what if caring for ourselVEs
And the earth were the same thing…
A Quick Window
Wednesday MaY 22ND – SUNSET & MOONRISE WALK GRIFFITH PARK
March-May – Seasonal Study Spring Small Group Ecology Series Pollen & Pollinators THIS SERIES IS FULL - sign up for our newsletter & Look out for summer study registration
details below
WALK
WITH US
Because the nearly full moon is illuminated when the moon is opposite the sun, the full moon appears as it rises towards the east with the sun setting in the west (or so it appears from our vantage!)
5.22 SUNSET &
MOONRISE
PLANT WALK
(Griffith Park/Los Feliz)
Make a pilgrimage through our great urban wilderness from a lush little canyon to a high perch to witness the sun set and the moon rise. From this viewpoint, we can see the San Gabriel Mountains as well–on a clear day–the ocean.
On our way, we’ll stop to meet favorite native plants such as Rabbit Tobacco, California Buckwheat and Black Sage and some of the wildflower blooms!
6pm-830pm. Meet at Vermont Canyon Tennis Courts. More details to participants by email!
Tongva land, Los Angeles
Kind Words.
“I couldn’t recommend Rose’s classes enough if you’re looking to learn about plant medicine. So much wisdom & beauty in her approach. We love Rose!!!” – Camila Gonzalez
SEASONAL STUDY
SPRING
inquiry with plants & ecology
towards caring for ourselves & the earth
Spring Study is 4 Mondays and a two night SUPER BLOOM camping trip to Carrizo Plains NATIONAL MONUMENT
March-May 2024
5.17 MARIPOSA
MEADOWS
(Calabasas/Topanga)
Spring
930am-1230pm
5.31 STREAMSIDE
PLANT WALK
& WATERFALL
(Altadena)
Spring
930am-1230pm
Kind Words.
“…your class on resins and incense is by far a top fav class I’ve taken as an herbalist. It was joyful, informative, and I appreciated the ample “space” to sit with the incense and experience it. It is clear you are in tune with plant energetics and have a deep respect and love for our Earth.” – Romina Takimoto
PAST WORKSHOPS & EVENTS
3.10 // BIRD WALK & FOUNDATIONS IN BIRDING
For bird-curious beginners and avian lovers led by wildlife biologist Angela Woodside
Join Plant Friends for a morning of birding and learn more about how to bird and why plant friends are bird friends, too. This is a beginner-friendly birding event so bring your notebooks,ears and/or eyes and curiosity! If you have binoculars, bring those too! (Email me when you register if you’d like to borrow a pair).
The Sepulveda Basin is an oasis for bird life. Home to nesting birds from cormorants to orioles as well as endangered birds such as the Least Bell’s Vireo, the native plant restoration area, pond and creek make the basin a particularly fruitful place to watch birds, listen for bird calls and witness the relationships between birds and the environment. This is an exciting yet approachable place to begin (or deepen) your birding journey!
This event begins at 8am and includes both a walk to experience/observe some of the many birds that call this place home as well as helpful context for beginning birders such as how to estimate the size of a bird, where and when to look for certain birds and which parts of birds to learn pay attention when you’re starting to ID. As always, relationships are at the forefront, so Angela will share some of the key relationships at play for birds, what threatens our bird communities, and how we can support bird biodiversity as part of a healthy earth.
About AngelA
From Honduras to Hawaii, Yellowstone to the Grand Canyon, wildlife biologist Angela Woodside has dedicated her career to the care, study, and conservation of some of the rarest species on the planet—among them the ‘Alala (Hawaiian crow) and the California condor. Since moving back to her hometown of Los Angeles, she has been relearning the city with a naturalist’s eyes, impressed more every day by the incredible diversity of bird life to be found here in even the busiest city park and suburban neighborhood.
WHEN & WHERE
Sunday, March 10th 8am-11am
Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Preserve
(detailed meeting instructions sent to participants via email!)
