Farm to Medicine Cabinet Herb Walk

Back by popular demand, our Farm to Medicine Cabinet Plant Walk Series returns to the Farm this summer!  Our farm landscapes are capable of so much more than the first meets the eye: they produce nourishing foods, but also give us powerful plant-based medicines from weeds, cover crops, ornamental gardens, forests, and backyards. This “weed walk” will introduce you to medicinal plants commonly found on different parts of Vermont’s working lands, deepen your appreciation of the local food movement, and introduce you to nature-based, local medicine as part of a resilient food system. 

Bronislaw Grala (Broni) is a local wildcrafter and folk-herbalist who has been living and learning from the land, people, and community in the Burlington, Vermont area (Abenaki territory) for about 25 years. After years in the security and retail field, he returned to his two main passions: educating children and adults, and working with plants and the natural world. Because of that, most of his time is spent engaging in outdoor activities, wildcrafting or foraging, and continually learning about the plants, fungi, and other beings in nature that can provide us humans with such abundance in a variety of ways. He believes that wildcrafting and getting to know the plants as nourishing and healing for us humans, and in turn giving back to the plants as we can, is one of the great ways of connecting with the land and bringing about real conservation ethics and behaviors.  This nearly lifelong passion and thirst for knowledge has also fueled Broni’s desire to share what he has been taught, and, as with any teacher, kept him excited to learn new things from others with the same passions. These various teachings and constant learning have also led to a deep respect and reverence for the land, and for the ancestors who have worked with and tended the land before us.