Thank you to those of you who responded to the November 2021 newsletter. Your comments have been saved.

My new book for Falcon Guides,  Medicinal Herbs of California: A Field Guide to Common Healing Plants, is set to be released on December 30. Over the last 3 months I've shared a few pre-release comments by some esteemed reviewers who had a chance to see the book ahead of time. You can read all their comments at this link. 

 

In the next few issues of this newsletter we'll take a dive inside my mind to share with you some of the guiding principles that shaped the writing of the book.

 

 

After years of struggling with how to define myself in the world of herbal education, I settled on "native plant guide." To me, it implies that direct experience in nature is the best form of learning about plants and nature. I am simply a guide leading you to the teacher.

 

I could call myself an herbalist in the folk medicine tradition of one who gathers, grows, and uses herbs but has not completed formal training to become a medical herbalist, and sometime I do refer to myself that way.

 

I could call myself a naturalist, as defined by Merriam-Webster as "a student of natural history," and sometimes I do use that term, even while accepting that there is still so much I don't know about every creature and non-living entity around me.

 

 

 

And please consider pre-ordering the book on my website where I am able to make a small profit from the sale. Look for a field at  checkout entitled “Order notes (optional)” in which you can request a simple autograph or a book signed to your first name.

Due to popular demand, we are offering an encore workshop with Jess Starwood again on Sunday, February 27, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Jess is the author of Mushroom Wanderland: A Forager’s Guide to Finding, Identifying, and Using More Than 25 Wild Fungi!, now available in my book shop at the linked title above.

 

We’ll visit two unique habitats known to be home to several species of fungi and native plants. Of course, we can’t guarantee which mushrooms we'll find on any certain day so Jess will bring dried samples from her pantry to fill in the gaps. She'll also serve a vegan wild food lunch, included in the price of admission.

 

To learn more and sign up for February 27, visit this link. If you can't make that date, you can still sign up for the waiting list for the January 22 workshop here.

In order to make room in my limited storage space for my new field guide to Medicinal Herbs of California, I am reducing the price of Milt McAuley's Wildflowers of the Santa Monica Mountains from $19.95 to just $14.95 in 2022, effective immediately so that you, my readers, can take advantage of it in time for the holiday shopping season. Contrary to the self-limiting title of the book, it is a complete 565-page flora of every plant growing below 3000 feet in Southern California and includes almost 500 beautiful color plates. A book like this published today surely would cost in the neighborhood of $50.