Sliding scale $25-$45
3.16 // Flowing into Spring Equinox
Yoga, Meditation & Plant Medicine to Honor Our Transition into Spring
With Jessica Natalia of Stellar Moon Yoga and Rose Fairley of Plant Friends
Join us in the Santa Monica Mountains, the heart of our urban wilds, for afternoon of tuning into our bodies, breath and the land through yoga, meditation and a medicinal plant walk! Naturalist-Herbalist Rose Fairley will lead a 1hr plant walk to meet abundant local medicinal plants such as Eucalyptus, Chickweed, Elderberry and Black Sage and introduce some guidelines for harvesting/tending in a way that supports our native ecosystems.
Following our walk, Jessica will guide us through a 1hr gentle flow that connects with the emerging energy of Spring. We will conclude with a brief period of meditation with the opportunity to share our intentions for the Spring while sipping a grounding medicinal tea made by Rose.
**This event is outdoors in Griffith Park! Please bring your own yoga mats, yoga blocks, or straps as needed. As we will be also hiking, be sure to bring comfortable walking shoes, sun protection and water for the medicinal plant walk
About Jessica OF Stellar Moon Yoga
My name is Jessica Natalia, and I am a 500 HR yoga teacher who loves to incorporate the divine feminine and Ayurvedic health into a gentle yoga practice. My goal is always to facilitate the space for the community to connect breath, body, and being. I love to create a safe and mindful container for folks to explore and deepen their yoga practice in, and to bring some stillness to an often overstimulated mind.
In my free time, I love to learn about, grow, wildcraft, and explore cooking with herbs and flowers. In this way, I can connect with their subtle healing properties for mind, body, and spirit.
1.28 // Broom Making Workshop– WHISK BROOMS & POT SCRUBBERS
Come learn the basics of broom-making in a supportive, small group setting and leave with two beautiful, useful, hand-made whisk brooms (one full-wrap and one zig-zag) & a handy little brush for scrubbing pots.
Registration limited to 5 participants.
Sunday, January 28th 10am-330pm
At The Natural Dye Studio in Silver Lake
604 N. Occidental Blvd, Los Angeles 90026
JANUARY 25// FRICTION FIRE STARTING Workshop
Join guest facilitator and naturalist Tim Martinez in the Hahamongna Watershed for an introduction to friction fire starting with plants.
Friction fire has been the traditional way to start fires for thousands of years. Many native California plants, such as Mule Fat, have a long history as tools fire-starting.Learn about ethical harvest and which native plants to cultivate as partners in fire-starting
“Once the principle of creating a friction fire is understood, it only takes a moderate amount of practice to learn this ancient skill. Your hands may blister the first few times, but the feeling of forming that coal and blowing your tinder bundle into a flame is exhilarating!” - Tim Martinez
This is part of Winter Study, but we are opening just a few spots to the wider plant friends community.
1-3pm in Altadena
Detailed meeting location sent to participants the week prior.
$35-$55
February 25
PILGRIMAGE
WALK
(Calabasas/Topanga)
9am-1230pm.Email to register & Venmo @rose-fairley $25-$45
1.13 PLANT WALK WITH A VIEW
GRIFFITH PARK // SAnta Monica mountains
Come meet some of your plant neighbors. Elderberry! Datura! Bay Laurel! White Sage!So many handsome plant friends live here the heart of the Santa Monica Mountains. We will start in a lush canyon and weave our way up to meet plants that are making their living on dry, steep cliffs. Come share magestic views of the chaparral, city and–on a clear day–the ocean.
$20* 10am-1230pm.
Vermont Canyon - Griffith Park entrance near Los Feliz. Detailed meeting location sent to registrants the week prior.
*Contact Plant Friends for a pay-what-you-can ticket
seasonal study
꩜ WINTER꩜
inquiry with plants & ecology
towards caring for ourselves & the earth
aromatic plants and fire // begins
JANUARY 15th
꩜ FALL꩜
inquiry with plants & ecology
towards caring for ourselves & the earth
fall study begins November 20th, 2023
4 Mondays on the wild edges in & among Tongva, Kizh, Chumash & Tataviam land learning from/with the plants and one another in a wider community of life in Los Angeles.
