OUTSIDE: Plant Power

Before there were doctors, there were shamans, healers. And before there were pharmaceuticals that came in bottles with pills, there were plants, some of which became used to manufacture said pharmaceuticals. Nature, as it is often said, is healing.

This Saturday, the Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District offers a medicinal plant tour led by local herbalist Lianne Neptune, who will guide attendees on a stroll through the Frog Pond Wetland Preserve and educate them about the medicinal plants in their midst, which were utilized by indigenous people for centuries before Westerners showed up. Neptune will highlight such things as redwood needles, which can be brewed in a tea to help treat respiratory infections, and willow, which has the same anti-inflammatory properties as aspirin. Horsetail, she says, is good for joints and also removes aluminum from the body. There’s also wild lettuce, which acts on same pain-killing receptors as opiates, but is not addictive.

The downside is Neptune’s upcoming date is already booked – it’s capped at eight attendees – but she’s working to get more tours scheduled next month, so hopefully everyone keen can take part. Neptune, a designer in her day job, had her passion sparked about seven years ago when she took a similar tour in Northern California. She has since immersed herself in the topic, and is hoping to pay it forward. 

10:30am-noon Saturday, Oct. 29. Frog Pond Wetland Preserve, Canyon Del Rey east of Carlton Drive, Del Rey Oaks. This event is fully booked, check mprpd.org for future dates