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The Fine Art of Foraging

Andrew Dyer
/
Flickr via Creative Commons

Maryland’s woods, fields and urban spaces are full of food, if you know how to find it. Cattails, milkweed, wild ginger, mulberries. Did you know stinging nettles were edible? What about pine needles? More and more people are learning to utilize Maryland’s outdoor pantry. Like canning, knitting, and other skills we’d begun to forget, the ancient art of foraging has become trendy. Upscale restaurants now serve ingredients gathered from wild places, and foraging workshops are increasingly popular. What’s the appeal? Which are the greatest delicacies and how do you find them? And what’s the etiquette of filling your plate from the forest? We speak to Nick Spero, a biologist and longtime forager who teaches courses on wild edibles for the Natural History Society of Maryland, and Eric Kelly, the founder of Charm City Farms, an urban agriculture initiative that teaches self-sufficiency skills, including foraging. Kelly also founded a group called 'Foragers of Baltimore'.  

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Sheilah Kast is the host of On The Record, Monday-Friday, 9:30-10:00 am.
Andrea no longer works for On The Record.