The Kitchen Apothecary

A three-day retreat on the farm with JKB Journal

July 13-15, 2027

Eighteen seats at the table. Three days among the lavender rows. A season's worth of flowers turned into medicine you'll carry home in your own two hands.

SHEGROWS is three acres of lavender, roses, herbs, and peonies in Arvada, Colorado — a working flower farm that, for one week in July, becomes a kitchen. Every plant we grow has a second life beyond the vase: infused into oil, pressed into salve, dried into tea. This retreat is where we teach you how to see that second life, and how to make it yourself.

You'll spend three days with your hands in the work — harvesting, infusing, straining, pouring — alongside a small group of eighteen, guided by farm owner Gina Schley and by herbalist Jess Bergeron of JKB Kitchen, who's traveling in from Hawaii to teach alongside our own fields.

Come hungry to learn. Leave with a shelf of your own medicine.

The schedule follows the farm's own rhythm — mornings in the field while the flowers are freshest, afternoons at the table turning what you cut into something you'll use all year.

What you'll actually make

This is a hands-on retreat, not a lecture series. Every technique is one you'll practice at the table and take home in a jar.

Infused oils

Lavender, calendula and rose petals slow-infused into oil — the base for nearly everything else you'll make.

Herbal salves

Turning your infused oils into salves for skin, muscle, and everyday first aid.

Tinctures & extracts

Alcohol and glycerin extraction methods for capturing a flower's full character.

Hydrosols & waters

Simple distillation basics using fresh-cut lavender from the field.

Kitchen apothecary basics

Shelf life, storage, labeling, and building a home apothecary that actually gets used.

Field-to-jar harvesting

When and how to cut for potency — timing, technique, and what each plant is telling you.

Included in your $3,200

✓All three days of instruction

✓All materials for oils, salves, tinctures & hydrosols

✓One farm dinner

✓Breakfast and lunch each day

✓A take-home apothecary kit of what you make

Not included

–Lodging

–Travel to and from Arvada, CO

–Dinner on nights two and three

Dates & Times

Day 1: Friday, October 2 from 8-4

Day 2: Saturday, October 3 from 8-4

Day 3: Sunday, October 4 from 8-1

Location

SHEGROWS | 7491 Kline Drive, Arvada, CO

Tuition

$3200

Three days of hands on learning the traditional craft of cold-process soap making.

Travel recommendations: Students should use the Denver International Airport (DIA) if flying in from out of state. The farm is located between Denver, Boulder, and Golden (30 min from each). Hotels or rentals can be found in Arvada or the surrounding cities.