Sierra Herbfest 2021
Sierra Herbfest Creek
Sierra Herbfest Attendees
The California School of
Hispanic Herbalism is happy to announce the return of the biennial Sierra Herbfest!
Set your calendar for July 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th ! Set up is Thursday the 8th. We hope folks will show up on Friday or early Saturday.
For those interested in the 2021 Last Annual High Sierra Herbfest and Primitive Skills Meet:
We are asking a donation of $50 USD for our hard work and supplies we will have to purchase for this event.
If you camp in our group site your camping fees are covered. (Yah!) If you want more privacy you must pay your own camp fees.
Currently our hopes is to have it during the new moon time of June or July. (Reason, star gazing.
I'll be bringing my telescope.)
If it crosses your mind bring something to trade. Dear friend Joe Schilling will be in charge of the trade blanket.
Also if he is up to it Joe will show you how to make a capote with a large spare blanket. (The one he sent me saved my #@%$ on a cold windy day here in Richmond.)
More info soon!
We will get there in the morning and start setting up. Full activities will start Friday morning. Our goal is to start on a Thursday afternoon. Thursday evening we will have light activities like a nature/history lecture about those native and herbs that were found in the area. (This was a major trade route for native tribes btw.) I don't know what activities we will have on any given day yet. But I'm sure spinning (Thank you Ruth McConnell and Iris P. Weaver .) Some natural dyes. Cooking with and without cast iron. Possibly a DIY solar oven. Depending on my health an herb walk. Medicine making. Demonstration of a ritual healing. If my daughter Sarah Garcia shows up some knife skills from the novel Forever Faire.
My wife Lynn will teach outdoor First Responder techniques and maybe some practical tracking. Karen Hellmuth would you like to teach us something? Marie Maccabee would love to have and your SO though it's a long drive. I'm sure all your training with Tom Brown jr. has given you skills to share. Kiva Rosethorn I know you can't make it because of your own activities but you'll be in our hearts.
Things to bring.
Jars for medicine making or salves. Gloves.
Some cloth to dye...maybe enough for a bandanna. Kenneth Chin if you send Emerald by bus boat or plane I promise we will look after her like one our own.
I want to teach how to make bolos....I won't use rocks. Tennis balls hurt enough I tell you.
Again, no booze or drugs. Smoke in your tent please.
Okay more information to come.
Things you might want to bring to the Last Annual High Sierra Herbfest and Primitive Skills Meet. Lip balm. Sunscreen. A hat. Bandanna. Fleece jacket, vest, or sweater. Sun glasses. Water bottles (we will be at 6200 feet so you will dehydrate like jerky). A musical instrument if you like. (I'm bring my harmonica, Lynn will bring her recorder). Batteries for your .____ . Lunch snack if classes go into noon time. Aspirin or ginko for altitude headaches. Cameras. Baby wipes.
What have I missed?
Mark D. Steele Tent. Sleeping bag (because it gets cold). Good sleeping mat (because it gets cold and I’m old). Good pillow (Because I’m old).
Food and a way to cook it (even if Doc dehydrates to jerky I’m still going to eat the food I brought). Utensils.
Knife. Can double as utensils along with your fingers if you bring napkins. Or have a long beard.
Comfortable walking/ hiking shoes
9-08-2020
Comfortable walking/ hiking shoes
aa
from the Director:
The Herbfest was inspired by the Mid Atlantic Primitive Skills gattherings in Virginia and Maryland where Lynn and I taught off and on for several years. I taught herbs and Lynn taught first aid for adults and kids.
I started the Herbfest 20 years ago making it a semi annual event. Over the years the event took in many different ways skills....some primitive, some survival (like picking locks and handcuffs) and some esoteric like sun cooking.
Dear FB friends, herbalists, bushcrafters, preppers, survivalists and crackpots I've learned to love: For the past three years Lynn and I have hoped to have another (Last Annual) High Sierra Herbfest and Primitive Skills Gathering. Two years ago we had too much snow (in the summer), last year we had fire, this year we have COVID. Next year if the world still exists we are making plans to try again. We are hoping to have event in June or early July so there is an abundance of plants. We drove to our traditional spot this last week and food Clarks Fork to be untouched by the fires of last year. The creek is running cold and clean and the burned lumber around the campsite is being removed. The forest service took out many of the camp sites possibly for social distancing reasons. This means less crowding.
