AMPGA Past Events

March 2011

The 2011 Spring Workshop was held Saturday, March 26, 2011 at the Alabama Farmers Coop, 2519 Highway 80 West, Selma, AL.

The workshops contained the following topics:

- Joint Efforts for Mississippi Medicinal Plant Growers

- Harvesting and Quality Control

- Cooperative Experience - Community Medicine Garden

September 2010

The second annual business meeting and educational conference of the AMPGA took place at Comer Hall at Auburn University in Auburn AL. A great lineup of speakers on a range of topics was given on growing and using medicinal plants. A continental breakfast was provided. This year’s speakers included:

Judy Farrell - Judy, along with her husband Joe, owns and operates Two Creek Farm in Shiloh, Georgia. As a member of Georgia Organics, United Plant Savers, and the International Herb Association, Judy works to organically grow medicinal herbs and vegetables within the boundaries of the farm’s plant and wildlife sanctuary.

Gene Hopper - An Alabama farmer and current president of AMPGA spoke on his experiences this year growing and marketing feverfew.

Dennis Shannon - Professor of Agronomy at Auburn University discussed his extensive work with turmeric and skullcap.

Susan W. Kramer - A full-time therapeutic herbalist, a teacher for the East West School of Herbology, an accredited Registered Herbalist, and a Certified Classical Homeopath. Susan discussed medicinal plants worthy of cultivating and harvesting.

February 2010

The following speakers made this a very informative conference:

Phyllis D. Light - RH, has almost 25 years of clinical experience as an herbal consultant and teacher. She provides continuing education classes for nurses and other health care professionals as well as classes at the Appalachian Center for Herbal Studies. She is Professor of Herbal Studies at Clayton College of Natural Heath. Her formal training was preceded by traditional training from Appalachian Folk herbalist such as her Cherokee/Creek grandmother Rosie Light and renowned Alabama herbalist Tommie Bass.

Darryl Patton - ND, publisher, author, educator and Master Herbalist has been called a walking encyclopedia of herbal folklore. He spent 12 years studying under the internationally recognized A.L. "Tommie" Bass and is adjunct Professor of Herbal Studies at Clayton College. Darryl operates a wilderness survival training school in North Alabama and is the veteran of numerous trips to the Peruvian Amazon where he graduated from the Peruvian Air Force's Jungle Operations and Survival School. He and his wife Jane live on Lookout Mountain and may be reached at www.thesouthernherbalist.com.

Debbie Boutelier - Her interest in herbs began in the 80's with a culinary herb garden. In 1995 she took the next step in her education by taking the Alabama Master Gardener course. She has logged over 4,000 hours of volunteer service to the Master Gardener program, which lead to an eight year stint as a County Extension Agent in Autauga County. She now teaches nationally and serves on the Board of Directors of the Herb Society of America.

Thomas Easley - At the age of 14 completed a five year apprenticeship under a Master Herbalist and at the age of 19 opened his first herb store. After years of study under professional members of the American Herbalist Guild he became a certified instructor and started teaching at schools and medical colleges. Thomas is also on the Board of Directors of Herbs for Orphans, an organization fighting childhood malnutrition in poverty-stricken countries.

Dr. Safaa Al-Hamdani - A Fulbright Scholar and a professor in the Department of Biology at Jacksonville State University. Since 2005 he has been Editor in Chief of "Alabama Academy of Science Journal". He is a recipient of the Association of Southeastern Biologists Meritorious Teaching Award and his research in plant physiology is published worldwide. Safaa is the originator of the Books for Bagdad program which has sent over 55,000 textbooks to Iraq.

August 2009

The newly-formed Alabama Medicinal Plant Growers Association (AMPGA), believing that medicinal plant production could be a new income source for Alabama landowners, invited the public to attend its first annual business meeting and education conference in Goodwyn Hall at Auburn University in Montgomery. The program focused on educating growers (and potential growers) about production, management, harvesting, and marketing methods for medicinal plants, herbs, and mushrooms. The species and varieties best suited for Alabama, their cultural methods, disease and pest management, appropriate harvesting, processing and storage methods were discussed by speakers which include two herbalists, a veterinarian who uses medicinal herbs in her practice, a dealer in medicinal herbs, and researchers and growers with knowledge on cultivation of medicinal plants suitable for Alabama.

Dennis Shannon, one of the Auburn researchers involved in the AMPGA (along with other educators/researchers from Alabama A&M, Tuskegee University, and Jacksonville State University) says that some medicinal plants are understory species that can be grown in Alabama’s forests and woodlands in conjunction with other land use strategies, such as hunting and tree farming, and others can be grown in open fields. These plants could be a boon for landowners, particularly for under resourced landowners and farmers looking for high-value crops to grow on their under-utilized fields, forests or lightly wooded land.

Also, many native medicinal plant species are considered endangered or threatened and cultivating them may help protect wild populations and protect the public from imported products that may be contaminated with harmful contaminants, such as pesticides, heavy metals and other materials.

March 2009

For this second meeting, Dennis Shannon gave a presentation on “Why Form a Growers Association”. Rao Mentreddy gave a presentation on “How a Growers Association Could Operate”. Mike Reeves gave a presentation on “Things to Consider when Forming a Growers Association” and circulated a sample mission statement and sample bylaws from other organizations and other handouts.

January 2009

This was the initial meeting of the AMPGA. It was held at the North Shelby Library in Shelby County, AL. It was mostly a business meeting, but there were some discussions on medicinal plants.