Meeting jim mcdonald

Earlier tonight I met herbalist jim mcdonald at the Orchard Lake Nature Sanctuary. Yes, I arranged to go alone to meet a stranger in the woods just before dark. Turns out, it was a wonderful idea!

Before he got there, I rustled up the Michigan Wildflowers handbook I borrowed from the library, and set out to see if I could find anything. To my delight, I was able to ID my very first flower: white trillium! Shortly after that, I found a jack in the pulpit! Just months ago when I returned from Japan, I was eager to learn about every plant in my backyard, and found that I had no idea how to look up any of them in the botanists plant identification book I had checked out. I was completely disheartened, and allowed that setback to let me put permaculture studies on the back shelf for far too long.

I recommend looking for wildflower books with sections organized by color--they are super simple to use. That way, if something is in flower, you can just flip through that section and see if you can spot it. From there, you can get to know the rest of the plant and will hopefully be able to identify it at any point in its life cycle.

Jim and I talked about and photographed wildflowers for over an hour, far longer than I anticipated. He tells great stories, and showed me tons of plants, including wild ginger, black and blue cohosh, cleaver, and wild geraniums. Jim thinks someone must have done a native planting at the site, just around the fire pit pavilion, because many of the plants growing around it, although native to the area, have become a bit rare, and are not usually found all together. He also thinks (and he's probably right, because its not native) that the lily of the valley flowers, which occupy a significant space of the forest floor, are home-garden escapees that ended up doing quite well there.

I also finally learned what poison ivy looks like, and it's EVERYWHERE! No joke, Orchard Lake Nature Sanctuary is a veritable poison ivy forest! Most of it was spread out across the forest floor and right next to the trail just above knee high at this point, but it was even climbing up trees and shrubs. There was an entirely dead tree that looked as if it was alive because the ivy weaved its way around each one of its branches. Jim told me that many Native Americans believe that poison ivy acts as a guardian plant, indicating an area that should be left alone or treated with great care. I heard him sweet talking the plant more than once, as he gingerly stepped or reached around it.

I learned so much walking with jim, and in only a short span of time. His classes are far, but I'm very excited to join his herbal intensive series and have him as a guide for my studies.