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July-August HerbWalks & OjaiHerbal Newsletter
Read about the "dog days of summer" and how to enjoy them...and more, of course. 
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July-August 2024 HerbWalks & OjaiHerbal Newsletter
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DEAR READERS:
In case you missed the change in last month's newsletter, you'll now find the Dear Readers column just below the July-August Events. Thanks, Lanny
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Carpinteria Salt Marsh Herb Walk
Sunday, July 14
When the summer heat drives us to the coast, the Carpinteria Salt Marsh Nature Park is a, well, go-to place to go to for an Herb Walk. There is a great variety of edible and medicinal plants of the Coastal Strand and Coastal Sage Scrub plant communities for us to see and learn from. Useful native plants there include Blue Elderberry, California Blackberry, Gumplant (
Grindelia), Lemonade Berry, Mugwort, Pickleweed, Wild Rose, and Coastal Sagebrush. Click on the photo of the sign above or go the article in the newsletter below to learn more and sign up. |
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Full Moon Sunset Nature Hike & After-Party
Saturday, July 20
Click on the photo above to read more and sign up to join me and Rondia for our signature monthly event. Experience how we take fun-filled learning to the next level with a plant hike, sunset/moonrise viewing, and after-party at Ojai Valley Brewery's outdoor patio where we sample beers crafted with local herbs while watching the moon continue its rise in the eastern sky. This time we're very excited about a special herbal beer and herbal pizza pairing event with the Tramonto Pizza Truck onsite. Chef Adam Nadel is making two special pizzas with local native ingredients.
Photo: Full moon rising over Ojai by Joe P. Powers |
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Ocean's Edge Trail Herb Walk
Saturday, July 27
Click on the large photo of the ocean view above or read the article below to learn more about this walk. Starting in the Emma Wood Group Camp, we’ll complete the loop on the Ocean’s Edge Trail in the sand dunes on the beach. All along the way, we will be discussing and demonstrating uses of the plants of the Riparian Woodland, Coastal Sage Scrub, and Coastal Strand plant communities. The total walking distance is 1.3 miles. |
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Rodale Institute
California Organic Center Field Day
Saturday, August 8
If you're an organic gardener, then you already know that the Rodale Institute's founders, J.I. and Anna Rodale, literally coined the term and started the "organic" farming and gardening movement in Pennsylvania back in the 1940s. Each year the Institute hosts free Field Days at their Organic Centers across the country. I'm honored to be part of the California Organic Center's event on Saturday, August 8, in Camarillo. Although this popular event has already reached capacity at the time of this writing, there's still plenty of time to get on the waiting list. Undoubtedly, there will be cancellations between now and August 8. Just click on this link to learn more and add your name to the list. Hope to see you there! |
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You can order my book by visiting this link or clicking on the book cover image above. Then at checkout you can use the “ Order notes (optional)” field to request a simple autograph or a book signed to you or that special person who's receiving it as a gift. This personal touch is something not available when purchasing on Amazon. Plus you can support my authorship financially by buying directly from me. Thank you!
If you're out and about at any of these outstanding businesses (and please do support them!), you can find my book on the shelf: in Ojai at Evergreen Wellness, Farmer & the Cook, Krotona Quest Bookshop, Ojai Cannabis Company, Ojai Valley Brewery, Ojai Valley Museum, Rainbow Bridge, Sespe Creek Collective, Westridge Market Midtown, and Wheeler Gorge Visitor Center; in Ventura at Ema's Herbs, Green Thumb Nursery, Timbre Books, and Ventura Spirits; in Sun Valley at Theodore Payne Foundation; in Goleta at Island Seed & Feed; and, among many other places, at REI stores and Barnes & Noble locations throughout California. (All store names above are listed in alphabetical order within each city.)
If you own my book or you're considering it, here's another reminder to click on the following link for the free hyperlinked bibliography I created to save you the hassle of copying long URLs from the printed page to your browser for the web sources cited in the book. |
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DEAR READERS:
You may have noticed that this newsletter covers both July and August. Is it just me being lazy? Well, in a way, yes. Other than a guest appearance at the Rodale Institute’s Field Day in Camarillo on August 8, I have no events of my own on the calendar in August nor am I sending out a separate August newsletter. Why not? you may ask. Starting today, July 3, and running through August 11, we in the Northern Hemisphere are in the infamous “Dog Days of Summer.” According to the Farmers' Almanac, this common phrase has nothing to do with panting, overheated dogs. It’s about Sirius, the “Dog Star” that’s seen in the chest area of the dog in the constellation Canis Major. On any night of the year, Sirius is the brightest star in the sky, not counting our own Sun. In the summer, Sirius rises and sets very near to the Sun, culminating on July 23rd when Sirius rises right alongside — in conjunction with — the Sun. The ancient Greeks, Egyptians and Romans believed that the “combined heat” of Sirius and our Sun was the cause of summer’s sweltering temperatures. And so the term "dog days of summer” came to mean the 20 days before and 20 days after this alignment of Sirius with the Sun, from July 3 to August 11 each year.
After a wet winter and a long, cool spring, the summer heat arrived in full force this week. That's pretty much on schedule, according to the ancient astronomers. As a human trying to live a natural life, I find myself slowing down and feeling lazy, for lack of a more flattering word. I’m drawn to the coolness of the beach instead of to my usual haunts in the now-blistering mountain meadows and canyons of the Los Padres. You’ll notice that the two daytime Herb Walks events in July are by the ocean and the other one in Ojai starts at 6:15 p.m. Besides the hot weather, Rondia and I celebrate our anniversary in August and we try to leave some room on the calendar for a spontaneous trip or even, perish the thought, some time to do nothing, to lounge, to chill, to rest.