Seasonal study participants are also invited to attend all Plant Friends walks led by Rose in November and December.
Deepen your relationship to plants and place.
Satisfy your biophilia.
Bathe with/as nature.
Beginners welcome.
5% of tuition from Plant Friends’ seasonal studies contributes as a guest offering to the Tongva Taraxat Paxaavxa Conservancy
11.15 HOshigaKI
Come make Hoshigaki from Hachiya persimmons, a Japanese cultivar with a venerable history of fruits that yield yummy treats. This is our annual tradition, and we invite it to be one of yours, too! Our Sunday class sold out so we’ve added this evening pop-up class.
The fruit transforms through massage into a delightfully chewy all natural fruit candy with a blush of white powdery fruit sugar on the surface.
Participants will leave with a string of Hachiya persimmons, hand-cut and ready to hang with the know-how to transform them into the tastiest dried fruit on earth.
Bring a crock or jar to take home trimmings to make an incredible fruity vinegar at home!
$80.
5pm-7pm.
604 N. Occidental Blvd. Silver Lake, Los Angeles
11.18 PLANT WALK
San gabriel mountains
near altadena, CA
From Yucca and Dudleya-dotted craggy slopes to a rich riparian cooridors with silver-barked Alder trees, the San Gabriel Mountains host many diverse natural communities.
We cannot tend for those we do not know–let’s gather to grow intimacy with the flora where we live, together!
$25.10am-1pm. This walk is in the Angeles National Forest near Altadena. Detailed meeting location sent to registrants the week prior.
inquiry with plants & ecology towards caring for ourselves & the earth
SMALL GROUP SEASonAl STUDY *SUMmer*
begins Monday, August 7th…
On the wild edges in & among of los angeles learning from/with the plants and one another in a wider community of life. 3 full Mondays & 3 drop-in half Saturdays
SLIDING SCALE TUITION & two *pay-what-you-can* seats. Limited to 8 participants.
5% of tuition to the Tongva Taraxat Paxaavxa Conservancy
Saturday Morning
AUGUST 19th
NOURISHING THE WATERSHED w/ MELANIE WINTER OF THE RIVER PROJECT
“The sign of a healthy economy should be a drinkable river” - Li An Phoa
“Everyone lives in a watershed, from the great deserts to the tops of the highest mountains” - The River Project
From the smallest spring to the Pacific ocean, our watersheds are the circulatory system of our ecosystem–connecting us all. Even channelized and straightened, urban bodies of water are teeming with life. How can we nourish these waters?
Haskell Creek and pond at the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve embody the richness of riparian ecosystems–and also point to all most profound changes we can make as a city to work towards a healthy watershed. A place of many truths, The Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve is where orioles and cormorants nest, orb-weaving spiders capture unlucky dragonflies, and Monarch Butterflies float overhead. It is also a historic floodplain disconnected from the main artery of our watershed, the LA River, and an example of how past land use has contributed to current drought, flood risk and habitat loss.
We are honored to have Melanie Winter of the River Project facilitate this walk and share her multiple decades of experience working on behalf of water. Melanie Winter is an advocate for equitable, nature-based solutions for a healthy urban watershed that supports wildlife & healthy communities of people. The project’s Rivers Manifesto outlines clear paths forward to meeting these community-based goals. Learn more about River Project’s vision for Sepulveda Basin as “the green heart of the San Fernando valley.”
About The River Project: We’re working to restore the vital ecosystems of the Los Angeles River Watershed for a climate-resilient future. Founded January 17, 2021, we organized The Coalition for a State Park at Taylor Yard and led the successful fight to establish the first state park on the Los Angeles River.Rio de Los Angeles State Park is a bustling example of community engagement which led to ownership. In 2021, The River Project and its partners produced a Feasibility Study to examine the potential to restore hydrologic function to 8 miles of river and tributaries through Sepulveda Basin - a 2,000 acre flood management facility in the heart of the San Fernando Valley. Our Water LA program created the template to help Angelenos practice watershed stewardship at home.
