Step into the Heart of the Forest: Discover the Spirit and Medicine of the Northeast Woodlands

Join Kate Gilday on a journey through the Northeast woodlands, where Nature encourages us to slow down, observe, and form a deeper connection with the world around us. Kate will share her wisdom and stories, inspiring you to use your senses to experience the unique essence of the forest.

Discover the medicinal and energetic gifts of trees like White Pine, Scots Pine, Golden Birch, and Black Birch, as well as the remarkable qualities of at-risk plants such as Goldenseal, Black Cohosh, and Bloodroot. Learn practical methods for sustainably growing and protecting these precious forest medicines.

Whether you’re an herbalist, Nature enthusiast, or someone seeking to strengthen your bond with the wild, this webinar will illuminate the beauty and healing power of the natural world.

Kate Gilday is a clinical herbalist, flower essence practitioner and creator, Ayurvedic lifestyle consultant and herbal teacher working and living in the foothills of the Adirondack Park. She is the founder of Woodland Essence, a forest ( and more) botanicals and flower essence company that she began 30 years ago with her husband Don Babineau that over time has developed a focus on Lyme, tick-borne infections and support for those challenged by chronic conditions.  

Healing with Flowers is her delight and passion, along with tending her relationship with the woodlands she loves so well. Songwriter of love songs to the plants, earth and life, she is trying her best to write and share more via her personal website www.journeybacktotheforest.com  with an eye to more.

Conversation Series Schedule

Connecting with the Essence of the Forest, March 11th
Featuring Kate Gilday, Clinical Herbalist and Flower Essence Practitioner
➡️Webinar

Forest Community: The Ecology of Relationships, March 18
Featuring Luke Cannon, Ethnobotanist, Naturalist and Teacher
➡️Webinar

Forest Folklore, April 1st
Featuring Katherine Parker, Forest Farmer, Storyteller and Guide
➡️Webinar

Cultural Fire, April 8th
Featuring Elizabeth Azuzz, Karuk Cultural Fire Practitioner
➡️Webinar

Our Green Heart: The Soul and Science of Forests, May 6th
Featuring Diana Beresford-Kroger, Botanist, Biochemist, Biologist and Poet of the Global Forest
➡️Webinar

Thank you to our Forest Conversation Series Sponsors:

Join us for Forest as Community: The Ecology of Relationships with Luke Cannon, a journey into the interconnected world of the forest ecosystem. From the hidden networks beneath the forest floor to the towering crowns of ancient trees, we will explore the relationships that sustain these living communities. Luke will guide us through the intricate web of interactions between fungi, plants, animals, and the elements, illustrating how these relationships form the foundation of a thriving forest.

Luke Cannon, a seasoned botanist and naturalist, brings decades of ecological study and experience to this conversation. With a deep-rooted passion for the natural world, Luke has traveled across the Americas and beyond, learning and teaching about the Earth's astounding diversity. His insights draw from Appalachian ecology, ethnobotany, and a lifetime of immersive study with the living landscape.

This webinar offers a unique perspective on forests as collaborative, relational communities rather than collections of individual species. It will provide a broad yet nuanced understanding of the forest's intricate dynamics and leave participants with a renewed appreciation for the profound interconnectedness that makes a forest a forest.

Luke Cannon is a botanist, naturalist, and lifelong student of the living Earth. His passion for understanding the ecological intricacies of forests has taken him across the Americas and beyond. With a background in Appalachian ecology, ethnobotany, permaculture, and experiential education, Luke draws from diverse fields to share practical, insightful knowledge about the natural world.

As the founder of Astounding Earth, Luke has dedicated decades to teaching and mentoring people of all ages, helping them deepen their relationship with Nature. He has led programs for numerous institutions, including the North Carolina Arboretum and Organic Growers School, offering accessible, experience-based learning that inspires a lasting connection to the forest community.

You can learn more about Luke and his work at https://www.astoundingearth.com/.

Conversation Series Schedule

Connecting with the Essence of the Forest, March 11th
Featuring Kate Gilday, Clinical Herbalist and Flower Essence Practitioner
➡️Webinar

Forest Community: The Ecology of Relationships, March 18
Featuring Luke Cannon, Ethnobotanist, Naturalist and Teacher
➡️Webinar

Forest Folklore, April 1st
Featuring Katherine Parker, Forest Farmer, Storyteller and Guide
➡️Webinar

Cultural Fire, April 8th
Featuring Elizabeth Azuzz, Karuk Cultural Fire Practitioner
➡️Webinar

Our Green Heart: The Soul and Science of Forests, May 6th
Featuring Diana Beresford-Kroger, Botanist, Biochemist, Biologist and Poet of the Global Forest
➡️Webinar

Thank you to our Forest Conversation Series Sponsors:

Forests hold stories—ancient memories woven into their roots, whispered through their leaves, and carried on the wind. In this special gathering, Katherine Parker invites us into a deeper relationship with the Forest as both a place and a presence.

