By Claire Fletcher

Bucthorn Brigade 

Nature has always been healing and restorative for me, as studies show it is for all of us. With a job and small children, it can be challenging to make time to get out and enjoy the sunshine and fresh air. However, one of the best parts about living in a rural area is that there is an abundance of nature within easy reach, even from the middle of town. What a treat to be able to walk a short distance from the clinic and suddenly be in the middle of the woods! It is good for the soul, and has the power to connect people both old and young.

As a little girl, one of my favorite things to do was to go on walks in the woods with my grandpa. He and Grandma lived in a little house at the mouth of a holler, the narrow space between two hills, in Olive Hill, KY. Grandpa had ended his formal education after 8th grade to join the CCC, but he was a lifelong learner whose passions were art, woodworking, poetry, and nature. He had a particular way of teaching that stuck with me. I still remember how he broke the stem of a bloodroot plant and playfully painted my palm with the thick orange sap. He pointed out poison ivy with a grave expression whenever we passed it, until I could easily pick it out wherever I roamed, giving it a wide berth with my bare feet. He cut off a stick from the sassafras tree next to his woodworking building for me to chew on as I “helped” him whittle pine shavings to keep aside for his stove in the winter. In the late summer, we harvested the walnuts together, gathering them in thin woven-wood baskets to dry in the hot sun on the cistern. He followed the rhythms of the season, and taught those lessons to me, as often as he could. 

As I got older, Grandpa’s memory started to lapse, but he could still recite poems about nature and the seasons, even after names became difficult. These simple experiences in nature are now some of my most cherished memories. Whenever I go on a walk in Barsness Park and see a patch of bloodroot, I feel a sense of deep gratitude to my grandfather, who taught me a bit of the language of the woods. During my walks, and in volunteering with the Buckthorn Brigade, I have seen many plants whose names and purposes I learned from my grandpa, and others I learned about later, from my mother, friends, or other teachers.

If anyone is interested in discovering or sharing what they know about the edible and medicinal plants within our park, I would like to organize a series of walks in the woods to look at plants and share some of their benefits. I’m just a hobbyist in botanical medicine, so my sharing will be very broad-strokes, but hopefully fun and interesting, nonetheless! Feel free to reach out by email to fletcherclairej@gmail.com. 

Join me in the park Sept. 21

For those interested, I plan to take a walk in the woods on September 21 around 9 am, meeting by the Barsness Park Splash Pad. Feel free to join in identifying some local edible and medicinal plants, as well as some doctor-recommended nature bathing.