fruit and nut trees, and wetland restoration. By learning and sharing skills, we believe we strengthen our community ties and build climate resiliency.