join us for wild heart herb fest!
New Bedford, MA / Wampanoag Nation
Saturday Sept 26, 2026 from 10-4
Spend the day exploring the intersection of herbalism, ecology, art, and cultural tradition at the beautiful Haskell Gardens.
Participate in hands-on workshops, plant identification walks, and creative practices led by local herbalists, artists, + educators.
This is a community centered experience where learning unfolds through connection to plants, to place, to yourself, and to one another.
Wild Heart Herb Fest is rooted in the belief that access to cultural knowledge, creative expression, and connection to the natural world should be available to all. We are committed to accessibility, inclusivity, and community care, offering sliding scale pricing, free programming, and accommodations to support diverse needs.
We honor herbalism as both a cultural tradition and a living practice, shaped by many lineages and communities. Through hands-on learning, artistic expression, and ecological education, we aim to foster connection, belonging, and community resilience—strengthening our capacity to care for ourselves, one another, and the land.
Herbal Mixology - Aliya - wild heart
Getting Dirty: Plants and Sensuousness - Michele - spiral
Herbs for Babies and Children - Keri - lawn
The People’s Apothecary Zine Build - Zulay - wild heart
Sound Bath in the Garden - Lindsay - spiral
Rituals to Transform Your Mealtime - Amelia - lawn
Edible + Medicinal Plant Walk - Maggie - meet at wild heart
Perpetual Pickle Pots - Christin - wild heart
Alchemy of the Womb - Soraya -spiral
Smoke Medicine + Smudge Bundles - Nico - lawn
When you arrive for the day, please check in at Wild Heart Herb House. You may begin to arrive at 9:30 to pick up a schedule, pour yourself a cup of tea, and get ready for the day!
This is a grassroots, no/low tech community event so there are some things that you need to bring:
a full water bottle
a mug or jar for tea
a towel, yoga mat, blanket, chair, something to sit on outdoors
something to add to our community alter like a plant from your garden, stone, shell, something that you made (you can take it back home with you)
LUNCH! There will be no food vendors on site, but you can order a delicious vegetarian picnic lunch from Ohh Goodness! right here! You may also pack yourself a lunch or maybe do a little potluck with your friends that are attending! Lunch break is an hour and there are limited local food options nearby.
a notebook (we have some for sale at Wild Heart) + writing utensil to capture the inspiration you'll be receiving
Street Parking is available on Shawmut Ave and Loftus St bordering Haskell Gardens and on Sutton St and Townsend St which are smaller side streets across Shawmut Ave from Wild Heart Herb House. There are no meters or time restrictions. Handicapped parking is available right on site.
We want this day to feel welcoming and accessible to all! If you need any assistance or accommodations, please reach out and we will do everything possible to ensure you have a safe, easeful, and enjoyable day at Wild Heart Herb Fest! ASL interpretation will be available. The event is wheelchair accessible, with accessible paths, parking, and restrooms.
This is a day to connect with community and make new friends! Introduce yourself to someone new, say hello to our vendors + healing practitioners, chat with a teacher after class. Everyone is excited to meet you! I know this can be intimidating and if you need some support, come find Nico, Michele, or Amelia. We will be happy to introduce you to someone that would be thrilled to get to know you!
Michele Marcus-Dew (she/they) is an herbalist, gardener, and rad Jewish witch currently planted in New Bedford, MA. She lives in devotion to land and how we can look to nature for our own pathways to liberation.
We will gather in circle, surrounding a Garden of Sensual Delights to explore and awaken our pleasure centers and connection with Earth. Plants will be our guides as we taste, touch, smell, listen, and take in their wisdom + magic through their many forms - elixirs, live plant play, aromatic extractions, sounds, infused honeys, massage oils and more. Bring a journal for archiving your experiences, writing down recipes, and any other wisdom downloads.
I am Soraya-mother, sister, daughter, and friend. I walk as a maternal nurturer, an indigenous midwife in training, and a Birthkeeper. I founded Sacred Birthing Village as a maternal restorative sanctuary for community care and birth justice, a place where mothers and families can be held in their sacred journey. Through the Maternal Nurturing Collective, I serve in the ancient work of ushering mothers and families through childbirth as a rite of passage, catching, honoring, and witnessing them in their rebirth. At my heart, I am an alchemist, always unlearning and remembering, integrating and embodying what it means to tend to life. I believe motherhood/ parenthood and family constellations are a divine, co-creative responsibility, a blueprint given to us to thrive, and a sacred calling I’ve been entrusted to walk with others.
Curating a communal immersion into the alchemy of the womb as the source of our medicine. Through breath, movement, story, and shared witnessing, we will remember the medicine we each carry and how to walk with it in these times. We will end with a gentle closing of the bones ceremony, sealing the circle and sending each person forth rooted, reset, and renewed.
