Join local herbalist and arborist Alex Klein on June 9 for a walk around New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill to discover the bounty of medicinal plants, both those grown in the garden and those sprouting up of their own accord as weeds or forest understory. You may be surprised to find just how many useful medicinal herbs are common to our local landscape. While on the walk we will discuss basic identification techniques so you can become familiar with some common and useful medicinal plants. We’ll also cover historic and modern uses of these herbs, the spectrum between poison, medicine, and food, how to harvest ethically and safely, and how to process and use some of these plants for home healing.
Come prepared to walk around the gardens including on stone and dirt paths. Instructor Alex Klein describes himself as an intermediary between people and plants. After beginning his work as a landscaper in Boston and New York, his desire to connect to nature more meaningfully changed his perspective on plants from something mostly aesthetic to something directly useful to him and the people around him. Alex has since botanized and wildcrafted up and down the East Coast, getting to know well the flora of the region, as well as the historical and modern uses of hundreds of food and medicine plants. Along the way, he trained as a clinical herbalist at the Northeast School of Botanical Medicine and the Ithaca Free Clinic. His passion for herbal medicine led him to do herbal First Aid, volunteering his time at Asheville Street Feet, a free Foot Clinic for those in need, and at various wilderness gatherings. Alex currently practices as an herbalist in Boston, striving to use only plants he has gathered himself or grown in his garden. For his day job, Alex is an Arborist at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Watertown.
$40 for NEBG members, $55 for nonmembers. Register at www.nebg.org
