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

This season’s spring plant walk—more of a hike, in the rugged yet accessible Verdugo Mountains—will be held at night under the Full Strawberry Moon 🍓

Join me by headlamp light to greet the blooms and fruits of near-summer, sip a seasonal drink infused and inspired by the thriving plants around us (prepared by 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.

Taking place a couple weeks before the summer solstice—and after an utterly rain-drenched winter and spring—this community hike invites you to engage with a thriving and verdant world, a land in the throes of peak ‘viriditas’ (a term coined by Hildegard von Bingen to evoke the land’s process of greening and awakening) on the verge of a new season, lit by a full moon named for the ripening fruits of summer.

We’ll hike a couple miles into the Verdugos, an island range of wild, rugged hills and spring-fed canyons, bobcat and mountain lion habitat, chaparral and oak woodland—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 emergence of abundant dye-potent, edible, and other plant life, and how we healthfully engage with and care for our 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 Saturday, June 3, 7:00-9:00pm 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!