Saturday, August 19th, 2023
900am-11am
Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve
$15-$35 Sliding Scale! See Sliding Scale Guide on registration page to see where you fit in on the scale :)
SatURDAY EVEning
AUGUST 12th
HONoRING THE LA RIVER WITH YARA NICTé
“How do we undo the damages done to landscapes, more-than-human populations, and to ourselves, by the industrialized, petroleum-based society we are forced to rely on?
How do we develop empathy and work with a hill, a stream, microbes, and other creatures in a landscape while also shifting our sense of self, and creating a different kind of culture?
How do we imagine a future that is based on reciprocal, non-extractive relationships in evervthing we do?"
These questions and more as we explore the Los Angeles River, exploring our connections to the soil, plants, flora, more-than-human neighbors, and our water.
“Con amor y canción en mi corazón, digging my hands deep into the soil, “grounding” myself through the bare ground, and with feet rooted firmly in honoring and celebrating the very land I stand upon (the land We All stand on and that needs more acknowledgement); the land being the very reason for all living and existence. I carry deep faith in photosynthesis, the holy greening power of seeds, and the very breath of querida Madre Tierra. Join me!
Yara Nictè is a wholehearted naturalist and first-generation Latinx plant ecology graduate dedicated to California native flora, conservation botany, pollination ecology, and native habitat restoration as a field botanist and native plant gardener. She has worked with the Xerces Society, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the US Forest Service, the Los Angeles Arboretum & Botanic Garden, as well as the Huntington Garden.
$15-$35 Sliding Scale! See Sliding Scale Guide on registration page to see where you fit in on the scale :)
Saturday, August 12th
6-8pm
LA River
Meet at the Heron Gates at intersection of Fletcher Drive and Ripple St
7.22 Nature BATHING YOGA & MEDICINAL PLANT WALK
Flow with the Summer Season with Plant Friends x Sara Flows
Join Rose and Sara of Sara Flows for a morning yoga among the trees & walk in the chaparral to connect with land and self.
Upon arriving at the, yoga teacher Sara Broyles will lead a 1-hour vinyasa yoga and breath-work meditation among the trees. Please BYOM (bring your own mat) and any props you use to support your practice!
Following the flow, herbalist and educator Rose Fairley will guide us through a plant walk, identifying native California plants and sharing how we can make grounding medicine with them by spending time in the wild, cultivating native plants at home & through simple applications such as teas and herbal steams.
Together we will:
꩜ Venture through local Tongva land and learn about native plants that have thrived here for centuries
꩜ Learn how to justly and sustainably grow & harvest these plants to use them as healing modalities
꩜ Move and breathe to connect with and honor our deepest selves
BYO Mat!
Saturday, July 22nd, 2023 from 900am-12pm (Meet at 9am; flow begins at 915am sharp!)
Hahamongna Watershed Park
(look out for detailed directions and parking instructions via email!)
Sliding Scale! See Sliding Scale Guide on registration page to see where you fit in on the scale :)
5.29 PLANT WALK IN THE FOOTHILLS
From Yucca and Dudleya-dotted craggy slopes to a rich riparian cooridor with silver-barked Alder trees, we will journey together to appreciate the final breaths of Spring before Summer sweeps in full force in beautiful Rubio Canyon in Altadena!
Breathe the nervous system soothing scents of Cowboy's Cologne and California Everlasting, three kinds of native sage & California Bay Laurel. Meet a MAPLE tree that grows in LA County as well as several darling ferns and a local hero moss. Rubio Canyon abuts National Forest and is carefully preserved by the Arroyos and Foothills Conservancy.
This walk is free, but donations are welcome, appreciated & support ongoing conservation and plant education! Venmo @Rose-Fairley to donate - 50% towards the Arroyo & Foothills Conservancy's incredible conservation efforts and the other half supports future Plant Friends offerings :) Suggested donation $20-$30 for those who are able.
We cannot tend for beings that we do not know–let’s gather to grow intimacy with the flora where we live, together!
5.29 from 1230pm-4pm in Altadena. RSVP for more details!
