Meet Lady Danni Morinich

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lady Danni Morinich a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Lady Danni, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?

When my father died, I was looking for a way to connect with him, since my only brother and my mother were dealing with their own grief. Because my dad had been a small game, hunter and a fisherman, I thought the woods would be the best place to reconnect with him. Being a city girl, without any experience, and here to for, no desire to go out in nature, I thought it might be a good idea to connect with some people who had experience.

Since I wasn’t a hiker or runner, a foraging meet-up by Wild Foodies caught my eye. I never knew that one meet-up would change my life so dramatically.

It wasn’t that I found my purpose, it’s that by going completely out of my comfort level and connecting with nature, my purpose found me.

Suddenly I went from weekend brunches with bottomless mimosas, to scouring the ground for weeds. And after going to virtually every meet-up for about a year, the head of the Wild Foodies group, suggested I start leading foraging walks. At first, I resisted because I didn’t feel I knew enough but I was really interested, so I was constantly reading about these plants searching out, folktales in history, and medicinal constituents.

It’s so completely opposite from anything I was doing before. I mean it was so sudden and so hard. It really was, I went to the first meet-up and I never stopped going.

I think the only way I knew it was my purpose is because I had absolutely no control over it. It wasn’t something that I thought, “Hey I’ll do this.” This was something that hit randomly and hard, but when I allowed myself to go with it , many other opportunities opened. I mean there’s been things. I’ve tried really hard to make work, and try as I might things didn’t come together. But this, I fell into, and yet by relinquishing control and doing it, even when I wasn’t in my comfort zone, has opened the door to a whole New World.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

Although it has overtaken my life, I still work full-time in medical publishing, and that actually works to my advantage because when I’m not working, I have access to medical journals, so I can to research, plants, and their constituents.

I offer workshops, and Foraging tours mostly for organizations who then offer it to their community. I love it when people value what I bring and are willing to pay me, but I’m also grateful for what this experience has afforded me and since knowledge is power, I still do a number of free tours, and have offered my services for fundraising for organizations in the urban, green and agriculture community.

There’s also been an awakening, and a desire to reclaim some of these old ways. For some of us, where movement of family sometimes internationally has distanced us from cultures or grandparents, many of these practices that were once prevalent have disappeared.

And in the antebellum south in many states after the Civil War, foraging was prohibited as a way of keeping the newly freed slaves indentured. If you can’t forage and supplement the food, you’re able to grow, which choice do you have but to be a sharecropper and work on someone else’s land. So, in many respects, but um, your existence, as a blackforager is a rebellious act.

Many people only forage for food,, we get loads of people wanting to go out during berry or pawpaw season but I’m extremely interested in the medicinal plants that we’re stepping on all the time.

I think when you get to know that weed, and see it’s value it’s a mindshift that makes you appreciate that plant; see it in a different light. It’s no longer a weed, it’s a plant that has nutritive and curative value. and that’s why, a la Prince, I call, these great ignored & unloved botanicals “ the plants, formally known as weeds.”

So what I try, and do, with stories folktales, and science, is to reconnect people with old ways, that help them reconnect with nature, Eating wild food is a great way to add diversity into the gut biome to help maintain our overall health, and the time spent in nature gathering these things is a great way to introduce more physical activity, as well as absorb the positive health benefits that studies show are achieved by spending as little as 20 minutes in nature.

I think by getting that message out we make people not only want to, take advantage of the benefits of nature. And then you create a community that enjoys nature and will work to protect it. And that means when municipalities cut down trees or cover playgrounds with artificial turf, you’re willing to fight for it, because you appreciate nature you’ve got skin in this game. My hope is that a foraging walk with me is like listening to the Pied Piper at the edge of a rabbit hole. You come closer to hear the stories. A step more for the recipe. And the next thing you know you’re interested in healthy options, sustainability, and writing letters, encouraging your representatives to preserve green space and do more for climate issues.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

1. Do your best, your personal best.
Others can do things differently. They may even do it better than you, but that’s their personal best, not yours.

2. Release .
I’m a type A personality and release of control has been difficult for me, but once I realized I didn’t have to know all the answers I just had to be there and willing to try my best, it freed me. Now I just do the best I can do and once that’s done it’s done, it sinks or swims on its own.

3. Stay ready.
Read, study, practice, make. Regardless of your field do whatever you need to do to hone your skills. By doing that you’re in a good place to take advantage of the next opportunity. If you stay ready you don’t have to get ready.

Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?

Stress and overwhelm are very real issues. I’m working a full-time job and then my weekends are booked out months in advance with tours and workshops.

I’m a big list maker but I also have a paper calendar I make sure that if my schedule is tight that I calendar time outs just to meet with friends or to do something fun.

I also watch my diet and get regular movement. We live in the Italian market Philadelphia’s oldest open air market, so we have access to lots of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Even when I’m tired I make sure there are enough fruits and vegetables to make something healthy. I think when you eat, processed foods or takeaways you weaken your immune system and with a busy schedule I need to stay healthy and focused.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://landedgentress.com
• Instagram: LadyDanni1
• Facebook: LandedGentress
• Linkedin: Danni Morinich
• Twitter: Landed Gentress
• Youtube: LadyDanni

Image Credits

All pictures on my own.
@ladydanni1