Hi my name is Nancy and I have lived in Anchorage for the last 4 years. I currently work on JBER as an ecology technician and have been doing bird, small mammal, and vegetation surveys around the base. I love to hike and berry pick in the summers to make jellies and jams, which has helped me learn some of the edible and poisonous plants in Southcentral Alaska. I am taking this course because I would like to not only be able to identify what a species is in general, but also understand the different parts and to be able to distinguish family characteristics between plants. My current favorite plant that I see on trails is Yarrow, since it can be used as a bug repellent and always seems to be around when I really need it. I also have made tea with the flowers in the past and really enjoyed it. I can’t wait to learn from this course and improve on my plant identifications!
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Welcome Nancy,
Sounds like your job might allow you to really get into this class and observe all kinds of vegetation. Yarrow is really becoming abundant these days around Fairbanks. I have to admit I have not used it much other than for flower arrangement. How do you use it as a bug repellent. Just rub the stems on your skin or do you actually boil the stems and make some sort of tincture? Sounds interesting.
Filson has all kinds of recipes for yarrow use… https://www.filson.com/blog/how-to/diy-yarrow-bug-repellent/. The image is from their site too.