You can also twist it into fiber, boil it down into colorful pigments and even pour it over your pancakes.
Turns out, the scenery is pretty handy stuff, and not just so much window dressing. Instead, it’s salad, and it’s the salad dressing, too.
The two-day course will teach participants to identify and use local plants. Make plant-fiber rope, then dye it plant pigment; sample lodge pole pine syrup, and wash it down with dandelion root coffee; nibble a berry, and sip some root tea.
Although the Institute focuses its educational adventures in and around Glacier National Park, all harvesting for the class will happen outside park boundaries.
Course instructor Heather Nack-Culbreth studied resource conservation and wilderness studies at Missoula’s University of Montana, and received her clinical herbalist certification down in Bisbee, Ariz.
She blends backcountry travel with ecosystem studies, gardening and growing medicinal herbs when not on the trail. In addition to teaching how to safely eat the scenery, Nack-Culbreth also markets her own line of herbal products.
And in winter, when the scenery is buried deep, she works as a wilderness EMT and ski patroller.
But come mid-month, rain or shine, she’ll pack a van full of participants on a drive around the Flathead, stopping every so often for a short hike to a promising plant patch. Students should bring a lunch, just in case the scenery isn’t as appetizing as expected, and those staying overnight at the Institute’s camp will have access to a kitchen for their evening meal.
Nack-Culbreth advises participants pack along clothes for wet, warm, chilly or cold, including gloves, hats and comfortable hiking shoes. The class activity level is rated “moderate,” with several short hikes over two days, sometimes off-trail.
Everyone is welcome, so long as they’re at least 12 years old, and cost is $120 without overnight lodging, $150 with a night at field camp. Teachers can apply for 18 OPI credits after taking the course.
Bring binoculars, she said, and a couple bits of white cloth for dyeing. A sharp pocket knife is recommended, for cutting bark and twigs, and a notebook is handy for making notes.
The nonprofit Glacier Institute emphasizes field-based scientific learning, focused on the Flathead’s ecology and the interaction of its people with its landscape. Partnering with the park and the Flathead National Forest, the institute also offers family programs and youth science adventure camps.
For information, visit glacierinstitute.org, or call (406) 755-1211.
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