4.17-5.15 PLANT FRIENDS SMALL GROUP STUDY–SPRING (REGISTRATION CLOSED – summer study coming august 2023)
inquiry with Spring & ecology towards caring for ourselves & the earth
on Tongva, Kitsch Chumash & Tataviam land
5 Mondays on the wild edges in & among of los angeles learning from/with the plants and one another in a wider community of life
SLIDING SCALE TUITION
with pay-what-you-can scholarships available upon request
Email rose@becomingmedicine.org for details including locations, schedule and how to register.
5% of tuition to the Tongva Taraxat Paxaavxa Conservancy
April 22nd Earth Day Celebration! Herb Walk & PICNIC
"Know the ways of the ones who take care of you, so that you may take care of them." -Robin Wall Kimmerer
Herb Club LA , Plant Friends and The Well Refill invite you to join in for an herb walk and BYOP(late), led by Andrea Jimenez and Rose Fairley. We'll explore the native plants of SoCal on a fun and adventurous herb walk through the beautiful Topanga mountains.
After the walk, we'll gather together to share in a picnic where we will have some tea, and a dish provided by the hosts. You are encouraged to contribute (though not mandatory) to the Earth Day Celebration with a dish, a drink, or your beautiful presence. The intention is to gather and discuss ways in which we can become better land stewards in a way that is sustainable and compassionate for ourselves as well as the planet.
--
Sliding Scale. Everybody welcome! ☺ (pets & kids welcome too!)
What to bring: a notepad, pen, water, a dish to share, utensils, plate & mug if you plan to partake on the picnic (we hope you do!)
There is a stream crossing on this walk! Wear shoes & clothes you feel comfortable getting wet in. We plan to cross a couple of streams together as we get to meet our plant neighbors. Maybe even bring extra clothes to change into later. We're expecting beautiful weather!
April 10th PLANT FRIENDS COMMUNITY PLANT WALK - GoULD MESA
This walk takes us past thrumming signs of modern life (power station) to the wild with breathtaking mountain views, moss & fern hugging hillsides and down to the riparian plant community along the Arroyo Saco, rushing with recent rains. Come meet some plant friends (foliated and two-legged alike :))
.We cannot tend for beings that we do not know–Come out to connect with the plants and one another. Everyone brings their knowledge & curiosity to the collective. Let’s gather to grow intimacy with the flora where we live, together!
$25 ($3 from every registration goes to the Tongva Paxaaxva Paraxat Conservancy) & no one turned away for lack of funds
Monday, April 10th, 2023
1200pm-300pm
GOULD MESA TRAIL to Gabrielino Trail (Pasadena)
3.25 Native Plants & the Garden Ecosystem
A Plant Walk to Benefit Planet Earth Observatory
“When agriculture output is measured in terms of “Health per Acre” and “Nutrition per Acre” instead of “Yield per Acre,” biodiverse ecological systems have a much higher output.” - Dr. Vandana Shiva , “Organic Solutions to Hunger and Malnutrition”
Native plants are plants that have adapted to a particular place over many thousand of years. During their time together, they have developed connections with one another, fungi and soil microbes, insects and other wildlife. These plants provide the basis of the food web that supports biodiversity. Getting to know our native plant communities can inspire us to approach gardening with the same relationship-based mindset–creating a garden ecosystem that is integrated with the local ecology and supports biodiversity, which in turn creates healthier food and habitat for people and plants!
NEW date due to rain: 10am-12pm, Saturday, March 25th
Location: Griffith Park, Mineral Wells Picnic Area
Planet Earth Observatory (PEO) is a grassroots, volunteer organization with 501 (c)(3) status that encourages experiential learning for a healthy planet. We are students, teachers, urban gardeners, scientists, artists and makers who individually and collectively take our cues from nature to grow healthy food, heal the planet and heal ourselves.
Two thirds of registration goes directly to PEO. This walk is sliding scale and no one will be turned away for lack of funds. Email rose@becomingmedicine.org to arrange for a free registration. To make a donation beyond the registration, DONATE TO PEO directly.
