The Through the Seasons Wild Plant Walk Series features ethnobotanist Patricia Armstrong.
Film production of the series was envisioned and facilitated by Linda Conroy of Moonwise Herbs/Midwest Women's Herbal.
It was filmed and edited by Shari Ralish as part of her Herbal Internship with Moonwise Herbs.
To learn more about Patricia Armstrong and her work visit: www.patriciakarmstrong.com
To Learn more about herbalist Linda Conroy visit: www.moonwiseherbs.com
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FEBRUARY: The February walk takes place at the instructor’s house, Prairie Sun, in Naperville, IL, 60565, where we will walk around the block to learn about the tree with the largest leaves, the 2 sweetest trees, and about 10 different evergreen trees which are the main edible things in winter.
We will see pines, spruces, hemlocks, yews (a poisonous tree), a Douglas-Fir, the Kentucky Coffee Tree which has the largest leaves, the Tree-of-Life called Arbor-Vitae, and the 2 sweetest trees, Maples of course.
MARCH: The March walk takes place at the McDonald Farm in Naperville, IL. where the Headquarters for the Conservation Foundation is located and The Resiliency Institute has established a Permaculture display including a Food Forest. We will be learning about Old World herbs and weeds brought to New World farmsteads. We will be looking at about 5 woody plants and 13 different herbs and weeds.
Some of the plants we will see include: Motherwort, Dandelion, Catnip, Mullein, Burdock, Chickweed and Nettle. We will also see and identify: Siberian Elm, White Birch, Poison Ivy, Sycamore, Scot’s Pine, and White Fir.
APRIL: The April walk takes place at Prairie Sun (the instructor’s yard) in Naperville, IL. which is almost 100% landscaped with native wild plants, plus many edible weeds, and features a Native American Sioux Medicine Wheel. Pat will talk about the plants associated with the Medicine Wheel. In April she has many flowering trees and shrubs, plus early spring prairie and woodland wildflowers.
Some of the woody plants in bloom are Redbud, Juneberry, Wild Plum, Cottonwood, Cornelian Cherry Dogwood, and Spice Bush. Some edible wildflowers include Wild Ginger, several wild Onions, and Wild Leek, Trout Lilies, Cup Plant, Spring Beauty, Jewelweed, Wood Betony, Violets, Starry Solomon’s Plume, and Wild Strawberries.
Patricia Armstrong has a Master of Science degree from the University of Chicago in Ecology (Biology-Botany). She previously taught multitudes of nature classes at the Morton Arboretum for 16 years, plus Botany, Ecology, and Geology at the University of Wisconsin Extension, and Michigan State University's Juneau Icefield Research Program in Alaska.
Pat's knowledge and understanding of all things wild and free come from a life-long personal and intimate relationship with Nature that is passionate as well as scientific. She lives in a home she and her husband designed and built to fit into the natural ecosystems of northern Illinois. It is active and passive solar, energy-efficient, and landscaped with over 300 species of native trees, shrubs, prairie grasses and wildflowers approximately 40% of which are edible.
Pat is actively involved in living joyfully with Nature. She runs a consulting firm, PRAIRIE SUN CONSULTANTS, to educate and assist others in appreciating and using native plants and wild edible plants in home landscaping.
For more information about Pat visit her website HERE.