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Foraging Wild Plants in a Human Dominated Landscape

Posted by Adrian Ayres Fisher foraging forest preserves

Ramps in early spring. UWExtension In April, my friend Laura brought me some ramps—not just parts, but the entire plant, broad, smooth leaves, small, shallot-size bulbs, roots and all. I know she wouldn’t go out in the local forest preserves and dig them up, foraging or poaching, depending upon your perspective. So where did she get them? Her CSA has begun growing them. Because they were intact, neither of us ate them, but planted them in our respective gardens, watered them in well, and are hoping for the best. I did remember to mark where I’d put them, luckily, because the leaves soon faded away and disappeared, as happens with many species of spring ephemerals. I’ve never eaten ramps that I know of, though I hear they’re delicious. I know where they grow, at several undisclosed locations, but they are on forest preserve land, and a strict no-poaching policy is in place. As such I would not go harvesting against the rules, partly because, as a volunteer steward, I have engaged to fol...

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Posted by Adrian Ayres Fisher

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Celebrating Wildflowers (USFS)

Center for Humans and Nature

Center for Neighborhood Technology

Chicago Botanic Garden

Chicago Wilderness

Cook County Forest Preserve Volunteer Info

Dr. John Hilty: Illinois Wildflowers

Garfield Park Conservatory

Illinois Natural History Survey

Invasive Plant Atlas of the U. S.

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Midwest Invasive Plant Network

Morton Arboretum

Native Seed Gardeners (Illinois)

Nature Conservancy Illinois

Quaker Earthcare Witness

Sustainable Sites Initiative

Thatcher Woods Savanna Restoration Project

Tree of Life Web Project

USA National Phenology Network

USDA Plants Database

vPlants--Virtual Chicago Area Herbarium

Wild Ones Native Plants, Natural Landscapes

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