After six months of planning, emailing, texting, corralling teachers, banners, fliers, food, marketing, registration, meetings, visiting the venue etcc.., we finally enjoyed a glorious day out at the beautiful EmilyAnn Theatre and Gardens in Wimberley, Texas
The day was perfect. The weather co-operated, even though it had rained the entire week before, but on Saturday, the day of the event, it was sunny, clear, and barely reached 80 degrees. The venue is shaded with large trees, there was a breeze and everyone was quite comfortable.
We had a wide variety of teachers including our fabulous keynote speaker, Steven Foster, who flew down from Eureka Springs, Arkansas to speak to us about the Mysteries and Myths of Texas Herbs. Steven is a 40 plus year herbalist, a top-notch plant photographer, an author of 18 books and most importantly a kind, calm, and funny guy. It was a pleasure to host him at my home and I even enjoyed the added benefit of strolling through my woods with him as he met some new Texas plants and captured their essence beautifully with his camera. 
Our other gifted teachers included, Nicole Telkes, Ginger Webb, John Dromgoole, Will Morris, Carlos Hernandez, Sam Coffman, Sally Garrett, Beth Ebbing Johnson, Elizabeth Quigg , Trisha Shirey and yours truly, Ellen Zimmermann. There were numerous break out sessions and a plant walk during each session. Each class was well attended and everyone learned so much about the benefits and gifts from our green friends.
A delicious lunch was served by a local eatery, The Leaning Pear; Yaupon Tea, Hibiscus Tea and water were served all day to keep us hydrated, but mostly participants were fed and nurtured from one another and from our experienced, well-versed teachers. We had a variety of vendors selling their herbal wares and three hands-on demonstrations including making a plant press, creating seed bombs and fashioning a smudge stick made from our local Juniperius ashei.
We accomplished our goal of helping to create a community of plant lovers by gathering them together for a fun-filled day where the calm, quiet, beautiful environment lent itself to easily absorbing knowledge from our best teachers, the plants. We began the day at Opening Ceremonies with introductions of teachers, ice-breaking interactions and a song which inspired hope, energy and a positive attitude for the day. “Every little cell in my body was truly happy”. 
I would like to extend my gratitude and deep appreciation to my two co-founders, Judy Hubbard and Dani Baird for their hard, hard work, meticulous record keeping, timely and efficient marketing and everything else they did to create such a GRAND SUCCESS!!!! I would also like to thank our gracious hosts, Ann and Norm Rolling, for allowing us to share their entire facility with so many plant lovers. The gardens and grounds looked so beautiful, everyone was amazed and pleased.
We ended the day atop the hill where a 360 degree view of the Texas hill country waited to astound you. We had fun doing a wrap-up where I got to hug everyone, and a Vortex circle, where we each were able to look into one another’s eyes, smile and be together one last time for the day.
Many for a long time to come will remember the Heart of Texas Herb Symposium.
Green Blessings, Ellen
