International Herb Association 2024
Meeting of Members and Herbal Education Workshop
Thursday, October 17, 2024
Ozark Folk Center State Park
Mountain View, Arkansas
The IHA’s Meeting of Members and Herbal Education Workshop will take place Thursday, October 17, 2024, in Mountain View, Arkansas in conjunction with the Ozark Folk Center’s Wild Herbal Hike and Medicinal Plant Symposium on October 18, 19, and 20th.
Please note: this requires a registration for this IHA event and a separate registration for the Ozark Folk Center's medicinal plant symposium and field trip. Tickets and details for the Ozark Folk Center herb event are available here: https://ozarkfolkcenter.ticketleap.com/wild-herbal-field-trip--medicinal-plant-symposium-2024/.
IHA Meeting & Herbal Education Workshop tickets for people who are not members are $20. To get a discount on the meeting, become a member and be mailed a copy of Yarrow--Herb of the Year 2024, you can purchase your annual membership under "Tickets" and then select one of the member options for attending the meeting. Our International Herb Association conferences have always been a special time of sharing and camaraderie, we hope you can make it.
You can reserve accommodations (which are limited) at the The Ozark Folk Center's Cabins at Dry Creek by calling (870) 269-0863. Other accomodations and camping in the area may be found at https://mountainviewarkansas.com/.
IHA Meeting of Members & Herbal Education Schedule
Bois D’arc Conference Center at the Ozark Folk Center
9 a.m.-10 IHA Business Meeting
10-10:45 Otto Richter Lecture
10:45-11 Break and Stage Change
11-11:30 The Power & Magic of Herbal Blends--Stephen Lee
This is a session for anyone who likes to cook--but doesn't have all day or night to do it. Stephen's solutions to cooking well quickly are herbal blends. Once you learn and execute this concept you will have a supply of powerful pantry staples that provide even the simplest of dishes a magical and quick flavor boost.
11:30-12 p.m. Visit with New and Old Friends! Demonstration and Vendor Tables Open
12-1 p.m. Lunch (on your own) and Free Time
1-4:30 p.m. Herbal Education Medicinal & Culinary Demonstrations
Cherry Bark Cough Syrup—Jane Hawley
Chamomile Apple Brandy Infusion—Karen England
Tulsi—favorite tincture & adaptogenic tea blend—Susan Belsinger
Chamomile Ointment—Marge Powell
Smokey Jalapeño and Pimento Cheese Spread—Kathleen Connole
Overview & Preparation of Yarrow Stalks for Use with I Ching-Book of Changes—Pat Kenny
This demonstration will be a short introduction to the use of the dried, straight stems of the yarrow plant. Participants will see a preparation of 50 stems, then, if interested, will move to a different place in the room to prepare their own 7 to 9-inch-long sets until the supply of yarrow stalks runs out. (Bring your own sharpened pruners and a carrying-cloth in which to wrap them).
Elderberry Syrup & Shrub—Tina Marie Wilcox
4:30-5:45 Members Refresh and Get Ready for Awards Banquet
5:45 Meet at the Cabins at Dry Creek Office Parking to Depart for the Crooked Gate Farm Store & Café in beautiful downtown Leslie, Arkansas for a Farm to Table Awards Banquet!
International Herb Association Farm to Table Awards Banquet
About Our Teachers: All of these fine herbalists are long-time, active members of the International Herb Association.
Known as the HerbMeister, Stephen Lee has enjoyed a diverse culinary career consistently interwoven with his love of herbs. He is the author of five books, including About 8 Herbs and Go Withs and contributor to many more. He founded and operated The Cookbook Cottage, an internationally known source for rare and out-of-print cookbooks and Kentucky's first and only cooking school for fifteen years.
Twice Chairman of the Cooking Schools and Teachers Committee of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, Stephen recently retired as the director of the Daily Lunch Program for the Homeless for the Archdiocese of Louisville and as Superintendent of the Culinary Department of the Kentucky State Fair. He is a licensed and active Auctioneer/Appraiser in both Indiana and Kentucky, a Trustee of the IHA Foundation and an honest-to-goodness Kentucky Colonel.
