Food Beneath Our Feet: Foraging Tours in Fairmount Park

Join us for “Food Beneath Our Feet in Fairmount Park” tours with expert forager and naturalist Lynn Landes and Lady Danni Morinich. Lynn is the founder of The Wild Foodies of Philly, a 6000+ member educational foraging meetup since 2010. This will be the last in a 3-part series in Fairmount Park.

On these tours you will learn about the wonderful world of wild plants and their “uses” for food, fiber, and medicine. Wild edible plants and animals are the only truly sustainable food source, in that they can reproduce themselves without human help. Wild foods also add diversity and nutrition to our diet, and should be recognized for the priceless gift they are to humanity.

The tour will introduce you to a variety of plants with nutritional and medicinal benefits, including: Spiderwort, Spicebush, Sassafras, and Sweet Birch, as well as Wineberry, Milkweed, Plantain (not the banana), Paper Mulberry, Purslane, and Asian Lemon, just to name a few. In preparation for the tour, please visit www.WildFoodies.org to learn the Basics of Foraging. You can also watch Lynn’s powerpoint, “Wild Foodies 101” if you really want to jump into the “tall weeds” of this fascinating field! After the tour, you will be emailed a hyperlinked list of the plants we discussed, so don’t worry about taking notes during the tour.

Hope to see you there as we forage on, with care!

Estimated distance: about 2 -3 miles
Level: more difficult 
Terrain: sometimes steep soft surface trails

IMPORTANT NOTE: We are exploring and observing edible plants for educational purposes only. We will discuss their nutritional and medical benefits, but we will not remove or consume them. Please DO try this at home in your own backyard, but DO NOT try this in the park. Foraging/harvesting from the park’s natural areas without official permission is strictly forbidden.

TICKET PRICES: Pay what you can – $10, $15, or $20

[ Not sure what to pay? Please refer to this Sliding Scale Pricing FAQ for additional info. ]

MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS: If Philadelphia’s parks make a difference in your life – consider becoming a member of Fairmount Park Conservancy and help ensure that Philadelphia’s parks are enhanced for generations to come. PLUS members register first for events and enjoy discounts on park experiences including Treetop Quest, Shofuso and more!

KNOW BEFORE YOU GO:

• We’ll meet on grass at the Belmont Plateau parking lot (across from Belmont Mansion).
• Please dress according to weather conditions.
• Please wear sturdy walking shoes and comfy clothes
• Bring water and a snack
• Bring a notebook
• Bring sunscreen and bug spray
• There are nearby porta potties
• Appropriate for adults and mature adolescents

PARKING: There is plenty of free parking in the park. As always, NEVER leave valuables in your car!

INSTRUCTOR BIO: Lynn Landes is a Philadelphia-based writer, researcher, reporter, and activist in the fields of politics, health, and the environment since the 1980s. Her articles and opinions have been published in several books, films, and online publications. On the environment, Lynn has been a commentator for BBC radio, a radio talk show host, and a television news reporter from 1999-2001. From 2002-2008 she dedicated herself to reporting and publicly speaking on voting integrity issues. Currently, she is the publisher of several websites and meetup groups on a wide variety of issues including: foraging, fiber arts, health, waste, voting, historic streets, and safe streets.