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March 2025 HerbWalks & OjaiHerbal Newsletter |
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ACTION ALERT!
Rally in Support of Channel Islands
National Park and Park Employees
on Wednesday, March 5 at 5 p.m.
Our local national treasure, Channel Islands National Park, is in trouble!
- Congress has released a list of national park service (NPS) offices to be closed immediately and 2 NPS offices with addresses on Spinnaker Drive in the Ventura Harbor are on the list.
- A proposal is floating around congress to remove Santa Rosa Island from the national park.
- Trump/Musk Administration has fired park employees last week
- Trump/Musk Administration will fire more park employees in the coming weeks
You can see local CBS interviews with fired Channel Islands Park Rangers here.
Please read the flyer above and click on it or this link to learn more. Spread the word!
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Full Moon Sunset Nature Hike
& Lunar Eclipse
Thursday, March 13
Please join me and Rondia on Thursday evening, March 13, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. for this rare event: a Full Moon Sunset Nature Hike during the start of a total lunar eclipse. Although the total eclipse begins at 11:18 p.m., we’ll see it start with a penumbral eclipse a little before 9:00. This photo shows the most recent partial eclipse during a moon hike on September 17, 2024. The next time a total lunar eclipse will be visible in Ventura County before 1 a.m. or later at night is August 6, 2036.
The March full moon also marks the Spring Equinox, arriving one week before it and rising approximately due east as the sun sets approximately due west. This phenomenon of opposing moonrise and sunset occurs only on the equinoxes. To learn more about this hike and sign up please visit this link or click on the photo above.
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Spring Equinox Walkabout at Taft Gardens & Nature Preserve
Saturday, March 22
"Walkabout" is a term rooted in traditional Australian culture, symbolizing a temporary return to a simpler way of life, a rite of passage often undertaken during intervals between modern societal obligations. This is the essence of what I have planned for you in observance of the Spring Equinox.
We'll start in the Australian section of Taft Gardens and gradually hike up into the Nature Preserve towards a vista point adorned with a four-directions stone circle. Think of it as a three-hour respite from your modern plugged-in existence to embrace nature, bask in the sunlight, and reconnect with the timeless wisdom of our forebears. All of our ancestors, wherever they lived on this planet, observed the changing seasons and learned what nature had to offer throughout the year to provide what we need to survive. Please visit the Taft Gardens website at this link or by clicking on the image above to learn more .
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Acorn Processing "The Old Way" with Jim Robertson and Lanny Kaufer
Sunday, March 23
Join me and renowned aboriginal skills expert Jim Robertson on Sunday, March 23, at Wheeler Gorge Campground for an herb walk and outdoor acorn processing workshop. Processing acorns the “old way” – the more harmonious, healthier way as our ancestors did – and then cooking up some tasty acorn pancakes is a wonderful way to relax and slow down to the natural pace of life and develop a deeper appreciation and enjoyment of our food. For an added bonus you'll see Jim start our campfire with the primitive hand drill method. To learn more and sign up, click on the image above or read the article below.
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Herb Walk on San Antonio Creek
Saturday, March 29
I'm going back, as I do every year, to my favorite Santa Barbara area venue for an Herb Walk on San Antonio Creek Trail in Goleta. From 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., this easy, family-friendly walk will include identifying, demonstrating and discussing the many uses of wild plants by foragers, herbalists, and naturalists seeking them out for food, first aid, home remedies, survival, crafts, ceremony and more. This time of year we can expect to find Black Sage, California Bay, Mugwort, Indian-Lettuce, California Blackberry, Hummingbird Sage, and Wild Rose, among many others. Toxic plants such as Poison Oak and Poison Hemlock will also be identified. Click here or on Ben Grangereau's San Antonio Creek photo of a honeybee in a Black Sage blossom to learn more and sign up.
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Explore the Effective & Powerful Legacy of Historical Plant Medicines From Around the World
A Free Video Event With David Crow, LAc
This free event is still available so I'm sharing it one more time. If you or anyone you know is looking for natural botanical treatments for pain and inflammation there is no better teacher than David Crow. Ever since he was a keynote speaker at the Ojai Herbal Symposium, I've been a huge fan of David. I hope you've noticed that I'm very selective about suggesting online courses for you. I'm not sure how long the offer is good so I suggest you click here or on the image above to learn more. This vital topic and David Crow's decades of research and experience make this worth checking out. If you do, please let me know your thoughts.
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Here's where you can find my book when you're out supporting local businesses
If you're out and about at any of these outstanding businesses (and please do support them!), you can find my book on the shelf: in Ojai at Farmer & the Cook, Krotona Quest Bookshop, Ojai Cannabis Company, Ojai Valley Brewery, Ojai Valley Museum, Rainbow Bridge, Sespe Creek Collective, Westridge Market Midtown, and Wheeler Gorge Visitor Center; in Ventura at Ema's Herbs, Green Thumb Nursery, Timbre Books, and Ventura Spirits; in Sun Valley at Theodore Payne Foundation; in Goleta at Island Seed & Feed; and, among many other booksellers, at REI and Barnes & Noble locations throughout California. (All local store names above are listed in alphabetical order within each city.)
