Scooter Cheatham to again teach legendary "Weedfeed" course starting September 24, 2010

Scooter Cheatham is one of those amazing Austinites. He found his life's work in 1974 and has been working on it ever since. He also teaches the Weedfeed. He used to teach it regularly but these days the work on his life's work takes up so much of his time that he doesn't get around to teaching it. This is the first time he has taught it in at least 2 years.

So, if you have the time and money this is the time to do it.

Here is the text of their pdf which I can't locate at the moment.

WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT AIN’T
Weedfeed is Scooter Cheatham's legendary class on the Edible, Medicinal, and Otherwise Useful Wild Plants of Texas. The Fall Weed­feed and Spring Weedfeed classes are seven weeks packed with slide shows, field trips, native plants, wildflowers, food, the Weedfeed Ban­quet, and fun. The Speedy Weedfeeds are the half-day teaser/toe-in-the-water/refresher version. What it ain’t is about fertilizing your lawn or garden. In fact, after a healthy dose of Weedfeed, you’ll never look at your weeds (or any other plant) the same way again.

AND JUST WHO IS SCOOTER CHEATHAM?
Scooter Cheatham is, among other things, the founder and director of The Useful Wild Plants Project, so he knows of what he speaks. He started teaching this class in 1974 not long after he founded the Useful Wild Plants Project (see below).

WHAT IS THE USEFUL WILD PLANTS PROJECT?
The Useful Wild Plants Project is a monumental research and publishing project on the economic botany of the southern United States and northern Mexico titled The Useful Wild Plants of Texas, the Southeastern and South­western United States, the Southern Plains, and Northern Mexico. Volumes 1, 2, and 3 are out and Volume 4 is on the way. The 15 volumes will cover 4,000 species (give or take a few). The treatments include botanical descriptions (we're told that they contain good Scrabble words), color pictures, range maps, common names, and thousands of uses beginning with archeological evidence and exploring the historic and current uses of these plants for foods, medicines, utilitarian applications, landscape uses, new crops, and more.

THE GENERAL SET-UP OF THE CLASS
The class is 6 consecutive weeks of slide lectures, field trips, and campouts. Week 7 is the Weedfeed Banquet. There will be four or five Austin-area field trips (anywhere from a vacant lot in the middle of downtown to a park 40 or so miles away) and one or two weekend camping trips to distant lands (for a total of six). So if you sign up for the class, plan for a weekend or two out of town.

THE SLIDE LECTURES
The slide lectures are Fridays at 7:00 p.m. at 4700 Loyola Lane, Suite 104 (corner of Manor Rd. and Loyola Lane). They cover the plants for the week in detail, with pictures, identification, and uses.

SATURDAY FIELD TRIPS
The Saturday field trips start at 8:00 a.m. We visit various Austin-area locations (anywhere from the ever-relocating center of town to 40+ miles away). We visit parks, country roads, vacant lots, yards, gardens, alleys, flower beds, curbsides, wherever looks interesting.

THE CAMPING TRIPS
Usually the third and sixth weeks are trips to some distant and different location, though this can vary depending on what the plants are doing that season. We've camped and plant-watched in Big Bend, the Big Thicket, the Gulf Coast, and other botanical wonderlands.

THE WEEDFEED BANQUET
Yum! Each person brings a dish (plus a different one for each guest they invite) made from wild plants (tame ingredients allowed too).

A FEW THINGS TO CONSIDER AS YOU RUMINATE ABOUT WHETHER TO COMMIT SEVEN OF YOUR PRECIOUS WEEKENDS TO FLORAL FUN OR PUT IT OFF ANOTHER YEAR
You'll have even more fun than you think you will. And learn more too.

If you put it off now, you'll put it off later.

If you put it off now, we might not be doing it the year you decide to take it.

Six weeks really isn't that long and you don't really need to sleep late on Saturday morning.

Everybody misses a class or two; review is built in. So if you have to leave town to pick up your Nobel Peace Prize or go to cousin Lulu-Belle's third wedding or Uncle Buck’s sentencing, don't sweat it, you'll catch back up.

You'll learn a lot and can then regale others with your new-found knowledge.

The planet post-Weedfeed will be an even more interesting place that it is pre-Weedfeed.

The other people in the class are really nice and really interesting and they'll think the same about you.

You might need to know this stuff. Really.

WHO TAKES THIS CLASS?
Weedfeed is made up of an eclectic assortment of people with a wide variety of interests and a desire to learn about what is around them (no, you don't need to know anything about botany to take this class). It is also made up of an eclectic assortment of people who otherwise might not ever meet each other and find out how interesting they are, even if they did vote for the wrong political candidate and/or have blue hair (which these days can be found both on grandmother types and punkers, both of whom are part of the Weedfeed contingent, thank you). You must be 18 or over to take the class.

HOW MUCH is tuition?
Tuition for the seven week Fall Weedfeed of 2010 is $495 per person for early registration and rudely rises to $525 if you procrastinate and pay after 11:59 p.m. on Friday, September 17, 2010. Speedy Weedfeed is $75 per person. Space is limited. Prices may change without notice in the future. Specifics are announced when a class is scheduled.

WHEN is the next class?
This class starts Friday, September 24, at 6:30 p.m.

We do the long class in the spring and fall, but sometimes skip a season or two (or three) because of the writing and photography for the volumes. Speedy Weedfeeds occur as time permits. Email weedfeed01@gmail.com or call 512.928.4441 to be put on the notification list.

HOW DO I SIGN UP?
Sign the two page in small type No Naked Smoking Dogs With Guns Weedfeed Rule and Policy Form and return it with your payment. Call Lynn at 512.928.4441 or send an email to weedfeed01@gmail.com if you need a form. We can take cash, checks, and money orders. We do not take credit cards, IOUs, Monopoly money, or your first born. Nor do we barter, trade, work out payment plans, or sign you up for half a class. Make your tuition check out to Lynn Marshall. If you make it out to any other name it will be returned to you for replacement. Mail it to Lynn Marshall at 4700 Loyola Lane, Suite 104, Austin, Texas, 78723.


Questions? Call Lynn at 512-928-4441 or weedfeed01@gmail.com.

Here is an interview with Lynn and Scooter on the Useful Wild Plant project: