Spring has come and gone and with that, another beautiful Plants and Healers journey to Peru. The third trip as an organization since 2016, this was my first time joining the group, and it truly couldn’t have been any more lovely and inspiring. Though I’d traveled to Peru a number of times before, this experience … Read more
My enchantment with Peru, and specifically the Sacred Valley, began just over two years ago, and only deepens as time goes by. I’ve been fortunate enough to get involved with the good folks of Plants and Healers International, and am thrilled to be helping facilitate and plan their next botanical tour through Peru in April … Read more
Do you have enough sweetness in your life? Maybe you could use a taste of the tropics right about now. Our board member Chris Jacobs just returned from a scouting trip to Grand Cayman. Chris explored the island in search of tropical fruits, unique plant species and tales of bush medicine. From left to right … Read more
Written by Elizabeth Drisko On a sunny morning on August 17, 2016, a group of 15 students from the Blue Ridge School of Herbal Medicine met at the Catawba Falls parking lot for a plant and mushroom walk with Marc Williams. He recommended various texts to folks interested in vascular plants, including Guide to Vascular … Read more
It is always a pleasure to visit the Appalachian Institute for Mountain Studies. This non-profit headed up by Dr. Jim Veteto is dedicated to preserving the agrobiodiversity of Appalachia and educating the public on various other topics as well.
The orchard on the property features close to 100 varieties of mostly heirloom apples as well as yellow and black heart cherries, blueberries, persimmons and all manner of other fruit. We even harvested apples in June from a variety appropriately called Early Harvest. For those interested Jim also published an article a couple years ago about his research with orchardist perceptions around the effects of climate change (Veteto & Carlson, 2014).
Blueberries, Yellow Cherries and Early Harvest apples from AIMS
PHI Director Marc Williams was at the United Plant Savers (UPS) Botanical Sanctuary May 6-8 to teach a brewing with non-timber forest products workshop. Aside from that, any excuse to get to UPS is a good excuse.
It’s hard not to be awestruck visiting UPS, unless you are intimately familiar with its beauty as Paul Strauss certainly is. He’s devoted over 40 years of his life to creating one of the most incredible privately held areas of temperate native plants east of the Rocky Mountains. This sanctuary is not only sacrosanct to plants, but all forms of life, especially birds, which Paul believes is due to the astonishing abundance of red fruit producing plants i.e. natives like Spice Bush (Lindera benzoin), Dogwood (Cornus florida), Burning Bush (Euonymous americana) and the exotic invasive Autumn Olive (Elaeagnus umbellata). You can learn more about United Plant Savers at their website and can learn more about Paul Strauss and his work through the movie The Sanctity of Sanctuary or his book, The Big Herbs.
I made the mistake of saying the ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) around UPS grows like a weed. I stand corrected: this is always a special plant.
Friday found Marc, Chip (intern manager and ginseng expert), the interns, and I on a plant walk through the Goldenseal Sanctuary. The combined knowledge of plants in that group was quite the treat, as was the diversity of plants apparent during the walk. Some highlights included the tree id quiz, in which 15 trees had numbers attached to them, with a key of answers identifying the trees at the end of the trail. It was a real treat to view the land with the aid of Chip’s experience surveying properties for ginseng, learning the various plants that are associated with ginseng. It was also fascinating to hear insights into recreating prairie (plant cup plant (Silphium sp.) only if you really want it, as it will spread). A cursory plant list of this walk is included at the end of this article.
