Today I will be teaching at the local high school, for the ’special needs’ kids (my kind of people). I did this once before for this class. The teacher wants me to come in to talk about wildcrafting and herbal medicine in general because the students are reading a book "Where the Lilies Bloom" which features a character gathering plants. So I am there as the modern-day continuation of this character. I like doing the class. I will be bringing in lots of show-and-tell items, my first aid bag, just-gathered branches of Prunus serotina, Hamamelis virginiana, Rhus typhina, Betula lenta, and a Salix spp with catkins just emerging. Last time, the item that got the most attention is my old friend, a large cleaver, whom I named Pinky. Pinky, you may ask, what a name for a cleaver! Ahh, but as may be construed from such a name, is that I in fact did chop off a piece of my pinky (and ate it, but that’s a story for a latter time) with this cleaver. And you can imagine the students getting a kick out of this (and perhaps you too not-so-gentle reader).
So I will come in with branches and chopping tools and a bag of herbal medicines and see what we can learn from each other with such an array.
