How to Move Like a Gardener with Deb Soule in Belfast

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On Tuesday, October 29 at 6:30pm in the Belfast Free Library, the Library and Belfast Co-op are sponsoring a free presentation with Deb Soule, founder and owner of Avena Botanicals, who will share her new book, "How to Move Like a Gardener: Planting and Preparing Medicines from Plants", which will be available for sale and signing.

This book embodies Deb's deep love and respect for the spirit of the medicinal plants she has worked with for nearly 40 years. It is 256 informative pages with over 200 beautiful color photographs taken in Avena's gardens.

Raised in a small town in western Maine, Deb Soule began organic gardening and studying the medicinal uses of herbs at age 16 alongside the internationally known medical herbalist Mary Bove. Deb's faith in the healing qualities of plants includes a desire to make organic herbs easily accessible to women and families living in rural areas.

As Deb's knowledge and faith in the efficacy of medicinal herbs grew, so did her desire to be of service to her community. In a small 8 by 10 foot room in her house, Deb began preparing various herbal remedies. In the fall of 1985, with her first mail order catalog and a small selection of herbal extracts and teas, Deb launched Avena Botanicals at the Common Ground Fair in Windsor, Maine. Five years earlier, while enrolled as a student at College of the Atlantic, Deb lived in Nepal close to three Tibetan monasteries. She was deeply influenced by the Tibetan peoples commitment to ease physical symptoms and mental and emotional upsets through plants, prayer and other spiritual practices.

Deb's passion for plants, gardens and healing and her commitment to sharing herbal knowledge with others is central to her work. She frequently is a guest-lecturer at various conferences as well as an instructor for botany and horticulture students, garden clubs, and medical students. In 2005, People, Places and Plants magazine named Deb as one of the 50 most influential gardeners in the Northeast.

Endorsements for her book:
“If you would have a lovely garden you should lead a lovely life,” is a Shaker quote long hidden in some deep cerebral crevice that leaped from my right brain as I turned each beautiful page of Deb Soule’s How to Move Like a Gardener. This garden of words, photos, thoughts, and feelings feeds my eyes, my mind, my spirit. Here plants and people are not separate kingdoms, classes, and species. Here we find the practical instructions on how to lead a lovely life in a lovely garden." –Steven Foster, author, photographer, consultant for medicinal and aromatic plants

"Like one of Deb's hummingbirds, hovering before the inviting maw of a nasturtium, the reader will find this book endowed with glorious offerings of rich nectar. It makes me want to go out and turn the compost pile, one steaming forkful at a time, while slowly chewing a dandelion leaf that protrudes from the corner of my mouth. Once again we find that by working within nature's phantasmagoria of diverse life forms, us humans, unleashed from the tethers of telephones, traffic, and time, find ourselves a part of great nature, and in so doing, find freedom." –Richo Cech, Horizon Herbs

"Herbalist Deb Soule offers the reader a beautifully written, heart-centered gardening book that reads as much like a prayer as it does a practical guide for all gardeners, new and experienced; sure to awaken and inspire one to explore creative ways of tending the rich life held in a well loved garden. Weaving stories with sound advice, the author shares wisdom gleaned through years of cultivating not only soil and plants, but also her research and work with the pollinators, biodynamic practices and favorite tools used in growing simple herbal remedies to nourish the gardener as they heal the Earth. Honoring traditions, ancestors and the sacredness of carrying on the work of the wise herbalists that came before us, Deb reminds us of the blessing of being called to this work!" -Kate Gilday, Herbalist, Woodland Essence

"This book is astounding! It is everything you want in a book about gardening; good solid practical advice, a spiritual connection to the earth, and visually beautiful. Deb has taken her twenty-five-plus years as a professional medicinal plant gardener, her life-time love of the Earth and the plant people, and come up with something very special. This is a must-have book for anyone interested in gardening or the plant people. Run, walk, drive to the nearest book store and get a copy. I promise you this book will be well read, well worn, and well loved." -Karyn Sanders, Blue Otter School of Herbal Medicine

"Way beyond food, flowers, or medicine, gardening as the mindful rhythm in harmony with all living souls." -C.R. Lawn, FEDCO Seeds

"Deb Soule is overflowing with the healing wisdom of the plant world distilled through many years of study, experience and observation. Her reverence and respect for nature and deep intuitive capacities are evident in every page of this book. What a gift!" -Robert Karp, Director of the Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association

Read more at: http://www.avenabotanicals.com/how-to-move-like-a-gardener-planting-and-preparing-medicines-from-plants.html#sthash.Si1hXqTv.dpuf

Event Date: 

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 6:30pm to 8:00pm

Event Location: 

Belfast Free Library

Address: 

106 High Street
Belfast, ME 04915
United States

Contact Name: 

Kate Harris, Belfast Co-op

Contact Phone: 

(207) 338-2532

Contact Email: