2024
HERB FIELD DAYS
In the Countryside, Mountains, the City & at the Seashore
Each Field Day is a separate event or can be bundled as an experiential
Apprenticeship of Place.
Herb Field Days take place on Saturdays
$75 for 4 hour Half Day western WA walks
$100 for 8 hour Full Day adventures to Leavenworth, Stevens Pass and LaConner, WA
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$525 for all 6 Herb Walks with letter of intent and instructor approval.
Bring lunch, journal/sketchbook, camera,
dress for the weather...we go rain or shine!
A series of curated Herb Field Days on public pathways and parks in the Cascadia bioregion.
From the shore of the Salish Sea to the ridges of the Cascade range and beyond, from rural river valleys to the inter-urban landscape...you'll discover the world of plants and place
Each walk reveals a multi-layered story of change through time for
people, plants and place...
Engage the powerful medicine that is here now connected with
history, heritage and future possibility!
These are heart-healthy walks suitable for all ages...on mostly level terrain.
Bring your lunch, field guide, and notebook, you'll take home an expanded
perspective of herbal medicine from the ground up.
"Remember, we're guests here so don't take yourself too seriously."
Grandmothers of Snoqualmie Valley
Ramble in nature for a day with EagleSong Gardener and your perception of medicine may enter a whole new realm. A way of seeing through time how plants exist as inhabitants of place and tell stories for those who can hear them...
Join me in a ramble to some of the most beautiful paths I've traveled for decades. You'll meet plants, hear stories and, perhaps, even find a medicine sweetly your own in the countryside, in the city, along the Salish Sea or in the foothills and mountains of Cascadia…
Each ramble is an adventure through time and place. You'll learn common names, botanical names, and names yet to be discovered. You may hear a song or heartbeat emanating from earth. You'll hear stories, make up stories, and leave stories behind. All this nourishing and tonifying earth within and without.
You'll taste tastes you've never tasted. You'll smell and feel things you've never smelt or felt before. You'll hear sounds and see sights you will remember many ways…
Let's go!
On all rambles wear suitable clothing and foot gear for engaging weather and rugged terrain.
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Bring lunch, snacks and beverage for personal comfort...
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Bring your curious mind, open heart, a journal and/or sketchbook...through coming to your senses you'll see, hear, taste, smell and feel what nature has to offer...perhaps some of the 6th sense will show up.
Lake Tradition Trail
Saturday, April 6, 2024
10:00 am - 2:00 pm ($75. Half Day)
Lake Tradition Trail Meet-Up
register here
Click here for map to Highpoint trailhead
Meet at the High Point trail head, exit 20 on
Interstate - 90. A Discover Pass is required for lot parking. Parking on frontage road is free.
Lake Tradition trail is accessible by bus from Seattle, Metro route 208
An easy ramble through deciduous forest, mixed forest and conifers. A track by the lake, through the wetlands and along a power line grade provide plenty of variable habitat to meet plant allies. Nettle, elder, kinnickkinnick, Oregon Grape, yarrow and many more. Perhaps, even the elusive Canis familiaris overturnus will show itself to our merry band. Bring a lunch and enjoy the story of How The Meadow Came To Be and Left Again. Bring a journal and write a taking home story.
A Meander Along the Snoqualmie River
Saturday May 4, 2024
10:00 am - 2:00 pm ($75. Half Day)
Duvall, WA Meet-Up
register here
Directions provided upon registration
Through meadows, farms and along the old railroad grade beside the river. Disturbed land, flood terrain, the old railroad grade, the living library is abundant here. Hawthorn, wild apples & plums and amazing berries with their bioflavonoid rich deliciousness live here. Alders, maples and many other plants will reveal their secrets on this countryside ramble! We'll meander through a small farm complex, and perhaps meet one of the local farmers. Bring a lunch and enjoy the story of How the River Lost Her Braid. Remember your journal for the taking home story.
Herbs at the Salish Sea
Saturday, June 1, 2024
Location: Near La Conner, map sent upon registration
9:00am - 5:00pm ($100. Full Day w/travel)
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register here
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An 84-acre preserve where many ecosystems/habitats for exploring. A wide range of native plants and a handful of introduced plants in this location.
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Beach, forest, and estuary plants abound...bring a picnic lunch! Your journal. Camera.
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Map & Directions sent upon registration...
Cascades East
Saturday, July 6, 2024
9:00 am - 5:00 pm ($100 Full day w/travel)
Monroe, WA Meet-Up
register here
Leavenworth, WA East of the Cascades
Meet-up site sent upon registration...
