There's a difference between having to be poor and choosing to be poor — or, as renowned French historian Jules Michelet once wrote, “He who knows how to be poor knows everything.” Nance Klehm, leads two workshops titled “Street Medicine” and “Plant Spirit Medicine” through the streets and vacant lots of Los Angeles. Klehm, author of the “Weedeater” column in the soon-to-be-deceased Arthur magazine, will teach you how to identify naturally occurring plants in the urban jungle, and which ones can be made safely into liniments and salves for medicinal uses. It's a very hands-on experience (thistles and nettles notwithstanding) and, over the course of two hours, you'll taste the very weeds that grow under your feet in this foray into urban homesteading. After the zombie/economic / asteroid meltdown (circle one or more) goes down, this is your chance to be prepared after Drugtown has been looted. A foraged lunch and teas will also be provided — save me a bowl! Sat., Feb. 19-Sun., Feb. 20, 10 a.m., $165 for two days / $90 a day, various locations throughout downtown Los Angeles — nettlesting@yahoo.com for information.

Sat., Feb. 19, 10 a.m.; Sun., Feb. 20, 10 a.m., 2011

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