A modern day medicine woman

By Becky Johnson • Staff Writer SmokyMountainNews.com   Watch for this name: Ila Hatter. She’s a woman you want to go hiking with.On a guided walk along the Appalachian Trail in Graham County last weekend, Hatter pointed out dozens of wild plants that could be used in the kitchen or as medicines. Every few steps, there went Hatter — veering off the trail to fondle this or that plant, sometimes plucking its leaves to pass around for a sniff or a nibble, sometimes lifting it out by the roots or scratching away the bark on a stem, all the while purporting its various traits and uses. One of the first finds was jewel weed, a common plant known to stop the itch of poison ivy or insect stings. Hatter broke open a stem, milked a thick, oozy liquid to the surface, then passed it around. “This sap acts like cortisone,” Hatter said. She shared the recipe for a skin concoction known to stop just about any itch, sting or burn: jewel weed, witch hazel, cucumber and aloe. Hatter puts the four plants in a blender, then freezes dollops of them in an ice cube tray, popping them out and thawing when needed. Hatter truly loves to live off the land. The leaves of the toothwort, prized for its horseradish flavor, often end up in Hatter’s lunch bag. “I’ve been known to take a roast beef sandwich hiking and look for this and make it my lettuce and condiment,” Hatter said. Hatter was soon jabbing her walking stick at a May apple in bloom, describing the fruit that would soon...

Appalachian Healing Traditions

Talk for Cleveland Symposium – April 4, 2007 My herbal training began with the plant-lore passed down through my Tennessee ancestors who settled Texas.  My great-great-grandfather is the one who said “Remember the Alamo”.  And his line comes down from Pocahontas, whose mother was Cherokee. One of the words used for her people meant “bark- eater”, because they were known for their healing remedies.  I believe that can be an inherited gene just like musical talent or mathematical ability. More than ½ my life as been spent living and learning from Appalachian mountain people including the traditional Cherokee.  For more than 30 years I was privileged to be the student of the first writer of Foxfire, Marie Mellinger.  A true Ethnobotanist before the term was even coined.  She recently passed away at age 92.  Her former husband was an Ojibwa from Wisconsin.  I inherited all of her botanical slides and papers and among them are 40 yr old photographs of Ojibwa Chiefs in their native dress.  It seems most appropriate that these photographs should go home with these honored guests from the Ojibwa nation. The Healing Traditions of Appalachia, or Folk Remedies, are mingled with the herbal knowledge of the Iroquois and other Woodland Indians.  When the first European colonists came to this unknown country, they brought familiar plants and seeds for food and medicines, as well as the available herb books of that age. Namely Gerard’s Herbal and Culpepper’s. This gave them a working knowledge of about 300 formulas.  They soon found that their Indian neighbors, of whom the Cherokee were the most numerous tribe, were trained in...

Marie’s Memorial Jan 27, 2007

By Ila Hatter In the early spring of 1975, Marie Mellinger, botanist and naturalist from Tiger, Ga. And Mary Nikas, Executive  Director of the Hambidge Center, were on a Botanical Soc. Trip to the Okeefenokee Swamp when they began discussing possible environmental programs for the Center. “Reading the Landscape”, a two or three day seminar based on succession study was one program that seemed perfect for the Hambidge Center. Then, almost as an after-thought, Marie suggested that a “fun” way to learn a lot of plants and their uses might be a weekend program introducing people to wild edibles as a diet supplement, not for survival necessarily. They decided to try both programs and planned the wild edibles program not only to identify edibles in the wild, but also to give actual experience in gathering, preparing and eating them. A dozen or so people, mostly from Atlanta and Rabun County, signed up for the first seminar in May 1975.  There was a wide range of backgrounds, interests, and age… but all were interested in eating weeds, roots, nuts, berries, and the like, for their own reasons.  The result was an instant success.  The group enjoyed themselves immensely and much to their surprise found this wild food not only “not bad”, but really good… good enough to add some items to their diet. To really use some new foods… foods out of old fields, roadsides and fence corners. The Center reported the weekend in its column in the Clayton Tribune and Bob Harrell picked it up for his Sunday camping column in Atlanta Journal Constitution “And the rest is History”!...

Graham County

This territory of lush forestland cultivates an attitude of ease from its high-elevation perch in the western point of the state. By Beth Teague Used with permission from Our State magazine and from the author. Breathtaking scenery doesn’t just complement life in Graham County — it characterizes the county itself. More than 60 percent of the county’s 433 square miles is managed by the U.S. Forest Service, meaning the land is relatively undeveloped and residents enjoy easy access to both the Nantahala National Forest and Great Smoky Mountains National Park. A section of the Appalachian Trail also winds through Graham County, and outdoor enthusiasts who prefer water enjoy the pristine beauty of three lakes and nationally renowned trout streams. Located far to the west near the Tennessee border, Graham County is home to approximately 8,000 residents, 10 percent of whom live in the county seat of Robbinsville. Life here is so relaxed, visitors from more metropolitan areas of North Carolina may wonder how Graham County can be part of the same state, as it seems a world away from crowded city life. This slow pace is a primary reason why many natives stay in Graham County, and why those who once lived here eventually find their way back. “It’s amazing to wake up each day and experience the quality of life we have here,” says Claudie Burchfield, a Graham County native who returned to the area from Georgia to work as the county’s planner and economic development director. “We still have the possibility of escape. You can’t get that in an urban environment.”   Cherokee ties The history of...

A Walk On The Wild Side

Ready for a Walk on the Wild Side? www.neworleansathleticclub.com Foragers have a talent for summer. First sign of warm weather and it’s into the woods they go, to hunt, to gather every wild thing good enough to eat. And much of it is good enough to eat. It’s called wildcrafting and it’s the latest rage. Stand in a pasture and inhale the fragrance — that’s what chickweed tastes like. Put some bite into summer by adding lemony purslane to fresh tomatoes and cucumbers; instead of radishes, toss a handful of peppery nasturtiums into a raw mix of chickweed, sorrel, dandelion, nettle and mustard. Sound radical? Part of the trend to voluntary simplicity, foraging or wildcrafting, the informed stalking of native plants, offers “wonderful flavors from the wild that can’t be bought,” says herbalist and folklorist, Ila Hatter, author of the cookbook, Roadside Rambles (published by Ironweed Productions). “You gain just by being out of doors walking, even if you don’t find ripe blackberries.” Wildcrafting’s a way for families to enjoy the natural world while developing survival skills. Sure there’s a learning curve, but it’s all part of the fun. Whether sifting through a marsh for fiddleheads, peering among spruce in search of morel mushrooms or just harvesting yarrow from the driveway, the thrill of the hunt is a big part of this novel experience in flavor and nutrition. Intense and unsubtle, wild edibles generally have a higher vitamin and mineral content than cultivated plants. And a diet based on plant foods appears to provide long-term health benefits. For most of us, used to lattes-to-go, the idea of collecting acorns...