Welcome to Sage Mountain Herbal Retreat Center & UpS Botanical Sanctuary
Herbs & Earth Awareness, 2011
Like seeds ripening in the rich soil of the earth & honey bees longing for the sweet nectar of blossoms, we’re awaiting the warmth of spring and looking forward to another season of growing, sharing, and learning on The Mountain.
Welcome to Sage Mountain. Founded 24 years ago by Rosemary Gladstar and family, Sage Mountain Herbal Retreat Center & Botanical Sanctuary has become one of New England's foremost learning centers for herbs and earth awareness. Located on 500 pristine acres in central Vermont, this beautiful piece of Earth Mother is a natural sanctuary and teaching site. There is an incredible assortment of wild herbs and flowers growing in habitats that vary from meadows, forest to wet lands. Our wild neighbors include deer, bear, moose, beavers, bobcat, otters, fox and a wonderful variety of feathered folk that honor us with their presence. It is with a special feeling in our heart that we invite others to share in the bounty and teachings of this land with us.
Throughout the year we offer a series of workshops that emphasize our relationship to Earth Mother and to each other. Our teachings encompass multi-dimensional traditions and experiences. All strive to bring us closer to ourselves and deeper in harmony with our heart space. Though Rosemary is the primary teacher at Sage Mountain, our staff also includes many other excellent herbalists, healers, and naturalists from throughout the country. Along with the programs and events offered offered at Sage Mountain, we also host the International Herb Symposium every two years at Wheaton College in Norton, Mass. and the annual New England Women's Herbal Conference (now in it's 24th year) to be hosted at Camp Wicosuta in the lake region of New Hampshire. Information about these events are posted on our website.
Sage Mountain is a beautiful and inspiring place to learn. Surrounded by forest, fen and meadows, there are endless hiking trails, streams, and vistas that stretch out over several mountain ranges. Our facilities are pleasantly rustic and comfortable. Indoor facilities include a yurt, dome,a large comfortable classroom, extensive herbal library, kitchen and indoor bathrooms. However, our favorite classrooms are the woodlands and wild gardens that surround us. Participants are encouraged to camp, though we do have limited indoor dormitory style lodging. We also have an outdoor jacuzzi and a large cedar sauna which are favorite places for star gazing and easing aching muscles.
Though we often speak of ‘slowing down’ and offering fewer programs, there seems to be no greater need or desire to learn about earth awareness & herbal consciousness than right now. The need for more cost effective medicine, disenchantment with the current medical situation, and people’s desire to be more ‘in touch’ with their healing process has awakened the desire to learn more about home remedies and herbal medicine.
Though the knowledge and wisdom shared at these programs is outstanding and has helped fuel the ‘herbal renaissance’, the teachings are far more than just educational in nature. Rich in spirit, they nourish the heart as well as the mind. Through a supportive network with other herbalists and other herbal programs around the country, we have built a strong green community and have created an interface with other traditions of healing, while keeping an earth based herbal tradition alive and thriving in this country. It’s quite a miracle…. .
We are honored to have been part of the spark and flame that helped spread this growing consciousness from the early 70’s through the newest decade and are looking forward to another season of programs and opportunities for sharing and learning with others. I was reading this morning in my latest Mother Earth News, “It’s amazing how time flies when you’re having fun, working hard, and making a difference”; I couldn’t agree more fully.
To register or for further information on any of our programs please write or call.
- All workshops are purposely limited in space and generally fill up quickly; pre-registration is requested.
- A non-refundable/non-transferable deposit is required to hold your place.
- Directions and further information will be sent to you.