The IUN Anthropology Club is sponsoring a two-day workshop on Native American
herbs and medicines.  The dates are the weekend of June 10-11, and there are
several spaces left.  The workshop will be taught by Shawnee herbalist Patsy
Clarke and held at Bittersweet Cultural Center (Patsy's home and herb farm) near
Rochester, Indiana, about 75 miles to the southeast of the IUN campus.  You will
spend two pleasant days outdoors and indoors at a site dedicated to the
preservation of native plants and ancient customs, and be exposed to a worldview
that is probably quite different from your own; it is both informative about
plants and an ethnographic experience.  Patsy will teach students to identify
and process indigenous plants and understand their traditional uses; emphasis is
also placed on the role of this traditional women's knowledge in the culture of
local tribes.  Workshop includes information and demonstrations of traditional
uses of sacred plants for smudging, sweating, etc. as well as for traditional
salves, tinctures, etc.  Course is for historical information only, and does not
imply medicinal effectiveness of plants.

This is a short version of the three-day, one-credit-hour course that Patsy
teaches for IUSB and used to teach for IUN; the differences are that meals will
be provided, students can spend the night there camping or in the lodge (saves
gas), there are no homework assignments nor papers to write nor exams, and it
will be much cheaper than the usual tuition and special materials fees for the
credit course.  We will try to help with car pooling.

Patsy will lead us through acres of her wooded property, identifying and
gathering herbs, and we probably will make some sort of lotion or salve from
those materials.  She will tell us about the traditional uses of dozens of
plants: medicinal, food, and material.  I have done this a couple of times
before and it is a unique experience.  A testimonial from one of her students
can be found at:   http://home.earthlink.net/~marshcarr/id40.html

Other features of this workshop: meet there Saturday am, bonfire Saturday night,
camping in your own tents or stay in the lodge (there are a few cots, bring a
sleeping bag and maybe an air mattress for cots or floor), The meals that her
cook provides can be vegetarian or other special needs, let us know.  Either of
these books will help with identifying plants and determining their traditional
uses; both of them were the assigned readings for the credit course, so if you
can obtain either, bring it along:
Hutchens, A.    Handbook of Native American Herbs   1992 ISBN 0877736995
Foster S. & Duke J.    A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs of Eastern
North America (Peterson Field Guides) 2nd Revised Edition, Jan 2000     ISBN
0395988144

If you want to leave with samples to make a portfolio of the plants you have
identified, you might consider bringing paper envelopes or plastic sandwich bags
in addition to a notebook.  Wear layers of clothing with long pants and shoes
and socks to protect from plant life as we will be hiking a bit, but be able to
layer off for warm afternoons; and bring a cap to keep off the sun.  Sun tan
lotion and insect repellent are good ideas, too.

More info on the Bittersweet Center and Patsy’s biography can be found at:
http://www.bittersweetnow.org/

If you want to attend, please email both myself and Torie Lacny (the club
president) ASAP as it is filling up; the workshop costs $150 per person, but the
club will chip in quite a bit of money from the One Dollar Booksale proceeds:
The club will pay $100 of the $150 for all Anthro Club members, past and
present, and the same for all IUN anthro students, past and present, and also
for IUN faculty; so for all these folks, including anyone who has ever helped
out at the dollar booksale, it will cost only $50 each plus gas, and given that
this includes meals, it is like a free workshop.  For other IUN students and
people on the Anthro email list, and for guests and friends, the club will
contribute a lesser amount depending on the total number and the total budget.
Email Rmucci@iun.edu and vlacny@iun.edu right away if you are interested, and
give us any food restrictions too.


I have not been there in a few years, but here are my driving directions from then:
Take US 30 east towards Plymouth; on US 30 you will cross US 35 and then Indiana
23, and then look for the sign directing you to turn right for Culver and Culver
Academy; follow the sign by turning right onto Rose Road (it’s a country lane);
(if you miss the turn onto Rose Road, don’t panic, just stay on US 30 until you
come to Plymouth and take Indiana 17 south to Culver – its about 15 minutes
longer that way).  On Rose Road proceed south past the cows until it becomes
Sycamore and then joins Indiana 17.  Stay on 17 south for about eight miles past
Culver and watch for County Road 400N – I remember a sign at the corner pointing
east to Leiter’s Ford (it’s a place, not a car dealership).  Go east on county
400N for about a mile and watch for the Bittersweet sign in the trees on your
left at 8642 W 400 North; actually I found it easier to look for the “Caution
Blind Driveway” sign on your right, it is exactly across the road from Patsy’s.
 The phone # there is either 574-542-2506 or 574-542-4063.  To get a map, go to
Google maps and type in: 8642 W County Road 400 N Rochester, IN 46975; note it
is about six miles to the northwest of Rochester.