The Medicinal Garden Workshop with Caroline Parker & Natasha Morgan

From edible treats to therapeutic remedies, unearth the healing potential of plants both wild and cultivated. Come for a day of healing botanical goodness, learning to make healing treats for the body, mind and soul. Delve into the medicinal benefits of botanicals by creating your own hand-made delights and celebrate the release of Caroline’s book, ‘The Medicinal Garden’.

Enjoy a day of sumptuous experiences in a gorgeous space with lovely people. Natasha and Caroline will share discussions on how to bring plants and their incredible healing properties into your everyday life in the simplest yet most precious ways.

About the Workshop:

Join Caroline Parker (aka @thecottageherbalist), and Natasha Morgan for a unique hands-on workshop in the idyllic setting of Little Cottage On A Hill, Daylesford. Dive deep into the world of botanical healing as Caroline shares her expertise in creating natural, healing remedies.

Caroline is a degree qualified herbalist, author, farmer, forager and facilitator.  She is obsessed with cups of tea, getting her hands dirty, growing beautiful herbs and flowers, and foraging for wild weeds and herbs. Caroline’s small home-based studio, in the cool and misty Wombat Forest, is where you'll find her blending up award-winning teas and tisanes. 

What You’ll Learn and Create:

• A seasonal botanical syrup

• A zingy gut nourishing refreshing shrub

• A magical medicinal balm for gardeners and so much more!

• A weedy pesto/salsa from foraged botanicals that will transform any meal

• All things pultice, tincture and oxymels

Participants will receive beautiful botanicals to use on the day, as well as and recipes to follow and take home, ensuring you can continue creating medicinal magic long after the workshop. Be welcomed in Natasha’s idyllic garden world to pick from and enjoy during a guided tour. Of course there will also be pots of Caroline’s award winning hand-blended tea and a sumptuous long table morning tea of freshly baked botanically infused healing treats (sweet and savoury), beautiful company and conversation!

What to Bring:

• Apron

Tickets are extremely limited, so grab some friends, your camera or phone to take pics, and come to Daylesford for the day—just do it quickly! You don’t want to miss out.

Note: Caroline will have her latest book ‘The Medicinal Garden’ available for purchase and signing on the day.

“We had a lovely morning with Natasha and Caroline. Beautiful inspirational garden and setting which was a treat to see, along with so much knowledge and passion about the benefits of herbs and plants which was shared with us. Lovely morning tea was shared with the group.  Really lovely day. Thank you for having us!”

About Caroline:

I'm Caroline, a degree qualified herbalist, author, farmer, forager and facilitator.

I'm obsessed with cups of tea, getting my hands dirty growing beautiful herbs and flowers, foraging for wild weeds and herbs - turning them into yummy food as well as useful medicines, and hosting workshops where I share my love of herbs and how easy it is make them a part of your daily life.

My small home based studio, in the cool and misty Wombat Forest, is where you'll find me blending up my Award Winning tea and tisane range. They are all hand blended and packed by me in small batches, using certified organic/ wildcrafted/ grown-by-me tea, flowers and herbs. I think they're all beautiful blends & I hope you do too!

When I'm not in my studio, you'll find me over at Acorn & Oak Apothecary blending up a tincture or at Pennyweight Farm sowing seeds, picking flowers, prepping garden beds, shoveling compost, talking to plants and tearing around on the ride on mower.

​

‘The Medicinal Garden’ by Caroline Parker (Thames & Hudson)

Medicinal herbs aren't just for traditional medicinal preparations, they are also a wonderful way to complement a healthy diet. ‘The Medicinal Garden’ is a brilliant guide to revitalising your health by soothing your mind, body and green thumb.

From edible treats to therapeutic remedies, unearth the healing potential of plants both wild and cultivated. Featuring forty herb profiles and seven medicinal weeds ideal for foraging, learn how to set up and maintain a planted or potted garden for a healthful life.

Discover the healing power of your very own medicinal garden with edible recipes for cakes, biscuits, salads, soups, teas and many more. The book features easy, natural remedies for your skin, gut, muscles, heart and mind with recipes for oils, tinctures, compresses, steams and washes for health and healing.