Aliya has had holistic wellness knowledge from a young age and aims to provide unique and fulfilling experiences to those she comes in contact with. Aliya is a self proclaimed “retired bartender” who has sought out ways to marry her love of bartending with her passion of wellbeing and healing for what she believes is a more enjoyable cocktail experience.
Join Aliya as she shows you how to incorporate herbs into mocktails and low abv (alcohol by volume) delicious cocktails. Discover the magic of identifying different herbs and understanding their flavor profiles. Learn how to infuse them into alcohol or non-alcoholic bases such as teas, syrups, or tonics. These drinks can be enjoyed at home, with friends and family, or added into any bar’s cocktail menu.
Amelia is a community herbalist and weaver of Darling Dandy Botanicals. With a passion for exploring the world of bitter botanicals, you'll always find a dash of bitter plant wisdom and wildness within her offerings. Because when we taste the deliciousness of life, in all its complexities, in all its flavors (yes, even that disruptive bitter!), we live more fully, more vibrantly, more alive. Amelia is a graduate of the School of the Sacred Wild with Marysia Miernowska. A spiral journey of education in folk herbalism, earth tending, and regenerative living.
Eating is one of the most intimate things we do. The food we take in is transformed and alchemized by our body to literally become us! How amazing is that? And, yet, this act is often dismissed, rushed through, or sometimes even completely forgotten as we move about our busy days. Once steeped in ceremony, community & connection with the natural world - it wasn't just about what we were eating, but HOW we were eating that impacted our well-being. And still does. So how do we get back to this place of reverence for ourselves and the Earth? In this class, Amelia will share herbs that prepare our bodies to receive nourishment & support us in not only digesting our food, but also our lives more fully. In addition to other palatable (pun intended!) practices that invite more intention, ritual & sacredness into our mealtimes.
Keri is a mom of two, home herbalist, yoga teacher, and mental health therapist. Throughout her adulthood, herbs have played a huge role in her self care and now her entire family’s wellbeing as well.
Join Keri as she gives you the information on how to safely use herbs for babies and children. From teething to the common cold and more, herbal remedies are both gentle and effective for little, growing bodies. You’ll leave with more wisdom and a few recipes you can make right in your own kitchen.
For those of you who I am just becoming acquainted with, here is a little more info about me! I am a mom, community herbalist, earth centered entrepreneur, and self care advocate who specializes in teaching people how to deeply connect with all parts of themselves and the living world around them through simple techniques that are available to all. I hold space for my community to strengthen intuition, commune with the earth, and connect with source energy whatever that looks like and feels like for them. No expectations, no judgement, all are welcome!
Learn about smoke medicine and how to incorporate this powerful practice into your every day. We will also make smudge bundles with locally foraged herbs that you can take home!
It will be a true honor to sit with you at Haskell Gardens and share my radical self care plant medicine knowledge + experiences!
Christin has been fermenting food for 2 decades, and some of her ferments have been alive for almost as long! A student of the non-credo macrobiotic philosophy, Christin believes in learning through lived experience. After many years of studying the energy of food and natural health, she created her Eating with the Elements online course about the energetics of food and the changing seasons. She also teaches classes and workshops on crystals and nine star ki astrology. Get to know her on instagram @thatritzylife
Harness the magic of microbes to create delicious turmeric and horseradish pickles! With this method, you can keep the same pickle pot going perpetually for YEARS! If you have wanted to find an easy and delicious way to get the benefits of probiotic-rich, living, fermented food into your diet, this is it! Participants will leave with the knowledge to safely ferment vegetables at home along with recipes and guidance to get started.
Introducing Maggie, a generous, nurturing, and incredibly caring human being. Maggie has been on a healing plant path for 20+ years, studying with many teachers, in many healing traditions. As an Herbalist she knows that always and forever, the plants themselves are the true teachers and guides for her healing and the healing she share with others
Stroll along the wild edges of Haskell Gardens with Maggie and identify edible and medicinal plants. We share our region and ecosystem with a variety of edible and medicincal plants. Learn how to identify these plants during this interactive and informative class. For the edible plants that are discovered, recipes will be shared, so you can discover how to consume on your own. Questions are highly encouraged and hearing your uses and recipes we see are most welcomed!
Zu is an interdisciplinary artist and lover of people and medicine. Their work in centered on exploring the healing possibilities of self and community expression though community art events and workshops around zine making.
In this class we will be looking at the medicine and wisdom that we all carry with us, and creating a collective zine to share with our communities. There is also the option to create a personal zine to take home! Each participant will get a digital file of the zine and a copy to keep.
Lindsay Days is a Sound Healer, Reiki Master and Yoga Instructor. She did her Yoga Teacher Training locally at Power and Grace Yoga Studio. Lindsay has a small buisness called Heart in Harmony where she offers Reiki and Sound Healing treatments at her office at The Healing Trauma Center in New Bedford. She teaches yoga at The Marion Yoga Loft and The Mattapoisett Wellness Center.