WILDcrafting incense–The Fragrant & medicinal resins of Southern California
Many of us are familiar with those famous resins of antiquity: frankincense and myrrh. Yet near to our homes live an abundance of trees with aromatic resins, inviting healing relationships with the very places we call home. Meet the tree resins of California: Juniper, Pinyon, Fir and kin. Many aromatic resins can be gathered sustainable and respectfully right here in Los Angeles!
Come gather outside for an incense “listening” circle in celebration of the Spring season, enjoying the fragrance of several of these local resins using a technique that warms to resin for a low-smoke burn.
Together we will–
𖦹 Honor the role of resin in the life of the tree
𖦹 Engage our senses and intuition to discern aspects of these medicines
𖦹 Learn the process for mindful harvest of wild resins
𖦹 Spend time in mindful connection with the fragrant resins
Each person will go home with a jar to begin their resin collection, some gems of local pine resin, and two high quality incense charcoals to get them started in their home practice
3.26 COMMUNITY PLANT WALK
SUNDAY, March26th w/ HERB CLUB LA
Every fourth Sunday, Plant Friends x Herb Club LA host a walk right here in the wilds of the city! Follow @herbclub_la for the registration announcement.
Find out more about the walks: Herb Club LA. Want to hear about all upcoming Plant Friends walks? Sign up for the newsletter!
3.11 PLANT WALK: RUBIO CANYON
with THE ARROYOS & FOOTHILLS CONSERVANCY
Spending time in thriving plant communities, such as the chaparral and riparian communities found at Rubio Canyon, has myriad benefits for our wellbeing! Join herbalist Rose Fairley on a multisensory walk in the canyon to explore the connections among plants, fungi, insects, birds and people, and how prioritizing these relationships is vital for healthy ecosystems and our own health. We will take in the scents of aromatic and medicinal plants such as Black Sage and California Sagebrush, peer into the center of Spring wildflowers with a hand lens, and allow ourselves to experience the subtle state of wonder that comes when we open our senses the the wider community of life to which we belong. Rose is an herbalist but her primary work focuses on fostering relationships between plants and people through wild foods, herbal medicine, gardening and craft. You can find out more about Rose and her community project, Plant Friends, at plantfriends.org.
This walk is over :)
Want to hear about all upcoming Plant Friends walks? Sign up for the newsletter!
01.08 WILD Beginnings–Foundations for Gathering Wild FOOD & Medicine
There’s nothing that brings us home like the food we eat. The confidence and belonging that comes from nourishing ourselves from wild food and medicine growing where we live is amplified when we can harvest in a way that is actively caring for the places and plants we love. This course offers foundational information for gathering wild foods–from safe preparation and harvest to regenerative and sustainable gathering practices.
If you’re worried that foraging is too trendy to be sustainable or too extractive, but feel a yearning towards this fundamental humxn practice, this offering is for you! We will focus on regenerative harvesting practices, gathering nonnative plants that may not be contributing quite as much to the local ecology (but are storied & powerful healing foods and medicines), and bring our collective creativity towards how to make reciprocity central to our gathering practices. As well as meeting nonnative, abundant edibles, we talk tending our edible and medicinal native plant neighbors such as elderberry, California walnut and Hollyleaf cherry.
Come meet some incredible edible and medicinal plants that grow abundantly in our neighborhoods such as nettles, cheeseweed and chickweed, eat a foraged snack (last year’s snack was chickweed pesto on tiny nasturtium platters!), and leave with seeds of native edible plants!
Rose has been gathering wild edibles for over a decade and particularly loves sharing the nourishing and medicinal benefits of working with wild weedy plants, including deepening our presence and connection where we live. This class is a perfect introduction to safe and sustainable urban foraging and wildcrafting.
Sunday, January 8th
10am-1:00pm. $35-$55.
Golden Folk Wellness
4900 York Blvd
Los Angeles, California
$5 from each registration becomes a guest offering towards returning land to indigenous stewardship here on Tongva land.