As I float down this current stream of consciousness, I’m reminded again — as I was in last month’s column — of Dr. Nessa Meshkaty’s captivating blog, “What’s Growing On?” at https://substack.com/@nessameshkaty. On June 24, Nessa wrote:
“Rest is resistance. People laugh when I say this. I wholeheartedly agree. I now believe that rest is the ultimate act of rebellion. This is a completely different type of non-violent activism.
Rest comes with many perks too:
- It allows our nervous system to be in parasympathetic (rest/digest) mode instead of sympathetic (fight/flight) mode.
- It detoxes our minds of daily fears and attachments.
- It offers ample opportunity to practice meditation and mindfulness habits.
- It restores poor brain and body health.
Attention to collective health and healing is so radical these days. Alien concept around these parts. Rest is resistance.”
So I will now take the path of least resistance and end this column right here. If I don’t see you during the “dog days,” I look forward to hitting the trails and sniffing the herbs again with you in September.
Thanks for letting me share my thoughts. Your comments are welcomed. Please send them to readers@herbwalks.com.
Rest easy, my friends,
Lanny
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July & August
Herb Walks Events |
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Bunches of elderberries weighing down the branches.
Photo: Lanny Kaufer |
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Elderberry harvest time has arrived in Southern California |
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It's not too late to find a few clusters of elder flowers to dry for your home remedies for colds and flus. While the time for flowers may be past in sunnier locations, now is definitely the time for collecting the berries.
Sun-drying them is one tried and true way to preserve them. Personally, I love to drink the fresh juice so I press them for that and then make syrup to store what's left for the winter. My blog post "Got Elderberry?" has step-by-step directions for making the syrup, with lots of photos.
And my book
Medicinal Herbs of California has a lengthy chapter on this important and delicious herbal medicine. The book also includes herbalist Carol Wade's recipe for Elderberry Glycerite, which is made from dried berries that are readily available to buy if you're not able to harvest your own.
I recommend that you read my post on "Sustainable Foraging" before setting out to collect any wild plants.
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Leopard Shark captured on video by Malia Smith in October 2023 at Carpinteria Salt Marsh |
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It's that Carpinteria Salt Marsh time of year |
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On Sunday, July 14, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. we'll return to the Carpinteria Salt Marsh Nature Park, also known as El Estero, a rare salt wetland in Southern California.
The park is home to a great diversity of plants and hundreds of migrating birds and other wildlife, including exotic sharks, rays and native fish when conditions are right. Depending on the tide level, we may be able to see marine wildlife like the Shovelnose Guitarfish, Round Stingrays, Smoothhound Sharks or the Leopard Shark shown in Malia Smith’s video above from our walk there in 2023.
Click on this link to learn more about the walk.
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Looking west toward the point at Emma Wood State Beach from the Ocean's Edge Trail.
Photo: hikespeak.com |
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Walk the Ocean's Edge Trail on July 27 |
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Please join me on Saturday, July 27, from 9 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. to discover the variety of native plants that live in the interface between land and sea on the Ocean’s Edge Trail. Feel the sea breeze far from the inland heat.
We'll start the herb walk on the ocean side of the Emma Wood Group Camp, walking by a variety of edible and medicinal plants, both native and non-native, identifying and learning about the plants with all of our senses. Then we’ll complete the loop on the Ocean’s Edge Trail in the sand dunes on the beach.
All along the way, we will be discussing and demonstrating uses of the plants of the Riparian Woodland, Coastal Sage Scrub, and Coastal Strand plant communities. The total walking distance is 1.3 miles.
Click here or on the photo above to learn more and register. |
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Click on the photo above by Joe P. Powers to learn about the July Full Moon Sunset Nature Hike & After-Party on Saturday, July 20. |
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Summer fire restricitons are now in place throughout the Los Padres National Forest through January 31, 2025. These restrictions will affect the use of campfires, stoves, smoking materials, and internal combustion engines. Read the details at this page on the Los Padres website.
Pine Mountain campgrounds and trails, Piedra Blanca Trailhead, and Nordhoff Ridge Road are open again for the summer season!
For the latest complete info on Ojai District road closures, trails, campgrounds, permits and more, click on the USFS logo above. You can navigate to the. Santa Barbara District and others from there.
The Ojai Ranger Station/District Office is now open Thursday through Saturday from 9:00am - 2:00pm.
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Christopher Hobbs is one of the only people I can wholeheartedly recommend to introduce you to the healing potential of psychedelic medicines or help you take what you already know to the next level. |
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Join Dr. Christopher Hobbs' free video event on the science and spirituality of psychedelic therapy |
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According to internationally renowned herbalist, clinician, and research scientist Christopher Hobbs, PhD, LAc, continually emerging clinical trials are providing meaningful evidence regarding the significant benefits of certain psychedelics in reducing or even eradicating symptoms of trauma, PTSD, anxiety, depression, addiction, and more —
when used safely.
From Dr. Hobbs’ point of view, these substances were originally meant to be experienced as portals into your own psyche and heart.
Join Dr. Hobbs in a free video event, in which he’ll share about psychedelic medicines — providing you with an overview of their healing impact, how to use them, and their relative safety, legality, and accessibility.
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Other Local Events of Interest |
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Click on the image above to learn more and join me in speaking out against Senate Bill 1111 and House Bill 6544. |
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Uranium mining and nuclear waste are still toxic, no matter what anyone tries to tell you |
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For decades, Indigenous lands have been targeted for uranium mining, leading to the contamination of water sources, destruction of sacred sites, and health disparities among Indigenous populations. Despite promises of economic development, uranium mining has brought devastation to Indigenous peoples, leaving behind a legacy of environmental injustice, genocide, and human suffering.
And there is still no viable solution for the radioactive waste produced by nuclear energy! Please click here to learn more and send a message to your U. S. Senators. Thank you. |
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