Why Foraging?
Foraging and cultivating wild/native plants is a “re-entry” into nature. This re-entry into nature connects art, ecology and community. Interviews with students have revealed a close genertaional bond with cultivating one’s food and outdoor experiences. Children routinely learn about ecology and growing food from their grandparents and rarely from people therir own age. It is an activity outdoors and a way to activate urban spaces and create unqiue experiences. Foraging and wild foods help expose the unsustainable food systems while offering an alternative. Foraging gives us motivation to experience hidden bounty but also the intrinsic value in native systems.
Urban foraging fits into a growing zeitgeist and is attractive to diverse, creative demographics. Social justice, ecology/sustainablity, and community engagement will draw emerging artists to the neighborhood. Foraging is a platform for “art-in-the-public sphere.”
Urban foraging fits into a growing zeitgeist and is attractive to diverse, creative demographics. Social justice, ecology/sustainablity, and community engagement will draw emerging artists to the neighborhood. Foraging is a platform for “art-in-the-public sphere.”
Chef Matthew Gobert on foraging outing, Columbus, IN
Organic agriculture has been able to provide jobs, be profitable, benefit the soil and environment, and support social interactions between farmers and consumers. Yet, no single type of farming can feed the world. Rather, what’s needed is a blend of organic and other innovative farming systems, including agroforestry, integrated farming, conservation agriculture, mixed crop/livestock, and still undiscovered systems.
John Reganold, Organic Agriculture Is Key to Helping Feed the World Sustainabily, UCS Science Network | February 3, 2016
One building did not create architecture in Columbus. Foraging/cultivating wild plants is a single positive step that can lead to great things. It is an opportunity as this point since it is foward-looking and part of the broader imperative we face in agriculture. Argriculture is really the starting point for addressing climate change and the environment. These are rooted in values and behaviors not technological “fixes” that give us the impression we can continue to consume in our fininte resources unsustainably.
One building did not create architecture in Columbus. Foraging/cultivating wild plants is a single positive step that can lead to great things. It is an opportunity as this point since it is foward-looking and part of the broader imperative we face in agriculture. Argriculture is really the starting point for addressing climate change and the environment. These are rooted in values and behaviors not technological “fixes” that give us the impression we can continue to consume in our fininte resources unsustainably.
Ground Cherry, early summer, 2015
Recommended reading
Lisa M. Rose. Midwest Foraging - 115 wild and flavorful edibles from burdock to wild peach, Timber Press, 2015
In Midwest Foraging, Lisa Rose entitles the preface, "Cultivating a Sense of Place." There is easier way to get one's food of course and it there is time invested in learning where, when, what, how to forage and prepare foraged food. However, our many short-cuts in life usually end up short-changing us. Being alienated from where we live and the natural world is a personal and collective sacrifice. it may not be for everyone but our urban and rural environments should be full of opportunities for everyone. Cultivating a sense of place can be a bit like a "runner's high" a feeling of euphoria that envelopes us as we discover the world around us in a deeper more meaningful way.
Foraging is a way to find interesting places. One may feel that foraging is just an excuse to get out there or that getting out there may be a good excuse to forage
K. Lair (River Rat series) 2016
K.Lair (River Rat Series) 2016
Wild apple at the Westbrook Artists' Site in Iowa (April 2014)
A considerable amount of foraging takes work and patience to produce the edible rewards. However, some foraging like wild apples can produce a vast amount of easy to find, collect and enjoy food. Michael Pollan's book, The Botany of Desire" tells the amazing story of Johnny Chapman (aka Johnny Appleseed.) The apples produced from seed tap into a vast store of genetic data to create unique apples to that specific location and tree. Cultivars are cloned trees (grafted.) There are over 2500 apple varieties in America that are preserved in a 50 acre orchard in upstate, New York at the Plant Genetic Resource Center.
One of the most popular apples (once the most popular) is the Red Delicious that originated in Madison County, Iowa at the farm of Jesse Hiatt. (near the Westbrook Artists' Site.) The earliest American apple is the Roxbury Russet dating back to the early 1600s. Despite an "apple goldrush" in which people sought to reproduced the best apples the naturalized "wild apple" produces amazing delights and seems far more fun to discover individual apples than to simply buy the same ole clones.
Please don't eat the clams
