Organic Herbal Products

Tinctures, elixirs, and more.
Our products are made in small batches, in accordance with Vermont's seasons and the moon's cycles. We intimately know the plants in our medicines because they are growing around us in the wild as well as in our organic gardens. We take time to know them from seed to full maturity. What we are not able to harvest in our gardens we ethically wild craft nearby, or source from organic growers. We do mail orders and specialize in custom blends.

Select products available at Green Mountain Medicinals in Montpelier, VT and Fiddleheads Raw Foods Cafe in Worcester, VT.

Classes & Summer Program

Classes:

Request our quarterly e-newsletter of classes, events and updates by emailing: mandalabotanicals@gmail.com.

The 2012 Local Healers Program:

The 8th season of the Local Healers Program, crafted to keep herbalism, and health care, in the people's hands, where it belongs. The local plants, mycelium and wildlife are the Local Healers given tribute in the program's name. This program is in Barre, Vermont, USA. Now accepting applications for the 2012 Local Healers Program. Application deadline is March 1st. Class limited to 9 participants.

• Learn to identify, gather, prepare & administer plants for healing & food
• Understand the microcosm of your body and where you live through plants and seasonal cycles
• Gain confidence, knowledge & hands-on experience with medicinal plants in Vermont's natural bounty and beauty

Class meets on Wednesdays, 2 days per month, 10am – 4pm. Program begins late March 2012 and runs through early November 2012. Class dates are: March 28, April 11 & 25, May 9 & 23, June 6 & 13, July 11 and another day to be selected by the group, August 8 & 15, September 5 & 19, October 3 & 17, November 7, 2012.

$975 tuition includes class handouts and in-class medicine-making supplies, but not books. VSAC non-degree grants available to income-eligible Vermonters, apply early. Community credits (ORE or REACH barter hours) also accepted as partial payment.

Required textbooks: The Medicine Making Handbook by James Green, Herbal Recipes for Vibrant Health by Rosemary Gladstar, Botany in a Day by Thomas Elpel, The Holistic Herbal by David Hoffman, The Forager's Harvest by Samuel Thayer, Healing Wise by Susun Weed.

Program topics include:
• What is herbalism? What is a folk herbalist?
• Understanding cycles: day/night (sun/moon), monthly (lunar), yearly seasons (solar), life (birth to death, based on concepts of earth-based astrology)
• Yin and Yang
• Nature's elements: Earth, Air, Fire and Water
• Materia medica of medicinal plants of the northeast USA, month by month through the year (harvest calendar)
• Experiential energetics of herbs
• Herbal actions and chemistry
• Forms of herbal medicine/herbal preparations
• Botany and the patterns of plant families
• Basics of the body systems
• Creating your own apothecary
• Social justice in herbalism — race, class and cultural appropriation
• Multicultural and intercultural herbalism
• Community service
• Community disaster relief with herbs
• Herbal first-aid kits
• Responsible wild harvesting and wild edibles
• Food as medicine
• Culinary herbs as medicine
• Spring cleansing and tonification
• Preparing for winter — herb preservation and medicine making such as tincturing, salves, infused oils, incense, teas, poultices, soups, smoking blends and more
• Plant walks, plant ID and gathering herbs in the wild, on the street, and in the garden
• Communing with nature and communicating with spirit of a plant
• The 7 edible plant parts
• Adaptogen herbs we can grow in the Northeast
• Immune health
• Herbs for dental care
• Do-it-yourself body care products and natural household cleaning with plants
• Stress relief and spirit care with herbs
• Healing with water and spiritual bathing
• Divination
• Medicinal mushrooms
• Cultivating at-risk plants
• Planning your garden and cultivating medicinal plants
• Knowing a plant from seed to sprout, flower to fruit and root

A balanced menu of practical information, self-healing and activism, this program is appropriate for learners of all ages seeking a strong foundation in folk herbalism. The skills gained are of lifelong value, and are contagious.

Student Testimonials:

“The atmosphere is so wholistic—seed to seed through the seasons, medicine making, food as medicine, a safe space to process my own path and grow in a group setting. The amazing potlucks, the enriching field trips, it was a brilliant orchestra of educational material!” D.W.

“I expected to learn about identification, preparation and usage of healing herbs, and I did. I also expanded my vision and improved my connection to the organic reality. I have become much more aware of and connected to the plant world, and I know how to incorporate my learning into my life.” B.R.

“I enjoyed learning about the medicinal values of plants in my backyard. I will always remember that I can heal myself and others with what is around me in nature.” P.L.

Natural Health Consultations

Sandra is not offering consultations at this time.

Each person is an ecological expression.
We are part of nature and need nature. In this rapidly changing global climate we need to attune to the practices of our ancestry, and to the foods and medicines of the bioregion in which we live. Through integrating regular awareness of our bodies with the rhythms of the seasons, we can enjoy great improvements in health.

About Sandra Lory

Sandra Lory is a multicultural Folk Herbalist who was born in India and grew up in Vermont. Sandra's maternal granny Luiza Maria Antao was a village herbalist from the former Portuguese colony Goa, India who raised the family in Nairobi, Kenya during the British colonial era. Sandra's paternal grandfather Andrej Lazorcek came to Pittsburgh's South Side from Slovakia, where he worked in the wrought iron industry and cultivated his garden to feed the family. In the late 90's Sandra was involved in community garden activism in New York City and Holyoke, Massachusetts where she experienced firsthand how nature and culture can coexist and strengthen community spirit.

Sandra graduated from Hampshire College with a degree in Social Ecology in 2001. Since then she has pursued the healing arts through apprenticeship, mentorship and/or formal studies with many wonderful teachers, including: Atmo Abram, Rosemary Gladstar, Ms. Beatrice Waight, Guido Mase, Rocio Alarcon, Hadar Sarit, Josephine Spilka, Amy Goodman Kiefer, Joseph Kiefer, Julia Graves and Bob Onne. She also draws inspiration from the late D.C. Jarvis, a renowned Barre physician and Vermont folk herbalism advocate. Sandra is grateful to her teachers for their generous and timeless teachings. Sandra would also like to thank her sister Yvonne, her husband Zachary, and her parents Victoria and James for their support.

Sandra has been a chef at Sage Mountain Herbal Retreat Center since 2002, and established Mandala Botanicals in 2003. She has offered a folk herbal training called the Local Healers Program in her community since 2005. Sandra's practice incorporates awareness and action, impact and responsibility inherent in being a global citizen. She loves languages and sees the world through colors, patterns, traditional foods, medicine plants and mapping of the people's history. She works with at-risk youth and families in Barre, Vermont, integrating herbalism with social justice, art and community gardening.

Photo Gallery

Click here to see photos of botanicals, herbal classes, and community events.
(Scroll down and click on photos on left side bar.)

Links

Co-Founder of:
VermontHealers.Org
The Barre Community Garden at Metro Way

Member of:
Transition Town Vermont
Northeast Radical Healthcare Network
Onion River Exchange
Naturopathic Relief Clinic for Haitian Earthquake Victims
REACH Care Bank

Friends:
Sage Mountain Herbal Retreat Center
Numen (A film about the healing power of plants)
Twin Pond Retreat Center
Village Building Convergence
Food Works
Roots School
Wisdom of the Herbs School
Dandelioness Herbals

Contact Us

By phone: (802) 479-1925
By email: mandalabotanicals@gmail.com