Nicola Swanson brings energy, passion and knowledge to her workshops. A New Plymouth based Medical Herbalist and Naturopath since 2006, Nicola loves to share her love of medicinal and culinary herbs in our small group workshops. She was born into a family of teachers and this imparted to her the importance of education to inspire and facilitate increased wellbeing. Nicola believes people are capable of great change, and with increased self-awareness and healthy choices they can achieve wellness on all levels.

Join us for an afternoon of making lotions and potions from herbs foraged - so interesting, action-packed and fun!

This event Cathy will demonstrate how to make the French semi-hard farmhouse cheese Tomme.

Tomme is a cheese produced mainly in the alpine regions of France and made from left over milk after some of the cream is removed. Its style expresses the taste of the grass and milk it’s made from (it can be made from cows, ewes and goats milk or a mixture) after pressing and salting its matured for 2-6 months (or more) and the rind becomes dusty-grey coloured from the growth of environmental moulds on the surface which are rubbed down once per week. The flavour becomes more complex and delicious with age.

This is a practical workshop where we delve into this change of life and how best to support you into ‘MenoHeaven’! You can expect to learn all about the hormonal changes that are involved and why you are experiencing this imbalance. How you can rebalance your hormones through the use of herbal allies, nutrition, diet changes and stress techniques. We will be making herbal teas, and vaginal suppositories as well as wise woman tinctures to support your declining digestive juice secretions and to improve liver detoxification. 

Seed saving is an important step in securing your food source for the following season and for the following year. This is a basic seed workshop where you will learn how to harvest seed and how to store seed so that you can started building your own seedbank for your family (whanau). You'll go home with a few packets of seeds to start your seedbank off along with some knowledge about their provenance (history). Be quick .. only 10 spaces available. Cost $20pp.

Nicola Swanson brings energy, passion and knowledge to her workshops. A New Plymouth based Medical Herbalist and Naturopath since 2006, Nicola loves to share her love of medicinal and culinary herbs in our small group workshops. She was born into a family of teachers and this imparted to her the importance of education to inspire and facilitate increased wellbeing. Nicola believes people are capable of great change, and with increased self-awareness and healthy choices they can achieve wellness on all levels.

Join us for an afternoon of meeting wild weeds in their natural environment at Peihana Farm and learning about their nutritional and medicinal benefits. This is an important aspect of increasing your food resilience and learning to identify common plants that you see every day to extend your backyard food and medicinal herb supply.

Ruth Cohen's love for food and cooking started at an early age, she studied human biology and nutrition in university. When she started learning more about fermented foods, it felt a little bit like making magic, working with those little micro organisms that keep our ecosystems going, inside and out. She enjoys sharing this passion in a fun way with others.

Ruth has been teaching fermented foods workshops since 2007 (back then it was strange and stinky) these days fermented foods are recognized as an important part of a healthy diet. Over the afternoon, Ruth will talk about concepts behind how fermented foods work, a little about the science behind the magic, liquids ferments, sourdough and the different methods of fermenting vegetables. With plenty of time for questions and discussion. There will be examples and samples of the different equipment that can be used and explanations of why and how to use them.

Aaron Millar took over the helm of Tallyman Bananas (in Bream Bay) from founder Hugh Rose in 2021. Hugh spent years helping to develop the banana industry in Northland and Aaron now continues his legacy. From the beginning, farmers were encouraged to use bananas to offset their carbon footprint and to help with effluent issues and now the demand for the plants and the fruit have continued to grow. Once people eat a locally grown banana they find it hard to go back to the store bought varieties due to the simple fact that the taste is superior than anything imported. Locally grown fruit are more nutrient dense as they have been left to ripen naturally and are spray free.

Bananas are an amazing plant (large amounts of biomass produced from leaves, fibre can be made into cordage, the flower can be used in cooking, and best of all, the bananas are a super food) . There are a number of people growing bananas successfully in the Taranaki region and we hope after this workshop there will be a few more.

We have been collaborating with Cathy for several years now and her workshops are popular and interesting. Cathy will demonstrate how to make ash and white rind cheeses (camembert style) and talk about cultures, rennet and the equipment required to make your own cheese at home.

Join us for an afternoon of making lotions and potions from herbs foraged - so interesting, action-packed and fun! The workshop includes handouts, recipes, and balms/poultices/infusions/tinctures made on the day. Refreshments and a delicious nourishing afternoon tea is part of the package!

Over the afternoon, Ruth will talk about concepts behind how fermented foods work, a little about the science behind the magic, liquids ferments, sourdough and the different methods of fermenting vegetables. With plenty of time for questions and discussion. There will be examples and samples of the different equipment that can be used and explanations of why and how to use them.

Aaron Millar took over the helm of Tallyman Bananas (in Bream Bay) from founder Hugh Rose in 2021. Hugh spent years helping to develop the banana industry in Northland and Aaron now continues his legacy. From the beginning, farmers were encouraged to use bananas to offset their carbon footprint and to help with effluent issues and now the demand for the plants and the fruit have continued to grow.

Increase your food resilience and learn how to make a scone dough (that can be turned into herb dumplings, pinwheels, fruit cobbler or a savoury onion tart); a short pastry (you’ll never go back to store bought pastry again!); a ‘no knead’ bread (quick, easy and delicious); and a pizza dough (loads of kneading). Maria will show you some of her tips and techniques to guide you through to baking successfully.

Over the afternoon, Ruth will talk about concepts behind how fermented foods work, a little about the science behind the magic, liquids ferments, sourdough and the different methods of fermenting vegetables. With plenty of time for questions and discussion. There will be examples and samples of the different equipment that can be used and explanations of why and how to use them.