In the image above, Dr. Fritchey prepares the students for Saturday’s herb walk and the medicinal plants they are about to encounter. These are natural medicines that we can harvest and prepare for ourselves. All this knowledge laced with a little folklore fun! Thank you, Dr. Phil.
Dr. Fritchey with white oak bark – a great natural element used to treat the gums and periodontal conditions as well as the skin.
Saturday was a perfect day for our Great Escape …clear blue sky, low humidity and a cool, gentle breeze awakened us all and was an exhilarating way to begin day one as we forayed into the deep recesses of nature at beautiful Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, GA.
Dr.Philip Fritchey began our herb walk adventure with a medicinal plant background narrative that set the stage for all the medicinal plants we would encounter, and provided an interesting new way to view the plant world around us. This was especially valuable to the novice herb enthusiast.
The event is designed to provide a total immersion into natural healing and medicinal plants, and students were able to learn proper plant identification, harvesting, and wildcrafting skills, and how to harness the healing power found abundantly in nature. Students formed bonds with each other as the day progressed and you could just see the light bulbs going off as students made the connections between their own individual needs, and the specific plants encountered along the way. There were so many “ah-ha!” moments along the way we could not count them all!
One of those moments was discovering white oak bark – a powerful tissue tightener that is used for many issues, including tightening gum tissue as well as the skin…
Into the woods…deeper and deeper as the day progresses. 🙂 The list of medicinal plants discovered on this portion of our trail walk is too exhaustive to cover in this blog post, but let’s just say “adventure and discovery” just begins to scratch the surface of this fascinating day… Just think – the average tourist out for a relaxing day in nature has absolutely no idea that they are walking through a virtual pharmacy of healing ingredients…Thanks, Dr. Fritchey for this beautiful awakening!
Jewelweed!
Ahhh…Jewelweed! This little known plant is a powerhouse for correcting many skin disorders and is an important ingredient for aging and problem skin conditions. Its anti-inflammatory and anti-itching benefits have been reported to significantly reduce or heal dermatitis caused by bee stings, poison ivy, poison oak, insect bites, burns and essentially any skin of skin irritation. Jewelweed is much more than just a weed – as nature would have it, in the wild you can always find Jewelweed growing within eyesight of poison ivy – nature always provides the antidote for poisonous plants nearby – how cool is that?