I saw my first Hepatica blooming this past weekend, a true sight for sore eyes after a long grey winter. Itβs all starting!! Iβm so ready to get back on the trail with you all and lead our April Spring Wildflower Walk, part of our monthly community plant walk series. Sunday April 14th at 10am at Thompson Pond Preserve. I lead this walk here every year, itβs such a great and unique ecosystem, a convergence of upland rocky mature woods with forest floodplain and rich wetlands, the spring wildflower display is simply phenomenal and something you donβt want to miss. Plus, I have a philosophy that the best type of plant learning comes from returning and returning, year in and out, through every season to the places we know and love and T. Pond is one of those cherished spots for me. Join me!
The suggested cost for the walk is $20, but no one is turned away for lack of funds. If you need to pay less you most certainly can, and if you have more to give, you are welcome and encouraged to do so. Everything extra gets pooled into our scholarship/mutual aid "pay it forward" fund that supports folks coming to walks and classes at a lower cost. RSVP by replying or emailing me at foliagebotanics@gmail.com. Iβm asking everyone to pay in advance this year to hold your spot because I plan and take plant walks very seriously, they are the heart and soul of my work, and I want you to as well :)
This walk is very flat, very accessible and we wonβt walk far at all because there is simply so much to see. I should also add that this walk tends to fill up quickly and I do sometimes have to turn folks away, so snag a spot for you and a friend asap!
Some other fun spring things to know coming up for Foliage Botanics in the next few weeks:
First, I want to let you know that Iβm planning/hoping to do a few Forage & Feast workshops this year at our home-farm in Pine Plains and our first one will be Sunday May 5th from 1-4 pm. This is a casual and delicious walk-workshop combo event where we explore and discuss the edible wild plants growing at that moment in the season, muse on ethical approaches to harvesting and stewarding plants on the land for eating, then pick and prepare a few things to eat together (and likely eat some pre-prepped items too). My hope is to expand and challenge our understanding of βwild edibles,β their history, the potentially and often extractive nature of contemporary foraging, and then share the perspective Iβve built on how best to engage in this practice and enjoy the gifts of the land. This workshop costs $45 and you can sign up here (or email me). SPOTS ARE LIMITED. Announcing to ye newsletter subscribers first!
Sign ups for A Wild & Common Place, our seasonal apothecary share/CSA, are still open and underway!! This offering is so lovely, Iβve written about it in depth before here. There are two optionsβa shipped version and a local pick up version. You may also pre-order just the spring box. All that can happen in our online apothecary.
Iβll be at the OpenBaar Market in Albany on April 27th with all our herbal wares and hopefully getting a few more people signed up for A Wild & Common Place, our herbal CSA. Thereβs going to be so many great makers and artists there wowee!
On May 11th Iβll be teaching at the Western Mass Herbal Symposium! This is an all-day event with a ton of great classes and walks. Iβm leading an Intro to Basic Botany class/walk and Iβll have a booth with products. I hope you consider joining us in Montague, Iβm really excited to be a part of this event for its inaugural year.
Whew, Iβve got a busy spring ahead and there will certainly be more things to share about in the coming weeks. Thanks, as always, for being part of this work that I love!
see you in the flowers??
xx hannah