April 9th was an amazing Intro to Desert Herbs Hike in the beautiful desert bloom after this perfect rain year! It was a beautiful environment to study the desert plants and to hike from Gold Canyon up to the Petroglyph Falls, studying the plants along the way. It's an easy hike that most people can do, and the Class manual was provided, but each student brought a lunch, water, comfortable shoes and clothes, writing materials and lots of excitement for a wonderful day! The waterfall was still running a little into the ponds, but was slow enough for tadpoles to grow into frogs. It is a sacred native american place where the skies, land and water meet, with petroglyphs all over the west side rocks of the canyon.
This is what one student said:
This class was great! The desert was in bloom, weather was perfect & it was nice to be able to try the sunscreen that you made. It was so exciting to learn all this that I went the next day to lead the same hike & tell the things I had just learned to solidify in my memory what the plants looked like and to make sure that I would remember all the plants/latin names/facts learned. I'm glald that this counts towards my teaching hour requirements! I also gathered some Creosote. I steeped it in boiling water and then used the tea to soak my hands in to help heal the eczema. It was soothing and helped a little bit but not a lot in one soaking so I still have the tea refrigerated and will continue experimenting with it . I need to try soaking with it more consistently.
