Somerville Garden Club

Meeting – May 11, 7-9pm

Urban Foraging

Russ Cohen, professional environmentalist, wild foods enthusiast, and author of ‘Wild Plants I Have Known and Eaten’ (now in its third printing), will give a slide show and talk on edible wild plants of New England. These range from plants everyone knows well, like Daisies and Dandelions, to plants they may never have even heard of, like Calamus and Carrion Flower.

Russ Cohen got turned on to the subject of “Edible Botany” when he was in high school and followed that interest to a degree in land use planning from Vassar College and a masters in Natural Resources and a law degree from Ohio State University. He has been employed by the Riverways Program of the Mass. Department of Fish and Game and has served as its Rivers Advocate since 1992. He has also worked for the Nature Conservancy, the Land Trust Alliance, the Hillside Trust, and the Mass. Audubon Society.

Russ has been teaching courses about wild edibles for more than 35 years. He has received many awards for his rivers work including an Environmental Achievement Award from Save the Bay (RI) in 1993, an Environmental Service Award from the Mass. Association of Conservation Commissions in 1997, the Public Servant of the Year Award from the Environmental League of Massachusetts in 1997 and an Environmental Merit Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2003. Russ received a “Heritage Hero” award from the Essex National Heritage Commission in 2006 for his foraging writing and programs.

All Somerville Garden Club meetings are free and open to the public. Meetings are held the second Wednesday of each month at the Tufts Administration Building, (TAB), 167 Holland Street, second floor, wheelchair accessible. Parking is available, and the building is a ten-minute walk from the Davis Square MBTA stop.

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