Healing Gardens

January 25, 2007 5 hours

Activity: We spent two hours at the site drawing, identifying plants, and discussing plans for a trail at our site. Then Brandi showed me the website stuff, and we took a walk around campus to study some forest edges.

Learning: I learned how the website works. I also realized that I can identify more plants than I thought, my memory just needs a jog.

January 31, 2007 5 hours

Activity: We raked leaves for the trail and bordered it with sticks. Spent about an hour journaling, then took some pictures of the site. Brandi wants to remove some of the trailing blackberry, which is fine with me, and replant with something different. We went over the information I missed on Saturday and did a little winter twig ID, and then we went for a walk down to the beach.

Learning: We discovered a possible animal den under a tipped tree's roots from the storm. I think I found Pigsfoot on our site, I'll have to check to make sure. Brandi showed me that Deer Ferns grow out of the mossy maple trunks.

Cumulative Hours: 10

February 16, 2007 2 hours

Activity: Spent 2 hours at my personal garden site sitting with the plants, thinking, drawing a little, and journaling.

Learning: I realized that there is much more plant diversity on that piece of property than I thought, I was actually a bit surprised to how many species there are in my tiny garden site! I had no idea there was wild ginger growing there. I am also wondering if the forest is older than I thought, because it is so mossy, there are snags everywhere, and trees of many different sizes are thriving.

Cumulative Hours: 12

February 20, 2007

Activity: Brandi and I worked a bit on a stick border for the LHG site, and also worked on the habitat theme/introduction for about 3 hours.

Learning: I gained a better understanding of the concepts our LHG site represents if it were in a larger forested area. I also realized that the fern growing off of the bigleaf maple trunk is the Polypodium glycyrrhiza (Licorice fern), not deer fern as I thought before.

Cumulative Hours: 15

March 5, 2007  2 hours

Activity: I spent about two hours brainstorming and starting on my personal presentation.

March 6, 2007  1.5 hours

Activity: I searched for some nice dandelions at my mom's house, harvested them, thanked them, and made a tincture out of them.

Learning:  I learned that patience is just as important is intention when finding the plant to harvest, while preparing the plant material, and while making the medicine.  Keeping your energy focused on the task makes the medicine's own energy stronger.

Cumulative Hours:  18.5