I have always felt an affinity with the forest. As a kid, I would spend hours outside in the woods in “Muskoka, Ontario” and only return when I’d hear my dad yelling my name to come home. I was fascinated by the little worlds I imagined the plants, rocks, and moss being a part of – even though I didn’t have the scientific knowledge to put this into words. This led me to think that nature connection is more intuition than knowledge-based, but knowing the plants can deepen our connection to them.

In the past year, I started spending more time with a group of women whose knowledge about the local plants in “Guelph, ON” inspired me to want to deepen my relationship with my natural surroundings. I would go on walks with them, and they would point out different plants and tell me about their uses. Then, I started using an app to go out and Identify them independently. I also started sitting in a sit spot and observing the natural world from a place of stillness. I found this to be an incredibly comforting and grounding practice. These experiences have inspired me to focus my inquiry project for this course on learning about foraging local plants and using them for various recipes and herbal tinctures. I have purchased a book called Wild Remedies, written by Rosalee de la Foret and Emily Han (linked here), which I will use as a starting guide in this journey of learning about foraging.