This event is part of a new, seasonal series! Read more at the bottom of this page.

This season’s midwinter plant walk – more of a hike, in the rugged yet accessible Verdugo Mountains in Glendale – will be held at night under the Full Snow Moon!

Join me by headlamp light to greet the last of the toyon fruits and the first delicate wild cucumber flowers, enjoy warm and transportive mugwort tea prepared by chef Kylie of Kitchen Sink, and gather by vistas overlooking both sprawling city and the San Gabriel Mountains to experience plant stories and science, explore ethnobotany and local natural history, and relate to this land as the full moon rises over it.

Occurring at the midpoint between winter solstice and spring equinox, this community hike invites you to engage with a reawakening world, a land verging on the ‘viriditas’ (a term coined by Hildegard von Bingen to evoke the land’s process of greening and reawakening, particularly at springtime) of a new season, lit by a full, midwinter moon.

We’ll hike a couple of miles into the Verdugo Mountains, an island of wild, rugged hills and spring-fed canyons, bobcat and mountain lion habitat, chaparral and oak woodlands – surrounded on all sides by urban development, freeways, and many shades of human manipulation of the land. A fitting microcosm for much of LA’s wild-meets-urban (see: resilient) ecology, which will be a topic on the walk, along with the reemergence of abundant dye-potent, edible, and other plant life, and how we healthfully engage with and care for the beyond-human community.

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A note on this new event series: Solo plant walks will take place just once per season now, each exploring a theme informed by the time of year and local ecological happenings! Along with new motifs comes a new mode for making the information shared on these walks as accessible as possible to all: at least one-fifth of each event’s seats will be offered at no cost.

It’s my hope and intention that these walks function as connective conversations among members of a community – all of whom are welcome – and that the information shared not be kept from anyone interested in engaging with it. (At the same time, I hope to honor my effort and value as a teacher and guide. Those attending in paid spots support the exchange for my time and knowledge while maintaining space for other community members to attend.)

All future walks will be woven together by shared themes: becoming beneficial to our local ecology (stewardship), creating art in collaboration with the land (discussions of dye and fiber plants, ethnobotany), storytelling (folklore, wisdom, mythology), and local natural history.

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Join me Sunday, February 5, 5-7:30pm for a 2-3 mile (gently uphill) hike in the Verdugo Mountains in Glendale. A headlamp/flashlight is recommended. Details about location, parking, etc. will be sent by email, so please ensure your email address is correct when checking out. Hope to see you there!