Come experience a serene and deeply restorative Sound Bath on the field of Haskell Garden. It will begin with a Bio-Scalar Meditation inviting the energy of nature into the body to calm the nervous system, connect with our breath and enjoy the soothing resonant beat of the shaman drum. This will be followed by Lindsay playing her chakra attuned crystal bowls. The vibration of the bowls flows through the water in our bodies providing healing on the cellular level. Feel free to bring a yoga mat, blankets, or pillows to make yourself comfortable during this 60 minute savasana.
This is a community event that we want to be accessible to all, so there is a sliding scale admission of $0-90 for the day, with a suggested price of $45. This money goes directly to the organizing of the event and funding other free/low price events at Wild Heart.
When you click the above link you will see the price set to our suggested admission amount of $45, but you can click the "change amount" button under the price and event description to adjust to a different price that you are effortlessly able to pay!
Tickets to Wild Heart Herb Fest are NON-REFUNDABLE but they ARE TRANSFERABLE so if you can’t make it after you purchase a ticket, you can send a friend in your stead!
In the unlikely event that Herb Fest gets cancelled all together the money you paid for your ticket can be used as store credit at Wild Heart Herb House.
Please also note that access to the gardens, vendors, healing practitioners is free! (vendors + practitioners will charge their own rates for products and services.) Your purchased ticket to Wild Heart Herb Fest includes admission to all classes and workshops.
Cristy is the Co Founder of Elements Learning Collaborative, a local, holistic, nature based educational non-profit, educator, and nature enthusiast.
At Herb Fest she will be guiding participants through therapeutic & educational nature art. Elements will provide art materials, tools & wild flowers for Herb Fest visitors to sit and enjoy shadow sketching, water colors, and more. We are so excited to offer art making in the gardens!
Amidst the magic of Wild Heart Herb Fest, gift yourself a moment of deep care with a 20-minute Holistic Thai Bodywork Mini-Session en plein air with emerging bodyworker and brain health advocate Lauren Fiske, MSc, RYT.
Surrounded by nature, these sessions weave together rhythmic stretching, acupressure, and energy line work to melt tension, improve flexibility, and help you land gently back in your body.
Sign up day of, or email lauren@moonpathwellness.com to learn more—your nervous system will thank you!
Melinda is a seer, a poet and a guide for women on the heart-led path. She is devoted to a life of love, beauty and real magic. Melinda holds multiple certifications in Yoga, Reiki (2) and Oracle Reading, along with many other attunements and gifts thanks to her spiritual mentors and teachers. She loves journaling, ecstatic dance and working with flower essences.
Experience for yourself a tool for channeling messages of the Diving Love through the Oracle Readings with Energy Healing from Melinda. These readings are medicine for the heart, offering the receiver the gifts of clarity and personal empowerment.
Enjoy seasonal offerings like autumnal aura sprays, plant-dyed garments and accessories in fall hues, and whimsical faerie-themed provisions for ritual and renewal!
The Faerest Realm offers handcrafted goods and enchanted experiences inspired by the Fae and the forest, from plant-dyed silks and shimmering potions to woodland rituals and seasonal gatherings. Each creation is a portal, inviting you to remember your magic and deepen relationship with the kingdom of Nature.
At Stoned Wick Company, we’re more than just candles — we’re a whole vibe. Created with love and intention, our all-natural candles are designed to develop rituals that feel grounding, fun, and a little rebellious.
The candle maker + blogger behind the scenes at Stoned Wick Co. Brandy has been hand-pouring candles since 2016. She created this business because she wants to share her love of self-care and honest conversations. She is a free-spirited wife + mother who is enjoying the journey as a cannabis enthusiast.
Melodie is devoted to supporting others in deepening their connection to themselves, spirit and nature. She studies what her heart is called to and takes an embodied approach to teaching. Melodie will also be teaching Plants for Pleasure at Wild Heart Herb Fest!
She will offer hand crafted artisanal products such as plant dyed silks, hand dipped candles, and skin + body care. These products are brought to you with deep devotion to the earth and its medicines. Ingredients are homegrown and lovingly wildcrafted or sourced to the best of abilities.
Maggie is a RI based Herbalist and product maker. Being an herbal educator, having a background in nursing, combined with recent training in yoga and mediation are the things that keep Maggie happy and healthy. Maggie’s Healing Path was created to share all of these peices with customers, students and clients.
During the Wild Heart Herb Fest Maggie will be teaching an Edible + Medicinal Plant Walk class along the along the wild edges of Haskell Gardens. She will also be offering hand-made herbal apothecary items such as teas, skin care, massage products and more!
Keegan is a local artist to the Southcoast, who focuses on blending creativity with sustainability and play. Her work celebrates the magic of artistic expression, while inspiring others to embrace both joy + environmental responsibility!
Magick Crafts Curio Shop offers unique, hand made tie-dye in a variety of styles, sizes and colors. The clothing is made with up-cycled materials from local thrift and donation centers, actively working against excess clothing waste.
