We are invited to join master herbalist Nathaniel Whitmore for a walk around Lacawac Sanctuary in Ledgedale to look for perennial vegetables, medicinal herbs, mushrooms, and all the edibles in the forest. Lacawac is a protected site that encompasses several types of landscapes and is an ideal place to help educate people on the benefits of native, wild plants, many of which can be found in our own backyards. Natural wild foods, such as lamb’s quarter, chickweed, burdock, fiddlehead ferns, and edible mushrooms are often overlooked, but these herbs, vegetables, plants and fungi can provide potent nutritional and medicinal benefits.
Growing up on a farm in Damascus, Nathaniel spent much of his time in the fields and forests of Wayne County. He first discovered his passion for plants when he was in high school. He started studying with an herbalist and wild foods forager, and one of the first lessons he learned was that certain plants make better food while others make better medicine. “It’s easy to find local plants that may be used as food and medicine,” said Whitmore, “but it is extremely important to exercise caution before utilizing wild plants for consumption or medicinal uses. It takes a long time to become familiar with plants, and there are many details to learn.”
Nathaniel has studied Native American medicine and American folk medicine to gain a more comprehensive understanding of how to use the plants we have available to us. He believes that the traditional knowledge and customs of these groups have much to offer the modern world.
Register by June 23 by contacting Bernadine Lennon at 570-857-0882 or balennon@att.net. The event is open to the public and free to GDHS members, with a $5 fee for non-members. Wear comfortable shoes and meet at the Environmental Education Center.
