Terravita Desert Appreciation Program - January 20, 2004

                                                          by Fran Wylie

The fifty or so attendees of this evening's event were treated to two wonderfully talented and entertaining speakers on our topic for the evening, "Desert Medicinal Plants and Herbs."

The first was Diane Vaszily who, among other activities, teaches at Paradise Valley Community College and The Desert Botanical Gardens. Her enthusiasm and love of the desert and its plants is contagious. While she holds a master's degree in Science Education, she has learned much from her long and close connection with the desert's indigenous peoples. She has even been given her own Indian name. Her love and respect for the desert causes her to always ask three questions: What lives here? What should be here? And, what will grow here?

Diane, who came to Arizona from Pennsylvania in 1992, seeks out healers, and works with a Cherokee healer. She indicates that most Shaman information here is obtained by word of mouth. She pointed out that our area is rich in medicinal plants. These plants have traditionally been used for healing, food and rituals. She encouraged us to walk through the desert and touch and sniff.

We were treated to a wonderful handout containing a list of nearly 30 plants; she tried to say something about each one. However, she spent most of her time on the "top three" - creosote, mesquite and the prickly pear. Creosote is the most aromatic and is considered the medicine of life for it has many uses as an anti-microbial and an anti-fungal, primarily as teas and ointments. She makes creosote ointment by crushing leaves and adding them to a glycerin base. Mesquite, known as the tree of life, also has many uses, in particular as a food. Diane mentioned its use as a decongestant and in a treatment for eye irritation, its sap being useful as a lozenge, and the custom of Native American men using the bark to make hair dye. The prickly pear, a protected plant, can be used as a poultice for bee stings, contusions, blisters, warts and burns.

Lynne Hoss, who has written and educated about the desert for twenty years, came prepared with tasting samples (prickly pear tea, mesquite cookies, mesquite flour) and provided demonstrations of how to prepare several things. She prepared mesquite-pod flour by grinding pods in a blender, and she demonstrated how to handle and prepare prickly pear pads for making salsa, jelly, candy, syrup and garnish for salads, soups and stews. There was also discussion of the edible uses of saguaro fruit, Mormon tea and juniper.

The evening added tremendously to our growing knowledge, understanding and appreciation for the wonderful desert in which we live.