For those of you who have joined us in the past you know what to expect. For those of you who don't wellllll....it's a surprise every year. But some staples are medicine making, lectures on primitive skills, fire making, water purification, cast iron cooking, wilderness first aid, bannock baking, maybe an herb walk, star walk, spinning (maybe), natural dyes, and other goodies. Depending on time and interest I'd like to teach Bug Out/Get Home Bags, easy tinctures, teas, and washes, and salves (on the run.).
For those of you flying into San Francisco International Airport it's about a five to six hour drive in good traffic. In bad traffic it's another story.
We need everyone to pony up as we cannot take a financial loss on this any longer. We just want to break even, not make a profit. We want everyone to rent their own camp site. More information on that next year.
We want this to be a full three day event. We also want this to be alcohol free...or at least drink in your tent. No Mary Jane, pot, grass, dank, or whatever you call that whacky tabaccy these days.
Some things you will need to bring is a tent, mat, sleeping bag, stuff to cook with and food to cook, fuel is you have a cook stove (oh that reminds me....we might make a hobo stove!), water container, warm socks, a warm shirt, warm jammies (It's known to get cold even in the summer) and rain gear for sudden thunder storms. T shirts and shorts are also recommended. Don't expect to be doing laundry so save a clean set of clothes for the ride home. Bathing in Clarks Fork Creek is a refreshing experience....but baby wipes are a must. No one has ever gotten sick at an Herbfest but there have been some heat issues and one serious knife cut. There is no longer an hospital within driving distance so don't get hurt. We will have a certified EMT/LVN present (my wife). On our final full night we have two stews, one with lamb or beef, the other vegetarian. By that time folks should be able to bake bannock bread in ashes or in cast iron. There are stores on the way up to Clarks Fork especially in Oakdale, so you can purchase food and beverages there. May I also suggest getting instant coco, coffee, and some tea. Tea is refreshing and reduces thirst. But you will be urged to drink ALOT of water.
We will be at 6200 hundred feet and you can dehydrate quickly.
So I hope this has whetted your appetite a bit. Please say a prayer to whatever deity you pray to, admire, or sing Leonard Cohen songs to that all our works pays off.
8-26-2020
I want folks to know they can get food on the way up. That will
lighten the load if they fly in...which is what several folks have done
in the past.
Yeah we can add teasers in the fall, winter, and spring.
I mentioned some things in the blurb...classes in spinning,
dyeing, herb knowledge, tinctures, cast iron cooking...oops, sorry
that should be Cowboy cookin'! Those are for certain. Knowing Lynn
she'll be doing some basic wilderness first aid classes.
I won't be the only one giving herbal lectures...Iris will I'm certain
and maybe one other herbalist. I also want to do a lecture on
Hispano folklor of California and how it coincides with herbalism.
Dear Joe Schilling (I don't have many male friends, so Joe is dear
to me) will be teaching primitive fire making techniques. His wife
Kristi will be helping Ruth make dyes from Wolf Lichen.
Ross and Debbie might bring their flint knapping gear, but I'm hoping
Ross will show his skill in getting out of handcuffs (for real).
That's all I can think of right now.
Oh yeah...if people can bring a flute, or guitar, or harmonica that would
be nice.
And you can bring the PUP!!! Show everyone how he can fetch, cook eggs,
dry you off after you shower, and find squirrels for us to fricassee.
love
C. 8-27-2020
Our Purpose
Lori and Charles March 2012
The California School of
Hispanic Herbalism officially opened its doors in January
of 1998 in the San Francisco East Bay city of Richmond, California, to teach
and preserve the healing traditions of the Hispanic curanderos and curanderas
(folk healers) of California. Many of these classes had been informally taught
for two years prior to the creation of the school.
Primarily offering classes in herbalism, the school
also stresses an understanding of Curanderismo, the healing techniques and
philosophies of Native-Hispanic California. The cross-cultural influences
of European and Asian herbs, along with the use of native plants, made California
Curanderismo a unique and potent healing medium. These practices also include
the use of intuitive diagnosis skills, psychoactive plants, ritual and magic.
Charles and Lori will also perform ritual healings based on the folklore rites of curanderismo, for those unfortunates who feel their illness is of a spiritual nature. They also investigate some paranormal activities, and may attempt a "limpia" (cleansing) of a person or place if absolutely necessary. We do not video tape our rituals or limpias for the privacy of our clients and their family. We do not use psychics or mediums in our cases again for reasons of privacy. We do use scientific equipment to help us determine if any paranormal activity is present.