>>Paul, when most people think of taking a walk in the woods, they just think of that they're gonna be able to relax and have this wonderful experience, but your experience of a walk in the woods is very different than that, so explain it to us.

>>Yeah, so when I'm out in the woods, there's multiple layers to my surroundings.

When I first started going out in the woods, I grew up in the suburbs, so I was used to lawns and parks and things like that, but as I started becoming more aware of everything that was out there from the animals to the plants, to even the rocks and the soil itself, my awareness started to open up and plants is one of those things that it's really hard for people to start to see.

Birds, it's pretty easy, everyone knows- >>Correct, different colors that fly around.

>>Yeah, exactly.

>>Plants are all green.

>>Yeah, it looks like just one big curtain of green out there, but the more you look, the closer you look, there's a lot out there to really learn about.

>>And there's so many facets to learn about too and to understand how important plants are to the wildlife in the woods.

Paul, I've never heard of the Living Earth School.

Could you please tell us about it?

>>Yeah, it's a school based out of Charlottesville, Virginia, and we offer programs to youth as well as adults.

We have homeschool programs throughout the year.

We also have summer camps that are pretty well known in the area, so we teach naturalist skills and survival skills.

>>That's fascinating.

Do you have a lot of participants?

>>We do, and the numbers keep growing.

In fact, since the pandemic, people have been really trying to get outside and it's really opened the doors for them to learn more about their surroundings.

>>That's fantastic.

I'm so glad there's a way for people to learn more about our outdoors, so thank you.

>>Yeah.

>>There's so much plants provide for us, even down to this persimmon tree.

Can you tell us more about it?

>>Well, the American persimmon has these beautiful orange fruits that it gets a little later in the year.

Right now, it's covered in the fruits.

They're green, but you wouldn't wanna take a bite out of them right now 'cause they're so astringent, and even when they start to turn a little bit of orange, it's tempting to take a bite out of them, but you really have to wait.

However, when they are ripe, they're delicious.

They're very sweet, they're easy to dehydrate, and they're also good forage for all of the animals out there, the raccoons, the opossums.

In fact, sometimes it's hard to get to them before the critters do, but it's a very important food source for a lot of the wildlife.

>>And when you say ripe, there is a certain time after we've had a good cold snap the starches will convert to sugars, and even the animals know that.

>>Yeah.

>>If you want some, you've gotta be right Johnny on the spot.

Yep.

>>Yep, the fruit will even start to wrinkle a little bit and that's another good indicator that you're on the right track, you're at the right time.

>>Yes, do we have any fruit to show?

>>Yeah, we picked up a couple here.

This one is, this is what most of the fruit look like right now.

This one has that orange color.

That pretty characteristic of it.

>>Very tempting.

>>It feels soft, I wanna pop it in my mouth, but I know better because I've been tricked like many other folks to take a taste test of the unripe persimmons.

Kind of a rite of passage, but it's something you could avoid if you want to, you know, just take our word for it.

>>Yes.

Wait for that good cold frost and then go out there.

What else do you see around us that kind of pops out as something that's beneficial?

>>I mean, there's things like wild grape growing in the thicket right over here.

There's pine trees, which every single pine tree can be used in some sort of survival situation, even as far as wild food goes.

There's a black walnut tree, which is actually pretty common in the area and they're all throughout most people's neighborhoods and I'm sure most people know their kids come back with their hands all dyed brown from playing with the husks, but there's edible quality to it as well.

In fact, I've seen bags of hulled black walnuts sold in the grocery stores for exorbitant amounts of money, and yet they're just, they're littering people's yards and they rake 'em up and bag 'em and send them off.

>>Yes, I think they're smart to capitalize on that.

>>Yeah, exactly.

>>It's so interesting to know all the plants around us that have, I'll say plants with a purpose, but are there other areas with plants for us to see?

>>Yeah, there's plenty of other areas.

Would you like to go take a look?

>>Sure, I'd love to, yes.

Well, Paul, where'd you pick that up?

>>Well, I found this cattail down by the edge of the pond.

It's one of my favorite survival plants.

It's got utilitarian purposes, such as thatching and insulation, but it's also got some edible qualities.

Right now, the plant's putting all its energy down into the roots.

>>Right, 'cause it's fall.

>>Yeah.

>>Plants are doing that.

>>These roots are full of starch, so all winter long, even when the greens go away, if you know where to dig 'em, you have access to carbohydrates, which can be kind of rare out in the woods.

>>Particularly a lot of protein, but few carbohydrates.

>>Yes.

>>Yes.

So it makes a tea, right?

>>It's something that you can take the starches from the root and use those starches in some sort of baked good or porridge.

However, there are roots that can be made into tea, such as in the sassafras tree.

>>A favorite of mine, yes.

>>Yeah, the bark of the roots gives this like beautiful reddish-orange tea that's reminiscent of root beer, and if you sweeten it and add a little bit of sparkling water, it almost tastes like the soda itself.

>>Interesting.

You know, you mentioned a reddish-orange color because this plant turns red-orange in the fall, making it beautiful for the landscape.

>>Yeah, definitely, it's something that would be wonderful to plant around your house, for sure.

>>Yeah, my kids always called this either the mitten tree or the dinosaur tree 'cause the leaves are either in the shape of a mitten or a dinosaur.

>>Yeah, those very distinct lobes make it a easy tree to identify.

>>Very easy.

>>There's a few more things down the trail.

Would you like to check it out?

>>I'd love to.

>>All right.

Up here on the right is some green briar.

>>Okay.

>>It's a vine that's covered in thorns, but on the very ends of the stems, they get these shoots of new growth that are really delicious.

>>Oh, really?

I didn't know you could eat those.

>>Yeah, they're really good.

They're very tender.

They just snap off and you can cook them up.

They're also really good forage for deer and other wildlife.

>>As a gardener that that plant is not a favorite because even the roots have thorns on them.

>>Yes.

>>Making it quite a challenge.

>>It's a very formidable plant.

>>It is very formidable, and you know, just because it's native, doesn't mean it's a great plant for the garden.

>>Exactly.

>>But I'm glad the deer like it.

(laughs) >>Yeah.

>>You've got some great plants here.

Big, beautiful alders and gorgeous witch-hazels.

What else do you have growing along here?

>>Up here on the right, there's a black locust tree.

>>Oh, I love black locust, but again, it's a very thorny native plant.

>>It is, it's interesting in it's use around planting so it can fix nitrogen in the soil, which is a nutrient that other plants need.

>>Very important, yes.

>>Yeah, and over here we've got this spice bush.

>>Oh, I'm a spice bush fan.

I love the fragrance of the leaves.

It's a super easy way to identify this very common green plant, we'll call it.

>>Right, and this time of the year, the berries are all turning red so they're quite beautiful.

>>But what can you use spice bush for?

>>Well, spice bush is good for teas.

You can use the leaves, or even the stems in the wintertime when the leaves are gone, and the berries can be dried and ground into a powder and used as like an allspice replacer.

>>Oh, a nice flavor, wonderful.

You know, as we've taken this walk and you've been able to point out plants, it's really helpful to show people that while they walk through woods, they're walking by a bunch of green plants, but so many of 'em have attributes that can be used for so many different purposes so I thank you for taking the time to do this.

>>Yeah, you're welcome.