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Happy Spring! 

Spring is a flurry of activity and awakening. We shift from the dormant "slumber" of winter to the vibrant outward energy of spring, but it's not a fluid transition. Snow and sleet or rain? Warmth or cold? As the weather bounces back and forth in this mercurial time, so, too, can our energy. 

But spring IS here. The days are longer. Forsythia and tree buds are fattening. Spring bulbs are sprouting. Songbirds are singing. Hazelnuts are getting ready to bloom.

Get ready for a joyous and exuberant time!

This newsletter includes free community classes tomorrow (online) + next week (in person) • info on herbs for allergy support • nettle tincture recipe • Seasonal Energetics Series FINAL announcement before classes begin next week • Sleep Book releases this week!

Here at Wintergreen Botanicals, 
all the labor of the prior months is manifesting! 

> Herbal Remedies for Sleep releases and ships later THIS week
> My 4th book manuscript to be submitted today (phew!) - due out next spring (topic TBA... one of my fAvOrItEs!)

> I'll be out and about in the community teaching several FREE classes tomorrow and next week

> The Seasonal Energetics Series begins next Thursday
> And I leave for Italy to teach and travel mid April. The past six months have been a LOT of work between moving, books, and everything else. I am so ready to clock out for three weeks and hang in a Tuscan castle with some of the nicest and most amazing herbalists on the planet and then do personal travel. <3 pinch me!
> The May newsletter won't go out until I'm just about back in NH, later in the month.

> I'll be hitting the ground running upon return with the the clinic picking back up, Home Herbalist Series starting via live stream + in-person classroom opening for summer, and NH Herb & Garden Day the first weeks of June. (And helping my in-laws move to our lil' family compound with renovations completing.) Crazy to think June is not that far away!

BTW that's the new office/classroom in Chichester in the pic above! 
I'm loving it - more pics here. I'll be adding tables and chairs for students in June.

Links and details below ~

A HUGE thank you to the team - Dayna on tech/marketing/communication/admin, Ruth, Liane, and Jenn correcting series homework, and Kristina in the apothecary and making kits. Also to the amazing Storey Publishing Team! It used to be just me, but now it's definitely a team effort. I am so grateful for their support <3 

Herbal Remedies for Sleep BOOK RELEASE! 

 Book orders are shipping this week! Because I’ll be leaving for Europe shortly after the book release for a long trip, this is the best time to place your order (if you didn't already preorder).

With your order ~
FREE companion with your book - Online Sleep Mini Course!
Plus 10% off all my online and live streamed courses and series!

FREE SLEEP CLASS *TOMORROW* NIGHT ONLINE
Herbs for Sleep: How to Choose the Best One for You ONLINE LIVE STREAMED - Tuesday April 2, 6-7:30 pm Eastern Time Hosted by the Concord Food Co-op FREE Register Here

Allergy Season is Coming, 
You CAN Support Yourself Naturally!

Here in NH, it's not quite allergy season yet, but as soon as the warmth catches up with us, it'll be here. There are many herbs that support us in allergy season, but my favorite one will be popping up soon. Nettles will be among the first herbs we visit in our seasonal energetics series because it has a draining energetic perfect for stagnation, congestion, and excess dampness associated with spring. 

Fresh nettle leaf tincture provides different medicine (more allergy support) than the dried leaves as tea (which provide more nutrition and less allergy benefit). This is due to solvency of different constituents as well as fresh versus dry properties of the plant. If you can’t do alcohol, you can try an herbal vinegar (which will provide some minerals, too), though the shelf life will be shorter, best kept in the fridge. 

Other herbs like goldenrod, horehound, and reishi are some of my personal faves for allergy support. 

Free Allergy Classes: choose-your-own-price on-demand online Allergy Class,

I'm also teaching a shorter version of the class in person NEXT week at the Hooksett (Mon April 8) and Moultonborough (Wed April 10) NH libraries, both 6-7:30 pm - free and open to the public AND signed books available for sale! Click those underlined links to register.

DIY Nettle Tincture Recipe

1. Harvest  spring  nettle greens/leaves (no need to remove stems), do NOT use flowering nettle greens/leaves. Use caution, be careful and consider wearing gloves due to the sting! I not find dry nettle to provide the same level of allergy support. 
2. Chop up fresh herbs or roots, and 
3. stuff (really shove!) them in a mason jar until you can’t fit any more. 
4. Fill the jar to the tippy top with whole grain alcohol or high proof vodka or brandy. I prefer the highest proof I can get: 190 proof or 95% alcohol for fresh plants, but you can use the highest proof you can get (151-proof is next in. line, then 100-proof vodka, then your usual vodka or brandy, which is 80-proof).
5.  A day later, top the jar off again. Leave the jar in a dark place for at least one month (or as long as you like). Strain it out with a fine mesh strainer and muslin or cheesecloth to squeeze out the last bit. 

• This method will give you approximately a 1:2 fresh herb extraction, meaning that for each ounce (weight, as shown on a kitchen scale) of herb, you add 2 ounces (volume, as shown on a glass measuring cup). 
• Most herbs do well with a fresh tincture: lemon balm, echinacea, valerian… Most tinctures are shelf stable for up for several years, then lose potency. Also, don’t be alarmed if when you press out your herbs, you see little “black dots” all over your plant material. This is actually dark green plant pigments which has precipitated out and is not a problem nor any sign of your tincture going bad. I get this frequently with mint family plants like motherwort and lemon balm as well as some other plants.

Seasonal Energetics Starts NEXT THURSDAY!
Taught by Maria 
w/Guest Teachers Tesia Love & Jiling Lin

You can still register but remedy kits are limited! 

Live Streamed & Recorded 

Thursday Nights 6 - 9 pm • Starting April 11 through November
Deepen your connection to the plants, seasons, and human body~

Perfect for students who have a basic foundation in herbs
and a fun introduction to build intermediate-advanced herbal skills 

I know I said "last chance" in my last email, and that wasn't a lie - registration was too low to run, and I needed to be able to "call it" one way or another before kits began assembly and for guest teachers to plan. Thanks to those who registered, we are now firmly ON. Yay! We definitely do still have space and some kits available. It's going to be a great group and fun series! :) 

ALSO... 

I JUST opened up a few DROP IN class opportunities for the Seasonal Energetics series...

• April 11, 6-9 pm: Drop in for class 1 - Maria's Intro to Western Herbal Energetics (plus student introductions) $100
• April 25, 6-8 pm (short class):  Drop in for class 2 Tesia (Ayurveda) + Jiling (Chinese 5 Element Seasonal Rhythms) Introducing their energetic systems $70
• May 9, 6-8 pm (short class): Drop in for class 3 Tesia (Ayurveda) + Jiling (Chinese 5 Element Seasonal Rhythms) Spring Energetics $70
• Bundle ALL GUEST CLASSES $350 (10 hours)
• Bundle ALL TESIA's 4 classes $140 (4 hours)
• Bundle ALL JILING's 6 classes $210 (6 hours)

Choose-your-own-scholarship discounts available for drop-in registration.

Drop in students do NOT get series perks (AHG, HW, kits, discounts, etc) but you do get access to the live stream, replay video (no deadline to watch), and class slides. 
If you decide to upgrade to the full series, what you've paid will be applied to the total cost. 

April Community Classes, Podcasts & Announcements

Wintergreen Botanicals

Maria Noel Groves, RH (AHG)

www.WintergreenBotanicals.com

603-340-5161

office@wintergreenbotanicals.com