Ethnobotany in the Texas Hill Country

Ethnobotany in the Texas Hill Country
Becoming Bioregional: for Herbalists, Foragers and Permaculturistswith Sonoran herbalist & forager, John Slattery

There is a current movement to learn more about our local plants, wherever
we may live. The use of wild plants for food, medicine, and a great variety
of utilitarian applications (known as ethnobotany) is known across all
cultural boundaries.

Sadly, the general population in America is significantly lacking in this knowledge. This was not so in previous generations across various cultures within America, and was not the case where immigrant families have emigrated from. It all begins right now, and getting out with the plants is our first step.

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During this 2-day intensive field study, herbalist and forager John Slattery, will be facilitating an exploration of the local flora from a bioregionalist’s perspective. That is, what we can find in our local surroundings.

The basic techniques and principles of field botany will be demonstrated and discussed with hands-on exercises in the field, and we will be covering a variety of uses for each plant we find while discussing edible, medicinal, and utilitarian applications.

This class will also feature first-aid herbal applications, basic herbal medicine making techniques, and the basics of plant energetics (or how herbs can be applied for different people in different situations).

Handouts will be provided.

CLASS INFORMATION

Location: will start at our North San Antonio campus, but may do part of the class in close-by neighboring hill country areas that can be readily accessed.

A part of the class will be in the field, and students are encouraged to bring hats, good walking shoes, cameras to document plants, notebooks and writing materials, sunscreen if needed, water, and a simple day pack to carry this in.

Class Times: Classes will start at 9 am both days with a break for lunch. Students will need to bring snacks and a sack lunch to eat while out.

Tuition: $120 for both days.

Class Credit: For those completing the Clinical Herbalist or Steward program, this two day course fulfills the Botany requirement.

Classes in this program: Quick listing for Spring 2016 Related Classes.

Preservation of Spring Wild Edibles, April 30th (http://thehumanpath.org/course/preservation-of-spring-wild-edibles-2/)

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About the Instructor

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John Slattery has been helping people build relationship with plants for over 15 years. John is a bioregional herbalist seeking out local traditional knowledge and fostering relationships with traditional healers while developing deep relationship with local plants. He founded Desert Tortoise Botanicals, a bioregional herbal product company, in Tucson, AZ in 2005 in order to bring his wildharvested plant medicines to the people of the Southwest.

He maintains his Vitalist clinical practice in Tucson, AZ and offers plant
walks, foraging expeditions, field trips into Sonora, Mexico, and his annual Sonoran Herbalist Apprenticeship Program featuring multi-day field study excursions into the mountains of Arizona and Sonora, Mexico. He enjoys traveling to new bioregions, learning new plants, and to encourage people to become bioregional in their approach.

John received training with Michael Moore at his Southwest School of Botanical Medicine, and at the North American Institute of Medical Herbalism. The plants and the indigenous inhabitants of the Sonoran desert bioregion continue to deepen John’s awareness of healing with plants.