Summer is in full swing here at Alice’s Garden, where this year’s group of herbal apprentices are gathering before class. As students arrive, they join instructor and director Venice Williams, collecting herbs and looking through the many plots that make up the urban farm.
The program offers students hands-on learning in the garden, alongside more traditional, classroom-style instruction. But instead of desks and a chalkboard, apprentices are sat at picnic tables under a pergola, in the middle of the urban farm.
Although some of the students are new, many of the apprentices have been doing it for years. It’s considered a lifelong program of learning, something that Venice says extends to herself, as well.
“I am forever learning,” she says. “There’s a rare day that goes by that I’m not studying herbs, so we are apprentices together on this journey.
Today, they’re learning about the importance of the gut microbiome.
Venice explains, “The microbiome is the genetic material of all the microbes, the bacteria, the fungi, the protozoa, and viruses, that live on and inside the human body.”
The gut microbiome is an ecosystem within a person’s body – but many people weren’t taught about it in school. The scientific understanding of its impact is relatively new. But a person’s guts – which includes their stomach, intestines, and bowels – can have a dramatic affect on someone’s health.
“We have more nerves in our guts, in our intestines, in all of that, than we do our spinal cords. So when we’re talking about ‘trust your gut,’ or you’re feeling those ‘butterflies’ and it feels queasy, you need to listen to that because it’s real,” says Venice.
A key part of the program is exploring how to better health through changing the way we view food and eating. During the class, apprentices are taught about the concept of “rewilding” the gut microbiome, to ensure a balanced ecosystem.
“I want you to switch your brain to start thinking about protecting the microbiome and nourishing and feeding your microbiome,” says Venice. “Rewilding the microbiome is really about reclaiming some of those ancestral and heritage eating patterns and more importantly, letting go of some of the things that consume our diets.”
Apprentices are given examples of different foods, drinks, and herbs that can impact the gut microbiome in different ways.
When the formal instruction ends, apprentices head back into the garden for more hands-on learning. Venice and more seasoned apprentices guide new learners through identifying some of the plants they just learned about in class. They’re encouraged to take what they want and ask questions.
If you want to get started yourself, Venice says that over the years the apprentices have used different books, but this year’s selection is special.
“For this year’s class the main book is an old favorite of mine, and it’s Rosemary Gladstar’s Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner’s Guide,” says Venice. “All things Rosemary Gladstar are wonderful and incredible and this Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner’s Guide is one I recommend for anyone who is not only getting started, but for anyone who’s been at this for a while.”
For beginners – and experts – it’s never too late to dig in and dig deeper.
