fandomhigh | Nature & Nature Magic (Thursday Afternoon, 06/01/2006)

Today's class was meeting in the Preserve, which had been in a reminder e-mail Jenny had ~~*handwavily*~~ sent out. There's a small campfire set up, and cooking supplies set out beside it, along with lots of blankets to spread out on the ground, and baskets for plant-gathering.

"Right. Today, we're going to be hunting for magical plants. And not-so-magical ones that are edible. But, the guides I've handed out to you guys? They don't contain any pictures or descriptions of anything harmful, either magically or toxicalogically. If toxicalogically is even a word, but hey, you guys know what I mean, right?

Take a look around, see what you find, and then we'll see if there's anything we can make from them--you can either demonstrate a benign magical use, or make a yummy snack, or both. Share your snack with everyone else; we could all use a potluck, right?"

OOC: The handouts contain information from the following insane list o' links -
Sources for magical plant information -
HP Lexicon - Magical & Mundane Plants
HP Lexicon - Herbology Class
Mystical WWW Plants Grid
General Herbalism Link Index
Cedar Mountain Herb School
List of Fictional Plants
Sources for edible wild plant information -
Nature's Garden
EdiblePlants.com
Free Food From Field & Forest
Edible Wild Plants - Science Tracer Bulletin (Mostly Bibliographical Info)
Steve Brill's VegWeb Site

Course syllabus and roster. for this workshop.

OOC: Sneaking on to post this the night before the workshop is actually held, because I don't know if I can get it in before the deadline tomorrow. Slowplay is the order of today and tomorrow (per my post on Janet's journal, my boss is in this week and I have to be very, very good at work).

~~Wait for the OCD!~~ Go forth and post.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

No, you don't find or eat anything harmful. Jenny ~~*handwavily*~~ inspects everything and pulls out anything poisonous or magically dangerous to dispose of safely.

OOC: Unless, of course, you'd like to roleplay out the finding and pulling of magical plantiness?

When she returns, her pockets are filled and there are plenty of twigs and whatnot stuck in her hair. It's a good bet that they weren't there by accident.

She holds out a small fruit. "This is from a Lotus tree. Carefully sliced and dried, it used by Healers to help calm patients or even lay them lightly to sleep."

"Good job, Luna," said Jenny, smiling. "How much finding did that one take?"

"I'm not sure what spiral dreams are," tim said. "But mugwort," he held it up. "can bring those. And when you plant Holly," he held that up. "near your house, it provides protection."

"It means different things to different people," said Jenny. "And protection? Always useful. You could even dry some sprigs of holly and hang them at the top of your doorframe."

Willow came back with pink star-shaped flowers, as well as flowers with dark leaves and purple buds. "This is borage. It helps give courage, and supposedly cures things like bronchitis. The purple ones are bat thorn which may repel vampires!"

Willow looked pleased about the prospect of coming up with an anti-vampire potion of some kind.

"Hey, Will?" Jenny peered into her basket. "Lemme see those pink ones closer, 'kay? They look like something you might want to avoid."

Willow looked worried, and came over to show Jenny what she'd picked. "I could've sworn it was borage. Why, what does it look like?"

Jenny picked up a sprig and studied it. "Lethe's Bramble. This stuff isn't nearly so harmless and helpful as borage." She looked back up at Willow. "Lemme see your basket, and I'll sort out the borage from the bramble for you, 'kay?"

"Please!" Willow said, handing her basket over. "I'd hate to try to make a cough go away and kill somebody or give them a second nose or whatever that does."

Jenny wrinkled her nose. "And wouldn't we all look silly with two noses?" she asked, carefully sorting and separating the plants, and pulling out all the Lethe's Bramble she could find. "I doubt you'd kill anyone, but, well, with a name like Lethe's Bramble? Think about it. The side effects of forgetfulness could be pretty bad."

"I guess it depends on what you forget," Willow said, thinking briefly about Oz. "Sometimes things are too painful to want to remember."

"But they make us who we are," said Jenny, thinking back on a few painful moments of her own with Rupert. "Taking the bad with the good is an unfortunate part of life, but what're you gonna do about it? Except learn and move on."

"I suppose," Willow said. "Anyway, good thing you saw it in my basket. I wouldn't want to hurt anybody."

"Rosemary. For remembrance," Lana said quietly.

"Everything okay, Lana?" asked Jenny, coming over to her.

"Just... remembering," Lana said softly.

"All right, then," said Jenny, not wanting to intrude. "I'll let you be."

"It's okay," Lana said. "Just someone close who's far away. It's good memories. Thanks for asking. Really."

Dawn, who had spent a good part of her walk swatting away a bee, returned with a basket full of marigolds and mint. Her fingers were also stained with blackberry juice.

Nature & Nature Magic (Thursday Afternoon, 06/01/2006)

Demonstrating Benign Magical Effects

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