Visitors from far and near gathered in Kempton on the last weekend of September to revel in the area’s beauty and celebrate nature’s gifts of healing with plants at the annual Botanic Wise Women’s Herbal Gathering.

According to their website, the Gathering “is a unique event dedicated to preserving plant traditions through story, song, ceremony, hands-on activities, and educational classes.”

Charis Lindrooth originated the event in Kempton 15 years ago.

“I had two young children and got tired of traveling long [distances] to attend an event like this,” she said. “I live here and it’s beautiful. I wanted to share that beauty with others.”

The Gathering was a three-day event that included over 30 workshops with titles like Healing Circle: Words from Traveling Plants, Glow: Herbal Facial Workshop, Aromatic Plants to Enhance Healing and Traditional English Folktales and Other Plant Stories.

Andrea Beaman offered two workshops on Saturday, one on Healing Lyme and another on Happy Healthy Thyroid, both born from her own personal experiences.

In her early life, Beaman worked for MTV networks when she had a health crisis. “I had a swollen goiter and sought help from many doctors,” she said. “They recommended a radioactive treatment, but at 28 I rejected that.”

After a bout with Lyme disease, Beaman had had enough.

“After Lyme I stepped into the herbal health world. I decided to change my lifestyle,” she said. “Health is a journey of making good choices throughout your life, your food, who you surround yourself with, all of it.”

First time presenter Jan Pavelco was on this year’s workshop list offering a class on Qigong.

“I was ecstatic to be on the docket,” said the Orefield resident. “People come from all over the world to present here.”

Naturopath and ethnobotanist Dr. Jody Noé offered a workshop on Crones.

Later, in the vendor area, she shared little known history of native tribes and their reliance on traditional medicine passed down from their elders.

The theme for this year’s gathering was “cultivating compassion.”

“One of my missions is to bring community so we could [cultivate] compassion,” Lindrooth said. “I feel like there is so much on the Internet and news to instill fear. I want to counteract that.”

Lindrooth nearly blushed at sounding like a throwback to the hippie days.

“One thing we all have in common is our humanity,” she said. “Here, we try to maintain an apolitical environment. We’re just trying to spread a message of love.”

Many of the presenters and participants alike felt that the compassion theme was very timely.

“The world would be a better place if we were connected to our own hearts, [which is] the home of compassion, love, joy,” Beaman said. “Emotional disconnect leads to apathy. It’s all about connection and balance.”

“The world is suffering,” Pavelco added. “Compassion is so necessary, especially this year.”

Most of the workshops were held outdoors in tents named after herbs and plants like elderflower, rose and lavender.

Workshops were held throughout the day.

For Lindrooth, the event is a family affair.

She considers her daughter, Mara Ahlert, her cohort and hopes she’ll take over the event in time.

The fifteen-year-old led a group of youngsters on a goat walk on Saturday.

“[The goats’ owner] wants them to forage for food naturally, so I take them for walks,” she said, “and the kids really love the goats as much as I do.”

“Children dealing with trauma really respond to spending time outdoors with goats,” Ahlert said, as she poured some oats into the hands of the children. “The goats responded immediately, making the connection to the natural world complete.”