Traditional Balsam Festival, 6th Annual

Location: Central Calgary (Location Provided via email to registered participants 1 week before the event) See photos from previous Balsam Harvests.

Sunday, Feb. 28th (Choose Time below)

The sticky buds of the Balsam Poplar (Populus balsamifera) are Nature’s First Aid.

Balsam poplar trees have been revered and befriended by indigenous peoples all around the Northern hemisphere for millennia. Discover the stately Populus family, who have furnished Northern cultures with food, medicine, tools, art, forage, warmth & shelter. The importance of poplars in Metis traditional medicine is the focus of our day. Using traditional methods, we’ll create a take-home package of balsam bud medicines for personal use.  

Please sign the health & safety waiver before attending this workshop. All participants must fill out this form.

$10 off = $45.00/person. Register:

Please choose a Day/Time:

**This button takes you to PayPal, where you can edit the number of tickets. Children under 5 are free with their guardian.

More Balsam Harvest Festival Info:

Fryin’ bread among the poplar trees

This Festival of Poplars is part herb-walk, part traditional apothecary experience. We will visit a local park where we’ll learn to identify species of poplars. If weather allows, we will make our medicines over a camp stove or fire; if social distancing restrictions allow we may also head to the nearby Kodiak Herbal Apothecary to make medicine. Fresh fry bread and herbal tea are provided, please bring a mug. Kids are welcome to attend with a parent or guardian, due to COVID-19 restrictions everyone present must be able to wear a mask.

More Details:

This workshop take place in Calgary at a centrally located park (location will be emailed to registered participants 1 week before the event). We may also spend some time at the Kodiak Herbal Apothecary (Bay G, 2410 2nd Ave SE), if restrictions allow. There is space for 10 participants per event, socially distanced.

All minors must be accompanied and supervised by their parent or guardian. Because of COVID-19 restrictions on the number of participants, we’re unable to offer a kids’ discount at this time. Children under 5 can join us for free if they are supervised by a parent or guardian. Please email kalyn@kodiakherbal.com if you will be bringing young children with you.

Due to the ongoing restrictions to businesses, a refund or rain-check option will remain on this workshop in case of cancellation due to further restrictions that effect our gathering outdoors.

This is an outdoor event – so far! Please dress in warm layers with good boots, head covering and gloves. If restrictions allow, we may go indoors for bad weather but as of now we are not permitted to gather in the shop. If the weather is uncomfortably cool we may have to reschedule. Traditionally, we’ve had nice sunny days for most harvests. We will keep you updated via your paypal email if plans change.

Registered participants receive an email to their PayPal address confirming purchase after check-out. You do NOT need a PayPal account to register, you can choose to check-out as a guest with a credit card instead. Kodiak Herbal never receives access to your private payment information.

Please see accessibility info & our workshop policies here.