To find good medicine, look in a forest. In a forest, you’ll encounter plants that have the ability to heal human ailments.
Many years ago, I learned about the medicinal properties of a particular woody plant. This woody plant, when applied to my face as an extract, improved my poor complexion.
Over the years, I’ve been able to maintain a decent complexion thanks to this plant (and thanks to significant lifestyle changes). While I no longer rely on this plant to heal my physical ailment, I do rely on it to address an existential problem.
Plaguing the human species, this problem can be solved if we know where to look.
I’d also like to mention that I’ll be part of the Wild Ones Western PA Chapter’s annual symposium on March 26, where I’ll be joining a panel discussion focused on strengthening communities and native habitats.
Humans try to avoid these four conditions. Old trees embrace them.
This is why I advocate taking long walks in the woods. In wooded ecosystems, we sometimes discover the ragged splendor of old trees.
On a recent walk in a hardwood forest, I rediscovered a tree I had first encountered many months ago. Rough, weathered, worn, and warped, it’s one of the most remarkable trees I have ever seen.
If you want to find morel mushrooms this year, here’s a tip: don’t wait until spring to begin your hunt.
This might sound like unconventional advice. After all, current temperatures are too cold for morels. Wood frogs haven’t even bred yet. Spring is still another 50 days away.
All these things are true. But this next statement is also true: you can drastically improve your future chances of finding morels by doing a few things right now.
In a brand-new video, I discuss several tactics we can implement immediately. I also share my predictions for the upcoming season. Will the mushrooms be plentiful this year? Will they be scarce?
In anticipation of the winter season, I am excited to announce that two Learn Your Land online courses are on sale this week.
To improve your foraging skills, consider enrolling in Foraging Wild Mushrooms.This 4-season online course is designed to help you safely and successfully harvest wild mushrooms from the forest, from the field, and even from your backyard.
To improve your tree identification skills, consider enrolling in Trees In All Seasons. This online course teaches you how to identify 100 trees in every season. If you want to develop the confidence to look at a tree and say, “That’s black spruce, no doubt about it,” or “That’s most certainly sourwood,” or “That can’t be anything but mockernut hickory,” consider enrolling today.
These courses are self-paced and presented entirely online. Once enrolled, you can start, stop, and resume at any time.
It isn’t an easy question to answer, but I try my best to explain what it is about trees that makes me feel good.
I love the food trees offer. I enjoy the medicine trees provide. I like the shade trees cast. And I admire their beauty.
But there’s something else about trees I really appreciate: their ability to tell stories.
As it turns out, trees tell remarkable stories of peace, tragedy, death, and — believe it or not — democracy.
One notable tale that trees tell quite well is the story of America’s birth as a nation. While many people associate this story with icons like the Liberty Bell and the Declaration of Independence, the founding of the United States is also strongly connected — both physically and symbolically — to one particular tree.
Tall, majestic, and extremely useful, this tree has been famously labeled “the tree that built America.”
Speaking of trees, I was recently interviewed on Harvesting Nature’s Wild Fish and Game Podcast. In the interview, we discussed how trees can help you become a better hunter and observer of wildlife.
This course is designed to improve your ecological knowledge by introducing you to fascinating ecosystems — including alvars, barrens, bogs, dunes, fens, glades, savannas, vernal pools, and others!
Learning to recognize ecosystems is an essential step toward understanding how nature works. When we pay attention to the bigger picture, we see beyond individual components. We see connections, we see relationships, and we see where humans fit into the story.
If you want to develop ecological literacy; if you want to be able to read landscapes more effectively; if you want to see how all the components within nature are connected, consider enrolling in Exploring Wild Ecosystems today.
Please note that Exploring Wild Ecosystems is open for one week only — from today until Monday, September 30. After that, registration will be closed. Upon registration, you can immediately access all course content and view the lessons at your own pace.
To learn more about the course, check out this video which gives you an overview of what you can expect.
Thanks for supporting nature education! I hope to see you in there!
Many years ago, I became obsessed with finding wild cranberries. At the time, I had only read about wild cranberries in foraging books. I had never seen a single cranberry in the wild.
On my quest to find wild cranberries, I somehow ended up in northern Pennsylvania. A friend told me that a bog existed several miles north of I-80. “You can’t miss it,” my friend said. When I arrived at the location and stepped out of my car, all I could see was a deciduous forest.
“A bog must be in there somewhere,” I thought. Rather than consult a map, I immediately hopped on a trail leading into the woods.
A closed-canopy forest surrounded me for many miles. Large trees prevented sunlight from reaching the understory. The forest exuded dark beauty, but it lacked wild cranberries.
I continued walking deeper into the forest, constantly scanning the ground for wild cranberries. No luck.
Hours passed before a realization dawned on me. Earlier in the day, I saw an extensive opening in the forest. It was way off in the distance near the beginning of the trail. Unfamiliar with bogs, I thought the opening might’ve been a field or a meadow, so I ignored it. Several hours later, I realized my amateur mistake. Could the opening have been a bog?
With daylight fading fast, I headed back toward the opening and eventually walked into a sphagnum-rich ecosystem bursting with wild cranberries. “So this is a bog,” I thought to myself. “How could I have overlooked this?”
In hindsight, it’s easy to see how I missed the bog. I had no idea that a bog was an open habitat. I had no idea that finding a bog in a forest could be as simple as looking for light.
Today, I see things a bit differently. I certainly don’t consider myself to be an expert forager, but I understand the importance of developing ecological literacy — something that specialists often disregard.
To improve any outdoor skill — foraging, botanizing, birding, hunting — it’s essential that we learn the ecosystems in which our desired organisms live. I’m not sure why ecological thinking is undervalued today, but I decided to do something about it.
Exploring Wild Ecosystems is my newest online course designed to help you gain ecological literacy. If you want to be able to read landscapes more effectively, consider enrolling today. Enrollment is currently open until Monday, September 30.
Before I share a brand-new video with you, I’d like to mention that my newest online course, Exploring Wild Ecosystems, will reopen for registration on Monday, September 23.
This online course is designed to strengthen your relationship to wild places by introducing you to fascinating terrestrial and wetland ecosystems. With a focus on the connections and communities that bind nature together, Exploring Wild Ecosystems will help you gain important ecological skills.
Speaking of connections, forests are teeming with connections of all kinds. Nothing in a forest exists in isolation.
Take the cauliflower mushroom, for instance.
This edible mushroom grows in association with certain trees. To find the cauliflower mushroom, it only makes sense to explore ecosystems where these trees grow.
During a recent hike, I discovered a cauliflower mushroom growing near a mature red oak. Sensing the connection, I started checking every oak in the forest. Within 30 minutes, I found two more cauliflower mushrooms — one of which I harvested and turned into a delicious meal.
Fortunately, I brought my camera along to document the experience. To learn more about this lovely edible mushroom, check out the brand-new video.
Thanks for reading and watching! If you want to develop ecological literacy and see how all the components within nature are connected, consider enrolling in Exploring Wild Ecosystems on Monday.
Paths I Walk 
You must be logged in to post a comment.