Duration: 0.5 hour business meeting & 2 hour presentation with Russ Cohen (includes Q&A and nibbling on foraged goodies!)
Program Type: In-person
Cost: Free, Registration Preferred
Maximum Number of Participants: 75
Presentation Speaker: Russ Cohen

Register Here

Donations are welcome!

We start with a  short business meeting. At this meeting, we will be voting on candidates for the Board of Supervisors for Middlesex Conservation District. Anyone who is a land user in Middlesex County is invited to vote. The agenda can be found here.

Presentation Description:
Middlesex County is home to over 80 species of edible wild plants.  Many of these species are more nutritious and/or flavorful than their cultivated counterparts. These include native species like Black Raspberry and Shagbark Hickory; non-native weeds like Burdock and Chicory; and exotic invasive species like Dame’s Rocket and Japanese Knotweed. Join Russ Cohen, wild edibles enthusiast and author of the book Wild Plants I Have Known…and Eaten, for a 90-minute slide show covering at least three dozen of the tastiest species the region has to offer.  These include plant species everyone knows well, like Daisies and Dandelions, to species they may never have even heard of, like Calamus and Carrion Flower. Russ’ talk will also include native species suitable for planting in peoples’ yards.  Keys to the identification of each species will be provided, along with info on edible portion(s), season(s) of availability and preparation methods, as well as guidelines for safe and environmentally-responsible foraging.  Russ will also include a few details regarding some native edible plants he has grown successfully from seed and added to Middlesex County landscapes in partnership with land trusts, municipalities and other groups.  Last but not least, Russ will accompany his talk with handouts and several foraged goodies made with wild ingredients.

Russ Cohen’s Bio:
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. In addition to leading over three dozen wild edibles-themed walks and talks each year at a wide variety of venues throughout the Northeast, Russ has now taken on a role of Johnny Appleseed for edible native species. He has set up a small nursery (in Weston) where he grows/keeps plants that he propagates from seed (some of which he collected himself). He is then collaborating with land trusts, cities and towns, schools and colleges, state and federal agencies, Tribal members and groups, organic farms and others to plant plants from his nursery in appropriate places on their properties. Russ has collaborated on over three dozen such projects in the past decade (at least eight of which are in Middlesex County).