Wildcraft! board game plants the seed of eco-awareness in young minds

I am one of countless people in Seattle who chooses to use natural remedies as my first line of defense for cold and flu prevention and first aid. I'm also married to a die-hard gardener who has filled our backyard with organically grown berries and veggies. My heart swelled with pride this past summer as my toddler daughter learned to identify carrots and strawberries and munched on tender peas right off the vine. I'm eager to teach her how to safely and reverently appreciate nature, and that's what makes Wildcraft! An Herbal Adventure Game so exciting to me.

Wildcraft! is a board game for ages four to adult, co-created by Carnation-based husband and wife John and Kimberly Gallagher with the intention of connecting kids to nature. Both John and Kimberly apprenticed at RavenCroft Garden in Startup, Wash. and have extensive knowledge of medicinal herbs. John is also an acupuncturist who worked at the Wilderness Awareness School for 20 years. Kimberly, a former teacher, has her Masters in Education from Antioch and is a storyteller and board-game lover. Together with artist Beatriz Mendoza, the Gallaghers launched the first edition of Wildcraft! in 2006.

The goal of the game, now in its third edition, is for players to make their way from Grandma's house up the mountain to the huckleberry patch and bring back two pails of berries before nightfall. Players start the game with plants like Dandelion and Echinacea in their "gathering pouch" and pick up more plants along the way to help with challenges they encounter, like sore muscles or a scraped knee. Once a player reaches the berry patch, he or she can stay and collect enough pails for each player. In the end, it's not about competition, it's about education and cooperation.

Along the way, players are reminded of the importance of sustainably harvesting plants. Wildcrafting means respectfully harvesting a plant in such a way that it is able to propagate itself the next season. Safety is also stressed. Parents are urged to remind their children to only pick plants on clean, well-cared-for land (no eating blackberries that grow by the freeway!) while under adult supervision. Most crucially, proper identification is stressed, and none of the plants in the game have poisonous look-alikes.

Wildcraft! is not about teaching herbalism. There's no medical information in the game, or recipes for using the plants. As John Gallagher puts it, "the game is meant to reconnect kids with the world outside where plants have given us gifts and acknowledge that plants that can help us with food and medicine."

Plus, it's fun.

Wildcraft! sells for $29.95 and can be purchased at The Herbalist in Ravenna or online at the Gallaghers' Web site, www.learningherbs.com.

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