Laura Cascardi
Laura’s passion for herbalism, healing, and well-being is evident in her 20 + years of working with herbs and people. She began her formal education with herbs at the Rocky Mountain Center of Botanical studies where she graduated in 2001 as a certified herbalist. In 2013 she graduated from Colorado State University with a bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences with a concentration in Botany. In 2014, Laura co-founded the Equinox Center of Herbal Studies where she is the director and one of the primary teachers. In private consultations she works one on one to discover tools for personal wellness that best serve each person. She focuses on creating a safe space where the individual can explore spiritual, emotional and physical growth. Laura loves coupling her herbal knowledge with her botanical expertise, and as a longtime resident of Colorado, she is extremely familiar with local flora and often hosts herb walks focusing on edible and medicinal uses of local plants. Furthermore, she offers more intensive botany workshops and private plant identification consultations to teach others how deepen their knowledge of the plants.
We are happy to have Laura Cascardi joining us again this year. She will be running the Wellness tent - where she will be offering free mini-consultations with her students, overseeing the Healing Village and teaching these classes:
Ancestral Connection: A Comprehensive Weed Walk and Foraging Adventure
The connection between plants and humans precedes all known memory. When we breathe into this connection, we awaken our ancient roots and move more deeply into sacred flow. In this herbwalk we discuss how to work with the plants for food, medicine and spiritual growth. We bring in all of our senses to immerse ourselves fully in the plant offerings and emphasize gratitude techniques for plant reverence as well as ethical harvesting techniques. Revive and deepen your relationship with plants and their magic by exploring the medicine that surrounds you.
Cooking with Wild Foods - Intensive
Many of our medicinal herbs are more than medicine! They are food. When we begin creating a lifestyle that incorporates herbs into our diet, we increase our vitality! We will use herbs from the ranch to make easy and tasty treats and discuss simple ways to bring in herbs into our daily regimens.