Garden Gatherings
NEXT GATHERING STARTING JUNE 2024
A sacred monthly gardening circle devoted to exploring the gifts of hands-on gardening and herbal medicine.
I believe the garden holds medicine that can aid in our individual healing journey.
Gardening is a simple way to root ourselves, feel our connection to the Earth, and a natural way for us to explore what is happening in our hearts. It puts us back in touch with our innate capacity to create, nurture, and replenish ourselves. I believe that getting our hands in the soil, chatting with other women, and tending plants through the growing season is a simple and effective way of resetting our nervous systems, creating connections, and working through trauma and challenges that we have faced.
Each Garden Gathering session is a sacred circle that opens with a prayer, reflective questions to create connection, an introduction to a spiritual gardening theme and moves organically into hands-on work in the garden and medicine making. Each session ends with a gift to take home, such as seeds, self-made plant medicines, or art.
We will root our work together each week with a theme and a plant of focus. Each session will include a blend of group discussions, facilitated art projects, herb walks, and medicine making, all held together by our shared desire to grow and change.
We welcome trans, queer, and non-binary friends into our circle.
I recommend participants join all 4-sessions if possible. Single sessions are also available.
“My experience studying herbalism with Ashley was life-altering. I recommend Sky House to anyone who has the slightest inclination to learn more about their own health and self-care, as well as the professional whose end goal is to practice clinical herbalism.”
Take one class or join the full 4-part series.
Open to all and all levels of gardening experience.
Events are trans, queer, and non-binary friendly.
Freshly brewed herbal tea will be served each week, along with light snacks.
Cost: A suggested donation range of $5 - $25 per session or $25 - $50 for the full 5-part series. This covers all materials and supplies.
What to Bring: Participants should wear long pants, gardening clothing (that can get dirty), gardening gloves, and clippers/scissors.
Series Details
Classes take place at the Sky House Community Herb Garden in Wayzata/Deephaven on Saturdays from 10:00 am - 12:00 noon.
Exact address and details will be emailed to you after registration is complete.
June 1, 2024
SESSION #1 - Establishing Healthy Boundaries, Weeding as Therapy, and Nettles as a Fortifier
Plant Focus: Nettles
Theme: Setting loving boundaries that keep in what we need and keep out what causes harm. Experience weeding in the garden as a therapy practice. Drinking Nettle tea as a fortifying agent.
Art Project: Drawing Our Boundaries
Take Home: Bring home wild nettles and weeds to use as medicines.
July 6, 2024
SESSION #2 - Acceptance
Plant Focus: Chamomile
Theme: Let’s talk about the power of acceptance, how we get there, and what it can do for our sense of well-being and how it affects our relationships. Through a full-sensory experience with the plants, we will observe the changes we experience when we accept the herbs and ourselves for exactly who we are.
Take Home: A bundle of fresh wild Chamomile to take home.
August 10, 2024
Session #3 - Sacred Bathing
Plant Focus: Lemon Balm
Theme: Water is life. In this session we will explore the magic and healing properties of water, herbal infusions, and sacred herbal bathing. Together we will gather flowers and medicinal plants to create a sacred Limpia ritual cleansing our bodies and resetting our nervous systems for the days ahead. We will draw upon the mystical energy of the Moon in Scorpio and the Moon squaring Pluto, heralding change and transformation
Take Home: Wild bunch of Lemon Balm.
September 14, 2024
Session #4 - Rituals for Healing and Herbal Body Oiling for Nervous System Reintegration
Plant Focus: TBD
Theme: Examining the power of ritual in healing. How to make your own herbal-infused body oil for self-care practices.
Take Home: Infused herbal oil for body care.
Meet your instructor
Ashley Litecky Elenbaas, MS, (RH) AHG, ERYT
Ashley Elenbaas, M.Sc., RH(AHG), has enjoyed playing outdoors, leading herb walks, teaching apprentices, and growing gardens for over 20 years and has returned to gardening for healing and support throughout her life and sees gardening and connecting with plants as a spiritual practice.
Ashley has held jobs and volunteer positions working in food and herb gardens in Costa Rica, North Carolina, Maryland, DC, and now Minnesota.
Through her own experience with eating disorders and family addiction, Ashley has explored many spiritual traditions and therapeutic approaches. Her purpose for leading these sessions is to create a safe and healing space for people to explore their hearts, their griefs, and to see the healing power of nature as a great tool in the process of recovery and soverignty.
Ready to embark on an outdoor healing experience?
$5 - $25 per session, $25 - $50 for the full 4-part series
Please specify which session/s you are registering for in the comments section. Your donation covers all materials and supplies.