Springtime Foraging Classes Are All the Rage! Says Black Coral Inc .Org

From foods to medicinals foraging can offer multiple cost saving and health benefits to your family

Whether you are a rookie gardener, first time mushroom forager or interested in lectures, classes or walks to learn about mushroom, or other foraging in New England the trend in gaining access to healthy food sources and foraging knowledge is growing by leaps and bounds!

Many people of all ages are seeking forager/teachers with practical skills and a firm knowledge base for identifying edible herbs, plants, and fungi in the wild. Many start by contacting the Audubon society because they’re the leaders in the book world for plant identification so they likely have sources locally plus there is an actual Audubon refuge in Mattapan. The Boston Nature Center a hidden gem in Mattapan offers a wide variety of programs for people of all ages. Whether you're new to nature or an outdoors aficionado, there's something for everyone to be found in this community nature center and wildlife sanctuary with trails that traverse meadows, woods, and wetlands. BNC is home to over 150 species of birds, 40 species of butterflies, and more than 350 species of plants.

Black Coral Inc . org has generated a list of the Top 5 Springtime Foraging Classes to include groups and foragers that schedule regular events and are currently active. Please email us about any broken links or incorrect links so we can keep the list updated. If you offer classes or scheduled foraging events feel free to contact us about potentially being added to the Summer/Fall list which will be featured in Black Coral Inc.'s relaunch of High Soaring Millennials Quarterly Magazine.

1. Misty Meadows Herbal Center (New England Foraging Spring Season) Instructor: Jess Daigle Date: Monday April 1 Time: 6-8 pm Cost: $60 In Person/Zoom Registration Deadline: Wednesday, March 27 at 12pm Min/Max: 5/20
   

2. Rome Conservation Area 351 Brookside Drive Gardner, MA 01440 Instructor: Grace Krupowski Date: Saturday April 20th April 20th 9-12 Spring Foraging (Townsend, MA) and Monday May 5th Wild Harvested Tinctures (Gardner, MA) Time: 9am April 10am May Herbalism series focusing on the wild medicinal plants found growing on our landscape. Grace will teach ethical foraging practices, how to find & identify wild plants, creating salves, tinctures, elixers, and teas. owleyeswilderness@gmail.com Cost:$50 Registration Deadline: 1 week before event Min/Max N/A tickets sold on Eventbrite
   

3. Edible Excursions ( Newton, Massachusetts) (Spring Foraging Walk: Hosted By Diana Introduction to Local Medicinal and Edible Plants) Guests should be comfortable walking on and off hiking trails. As this is an outdoor activity and bugs/ticks can be an issue, guests should wear long pants, long sleeves and hiking boots. Diana is a foraging Facebook influencer and foodie. Since 2014 she has been providing restaurants from the seacoast of New Hampshire to the boroughs of New York City with delicious wild edibles - fruits, berries, herbs, spice, greens and mushrooms. Now she shares her passion for foraging and wild foods with you! Ages 12 and Up Welcome! Date: March 17,24 2024 Nahanton Park Newton, MA - Spring Time:1pm-2:30pm Cost:$50 Registration Deadline:7 days before event Min/Max NA
   

4. MASS AUDUBON Plant Foraging Walk Join David Craft PhD, author of Urban Foraging, for a plant foraging walk to learn more about the many different uses of plants growing in Cambridge. Instructions: Program meets in front of the Magazine Beach Park Nature Center. For adults. Questions? Contact magazinebeach@massaudubon.org. Phone: 781-259-2220 Location: Magazine Beach Park Nature Center, Cambridge Date: Sun, May 19, 2024 Time:3:30 pm - 5:00 pm Cost: Free Registration Deadline: 1 week before event Min/Max: N/A
   

5. Agricultural Hall (Foraging And Beekeeping Classes) Location:245 Amory Street Jamaica Plain, MA 02130 Foraging date has not been established yet, as for beekeeping, early Spring is all about ramping-up for the season ahead. If you're just starting out, now is a perfect time to enroll in a bee school, and the Boston Area Beekeeping Association's 6-week+ bee school started February 5th! Visit BABA's website to register and get updates on foraging; BostonBeekeepers.org Phone: 617-388-7378 Date: Not Established Time: Not Established Cost: Costs vary call for info Registration Deadline: Open daily by appt. Best to always call ahead. Min/Max
   

Hannah Vega: Is a professional Photographer and Forager Hannah is passing down her knowledge to her two-year-old son... she believes that trauma can also be passed down; causing us to suffer the effects of what happened to our ancestors in the past. Hannah views her lifestyle as a form of resistance and healing against intergenerational trauma. “Growing your own food, foraging your own food, and knowing how to heal yourself are huge ways to disrupt oppressive systems,” she explained. Access is an issue that deters BIPOC from foraging, including having access to land that is not polluted. We all have a lot of unlearning to do, specifically with the narrative that foraging is a White activity. If anything, foraging was learned from BIPOC ancestors and we need to reclaim that. Folks of color need to unlearn this narrative and reclaim our heritage.

Hannah acknowledges that access is a major issue in BIPOC communities. It is legal to forage on some public lands and not on others. Meanwhile, National Parks often perpetuate the idea that in order to preserve the land there must be no people on it. This notion has received public backlash from Native and Indigenous communities. It’s simply not true—the original preservers of the land are Indigenous people who foraged food and medicine, for millennia, while carefully stewarding their ancestral lands. Hannah encourages foragers to continue sharing their knowledge.