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A visit to the renowned Cashmere Museum & Pioneer Village rounds out the day.
$8.00 admission not included in Herb Walk registration.
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This magnificent full-day cross-mountain plant adventure to eastern WA includes plant ID forays all along the way. Blue elder, yarrow, buck brush ceanothus are a few of the plants we'll meet on the drive over the Cascades.
In Leavenworth, we'll ramble along a system of trails that includes Waterfront Park, Blackbird Island and Enchantment Park. These trails meander beside the beautiful Wenatchee River and provide a delightful opportunity to expand your plant ID skills. This unusual niche environment is rich in biodiversity. You'll find little leaf lindens planted in the landscape and cherry trees gone wild, brought in by birds from neighboring orchards. Hawthorn, cow parsnip, wild rose and berries abound. ​
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Next, a highway mitigation planting with blue elder, hawthorn, cottonwood, alfalfa, currants, yarrow and much more provides insight into how native plants are healing from the ground up in present day restoration and conservation schemes.
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This is a long day trip. Bring your field guides, your sense of adventure, and a lunch. An optional visit to the Cashmere Museum and Pioneer Village adds historical depth to the day.
UW Medicinal Herb Garden, Center for Urban Horticulture & Farm
Saturday, July 27, 2024
Seattle, WA
10:00am - 2:00pm ($75 Half Day)
register here
We'll start at the UW Medicinal Herb Garden. The century-old garden spans 2.5 acres and boasts more than 1,000 species of medicinal herbs and plants from around the world. Paths meander through seven sections of species, raised beds, and vibrant edges. A hidden garden and long-time favorite of EagleSong's where you can see living plants you may have only read about in books! Many stories here...
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From there, we'll head to the Center for Urban Horticulture and UW Farm to explore the Fragrance Garden, the Goodfellow Grove, and the UW Farm. A valuable garden resource in Seattle, complete with library, greenhouses and plants you'll want to meet.
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If time allows we can take a tour of the Union Bay Mitigation site and see how Seattle's once - largest garbage dump is being restored into a thriving green wetland of native plants.
Wear good walking shoes, bring your journals, sketchbooks, and lunch. This is a long walk on mostly level ground...
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Learn more...
Center for Urban Horticulture
UW Medicinal Herb Garden
Iron Goat Trail
Saturday, September 7, 2024
9:00am -- 5:00pm ($100 Full Day w/travel)
Monroe, WA Meet-up
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register here
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Stevens Pass Highway
Two hikes in one day! This is a full day...
A Long Hike Beneath an Old Snowshed &
A Short Hike at Deception Falls Picnic Area!
Wending through the old snowshed, stories linger in the mountains to this day. Rivulets and lilies, Douglas maple, slide alder, valerian, devil's club, wild ginger and Angelica genuflexa call this path home. Bring a lunch and enjoy the story of Kneeling Angelica and Her Sisters! Oh, yes, there'll be a taking home story on this one for sure…dress for the weather. The short hike runs through old growth trees and moss covered stones, logs and, perhaps, even orchids beside emerald pools await...this is where water begins its journey to the sea.
Wear hiking boots, remember a lunch and you'll surely want your journal on this amazing mountain ramble!
NW Herb Field Days Apprenticeship to Place
All 6 Saturday Herb Field Days listed above
3 full day walks + 3 half day walks ($525.)
$50. Application fee
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Apply here
This series of curated Herb Field Days is an apprenticeship to place. An experiential opportunity to meet over 100 NW herbs in their preferred habitats or eco-niches. You'll learn plants from the ground up expanding your understanding of how nature works. And, how we can, as humans, work and connect with nature in an ever changing landscape.
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This unique apprenticeship is a commitment to participate in all 6 of the Herb Walks. They build one on another to deepen your understanding of the Snoqualmie-Skykomish-Snohomish rivers watershed, its connection to the Salish Sea and beyond.
To be considered, please send a letter of intent as described beow.
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Include the following in your letter of intent:
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The current date, your name, address, phone number, email, occupation, health concerns, and date of birth.
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List your educational experiences, work positions, and passion relating to herbs and bio-regional ecosystems.
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Tell me what you hope to gain from your apprenticeship with me.
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Include a $50. non-refundable application fee.
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Upon receipt, I'll schedule a call and talk with you. Afterward, if we are in agreement, I’ll send you a letter of acceptance, annotated reading list, and the supplies you will need to bring.
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In the rare event I cannot fulfill your intention, your application fee and letter of intent will be returned.
Payment in full by March 30, 2024 is required.