Joyful Wildcrafting

Pick Me

I ask for volunteers to reveal themselves from the
Wildness--which hosts such abundance--to
Illuminate their chosen path.
I listen with wisdom, leave an offering, wield my knife.
I yearn to honor these allies
Unafraid of service.

*I'm grateful to for her weekly writing prompts. Their nudge toward inspiration helps my daily writing practice. The theme of this week's prompt was "connecting with the full moon in Sagittarius." Kate provided some words to get us started, which can be the hardest part of writing. Using these weekly prompts helps me get over the "blank page" hump!

And if you really want to connect with your inner writing guides, check out her book, Word Witch.

You can read my nature writing under Lea Sevigny on Substack.

Why sing for your super when you can w**d for your lunch?!

Tuna salad with vegan mayonnaise, Goldenrod stems, Ground Elder leaves, and Salt. Special appearance by Dandelion.

Please join us in healing the land by gathering roots of Common Teasel and Oregon Grape for personal use. Below are three special locations on different dates that are open to us to deepen our relationships with these plants. You might consider making herbal remedies or dye, or connect with them in a different way.

Opportunities include:
*TEASEL - Wednesday, April 15, 4:30pm. Calvin College Ecosystem Preserve. 1750 East Beltline Ave SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546

*OREGON GRAPE - Sunday, April 19, 10:00am. Aman Park. 0-1859 Lake Michigan Dr, Grand Rapids, MI 49534

*TEASEL - Sunday, April 26, 1:00pm. Cedar Springs, MI 49319 (interested persons should DM for more info)

This is open to anyone. Reach out to Lea Sevigny with questions here, by DM, or by email to [email protected]
Registration is not necessary, although I'd love to know who is planning on it!

OREGON GRAPE ROOT (Mahonia aquifolium) If you live in West Michigan chances are you have fond memories of seeing the spring ephemerals at Aman Park. Our group has an opportunity to help heal the land at Aman Park by removing Oregon Grape. The area has not been sprayed, so you can safely use the root and stems to make herbal preparations or dye. There is a little hike into the area where we’ll be working, but it is easily accessible and flat. Most of the plants are smaller and scattered around one area of the park, so removing them now will make an incredible impact.

COMMON TEASEL (Dipsacus fullonum)
Two locations: There is a small amount of Teasel at the Calvin College Ecosystem Preserve, so we’re invited to remove it now which makes an enormous difference for the future. Teasel is also growing on land that is primarily an incredible, high-quality nature sanctuary in Cedar Springs.

We're talking about foraging edible wild plants at the Grandville KDL on Thursday. I hope you can make it out. The Grandville Environmental Sustainability Committee is doing great work for the community, so I'm proud to be a part of their speaker series.

Join us thursday at 7 pm at Grandville Branch - KDL for an introduction to foraging by Lea at Joyful Wildcrafting. For all the details: https://www.facebook.com/share/1bdv7tVStr/

This is an incredible program for boys age 10-13.