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October 2025 HerbWalks & OjaiHerbal Newsletter |
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Happy Autumn, dear readers, and Happy New Year to my Jewish readers. Me, I'm feeling a disjointed mix of happy and angry. I guess it's not surprising; I'm a product of our polarizing times. On the one hand, this newsletter celebrates the beautiful region in which we live and shares my efforts to provide fun, safe, educational experiences learning from Nature. At the same time, I find myself furious over a misleading, divisive, and clearly illegal notice on the U.S. Forest Service website. You'll find all that and more below. |
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Supermoon Sunset Nature Hike
Tuesday, October 7
5:30 - 8:00 p.m. |
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When a full moon takes place while the moon is near its closest approach to Earth, it is called a Super Full Moon or Supermoon. On Tuesday evening, October 7, from 5:30:00 to 8:00 p.m., my wife Rondia and I will lead a Supermoon Sunset Nature Hike to a vista point above the Ojai Valley where we can watch the rising of the Super Full Moon over the iconic Topa Topa Bluffs to the east and the sunset afterglow over the mountains to the west.
As usual, we'll stop along the way to meet some valuable edible and medicinal plants of the season. To learn more and sign up, please click here or on the photo by Carla Cahill. |
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Carpinteria Salt Marsh Herb Walk
Sunday, October 26
10 a.m. - 12 p.m. |
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We are so fortunate that folks in the late 1990s had the foresight to save this rare wetland from development. It provides the perfect opportunity to meet edible and medicinal plants while enjoying the fresh sea air. Click here, on the photo above, or read the article below to learn more and sign up. |
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Supermoon Sunset Nature Hike
Wednesday, November 5
3:30 - 6:00 p.m. |
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Sometimes, we'll see a supermoon two months in a row. That will be the case on Wednesday evening, November 5, when Rondia and I lead a second back-to-back Supermoon Sunset Nature Hike from 3:30 to 6:00 p.m. From the trailhead we’ll gradually walk about 1.5 miles on a well used dirt road with gradual elevation gain to a vista point above the Ojai Valley where we can watch the rising of the moon over the iconic Topa Topa Bluffs to the east amidst Ojai's famed "pink moment." At the same time, as happens during a full moon, the sun will be setting over the mountains to the west.
These synchronistic phenomena are beautifully captured in Ojai artist Jennifer Moses' oil painting, "Sunswept." To learn more and sign up, please click here or on the image above. |
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Cold Care Herb Walk + Workshop with Emily Watson and Lanny Kaufer
Saturday, November 8
9 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. |
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Emily Watson of Artemisia Academy and I are back from an exhilarating time in Ohio presenting at the International Herb Symposium. We are fired up and ready for a seasonal workshop on herbal remedies for supporting the immune system and easing coughs and colds. We’ll begin with a 2-hour herb walk to discover native and local plants traditionally used for respiratory health, immunity, and cold-season care. Then, Emily will guide you through making a potent sinus steam and a delicious elderberry syrup. At the end of class, you’ll take home your remedies and the knowledge to make them again. Please click here or on the image above for details and registration. |
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October
Herb Walks Events |
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LOOKING AHEAD:
November Supermoon Sunset Nature Hike: Wednesday, November 5
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Sunset over the mountains on the west side of the valley during a full moon hike, October 2020. Click to enlarge.
Photo: Robin Kent |
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Sometimes, the sunsets in the fall outperform the moonrise |
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Many of you have joined me and Rondia over the years for our full moon sunset nature hikes above the Ojai Valley. You know that while the moon is the draw, the sunsets this time of year can be extraordinary, not to mention the "pink moment" on the Topa Topa Bluffs.
Please join us again or for the first time on Tuesday, October 7, from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. for our monthly hike. Click here to learn more and register.. |
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Santa Barbara Independent, July 17, 2025 |
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"Introducing the Chumash
Good Fire Project" |
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With wildfire always in the back of our minds during our expanding fire season, now is a good time to check in with the Chumash and their "cultural burn" practice. Click here or on the photo above from the article to learn more. And please watch future newsletters for more on this timely topic. |
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Looking toward Santa Barbara from the Carpinteria Salt Marsh Nature Park in the fall. |
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Carpinteria Salt Marsh Herb Walk |
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On Sunday, October 26, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. we will return to the Carpinteria Salt Marsh Nature Park for the second and last time this year. Also known as El Estero, the Nature Park is a rare saltwater wetland in Southern California. The park includes walking trails and interpretive signage. It is home to hundreds of migrating birds and other wildlife, including exotic sharks, rays and native fish when conditions are right.
There is a great variety of edible and medicinal plants of the Coastal Strand and Coastal Sage Scrub plant communities for us to see and learn from. Useful native plants there include Blue Elderberry, California Blackberry, Grindelia, Lemonade Berry, Mugwort, Pickleweed, Wild Rose, and Coastal Sagebrush.
The cost is just $25 for all ages. Children 12-and-under are free, one per adult, by arrangement. To learn more and sign up, please click here. |
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This month for a change, clicking on the USFS logo above will take you to a statement from the Federal Unionists Network and 35 local, council, and national unions regarding the current shutdown. |
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As a Special Use Permit holder with the U. S. Forest Service for the work that I do on public lands, I have faithfully played by the rules, paid my fees, advocated for good stewardship of our national forests, and have gone out of my way to devote a column here linked to their website each month, focusing on local news and alerts for my local Los Padres National Forest.
Today, on the first day of the shutdown, when I checked the link, I found that every page of the website had a header that read, "The Radical Left Democrats shutdown [sic] the government. This government website will be updated periodically during the funding lapse for mission critical functions. President Trump has made it clear he wants to keep the government open and support those who feed, fuel, and clothe the American people."
I don't know where to begin unpacking that illegally partisan statement. So I won't. But I also won't link to their website until that statement is gone. Please reach out to lanny@herbwalks.com if you think I'm overreacting. |
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The incomparable Rosemary Gladstar giving the keynote address on the main stage in Memorial Hall. Click to enlarge.
Photo: Lanny Kaufer |
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The 17th InternationalHerb Symposium!! |
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That being said, of course, I can't stop there. And I promise a full report with photos and video in the next newsletter when I've received follow-up info, photos, etc., that I don't have at this moment.
On a personal note, true confession, up to this point I had attended only one herbal conference other than the Ojai Herbal Symposium which was created with the help of herbalists Amanda McQuade Crawford and Carol Wade, both of whom had been to many big ones, with Amanda a prominent speaker.
The other one I attended was put on in Laguna Beach by Elise and Jeff Higley of Oshala Farm. It was wonderful but the scale was much smaller. There, I gave my presentation in a pre-school classroom. At the IHS, I spoke on the Main Stage in historic Memorial Hall in downtown Cincinnati. If you click on the photo at the top of this column you can see Rosemary Gladstar on the stage in that magnificent hall, giving the main talk of opening day of this 4-day extravaganza.
That's all I will share right now, but please stay tuned.
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Forget AI for a minute. What happened to good old NI? |
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Artificial Intelligence (AI) seems to be on the verge of revolutionizing human evolution, just as technologies like the printing press, the cotton gin, and television have done in the past. Since I'm still working on developing my Natural Intelligence (NI), I'm not sure what to make of it all. So, naturally, I asked the AI assistant in my DuckDuckGo search engine to help me out. Here is what it fed back to me:
"Natural intelligence refers to the innate ability of living organisms, particularly humans, to learn, adapt, and solve problems based on experiences and environmental interactions. It contrasts with artificial intelligence, which is designed to mimic these processes through algorithms and computational methods."
Well, I'm glad I asked. I think I'll keep working on that NI. |
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