Teen Spiral
13th Annual Midwest Women's Herbal Conference
Celebrating 13 years of Plants, Funga, & Sisterhood
Featuring Keynote Speakers:
Dr. Tieraona Low Dog, MD • Mimi Hernandez • Lisa Ganora
May 24-26, 2024 • Almond, WI
Teen Spiral offers unique workshops for teens while their parent/guardian attends workshops during the Midwest Women’s Herbal Conference.
Teens are also welcome to attend any main conference workshops they find interesting.
The teen spiral coordinators will be holding a mindful, supported space throughout the weekend. Teens are welcome to attend meals and evening events with the Teen Spiral, or they may spend these times with their parent/guardian.
Teen girls age 12-17 are welcome to register for the Teen Spiral. (Scholarships available for women under 18. Or, must be accompanied by a registered adult.)
Teen Spiral
We are a circle within a circle.
Young One, how beautiful you are! Come and dance in the moonlight, feel the soil beneath your feet, feel the breeze, breath of the plants; come sit by the waters, feel how they flow within you; look at the stars, watch the moon wane and wax, know that you are also changing and growing; see the flower, feel your own heart and purpose unfurl. You are a gift to this Earth. A gift she gave Herself, knowing exactly what she would need. Feel how all things belong. It is through the plants that we focus our communion and it is through the plants that the cosmos directly supports our Becoming. We will learn how to apply this practice of plant listening to guide our steps.
We will gather together in this time out of time, a circle within the protective shelter of the Midwest Women's Conference, to celebrate the unique beauty of being young women! Sharing our hopes and dreams we may arrive as strangers but we will leave as sisters. Through art and song, through medicine making and listening, we weave the cloak of healing around ourselves, reclaiming the perfect wholeness we were born to enjoy. Pulling this protection tight we return to our communities as allies of the Earth and as peaceful warriors creating the better world we know is possible.
Meet the Teen Spiral Coordinators: Crystal Stevens
Crystal Stevens lives along the bluffs of the Mighty Mississippi River in Godfrey, Illinois with her husband, and 2 children. Stevens is an Author, an Artist/Art Teacher, a Folk Herbalist, a Regenerative Farmer, and a Permaculturist. Stevens has written 3 books published by New Society Publishers: Grow Create Inspire, Worms at Work, and Your Edible Yard. Stevens speaks at conferences and Mother Earth News Fairs across the United States. She has been teaching a Resilient Living workshop series for over a decade. She and her husband, Eric Stevens, co-founded FLOURISH which encompasses a farm, a plant nursery, an apothecary, design services, and educational programming. Stevens runs a CSA collective with Rona Leah of Celeste Farm. They are the primary producers and then purchase from other women and BIPOC farmers. Stevens Co-founded Tend & Flourish School of Botanicals with Alex Queathem.
Meet the Teen Spiral Coordinators:
Kate Strassman
Kate Strassman is a teacher, artist, herbalist, community gardener, and cook from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This will be her second year coordinating the Teen Spiral Camp. She has studied herbalism with Linda Conroy and Dr. Tieraona Low Dog, and is an herbal apprentice at Alice's Garden. Kate has hosted pop-up dinners and afternoon teas in her home and at various venues across the city for the last 12 years. She started Tulsi Tea House and Cafe which was a farmer's market food stand that also sold herbal infusions and custom herbal tea blends. Be on the lookout for Tulsi Tea House Herb Classes starting this summer in Milwaukee!