01.22 WILD Medicinal Greens of LA–Nettles, Chickweed, Mallow & other abundant healing Herbs
Many potent herbal medicines and nutrient-rich superfoods flourish amidst human disturbance. Join herbalist and RN Rose Fairley for a walk in “the wild” right here in Highland Park, Los Angeles. Rose will feature storied medicines such as mallow, chickweed, nettles, nasturtium and cleavers. We will meet in the back patio at Golden Folk to head out on a neighborhood walk to meet featured plants in person. Afterwards we will talk medicinal properties and share recipes for healing preparations that suit each plant such as herbal infusions and vinegar extractions.
Participants will leave with new connections to some of their neighborhood plants as well as a foundation in safe and reciprocal wild gathering and blood building, hydrating and nourishing winter wild foods.
Come share a medicinal herbal infusion and get to know the medicine in our midst.
Rose has been gathering wild edibles for over a decade and particularly loves sharing the nourishing and medicinal benefits of working with wild weedy plants, including deepening our presence and connection where we live. This class is a perfect introduction to safe and sustainable urban foraging and medicine making.
Sunday, January 22nd
10am-1:00pm. $35-$55.
$5 from each registration becomes a guest offering towards returning land to indigenous stewardship here on Tongva land.
Golden Folk Wellness
4900 York Blvd
Los Angeles, California
10.23 COMMUNITY PLANT WALK
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23rd with HERB CLUB LA
Every fourth Sunday, Plant Friends x Herb Club LA host a donation-based walk right here in the wilds of the city and nearby! This Sunday’s walk is in Towsley Canyon, near Santa Clarita.
These walks hold space for people to connect with the plants and one another. Everyone brings their knowledge & curiosity to the collective. We cannot tend for beings that we do not know–let’s gather to grow intimacy with the flora where we live, together! Find out more about the walks: Herb Club LA.
Thanks to the Tataviam people for their stewardship of this land.
1030am-1230pm
Ed Davis Park in Towsley Canyon
24335 The Old Road
Newhall, CA
registration requested. by donation.
Mushroom Care for Caregivers: The Medicine of Reishi
Saturday, February, 19th from 10am-12pm in Highland Park, LA. $75
Let’s gather in the garden at Golden Folk Wellness to sip medicinal Reishi cocoa and learn how to make our own medicinal preparations in collaboration with Reishi mushrooms. The pandemic has been especially challenging for caregivers and service workers: healers & parents alike. Reishi is a wonderful ally in these times because the medicine of this mushroom offers support to our immune, respiratory and nervous systems: mitigating stress and improving vitality. This is an opportunity to gather outside at a safe distance and engage community care through medicine-making and connection with mushrooms and people. The Hemlock Reishi, Ganoderma tsugae, is a forest-dwelling mushroom that grows primarily on dead and dying Hemlocks. Reishi brings the medicine of the forest to us city-dwellers. Participants will leave with a handmade wild, forest-gathered Reishi tincture and with the knowledge of how to make a dual tincture with Reishi - a combination of strong tea or “herbal decoction” and a medicinal tincture of Reishi in alcohol (or non-alcoholic alternative).
Golden Folk Wellness
4900 York Blvd
Los Angeles, California
PLANTING MILKWEED & Other SEEDS
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9th. Online + wherever you are.
If you’ve ever seen a milkweed seed pod, you’ve likely been enchanted into its depths. These plants are so valuable.
Milkweed is the exclusive food for the lovely Monarch and her caterpillars and, as such, helps protect the pollinator from predators — it’s a wildflower treasure in support of local ecologies. Milkweed is actually Milkweeds - a cohort of closely related plants in the genus Asclepias. The story of the Monarch includes migrations across thousands of miles and several generations. The precipitous decline in their populations continue to inspire our seed-sowing intentions.
Here in Los Angeles, now is the time to plant our native milkweed, Asclepias fascicularis, the Narrow-Leaf Milkweed, from seed. Milkweeds are the perfect exemplar to allow us insight into the patterns and practices of planting. This class will grow your confidence in choosing which regional Milkweed to plant and how to tend patches of Milkweed & other ecologically powerful plants. With Milkweed as our guide, we play close attention to the wider communities of life where we live. Class is by donation & registration is free.
