Nibbling on Native Plants in Your Backyard and Beyond
Russ Cohen, expert forager and author of Wild Plants I Have Known…and Eaten, joins us for a presentation featuring two dozen species of native edible wild plants suitable for adding to your own landscape, or nibbling on as you encounter them in other locales. Keys to the identification of each species will be provided, along with edible samples, and cooking recipes.
Russ will also include guidelines for sustainable foraging and share a few details regarding some native edible plants he has grown successfully from seed. Exploring the partnerships he has made with conservation groups, like the Norman Bird Sanctuary Russ will share the benefit of adding edible native plants to their landscapes. Last but not least, Russ will bring several samples of foraged goodies made with native species for folks to sip and nibble on.
Russ Cohen, expert forager and author of Wild Plants I Have Known…and Eaten, joins us for a presentation featuring two dozen species of native edible wild plants suitable for adding to your own landscape, or nibbling on as you encounter them in other locales. Keys to the identification of each species will be provided, along with edible samples, and cooking recipes.
Russ will also include guidelines for sustainable foraging and share a few details regarding some native edible plants he has grown successfully from seed. Exploring the partnerships he has made with conservation groups, like the Norman Bird Sanctuary Russ will share the benefit of adding edible native plants to their landscapes. Last but not least, Russ will bring several samples of foraged goodies made with native species for folks to sip and nibble on.
About the Speaker:
Until his retirement in June of 2015, Russ Cohen’s “day job” was serving as the Rivers Advocate for the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game’s Division of Ecological Restoration, where one of his areas of expertise was in riparian vegetation. Now Russ has more time to pursue his passionate avocation, which is connecting to nature via his taste buds, and assisting others in doing the same.
Russ is now playing the role of “Johnny Appleseed” for edible native species. He has set up a small nursery outside of Boston, where he grows/keeps over 1,000 plants that he propagates from seed (some of which he collected himself), as well as obtains from other sources, such as the Native Plant Trust. He is then partnering with land trusts, cities and towns, schools and colleges, state and federal agencies, organic farms, tribal groups and others to plant plants from his nursery in appropriate places on their properties. Russ has initiated over two dozen such projects in the past six years.
Until his retirement in June of 2015, Russ Cohen’s “day job” was serving as the Rivers Advocate for the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game’s Division of Ecological Restoration, where one of his areas of expertise was in riparian vegetation. Now Russ has more time to pursue his passionate avocation, which is connecting to nature via his taste buds, and assisting others in doing the same.
Russ is now playing the role of “Johnny Appleseed” for edible native species. He has set up a small nursery outside of Boston, where he grows/keeps over 1,000 plants that he propagates from seed (some of which he collected himself), as well as obtains from other sources, such as the Native Plant Trust. He is then partnering with land trusts, cities and towns, schools and colleges, state and federal agencies, organic farms, tribal groups and others to plant plants from his nursery in appropriate places on their properties. Russ has initiated over two dozen such projects in the past six years.