We will begin by exploring the connection between Forests and ancestral memory, touching on how these living landscapes hold the echoes of those who came before. Katherine will then share a Forest story, offering a glimpse into the mythic consciousness that has long honored the wisdom of trees.

From there, we will turn to practice—ways to attune to the intelligence and consciousness of the Forest, to listen rather than simply observe, and to experience the Forest not as separate from us, but as a part of who we are.

This session is an invitation to slow down, to listen, and to remember. Join us as we step into the stillness and presence of the Forest together.

Katherine Parker, PhD is a Wilderness Rites of Passage Guide and recovering psychologist. She wanders the liminal space between mythology, psychology, and animism, looking for ancestral connections. Kat is an oral storyteller in the tradition of the British Isles and created the podcast Celtic Medicine Stories. She writes “Adventures in the Otherworld, the Science and Mythology of the non-ordinary” on Substack.

You can learn more about her work at https://ancestralconnection.earth

Conversation Series Schedule

Connecting with the Essence of the Forest, March 11th
Featuring Kate Gilday, Clinical Herbalist and Flower Essence Practitioner
➡️Webinar

Forest Community: The Ecology of Relationships, March 18
Featuring Luke Cannon, Ethnobotanist, Naturalist and Teacher
➡️Webinar

Forest Folklore, April 1st
Featuring Katherine Parker, Forest Farmer, Storyteller and Guide
➡️Webinar

Cultural Fire, April 8th
Featuring Elizabeth Azuzz, Karuk Cultural Fire Practitioner
➡️Webinar

Our Green Heart: The Soul and Science of Forests, May 6th
Featuring Diana Beresford-Kroger, Botanist, Biochemist, Biologist and Poet of the Global Forest
➡️Webinar

Thank you to our Forest Conversation Series Sponsors:

For thousands of years, Indigenous peoples have used fire as a tool to cultivate and sustain the land. Yet, colonization and fire suppression policies criminalized these ancient practices, leading to devastating consequences for ecosystems and communities. Today, cultural fire practitioners are reclaiming the knowledge of their ancestors, bringing back "good fire" to heal the land, reduce catastrophic wildfires, and restore balance.

Join us for an illuminating conversation with Elizabeth Azzuz, a dedicated cultural fire practitioner working to restore Indigenous fire stewardship. As a member of the Cultural Fire Management Council, Elizabeth helps train new generations of fire lighters, ensuring that traditional ecological knowledge continues to shape a more resilient and thriving landscape.

In this webinar, we will explore:

• The spiritual and ecological importance of cultural burning.

• How fire supports food, medicine, and basket-making materials.

• The challenges Indigenous fire practitioners face in reclaiming their ancestral stewardship.

• The growing recognition of prescribed fire as a solution to today’s wildfire crisis.

Elizabeth’s work is not just about fire—it is about sovereignty, cultural survival, and the renewal of life itself. Come listen, learn, and support the movement to restore Indigenous fire practices to the land.

Elizabeth Azzuz is a cultural fire practitioner who has been burning since the age of four. Her Karuk grandfather taught her about her obligations to Mother Earth after catching her playing with fire. She is a mother and grandmother, and she gathers foods, medicines, teas, and basket materials in post-burn areas. As part of the Cultural Fire Management Council, she works to train fire lighters to restore ecosystems with the greatest tool left by the Creator—fire.

You can learn more about Elizabeth and Cultural Fire Fire Management Council at https://www.culturalfire.org/

Conversation Series Schedule

Connecting with the Essence of the Forest, March 11th
Featuring Kate Gilday, Clinical Herbalist and Flower Essence Practitioner
➡️Webinar

Forest Community: The Ecology of Relationships, March 18
Featuring Luke Cannon, Ethnobotanist, Naturalist and Teacher
➡️Webinar

Forest Folklore, April 1st
Featuring Katherine Parker, Forest Farmer, Storyteller and Guide
➡️Webinar

Cultural Fire, April 8th
Featuring Elizabeth Azuzz, Karuk Cultural Fire Practitioner
➡️Webinar

Our Green Heart: The Soul and Science of Forests, May 6th
Featuring Diana Beresford-Kroger, Botanist, Biochemist, Biologist and Poet of the Global Forest
➡️Webinar

Thank you to our Forest Conversation Series Sponsors:

Follow us on Spotify, Apple iTunes, and other platforms to easily download and listen to the Nature Evolutionaries podcast channel.

Join us this Earth Day for a transformative webinar with renowned plant spirit healer and author Pam Montgomery. Pam will guide us into a deeper relationship with the living world, inviting us to experience Nature as an ally and teacher rather than a resource to manage.

Pam offers a perspective that is both practical and profoundly heart-centered, illuminating the subtle yet powerful connections between human beings and the natural world. Her newly released book, Co-Creating with Nature, delves into this relationship and offers pathways for healing.

In this webinar, Pam will share stories of her own journey into plant communication, explore the intelligence present in Nature, and inspire us to rekindle our relationship with the Earth. Come with an open heart and leave with a renewed sense of wonder and connection to the world around you.

