Wild Herbs at the Library

Come to the Ozark Regional Library, Fredericktown Branch at 6 p.m., March 24 to hear professor Kenneth R. Porter give a talk on herbs of the Ozarks.

Up in the “holler,” deep in the Ozarks, the old ways of using “Yarbs” persists. This presentation is the story of the herbs and their uses, which are often unique to the Ozarks. “Root Diggers” roamed the hills until just after World War II, and the old ways still live in pockets by the springs in the mossy oak forests. This is a journey with the spirits of goldenseal, black walnut, sassafras, plantain, echinacea, St. John’s wort, comfrey, skullcap, and the other plants and medicines of the rolling Ozark Plateau.

Kenneth R. Porter is an adjunct professor at Lindenwood University, St. Charles. He is retired after 33 years with the US Army Corps of Engineers. He has conducted conservation and Lewis and Clark programs for the Missouri Department of Conservation. He performs reenactments and manages his small farm for native and introduced herbs to use in his presentations.

This program is a production of The State Archives and the Speakers’ Bureau of Missouri working together in a joint effort to provide expert historians, storytellers, researchers and authors to share the special stories about Missouri’s culture, history, art and people.