Wildman Forages for Weeds
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Posted by Sandra Williams Sep 29, 2007 |
If you are interested in learning about foraging for wild plants, well known naturalist “Wildman” Steve Brill in New York is the man to see. The purposes of his hands on park tours are to learn about the environment and get back in touch with nature.
- He does this by teaching people how to find edible plants and helping them enjoy and preserve nature.
- Steve also does private events like birthday parties, library programs, day camps and more.
- Back in 1986, Steve was arrested after being followed by undercover park rangers with surveillance cameras. The formal charge was criminal mischief but he was mostly picking dandelions and weeds and teaching others which plants were edible. Apparently, he needed a permit to do this.
"It's bullying," says Brill. "Stern should know that the more dandelions you pick, the more grow back. I'll keep taking my classes to the parks." (Parks Muzzle Weed Maven NY Daily News, Tuesday, April 1, 1986 James Harney)
On this clip of a tour in 2006, Steve Brill describes the arrest in Central Park and how park rangers moved in on him after eating a dandelion.
Steve is also the author of several books including “Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants in Wild (and Not So Wild) Places”, “The Wild Vegetarian Cookbook” and “Stalking the Wild Dandelion”.
If you are ever in the neighborhood, check out Steve’s 2007 Calendar of Wild Food