Jane Hawley Stevens is stepping out of her garden after 40 years of practicing meditation, herbalism, organic farming, and (recently) astrology to share her experience with the infinite wonders of Nature. Jane and local talent plant, harvest, and create herbal wellness for her brand, Four Elements Organic Herbals, from her 130-acre farm in Wisconsin. She and her husband, David, received the Organic Farmer of the Year award in 2020. Jane is a pioneer in organic farming and herbalist communities.
Karen England. IHA board member and frequent contributor to the Herb of the Year books, Karen England has been an herb gardener for well over 30 years. She lives, works and gardens on two steeply sloping acres in Vista, a small town in northern San Diego County, California, just nine miles as a crow flies from the Pacific Ocean. When she’s not drinking herbal cocktails, she drinks tea. Find her on Instagram @edgehillherbfarm.
Susan Belsinger teaches, lectures, and writes about gardening and cooking, and is a food writer, editor and photographer who has authored and edited over 25 books and hundreds of articles. Susan delights in kitchen alchemy—the blending of harmonious foods, herbs, and spices—to create real, delicious food, as well as libations, that nourish our bodies and spirits and titillate our senses. Susan is a member of the International Herb Association, the Herb Society of America and was Honorary President of the HSA for the 2018 to 2020 term. Susan delights in each new Herb of the Year™: doing research, growing the specimens, taking photos, creating recipes, sharing her findings, and celebrating the plants. Her latest book about flavor, the perfect bite, was released in 2022. Find Susan online at: www.susanbelsinger.com, https://www.instagram.com/cookinwithherbs/, https://www.facebook.com/susan.belsinger, and https://www.facebook.com/CreativeHerbalHome
Marge Powell is a passionate cook and most of her cooking is herb enhanced. She teaches classes in cooking with herbs, bread making, making your own medicines, creating lotions and ointments, making soap, and blending scents. She has conducted hands on workshops on these and a variety of other herbal topics across the United States. From 2000 until 2022 she owned and operated Magnolia Hill Soap Co., Inc., a producer of herbal soaps and ointments. In 2011 she created Magnolia Hill Nursery which wholesales organic herbs and heirloom vegetables to local garden centers.
She is currently a board member of the International Herb Association (IHA) and the International Herb Association Foundation and is past president of IHA’s former Southeastern Region. She has authored numerous herbal articles published in IHA’s annual Herb of the Year publications. Recently she has begun collecting data on the history of folk medicine in NE Florida and SE Georgia hoping to shed some light on this often neglected and unstudied aspect of herbal lore.
Kathleen Connole joined the Ozark Folk Center’s Heritage Herb Garden team in 2006. Before moving to Arkansas’ Buffalo River Country in 2005, Kathleen earned a degree in Plant Science from the University of Missouri-Columbia and worked at Powell Gardens and Farrand Farms in Kansas City, Missouri. Kathleen researches the natural history of the Heritage Herb Garden’s diverse herbal collection. She composes interpretive signage for the Garden to tell the stories of these plants.
Kathleen served as chair and is an active member of the Herb Society of America Ozark Unit, headquartered at the Ozark Folk Center State Park. She currently is secretary for the International Herb Association Board. She was editor of the IHA’s Viola, Herb of the Year™ 2022, Ginger, Herb of the Year™ 2023, Yarrow, Herb of the Year™ 2024, and currently is working on Chamomile, Herb of the Year™ 2025.
Pat Kenny: Yarrow plants have been BIG to my little body; from the days as a young biology student wandering in the fields of Pennsylvania to becoming an elder-gardener who heals herself with its historic juices.
Fifty years ago I was rebooting my life, seeking advice from several sources: Organic Gardening and Prevention magazines and classes in health improvement with a mind and body focused toward change and longevity. Over the years these studies led me to the I Ching which led me to fields of yarrow in Pennsylvania and Virginia. After choosing my own set, many collected yarrow stalks have been waiting for the occasion to be gifted to the like-minded attendees of this IHA Annual Conference.
Tina Marie Wilcox has been the head gardener and herbalist at the Ozark Folk Center State Park’s Heritage Herb Garden in Mountain View, Arkansas since 1984. Tina's philosophy is based upon experiencing the joy of the process, perpetrating no harm, and understanding life through play with plants and people. https://www.facebook.com/OzarkFolkCenterStatePark/. She is chair of the International Herb Association.
