Rennon Labreck, 3, smells a calendula flower Thursday at the Shaker Village herb gardens in New Gloucester. She attended an herb harvesting program with a homeschooling co-op, the SHINE Christian Homeschool Co-op, based in Windham.

Tatum Salovitch, 5, right, chats with Ellie Valiquet, 7, while they harvest the herb holy basil Thursday at the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village in New Gloucester. The two homeschoolers came to the event with the SHINE Christian Homeschool Co-op from Windham.

Jamie Ribisi-Braley holds a leaf of holy basil during a demonstration Thursday at the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village in New Gloucester for the students of the SHINE Christian Homeschool Co-op from Windham. The children helped out with the late-season harvest and learned how to pick, process and dry herbs. “This leaf was eaten by bugs, so we don’t want it. It’s good for the bugs, but not good for us,” Ribisi-Braley said. From left are Moira Elder, 11, Halli Labreck, 10, Lila Valiquet, 11, Tatum Salovitch, 5, Ellie Valiquet 7, and Gianna Violette, 11.

Victoria Presby, in pink, tells friends Leah Sinclair, left, and Gianna Violette that the sage they were all learning about Thursday at the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village in New Gloucester smelled like sage bundles that are burned to freshen a room. The girls, all 11 years old, came to help harvest herbs with their homeschool group, the SHINE Christian Homeschool Co-op.

Gianna Violette, center, gets a hug Thursday from friend Leah Sinclair at the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village in New Gloucester during an herb harvesting program. The group, from the SHINE Christian Homeschool Co-op in Windham, came to help harvest the late-season herbs. “It helps us get the last of the harvest that we might not be able to get,” said program organizer Jamie Ribisi-Braley.