Please join Ojai native plant guide Lanny Kaufer and special guest Professor James Adams of USC School of Pharmacy in Ojai on Saturday, June 17, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. for a Summer Medicinal Plant Workshop on how to treat summer colds, adjust to the changing season, treat pain and anxiety, and stay healthy all summer. The morning plant identification session will take place on the pathways at the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy’s Cluff Vista Park, a native plant garden in downtown Ojai, where Dr. Adams will identify and discuss the medicinal uses of a wide variety of native plants. The afternoon hands-on preparation session will be held at a community kitchen in Ojai. After the workshop, participants will receive a complete list of all plants that are utilized and identified with recipes and other info. The cost for the workshop is $75.

Dr. Adams brings to Ojai a wealth of scientific knowledge and field experience as well as a singular perspective on herbal medicine. As he tells it, “My family came to Virginia in 1635 and has always survived by using American Indian healing. On the frontier, there were no doctors. American Indian healing was better than European medicine anyway. I continue this tradition.”

Dr. Adams is the co-author — with the late Chumash healer Cecilia Garcia — of the groundbreaking book, Healing with Medicinal Plants of the West: Cultural and Scientific Basis for Their Use. The new revision to the 3rd edition will be available for purchase and signing at the workshop.

As an Associate Professor of Pharmacology at the prestigious University of Southern California, Dr. Adams has been teaching pharmacy students, medical students, doctors and other healthcare professionals for over 25 years while researching the natural pharmaceutical compounds in native plants. He has over 200 publications.

Running parallel with his academic career, Dr. Adams has worked with the Chumash people since 1998 and studied Chumash healing with Cecilia Garcia for almost 15 years. In addition to their book, they wrote 30 journal articles together. Dr. Adams is now the carrier of the healing knowledge passed to him by his teacher. “Humans have used plant medicines ever since humans came into existence, about 200,000 years ago,” Dr. Adams explains in the book. “That means that our ancestors experienced an intense natural selection. Those who responded to plant medicines survived and passed their genes on. We are the products of this natural selection. Our bodies are designed to respond to plant medicines.”

Summer Medicinal Plant Workshop with Dr. James Adams of USC School of Pharmacy, co-author of Healing with Medicinal Plants of the West

• Ojai: Saturday, June 17, 2017   9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m
• Identify edible and medicinal plants on a walk and learn preparations in a kitchen
• Cost: $75
• Register at www.HerbWalks.com or by phone at 805-646-6281