Over the centuries, humans have counted on the shelter, fire, food, and medicine the woodlands have offered. Many have reciprocated with gratitude in prayer, dance, offerings, and care in harvesting. Bark and root, leaf and flower, fruit and seed, the trees and other forest plants offer a bounty of riches to those who spend time in their company.
Let’s journey through time and place, the fragrance of evergreens and spirit of the trees and other botanicals that can benefit from our help—even as they share their own gifts with us.
Throughout her life, the woodlands of the Northeast United States have invited Kate Gilday into relationship with trees and plants that dwell in wild places.
Here, the elements of earth, water, fire, and air reside in a myriad of forms. Magic, grace, beauty, healing, intelligence, and deep peace touch those who engage with the forest.
Long-term relationships with trees grow when we spend time together in the art of presence and attention. We can learn and share much about ourselves as we tune in with our senses and memory.
During our three arboreal evenings together, you will experience both visual and audible time with trees, shrubs, lichens, herbs, and mushrooms.
You will learn…
🍂 How to deepen your connection with nature, the land, and the woodland species we meet along the way.
🍂 The essence and medicine of these botanical treasures.
🍂 How to carefully gather and prepare your personal herbal apothecary.
Kate will share her joy of the woods and…
🍃 Well-known evergreens and hardwood trees of the Northeast
🍃 Shrubs that thrive in a variety of woodland environments
🍃 Mushrooms that grow on dead and live trees
🍃 Wild herbs that you can successfully grow in your shaded, wooded gardens
As you spend time in the company of trees, you may feel a resonance with some of these wise ones, a gentle nudge or memory of your own remembering—the language of the forest.
Learn how to recognize specific tree species, ethically harvest tree barks, carefully wildcraft native herb roots, and recognize when to gather and when not to take. We will also discuss plant rescues, how to plant trees that thrive in your area, and what to add to your day pack when you head out for your own explorations.
Friends you will meet along the way…
White Pine, Scots Pine, Balsam Fir, Eastern Hemlock, Sugar Maple, White Ash, Linden, Black Walnut, Witch Hazel, Spikenard, Crampbark, Goldenseal, Black Cohosh, Red Trillium, Chaga, Reishi, and more!
Join Kate virtually in the old-growth pines where the silence is deep and the resonance is palpable. Are you ready to wander and learn? The forest welcomes you!
This is a 3-Part Workshop!
Session 1: 10/13 – Entering the Forest: The Living Web
Step into the beauty, complexity, and healing presence of the Northeast forest—and into the timeless relationship between humans and the woodland world.
Together, we’ll explore the Northeast’s diverse forest types, from Pine-Oak forests of the coastal woodlands of Cape Cod and Maine to northern hardwood forests and the boreal forests of the Adirondacks. Kate will share stories from her experiences with old-growth forests, including the Cathedral Pines of Adirondack Park and the King Pines of New Hampshire, as well as stories gathered from a lifetime spent among the forest lovers of the Northeast.
See the forest not simply as a collection of trees, but as an intricate web of relationships—where plants, fungi, animals, soil, water, and humans are woven together.
Meet ancient evergreens, or conifers: Pine and Cedar, Hemlock and Spruce, Larch and fragrant Balsam Fir. Each has its own presence, personality, and gifts to offer. We’ll explore their roles in the health of the forest and planet, their traditional uses as medicine for humans and animals, and even the shelf mushrooms that make their homes upon these remarkable trees.
Come listen deeply to the forest and discover what becomes possible when we begin to know it as a living community.
Session 2: 10/20 – The Generous Hardwoods: Trees of Light, Strength & Life
Our attention turns to the magnificent hardwoods of the northern forest.
Meet the generous Maples, Birches, Poplars, Oaks, Wild Cherry, Black Walnut, Sassafras, Aspen, and Linden, along with woodland shrubs such as Witch Hazel and Viburnum.
We’ll explore these trees not only for their beauty and medicinal gifts, but for their essential place within the larger forest community. Who depends upon them? What do they provide? How do they shape the soil, shelter wildlife, nourish pollinators, and create the conditions for other plants to thrive?
We’ll consider the many ways these tall beings of light and strength have touched human lives—from food and medicine to shelter, tools, beauty, and story.
As Kate shares her deep experience with these trees, we’ll be invited to slow down and see them differently: not simply as resources, but as generous members of a living community with whom we share a home.
Perhaps, by the end of our time together, you’ll never walk past a Maple, Birch, or Linden in quite the same way again.
Session 3: 10/27 – The Forest Floor: Medicine, Mystery & Planting the Future
Now reach down to the forest floor—to the small, remarkable plants that live in the shade of their towering elders.
Meet Spikenard, Solomon’s Seal, Goldthread, Clubmoss, and some of the forest’s most treasured and vulnerable medicines: Bloodroot, Goldenseal, Blue Cohosh, Trillium, Pink Lady’s Slipper, and Wild Ginger.
These plants teach us about patience, place, and interdependence. Many grow slowly and are exquisitely adapted to the unique conditions of a healthy woodland. Some are increasingly at risk, reminding us that loving a plant also means learning how to protect its future.
Explore ethical gathering and the importance of knowing when to harvest—and when to leave a plant undisturbed. Kate will share ways to successfully grow some of these woodland herbs in a shady garden or neighboring woodland, creating small sanctuaries where forest medicines can take root.
We’ll consider what it means to become stewards rather than only gatherers, and how our gardens can become refuges for plants that need our help.
This is the work of Planting the Future—a beautiful call to action championed by United Plant Savers: learning to cultivate, protect, and nurture the plants we hope will be here for generations to come.
About Kate Gilday:
Kate Gilday is a grateful grandma, clinical herbalist, flower essence practitioner and creator, Ayurvedic lifestyle consultant, and herbal teacher working and living in Adirondack Park. She is the founder of Woodland Essence LLC, a forest botanicals and flower essence company that she began in the 1990s with her partner Don Babineau. Connecting herbs and flowers with others is her delight and passion, along with tending her relationship with the gardens and woodlands she calls home. Well-loved for the clarity and clinical relevance gleaned from decades of experience in her teachings, Kate brings her love of the wild places, song, and healing to the workshops she presents.