Dr. Sharol Tilgner

On the weekend of June 27-28, Wise Acres Farm east of Pleasant Hill will host the first Sustainable Lifestyles Festival, featuring a full schedule of lectures and workshops on such topics as solar hot water, raising chickens, and making beer. Wise Acres is an organic and biodynamic educational farm focused mainly on medicinal herbs, owned and operated by Dr. Sharol Tilgner, author of Herbal Medicine from the Heart of the Earth. "We're expecting 300 to 500 people," says Tilgner, who grew up on an isolated farm outside La Grande, did pre-med studies at PSU, and finished a four-year ND degree in 1990 at the National College of Natural Medicine in Portland. "I started an herb company while I was in school," says Tilgner, who moved the business, Wise Woman Herbals, to a farm near Cottage Grove to raise herbs in the mid-90s. Ten years ago, she sold the business and purchased the Wise Acres property. Other summer events at the farm include the fifth annual NW Herb Fest on the weekend of July 25-26 and a nine-day intensive course in herbal preparations in August. For a complete listing of course offerings and festival schedules, visit herbaltransitions.com.