My Urban Foraging Class - Pragmatic Mom

I took a foraging class with David Craft. He’s a cancer researcher in Cambridge, MA in his free time when he’s not foraging. He also wrote the book Urban Foraging: Finding and eating wild plants in the city.

This is my second foraging class. The first one I forced my kids and husband to come with me. The kids rebelled and left halfway through the class and they troll me by telling me that the plant is edible but I consider that a win.

Only one person in this class mentioned Armageddon as the motivation for signing up for the class. Honestly, that’s not my worry. I just like to find snacks when I’m on a walk in the woods or even the marathon route of Heartbreak Hill near my house. You’d be surprised how many plants and trees in people’s yards are edible even though they are grown for their ornamentation value. Most of the other people in the class just like learning about edible plants. One person was even studying landscape design.

Also, I learned that most of the “weeds” that I pull from my yard are edible. Oops! I think I may try to harvest them instead in the future. I pulled up huge piles of minty-scented “weeds” only to discover, because of this class, that I pulled up mugwort, a plant that can be used for tea. It’s supposed to be good for headaches and anxiety but also has a pleasant taste, especially when mixed with mint, which I grow in great abundance.

I also learned about an app, Picture This, which is NOT free but is great for identifying plants. You just take a photo and it scans the photo and identifies the plant for you. It tells you which plants are edible by classifying them as “nontoxic to humans.” LOL, that’s another way to say that you can eat it without getting sued!

How about you? Do you like learning about edible plants? Which ones are your favorites?

p.s. Related posts:

Picture Books to Inspire Foraging

Edible Plants & Foraging In My Neighborhood

Hiking and Camping Books for Kids

Children’s Books about Sustainable Farms

Picture Books on Growing A Garden

Tropical Culinary Garden in Hawaii

Our Hike to Queen’s Bath in Kauai Hawaii

Family Challenge: 8 Mile (Death Defying) Hike

A Year in The Secret Garden Interview

Butterfly Garden

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