Pam Montgomery has been investigating plants and their intelligent spiritual nature for more than three decades. As an author, teacher, and practitioner, she has passionately embraced her partnership with the plants who are guiding us in our spiritual evolution.

She is the author of Partner Earth: A Spiritual Ecology and the best-selling Plant Spirit Healing: A Guide to Working with Plant Consciousness and most recently Co-Creating with Nature: Healing the Wound of Separation. She teaches internationally on plant spirit healing, spiritual ecology, and people as Nature Evolutionaries.

Pam is the founder of ONE. She has dedicated herself to co-creative partnership with all of life and feels the Organization of Nature Evolutionaries is a way to make this partnership manifest.

You can connect with Pam here: www.wakeuptonature.com 

Join us for a rare and profound conversation with visionary scientist, botanist, and bestselling author Diana Beresford-Kroeger, whose work reveals forests as living, breathing networks essential to our survival.

In this intimate webinar, Diana shares insights from Our Green Heart, the culmination of her life’s research on the deep connection between trees, human health, and planetary survival. As the last child in Ireland to receive a full Druidic education, she bridges ancient ecological wisdom with cutting-edge science to show how trees serve as the Earth’s lungs, medicine, and protectors against climate breakdown.

Discover the hidden intelligence of trees, the critical role forests play in stabilizing our climate, and how Diana’s groundbreaking bioplan offers a roadmap for restoring our forests—and our future. She calls on each of us to take action by planting and protecting trees and seeing the natural world through a lens of reciprocity and kinship.

This is more than a conversation—it’s a call to action. Leave inspired and empowered with concrete steps to help safeguard the forests that sustain life on Earth.

Diana Beresford-Kroeger is a world recognized author, medical biochemist, botanist and climate change visionary. She possesses a unique understanding of modern western science and ancient Celtic knowledge.  Orphaned in Ireland in her youth, Beresford-Kroeger was educated by her Irish elders who instructed her in the Brehon knowledge of plants and nature.

Told at a young age that one day she would need to bring this ancient Celtic knowledge to a troubled future, Beresford-Kroeger has done exactly that.

Diana has been working to preserve the environment since the early 1960s when she identified climate change as one of the most important challenges we would face in the modern age. This set her on a course of rigorous scientific study where she achieved a masters in botany and two PHD’s – one in biochemistry and the other in biology.  In 1967 she discovered genetic smearing, which changed the way scientists studied microcosms under a microscope.  Diana also discovered cathodoluminescense in biological systems, which is now used to detect cancer.  But because of her Celtic roots her heart was always with the forest.

Diana’s understanding of the ancient knowledge of trees has led her to unique scientific discoveries.  In the 1970s Diana started her own arboretum and collected trees from all over the world. She discovered the importance of mother trees at the heart of the forest and she scientifically proved that trees are a living library of medicine that have a chemical language and communicate in a quantum world.  She created an ambitious bioplan encouraging and educating ordinary people how to replant the global forest. This plan was adopted by the city of Ottawa.

Diana’s documentary, “Call of the Forest” was released in 2016 and alongside it was a tree-planting app “which keyed species to plant to the regions where people lived.”  Early on in filming, Diana was introduced to activist Sophia Rabliauskas, leader of the Poplar River First Nations. Sophia had secured protected status for two million acres of virgin boreal forest on the eastern side of Lake Winnipeg, and was currently fighting to have the entirety of Pimachiowin Aki, a massive area of virgin boreal forest, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The women teamed up and when their first application was rejected, Diana journeyed into the forest to prove the importance of its biodiversity by identifying plants that exist nowhere else.  In August 2018, Pimachiowin Aki was named a UNESCO World Heritage and Cultural Site – the first to be recognized as having both cultural and environmental significance.

Diana’s legacy project is to clone and map the entire global forest. This process is similar to medicinal stem cell cloning where the DNA is preserved unchanged remaining in its native form.  A living bank of tree seeds must be put together to either mend or amend what remains of our global forests. Creating a living library of the global forests will preserve the forests for generations to come.

You can learn more about Diana and her work here https://dianaberesford-kroeger.com/

Forest Conversation Series Schedule

Connecting with the Essence of the Forest, March 11th
Featuring Kate Gilday, Clinical Herbalist and Flower Essence Practitioner
➡️Webinar

Forest Community: The Ecology of Relationships, March 18
Featuring Luke Cannon, Ethnobotanist, Naturalist and Teacher
➡️Webinar

Forest Folklore, April 1st
Featuring Katherine Parker, Forest Farmer, Storyteller and Guide
➡️Webinar

Cultural Fire, April 8th
Featuring Elizabeth Azuzz, Karuk Cultural Fire Practitioner
➡️Webinar

Our Green Heart: The Soul and Science of Forests, May 6th
Featuring Diana Beresford-Kroger, Botanist, Biochemist, Biologist and Poet of the Global Forest
➡️Webinar

Thank you to our Forest Conversation Series Sponsors: