Want to learn how to prepare healthy foods on a limited budget? Come to a workshop taught by trained nutrition professionals! 

This FREE 4-class series will give you the skills to shop, cook, and eat healthy foods while staying within your food budget. There will be recipe demonstrations and tastings at each fun and interactive session. 

All participants will recieve a colorful cookbook with 24 healthy, low-cost recipes and nutrition tips.

We are excited to announce that there will be one additional class offered at the end of this series where we will discuss container gardening. Each class participant will receive a free garden tool kit, a small grow bag, soil and seeds. 

Class will begin July 31, 2024 and run through August 28, 2024. We will meet weekly between 12:00PM and 1:00PM at Viles Arboretum, located at 153 Hospital Street Augusta, ME.

Click the 'Register' button below to reserve your seat for all 5 dates!

Join Deborah Perkins of First Light Wildlife Habitats to learn more about the fascinating lives of our native bee species and how you can help save them. This exciting walk and workshop will cover the following topics:

• The ecology & behavior of our fascinating native bees
• Habitat needs and environmental stressors
• How you can create a high value habitat in your own dooryard, farm, field, or forestland How to boost biodiversity and pollination services
• How to experience what Deb calls “Zen and the Art of Bee Observation”

The first portion of this class will feature a in-person presentation in our Viles Room followed by an interractive walk on the Arboretum grounds.

On this walk, we'll meet some plants, both wild and cultivated, and learn how they might be used from an herbal, homeopathic, or flower essence perspective.  Some plants might be very familiar (often our local weeds are actually wonderful medicinals), while others might be less well-known. During these late summer walks we will be meeting plants at the end of their growing season. For those that have attended previous walks, a new variety of late-season plants will be covered during this program. We'll talk about identifying factors, parts of the plants used, and preparation. Come be nourished by spending time with these healing friends.

This is a three-part series, you may choose to come to one, or all of the sessions. We will cover unique species as the seasons change. Example of species we may cover across the different sessions are listed below;

Session 1:

• Burdock
• Violet
• Cinquefoil
• Oak
• Sumac
• Elderberry
• Willow
• Bloodroot

Session 2:

• Red clover
• Comfrey
• Ginkgo
• Red Cedar
• Yarrow
• Hawthorn

Session 3:

• Elecampane
• Mugwort
• Lesser periwinkle
• Sassafras
• Goldenrod
• Queen Anne's Lace

 There will be the opportunity to taste tinctures made from plants found on this walk. 

Please dress for the weather. We recommend footwear such as boots or hiking shoes you dont mind getting dirty. 

Debra Bluth, CCH, is an herbalist, homeopath, flower essence practitioner, and movement teacher with a practice in midcoast Maine and online.  She also is affiliated with Delta Gardens, a center for flower essence research, education, and practice located in NH. 

Recommended for ages 16 and up. We will be doing some walking so bring good shoes! 

We do not wish for the price of this program to be a barrier for anyone interested in attending, and have several scholarship opportunities available.  Please reach out to us by emailing education@vilesarboretum.org for more information..