Join us for Herb Day - September 14th - Samples and Workshops All Day

Come bask in the magic of the late summer herb harvest with us.

We’ve put together an amazing day of events showing how to make the most of all of the flavors, fragrance and bounty that summer has to offer!

Join us for samples, special workshops with local experts and a free tour of Red Wagon’s herb growing operation!

So you want to:

-Support winter wellness for your whole family? 

Learn the lore and history of two classic herbal preparations with Sophie: Fire Cider and Four Thieves Vinegar! Everyone will go home with lots of recipes and some samples to try.

1PM - 2:30PM Click to register for Fire Cider and 4-Thieves Vinegar with Sophie Cassel

-Preserve the bounty of your herb garden?

Together with Julie, make herbes salées, herb salt, and a compound herb butter. This will give you lots of ideas for using up your own herbs, and you will leave with lots of goodies for your fridge, freezer, and pantry.

3PM - 5PM Click to register for Preserving the Herb Garden for Winter Use with Julie Rubaud

-Look at nature through a queer lens?

Circle round with Kat to learn about the queer facets of over a dozen different species of Goldenrod that grow in Vermont. You’ll gain new ways of looking at the world of plants and other living beings around you.

11AM - NOON Click to register for Queer Botany - Goldenrod with Kat Consler

-Meet and identify the wild and weedy plants around you?

Join Maggie’s plant walk to spy and learn fun facts about the uncultivated plants growing around Red Wagon and our intermingled relationships with them. You’ll also get your own copy of An Urban Field Guide to the Plants in Your Path. 

5 PM - 6 PM Click to register for Plant walk with Maggie Herskovitz 

-Step into the sacred art of herbal smoking blends?

Allyson will show you how to safely prepare a divine blend of Vermont-grown botanicals and use herbal smoke as part of personal ritual and wellness practice, and you’ll go home with your own tin of Goddess Smoke. Free of charge for BIPOC participants.

10AM - 11AM Click to register for Goddess Smoke Blend with Alysson Sprinkel

See you in the herb garden!

Plant(s) of the Week: A power trio

Tulsi with bee friend. Photo by Sophie Cassel

Happy Solstice! We are finally beginning to see the fruits of our early season labor, as the chamomile and calendula come into full flower, the mints begin to really take off, and the perennial valerian and angelica stand tall. I have been absolutely flabbergasted by the way my second-year lemon balm and catnip plants have bushed out, and have begun cutting them back to dry for winter teas. Any time I harvest plants for drying, I also make a batch of fresh herbal tea. This weekend I gathered

• the first calendula blossoms

• a handful of chamomile

• a few sprigs of bronze fennel

• a big bundle of lemon balm

I chopped them all into a half-gallon mason jar and let it steep in the sunshine for a few hours before straining over ice for a perfect “sun tea”. A tea like this only exists at a unique moment, and in a unique garden. This snapshot of the season is a great way to get to know your individual herbs.

This week, in our retail greenhouse, we are offering a trio of herbs as our “Plant(s) of the Week”

• Anise Hyssop

• Tulsi (which we have a blog post about)

• Chamomile.

These are a perfect sun tea trio. All three are plants that you’ll definitely want more than one of in your garden, and when you buy these three staple medicinal herbs, you get three free!

You can find me in the garden drinking sun tea, reading, and hanging out with the plants,

Sophie Cassel