About Natasha:

Natasha does many things including running a small artisan preserve business that stocks her seasonal syrups in over 30 stores, accommodation and gift box offerings, and bars across Victoria and Australia. Natasha Morgan is also an award winning landscape architect by profession and a multi-disciplinary creative collaborator by natural inclination. 

For a decade Natasha worked on some of Australia's most significant landscape architecture and urban design projects - notably several years spent managing the design and construction of The Australian Garden, Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne. Concurrently she shared her craft as a sessional lecturer in Masters of Landscape Architecture at RMIT and Melbourne Universities. 

In 2014 she made a tree change with a purpose to Spargo Creek, a tiny hamlet just outside of Daylesford in the Central Victorian Highlands.

Here Natasha transformed a dream into reality, creating Oak and Monkey Puzzle, the internationally renowned design, event and horticultural production focussed property and its idyllic gardens. 

Oak and Monkey Puzzle not only provided an evolving special hub for, garden design, artisans and craftspeople by way of workshops, collaborations, and bespoke events. It engendered a warm sense of community, sparked dynamic conversations, fostered collaborative connections, cultivated creativity and provided a place for meeting of the minds. 

It is here, also, that Natasha began her journey creating a way of life she had long yearned for. Rooted in her flower, berry and kitchen gardens, orchards and forest surrounds, she learnt to live with the land, the shifting season’s, and how to live ‘well’. 

Earlier this year, Natasha and her family moved on from the idyllic property. In this next chapter, Natasha has set herself the challenge of taking the best of the lessons learnt at Oak & Monkey Puzzle’s 5 acres, combined with her love for gardens, growing, harvesting, cooking and preserving, and distilling this in the design of beautifully productive and sustainably focussed gardens at her new 515 square metre Daylesford property, Little Cottage on a Hill.

Natasha is a sought after public speaker, workshop teacher and facilitator, and creative collaboration partner.  Natasha shares her inspiring story of tree change, garden design, and country life, through guest speaker events, writing, her workshops, social media following, print and digital media.  She has been widely featured both locally and internationally, including Australian Woman’s Weekly, Country Style magazine, Better Homes & Gardens (Channel 7),  and recently The Block (Channel 9). 

Terms and Conditions for All Workshops, Activities and Events

We look forward to welcoming you. Please read these terms before you book, as booking a place means you agree to them. If anything is unclear, email us at [workshop email] before booking and we'll happily talk it through.

Why we keep our groups small

Our workshops and events are deliberately small. Every place is planned for: materials, plants, food, tools and seating are prepared for the exact number of people booked. An empty place usually can't be filled at short notice. For this reason, we don't offer refunds if you change your mind, can no longer attend, or don't arrive on the day.

If you can't attend

• Send someone in your place. You're welcome to transfer your booking to a friend or family member at no cost. Just email us their name and contact details before the workshop.

• If your place is re-sold. Let us know as soon as you can. If your place is booked and paid for by someone else, including from our waitlist, we will refund the fee you paid. We can't guarantee a place will be re-filled.

• Otherwise, the fee is not refundable.

If we cancel or change a workshop

Occasionally we may need to cancel, postpone or change a workshop, for example because of severe weather, illness or circumstances outside our control. If this happens:

• we'll let you know as soon as possible, using the contact details you booked with;

• you can choose a place on another date (where one is available) or a full refund of the fee paid;

• if we make a significant change to the date, time, location or content that doesn't suit you, you can ask for a full refund.

Arriving at Workshops, Activities and Events

Our workshops, activities and events are located in rural locations. Like most rural properties they may have hazards. There are uneven surfaces, open water bodies, driveways, paths and steps, and we work with tools, plants and garden materials. We request that you be aware of your surroundings, any potential hazards, and always maintain a watchful eye. Please wear sturdy, closed footwear and clothes suited to the weather and activity, and stay within the areas we direct you to. If you open a gate, please close it behind you.

Responsibility and safety

We take all reasonable care in planning and running our workshops and events. To help us do that, we ask that you follow reasonable instructions from Natasha and the team, take care with tools and materials, and look after your own belongings.

To the extent permitted by law, we are not responsible for loss or damage that is not caused by our failure to take reasonable care, including loss of or damage to personal belongings.