Colorado School of Clinical Herbalism: Rooting Out Botanical Secrets
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast:
May 17, 2019
On this day, dear readers, a most enchanting adventure begins in the charming town of Lafayette, Colorado.
The esteemed Colorado School of Clinical Herbalism, that bastion of botanical knowledge, embarks upon its Rocky Mountain Field Botany Certificate Course. O
ne can scarcely contain one's excitement at the prospect of such a verdant undertaking!
Imagine, if you will, the crisp mountain air filled with the scent of pine and wildflowers as eager students gather to delve into the secrets of the plant kingdom.
This course, a veritable treasure trove of horticultural wisdom, promises to be a thorough introduction to the art and science of field botany. One can almost hear the rustle of field guides and the scratch of pencils as students learn the intricacies of positive plant identification.
But wait! There's more to this botanical bounty than mere identification.
The course, in its infinite wisdom, also delves into the ethics of wild-crafting. After all, dear gardeners, we must be stewards of the earth, not merely plunderers of its riches. The instructors, no doubt as knowledgeable as they are passionate, will impart the crucial skills of sustainable harvesting and preservation techniques.
One can picture the students, their hands stained green, carefully gathering and preserving nature's bounty for future use.
This year, the course offers an additional treat for those with a culinary bent.
The focus on wild edible plants promises to transform these budding botanists into veritable forest gourmands.
Can you not envision them foraging through meadows and woodlands, discovering nature's pantry hidden in plain sight?
"In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous." - Aristotle
Indeed, this course seems a marvelous opportunity to connect with the natural world in a most intimate and practical way.
It reminds us, dear readers, that our gardens need not be confined to neatly tilled plots, but can extend to the wild spaces around us.
As we sit in our own gardens, tending to our cultivated plants, let us take a moment to appreciate the wild flora that surrounds us.
Perhaps we might even be inspired to learn more about the native plants in our own regions. After all, every leaf, every petal, every root has a story to tell and a lesson to teach.
To those fortunate souls embarking on this botanical journey today, we bid you good luck and happy foraging!
May your baskets be full, your identifications accurate, and your appreciation for the natural world ever-growing.
And to you, my dear readers, I pose this question: what wild plants grow in your area?
Have you ever considered learning more about them?
Perhaps it's time to embark on a botanical adventure of your own!