Wednesday, February 9 at 4pm PT | 7pm ET
Gathering the Wild Winter GREENS: Medicinal Greens of LA
Sunday, February, 6th from 10am-12pm in Highland Park, LA. Sliding Scale: $25-$65 and no one turned away for lack of funds.
Many nutrient-rich superfoods and herbal medicines flourish amidst human disturbance. Join herbalist and RN Rose Fairley for a walk in “the wild” right here in Highland Park, Los Angeles. Rose will feature non-native wild and weedy foods such as common mallow, chickweed, nettles, lamb’s quarters, and cleavers. We will meet in the back patio at Golden Folk to discuss reciprocity and safety in gathering, and go on a short walk in the neighborhood to meet some of the featured plants. Participants will leave with new connections to some of their neighborhood plants and a recipe for a mineral-rich medicinal vinegar made with these wild winter greens. Rose has been gathering wild edibles for over a decade and particularly loves sharing the nourishing and medicinal benefits of working with wild weedy plants, including deepening our presence and connection where we live. This class is a perfect introduction to safe and sustainable urban foraging.
Registration limited to 12 participants.
Part of A Medicine-Making + Wildcrafting Series
in the patio at GOLDEN FOLK WELLNESS
Golden Folk Wellness
4900 York Blvd
Los Angeles, California
REGISTRATION CLOSED:
Beginning Mushroom Gathering: Central Vermont
with dwelling school: Saturday, August 14th in Marshfield, VT.
Meeting mushrooms is a path to deep earth connection as they are the community web-weavers of forests and fields where they grow. Join herbalist Rose Fairley and local mushroom gatherer Ben Levitt at the Lone Rock Farm campus of the Marshfield School of Weaving. Rose and Ben have 25 years of mushroom foraging experience between them! From there we will head into the adjacent forest to encounter some of Vermont’s edible and medicinal mushrooms, going deeply and swiftly into the world of mushrooms through the lens of relationship. Together we will…
meet some of the amazing medicinal and edible mushrooms of this region (in person and in photographs) as well as admiring some of the amazing inedible and poisonous fungi.
consider the ecological role of mushrooms in the forest + their life cycle
tap into fungi’s ability to connect us with the forests and with the year’s seasonal cycles
develop a relationship with local forest communities and harness your pattern recognition skills to begin developing a mushroom “sense”
You will leave with...
Safety guidelines for gathering and awareness of some local deadly mushrooms…together we will allay fear with discernment; A robust introduction to broad categories of mushrooms so you can narrow down to important categories and use a guidebook effectively to identify: Chanterelles, Boletes, Amanitas, Russalas, Oyster Mushrooms, Milk Caps and Morels; and a compendium of the best resources we have found in our mushroom gathering.
10am-3pm with lunch break. $75.
Saturday, August 14th
The Marshfield School of Weaving
334 Jake Martin Rd, Marshfield, VT
SOLD OUT:
Gathering Wild Mushrooms: Southern Appalachia
with dwelling school: July 17th, Asheville, NC
Meeting mushrooms is a path to deep earth connection as they are the community web-weavers and recyclers of forests and fields.
Together we will go deeply and swiftly into the world of mushrooms through the lens of relationship with place to find some of the edible and medicinal mushrooms of Appalachia and…
consider the ecological role of mushrooms in the forest + the fungal life cycle
tap into fungi’s ability to connect us with the forests and with the year’s seasonal cycles
develop a relationship with local forest communities and harness your pattern recognition skills to begin developing a mushroom “sense”
You will leave with...
Safety guidelines for gathering and awareness of some local deadly mushrooms…together we will allay fear with discernment; A robust introduction to broad categories of mushrooms so you can narrow down to important categories and begin to identify: Chanterelles, Boletes, Amanitas, Russalas, Oyster Mushrooms, Milk Caps and Morels; a compendium of all the best resources we have found.
10am-4pm with an hour lunch break
Saturday, July 17th
Location: the Laurel River Trail near Hot Springs, NC. Directions upon signup. Near Asheville, NC. Optional: bring a swimsuit!
