11th Annual HerbDay

The nonprofit American Botanical Council (ABC) will celebrate the 11th annual HerbDay with a variety of herbal educational activities, including presentations from local and national herbal experts.

The HerbDay event occurs at ABC’s headquarters at the historic Case Mill Homestead, 6200 Manor Road in East Austin, from 10 am until 4 pm. It is free and open to the public.

David Winston, clinical herbalist, ethnobotanist, author, and founder and dean of David Winston’s Center for Herbal Studies will give the keynote presentation at noon on “Adaptogens: Herbs for Strength, Stamina, and Stress.” Immediately following his presentation, David will lead a walk through the gardens to see and learn about the many herbs growing in ABC’s expansive 20+ medicinal- and culinary-themed gardens.

Four additional herb walks will be led by local Austin herbalists. The first two herb walks will start at 10:30 am and will be led by Nicole Telkes, author and director of the Wildflower School of Botanical Medicine in Austin and Ginger Webb, director of the Sacred Journey School of Herbalism. Beth Ebbing Johnson, co-owner of Sacred Moon Herbs, and Ellen Zimmermann, director of The Austin School of Herbal Studies, will lead the second herb walks at 2:30 pm. Each herb walk will last approximately 45 minutes.

In addition to the herb walks and herb talk, participants will have plenty of time to explore ABC’s medicinal and culinary herb gardens on their own.

“HerbDay is an opportunity for ABC to reach out to the local community in keeping with its nonprofit educational mission,” said ABC Special Projects Director Gayle Engels. “We get to share our love of the plants and introduce the broader public to the wealth of herbal knowledge that resides in the Austin area.”

Plants, books, refreshments, and membership information will be available in addition to free sample issues of ABC’s acclaimed, full-color, quarterly, peer-reviewed scientific journal, HerbalGram, and other educational literature.