Gill Tract Summer Short Courses
The Berkeley Food Institute presented two summer short courses in herbal medicine and urban agroecology taught at the UC Gill Tract Community Farm. These courses represented just a handful of the farm’s community-managed food systems offerings centered around local, organic, agro-ecological farming practices. Participants learned from experienced practitioners about how to harness the medicinal powers of herbs and how farming practices like composting and seed saving mixed with political ideology can lead to global land sovereignty.
Courses:
Introduction to Urban Agroecological Practices
June 25-27, 2021
Friday 5pm-8pm: Introduction to the farm and its history
Saturday 9am-5:30pm: Working with the natural environment and crop planning
Sunday 9am-5:30pm: Soil, compost, and solidarity
This course will center the agroecological practices used at Gill Tract Farm to give short succinct lessons on intercropping, composting, cover cropping, hedgerows, pollinator plants, building seed banks, and more. This course includes multiple members of the farm community to help provide demonstrations, instructions, and recipes for the best ways to apply these practices to one’s growing space, big or small. These topics will also discuss how agroecological social movements influence global land sovereignty and how political ideology is integral for a food revolution. This will guide community brainstorming of methods and ways our spaces can build solidarity with other social movements and deepen our political framework. For example, the course will include a community visioning session for developing the Gill Tract Farm’s role as a center for urban agroecology. Appropriately, the keynote speaker will be Miguel Altieri, one of the world’s leading agroecologists, professor emeritus of UC Berkeley, and Gill Tract farmer for over 30 years.
Price: $150
Limited Scholarships Available!
We have a limited number of scholarships available for this course that are provided on a first come, first serve basis. If you are interested, please complete this scholarship request form to determine your eligibility. Once we receive your request, we will notify you as soon as we can so you can complete your registration well in advance of the course start date.
*** Deadline to request a scholarship is June 18, 2021 @ 5PM ***
Please contact Nathalie (namc93@berkeley.edu) with any questions!
Click on the flyer to meet the speakers:
Miguel Altieri
Deseree Fontenot
Neeka Salmasi
Will Aubrey Smith IV
Guillermo Vasquez
Brooke Porter
Introduction to Herbal Medicine and Allyship
July 30-August 1, 2021
Friday 7/30, 5-8pm: Introductions, observation, and intention.
Saturday 7/31, 9am-5:30pm: Techniques for processing and cultivating your own herbs.
Sunday 8/1, 9am-5:30pm: Herbal first aid, herbs in social movements, and Herb Allyship. Presentation of certificates and product sampling.
In the backdrop of the country’s largest outdoor collection of medicinal plants, this course explores how to observe, cultivate, harvest, process, consume, honor and relate to medicinal herbs, especially those relevant to keeping the immune and nervous systems strong in the age of COVID-19. In addition to herbal education, Gill Tract herbalists will share practical instruction on self consultation, garden design, and medicine making techniques, including essences, teas, vinegars, tinctures, oils, salves and syrups. Honoring ancestral traditions of folk herbalism, students will be encouraged to share their own experiences and herbal knowledge, along with the facilitators to build allyship with these sacred herbs.
The course facilitators Delia Yuhas Carroll, Mallika Nair, Pua Owan, Tanya Stiller, Nori Treacy, Lekeisha Simpson, and Leah VanWinkle, bring a wide range of experiences through a spectrum of healing modalities, including clinical and folk herbalism, Agroecology, Naturopathy, Permaculture design, street medicine, political education, Reiki, and Nutrition.
Price: $150
Limited Scholarships Available!
We have a limited number of scholarships available for this course that are provided on a first come, first serve basis. If you are interested, please complete this scholarship request form to determine your eligibility. Once we receive your request, we will notify you as soon as we can so you can complete your registration well in advance of the course start date.
*** Deadline to request a scholarship is July 26, 2021 @ 5PM ***
Please contact Nathalie (namc93@berkeley.edu) with any questions!
Click on the flyer to meet the speakers!
Accessibility
If you require any accommodation for effective communication in order to fully participate in this course, please contact Nathalie (namc93@berkeley.edu) with as much advance notice as possible.
COVID-19 Related Information
Relying on guidance from The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), California Department of Public Health (CDPH), City of Berkeley Public Health, and UC Berkeley, we have developed protocols for gathering at the farm in small groups, and have had no incidents of COVID spread. Our best practices, include:
- Staying outdoors at all times.
- Face coverings required for all facilitators and students.
- Increased hand-washing.
- Sanitizing shared tools and surfaces between users.
- Adapted programming. Examples: individualized equipment, physical distancing, and rotating work stations that allow students to separate themselves while still learning together.
Event Co-Coordinators
Effie Rawlings, Gill Tract Farmer, effie@gilltractfarm.org
William Smith, Gill Tract Farmer, will@blackearthfarms.com
Nathalie Muñoz, Administrative Coordinator for Berkeley Food Institute, namc93@berkeley.edu
Our event hosts
Gill Tract Farm Coalition
Berkeley Food Institute
Gratitude to our sponsors
Apothecary at Home
Five Flavors Herbs
Hannah Pearl Apothecary
The Well
The People’s Life Fund
