Invasive plants can present a serious challenge when it comes to the health of our ecosystems – they can crowd out plants that are beneficial to our pollinators, leading to a lack of biodiversity and even species decline.

And yet, plants like barberry, knotweed, purple loosestrife, and mugwort are some of our oldest medicines, and we are still discovering new ways they can support us.

In this class we’ll discuss the nuance around the concept of invasive plants and learn how we can work with them in a responsible way to support our own wellness. We’ll also discuss how we can be better stewards of the land around us and have a positive impact on our local ecosystems.

About the instructor:Ali Rohde is an herbalist, forager, and land-tender living on the land of the Lenape people in what is now called Sussex County, New Jersey.

She has been foraging and studying herbal medicine more formally for a decade, studying at the Herbal Academy of New England and completing the Vitalist Herbal Practitioner program with Sajah Popham at the School of Evolutionary Herbalism.

Her specialty is working with nourishing, abundant wild plants, and her passion is empowering people to work with the herbs that grow right outside their doors. She teaches herbalism classes, leads foraging walks, and offers land restoration consultations through Brigid Rising.