Maxwell Museum Offers a Place at Mother Earth’s Table

The University of New Mexico NEWS RELEASE

Media contact: Karen Wentworth (505) 277-5627 kwent2@unm.edu April 13, 2009 Maxwell Museum Offers a Place at Mother Earth’s Table Free Event Allows Opportunity to Learn about, Sample Native Plants On Saturday, April 18, 2009 Maxwell Museum will celebrate wild plants of the Rio Grande region in an event that will allow visitors to learn about health benefits of local plants and sample them. The event will be from 1 to 4 p.m. on the UNM campus. For thousands of years people who lived off the land sampled and experimented with the many plants they encountered on their journeys. They searched for plants that nurtured the body and soul and those that could be used to sustain life in dire times of drought and famine. This vital information was encoded in stories and lessons that were passed from parent to child, equipping the new generation with the best available tools for survival in an environment that could be both benevolent and harsh. More recently, newcomers to the Southwest brought with them their own foods and cultural knowledge. Sharing of these traditions and the selected integration of wild plants provided benefits for all. Ethnobotanist Lisa Huckell will discuss the plants and their prehistoric and current uses for robust health. Please join us to explore the plants, learn their health benefits and sample them. Attendees will receive a resource guide describing plants and resources. For more information about the event, please contact Mary Beth Hermans at (505) 277-1400. ###

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