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Local author and herbalist Lanny Kaufer is pleased to announce that he is now in his 50th year of leading Herb Walks in Ojai, Santa Barbara, and the surrounding area. He is celebrating the anniversary all year, beginning with an Herb Walk on San Antonio Creek Trail in Goleta on March 14, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (The first scheduled walk on February 16 was rained out.) The trail is the site of the first plant walk Kaufer attended in the early 1970s with legendary Chumash artisan and plant expert, the late Juanita Centeno.
Kaufer calls his tours “Herb Walks” rather than “native plant walks” because they feature plants defined as “herbs,” i.e., those that can be used for food and medicine. One of his first mentors, the late herbalist William LeSassier, coined the term “Herb Walk” in the early 1970’s when he led them in Santa Barbara. Kaufer borrowed the name once he moved to Ojai and started leading his own walks in 1976 after LeSassier moved east.
The family-friendly walk on March 14 will include identifying, demonstrating and discussing the many uses of wild plants by foragers, herbalists, and naturalists seeking them out for food, herbal medicine, first aid, home remedies, survival, crafts, ceremony and more. Kaufer will focus on Centeno’s teachings about the Chumash ways of respecting nature’s gifts and the specific uses of plants to be found on that trail. This time of year his group can expect to encounter Black Sage, California Bay, Mugwort, Indian-Lettuce, California Blackberry, Hummingbird Sage, and Wild Rose, among others. Toxic plants such as Poison Oak and Poison Hemlock will also be identified…