Ethnobotany & Edibles Workshop — Try Fir Tip Tea!

By Fiona Norris, Science Director, San Juan Preservation Trust

On Saturday May 8, San Juan Preservation Trust and San Juan Nature Institute are combining forces to offer a public workshop on Ethnobotany and Edibles on San Juan Preservation Trust property on San Juan Island.

The course is timed so members and friends from all the ferry served islands can attend. Mac Clellan (Mac) Smith will return to the island to lead this workshop and share his knowledge with anyone interested.  The cost is $40 payable to San Juan Nature Institute.

There are several ways to register: call Kathleen Foley of SJ Preservation Trust at 378-2461; email kathleenf@sjpt.org; register on line at www.sjnature.org or email Fiona Norris at science@sjnature.org.

Our workshop will start at Churchill House, home of San Juan Preservation Trust, at 11:30 a.m. then we will carpool to the Westside of the island for the guided walk. Bring a brown bag lunch, but expect some refreshments, including fir tip tea, at the end of the walk. We will get people back to the ferry landing in time for the interisland ferry return home.

Mac Smith is amply qualified to lead this walk having studied at Western Washington where he obtained a Masters’ degree in Anthropology specializing in Ethnobotany and Human Ecology. He has more than 20 years of experience as an environmental educator, but credits local author Doug Benoliel, for starting off his interest in ethnobotany with his book, Northwest Foraging. We will have copies of this book for sale at the workshop courtesy of the author.

Mac has co-authored a recipe book using indigenous wild ingredients due to be published in September. He will bring some treats with him and Market Chef will provide light refreshments including some local wild-gathered ingredients, and we will have recipes to share.

This workshop is part of SJNI’s mission to increase public knowledge of the natural resources of the archipelago.