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February-March 2025 issue of Condor Call, the journal of the Sierra Club's Santa Barbara-Ventura Chapter |
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San Antonio Creek at Tucker's Grove.
Photo: James Wapotich |
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Santa Barbara (actually Goleta), here we come! |
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Please join me on Saturday, March 29, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. for my annual spring Herb Walk on San Antonio Creek Trail in Goleta. I love this trail. So much plant diversity! I try to get back more than once each year but it doesn't always happen.
This slow-paced walk is suitable for all hikers able to walk less than 2 miles round-trip on a level trail and stand for periods of time. As with all my walks and hikes, participants will receive an email afterwards with a plant list (including common and scientific names) and other useful notes.
To learn more and sign up, click this link or the image above.
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Click above or read on below to help protect public lands on California's coast |
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ForestWatch Action Center |
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With the recent onslaught of federal executive orders and congressional actions threatening the wild lands where we enjoy nature and where I try to make living, there's almost too much to keep track of. If you're feeling that but still want to make a difference, check out Los Padres Forest Watch's Action Center to find everything related to Los Padres National Forest all in one place. Click here or the photo above. |
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Jim Robertson about to serve a batch of all-natural, foraged and handmade acorn pancakes. |
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Learn from a master of aboriginal skills |
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Come to Wheeler Gorge in the forest above Ojai on Sunday March 23, from 10 a.m.to 4 p.m. to
- Learn to identify edible, medicinal, and useful plants
- Practice all the steps of transforming whole in-the-shell acorns into nutritious acorn pancakes
- See Jim use the ancient hand drill method of fire-starting and
- Enjoy becoming a village for a day
The workshop will begin with a morning herb walk among the native plants on the Wheeler Gorge Nature Trail. Oaks that provide acorns will be identified and discussed along with plants used for fire making and for creating the tools used in the acorn process.
The afternoon workshop will take place outside the Wheeler Gorge Visitor Center. Everyone will have a chance to participate in all activities. All supplies and materials will be provided. Space is limited to allow for individual instruction for all participants.
Jim Robertson has been a popular instructor of aboriginal skills and wilderness survival training for over 20 years. He teaches regularly in the Greater Los Angeles area and is regarded as a top local expert.
The skills that Jim teaches help people to connect in very deep, meaningful, fun, and personal ways with their natural environment (and themselves). This connection motivates and inspires people to become good stewards of the land and of themselves… which is Jim’s goal.
To learn more and sign up, click this link or the image above.
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Other Local Events of Interest |
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Let me put on my other hat for a sec |
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Most of you know me as the leader of herb walks and nature hikes. A few of you also know that I have an even longer history of walking – and marching – for causes. I mostly try to keep politics out of these newsletters, other than sharing local groups who are protecting and stewarding our environment on behalf of the plants and animals who have no voice. The Action Alert at the top of this newsletter is an example of that. |
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Lanny at 18 in 1965 marching in a voting rights demonstration at the Sussex County Courthouse in Virginia with the SCOPE project. |
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I won't be at that event, though, because Rondia and I are taking a break from our beloved Ventura County to go to Alabama to join the 60-year reunion of a few dozen of my fellow volunteers from the 1965 SCOPE Project, now reorganized as SCOPE50. The man appointed by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to direct that summer voting rights initiative in the South, Rev. Hosea Williams, was chosen a few months earlier to organize and lead the Selma-to-Montgomery March, where he was joined by future Congressman John Lewis.
Our reunion will culminate on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the site of "Bloody Sunday," at the 60th Selma Bridge Jubilee with an expected 100,000 other marchers. It seems fitting to me, at this precarious point in our democracy's history, to rekindle the "Spirit of the '60s."
You can read all about the SCOPE reunion and see iconic photos at this online version of an article from the Ojai Valley News. If you're an Ojai resident, I assume you're already subscribed to this standout local paper. If not, you still can read it for free by joining the free OVN online community. Thanks for listening! |
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Higher elevation sites on the Ojai Ranger District (ORD) of the Los Padres National Forest remain closed for the winter. The Matilija Wilderness remains off-limits while the trails and Matilija Canyon Road are undergoing repairs due to storm damage. A Forest Closure Order is in effect through July 18, 2025
Forest-wide fire restrictions have been lifted but remain in place only for the Santa front country through February 26, 2026.
For more information, visit this webpage or click on the logo above. Note: Online information is not always up to date. For best current info, contact your local USFS Ranger District Office. |
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