Upcoming Events

At this time of year, nights are still cool so spring ephemerals linger on in deep forest shade, but summer herbs and flowers are now emerging. We'll get to see lots of examples of spring herbs post-flowering and the emerging warm weather summer plants. We'll spend most of the day botanizing as you learn to recognize native and introduced plants in abundance now. Basics of sustainable harvesting, some plant taxonomy, and lots of information about how to use early summer…

Summer foraging offers many ways to hone your botanical identification skills. You'll find flowers blooming and fungi popping, everywhere you look. Learn to use flowers, leaves, and other botanical characteristics to positively identify herbs. And get the basics for identifying mushrooms. Critical skills for distinguishing a toxic plant from a safe one ...so important for any forager! We are likely to see Solomon's seal heavy with berries, Queen Anne's lace in bloom, and if we're lucky, we might even catch…

Join Patricia for a day of learning about herbs of midsummer. We’ll spend part of the day in the field, learning to identify regional herbs, do some wildcrafting, and then in the afternoon, make some herbal preparations and discuss the uses of the herbs we’ve seen. Expand your ability to identify local herbs, learn techniques for making medicines and gain confidence in using herbal remedies! Suitable for herbal beginners and anyone wanting to know more about local medicinal herbs. Note:…

With summer in full swing, we'll spend time in both deep forest shade and open sunny areas learning about the herbs that thrive in the warm days of an Appalachian summer. We'll discover both native plants and lots that have been naturalized in our area as you get familiar with their historical and current uses. A bit of wildcrafting, shared recipes for medicinal preparations, and even a cooling swim in a mountain river are on the schedule for this one!…

August 6, 2022, 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. The forest canopy has wholly filled out by late summer, creating a deep blanket of shade. We'll see plants that thrive in the deep shade, including wild ginger, partridgeberry, black and blue cohosh, and wild cucumber. In sunny open fields, we'll look for bright orange butterfly weed, towering Joe-Pye-Weed, and stands of sumac. We may even see late summer flowers like turtlehead and goldenrod beginning their display along with drooping clusters of…

By late summer, the forest canopy has filled out. In the cool, deep shade, understory saplings like sassafras compete for light and nutrients. Wild ginger, partridgeberry, black and blue cohosh, and wild cucumber thrive on the forest floor. While in the sunny open fields of late summer, butterfly weed's electric orange flowers, the regal purple flowers of Joe-Pye-Weed, and red clusters of sumac are on full display. We'll look for our native species of turtlehead growing along creeks with nearby…

In open fields, goldenrods, thoroughworts, and bonesets bloom as signs of autumn begin to appear. First to display their electrifying colors are sumac, sourwood, and sassafras, all with edible and medicinal uses. Silver-gray rabbit tobacco, red spicebush berries, and the glossy nuts of non-native chestnuts are all part of the early fall bounty in the North Georgia mountains. This walk features a close-up look at the last flush of flowers, berries, nuts, seeds, and sweeping views of the mountainsides as…