We spent the last few days in High Park
with the Urban Edibles and Medicinals course.
What a weekend! We started on Friday night with introductions to each
other and to some wild plants. First was some plants made into teas, one with
Lemon balm and one with Red raspberry.
Then we made some infused oils, breaking up some St. John’s wort that
was harvested from a family acreage-great to be used in a healing salve for
wounds. The flowers of Common elderberry were put into a tincture with some
vodka, in preparation for cold and flu season in the winter. Alexis’ slideshow
highlighted some key harvesting tips, especially the golden rule: “make sure
you have 100% identification before you harvest something”. We also learned
about some of the key medicinal plants in our area, including Burdock, Red
clover, Dandelion, Coltsfoot and Milkweed.
Saturday started with a field guides
primer, including how to use using Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide and what books
were great to get started with. We set to the trail with our field guides and
hadn’t even gone very far when we saw a broad-winged hawk just ahead of us on
the trail. As a jogger scared the bird
from it’s spot, instead of flying away, the hawk perched right above us and ate
it’s meal, likely a small songbird. We continued
along the trail and found some False Solomon’s seal, Wild sarsparilla, and
Mayapple, as well as some other common deciduous forest plants. After lunch we
considered why it is that invasive plants species like Garlic mustard have come
to our areas and talked about making pesto with the stems. The day culminated
with a Sit Spot and Fox Walk in a quiet forested area where we each spent a
little time with one plant. We walked
out to our spot slowly, took our time coming back in and had a nice moment of
contemplation before we shared some stories and ended with some gratitude. 
Sunday was Harvesting Day! The morning
started off with an excursion to harvest plants to take home with us. We made
some teas from Red raspberry, White pine, Wood sorrel and Bee balm. They were put on top of Alexis’ pick-up truck
where lots of passers by were curious of the colourful glass jars as they
steeped in the sun. A Sassafras tree was spotted as we started an afternoon
walk with some tree ID, including some deciduous, opposite-branching trees like
Maple, Ash, Dogwood and Horsechestnut. We looked at several pines trees and
headed into a Black Oak Savannah, a unique ecosystem in these parts and a
highlight of High Park. Certain species
grow here that are rare in Canada including the Cup or Compass Plant and
Butterfly weed. We did an awareness
activity where we were challenged to find a plant that we had been introduced
to while blindfolded –opening up our senses beyond simply using sight to get to
know a plant. Returning to the sun teas
we’d made in the morning, we tasted them all, including some teas left out
overnight-to see the difference in steeping methods. There was a toss up for favourite tea between
Red raspberry and the moon steeped White pine “Moon Pine”. We shared a round of
gratitude before our circle broke for the day and we headed home, hopefully to
dreams of Stinging nettle and Yarrow to keep ourselves motivated to keep
working with the plants. 
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