Natural Thoughts: Lessons Learned from Foraging with Kids

When people asked what sparked my initial interest in pursing a career in the environmental field, I always refer back to hikes with my father in local parks and nature preserves in my hometown of Cleveland, Ohio.  Some of my favorite moments with him where when we stumbled upon a grove of Black Raspberries (Rhubus occidentalis) (figure 1) or a large mulberry tree (Morus alba) and  then gorging ourselves on the sweet and abundant fruits.  It was always such a novelty to have the ability to eat fruits and other edible berries from the wild in their natural form with their uncensored shapes and flavors.  I was able to understand early on in my childhood that produce originated from a tree or a bush before being neatly packaged in a well-lit and air conditioned supermarket.   Eating fruits from a wild growing tree also helped to foster my relationship with nature.

Figure 1:  Black raspberries, a common wild berry in the Eastern United States.  

As such, when I served as an intern naturalist at an environmental education center in Indiana two summers ago, I was eager to try out a nature interpretation program with middle-school aged kids on foraging for wild edibles.  The program was a part of an overnight summer camp at the Dunes Learning Center in the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, and the target audience for these camps were urban and suburban youth from the Greater Chicago area.

It was a hot summer, and these kids were wild!  It was often difficult to get them to focus, they rarely followed directions on key, and some of them even teased and bullied each other a bit.  It was the type of crowd you would never want to suggest having them reach into a grove of thorny blackberry bushes surrounded by poisonous nightshade!  Except that's exactly what I did.  

Thankfully. they listened to me about not picking or eating the Deadly Nightshade (Altropa belladona) berries, but you-know-what quickly hit the fan (pun intended).  Some of the children were getting cut up by the thorns while others were flinging branches in each other's face on purpose.   I yelled at everyone to stop picking berries and keep hiking, but they still kept grabbing a handful or two (and kept accidentally injuring themselves) despite my fair warnings.  One young girl even started crying.  

My first attempt at a foraging interpretation program, although well intentioned, was unsuccessful and could have been disastrous.  It had occurred to me only then that conducting foraging programs with youth is not an ideal topic for casual or roving interpretation but instead was a program subject that requires a great deal of a planning and foresight.  

Before launching yourself out into the woods with visitors or students to gorge on berries, your audience and your purpose should be subject to careful consideration.  Will you be working with rowdy urban youth that will need persistent behavior enforcement?  Are there any children with mental or physical disabilities that might experience challenges in comprehending your instructions?  If your group is hearty and attentive, then your foraging program can be delivered in a more casual and laid back manner.  If your group is otherwise, as was the case with my campers at the Dunes Learning Center, then you may need to provide more structure and discipline when conducting your foraging program.  For those wild summer crowds, consider the following when planning for your foraging adventure in the woods:

• Set up a discipline policy early on and inform your participants that they must follow your instructions.  At the Dunes Learning Center, other naturalist staff used the "three-strikes" discipline policy.  The first strike was just a warning, the second was a visit to the camp director's office along with a phone call home, and the third was eviction from the camp.  Does that sound strict?  It was, but providing a safe and positive experience was of top concern at this urban environmental education center.  Use a discipline policy that you know will work for you or one that has been approved by your organization.  
• Ensure that each participant can accurately identify edible versus wild berries.  If there is any doubt in a child's competency in selecting the appropriate berry or fruit, then it might be best to have that child refrain from picking or touching anything without your direct supervision.  
• Choose sites that are void of poisonous look-a likes.  Nightshade berries can look very similar to  scrumptious blueberries or nannyberries, but  nightshade berries are highly toxic.  Preview some areas ahead of time that have a minimal amount of indiscreet poisonous plants in order to reduce the risk of a child  accidentally ingesting something they shouldn't.  
• Verify if any children have allergies.  Nut allergies are common so avoid having the group forage for nuts of any kind if one more of the group members has a nut allergy.  
• Moderate consumption.  When I was at the Dunes Learning Center, I let my group pick and eat as many black cherries as they wanted.  Bad idea!  The fruits of black cherries (Prunus serotina) can taste sweet when sun-ripened but are much higher in tannins than cultivated cherries.  Children's digestive systems are still developing and can be sensitive to high acid or high-tannin fruits or nuts.  Setting a limit on how many berries, fruits, or nuts each child can pick (and enforcing your discipline policy if necessary) can help ensure that everyone stays healthy and has fun.  

Even with careful planning, foraging for wild edibles with youth can be a bit risky.  Even if none of the children in your group have allergies, some could still have strong reactions to certain items, especially if they have not tried anything similar before.   Some groups, especially children with behavioral or physical problems, might render a foraging program unfeasible.  

So why take the risk?  I believe foraging for wild berries is a great way to get kids excited about nature.  Also, in a country where over 80% of the population is now living in urban and suburban areas, it is imperative that our youth understand where food initially comes from - before it goes into plastic packaging in the supermarkets and before it is grown on a monoculture farm.  Figure 2 shows a great way to control an invasive weed via foraging.  

I know that my experiences picking mulberries with my father are now positive memories that will inspire me forever  Hopefully, you too can give your group of students or summer campers the opportunity to get in touch with nature.  What better way to foster that budding relationship than with a few appetizers?  Just be careful not stain your clothes from those nice juicy berries! 

Figure 2:  Garlic mustard pesto.  Garlic mustard  (Alliaria petiolata) is a wild-growing weed that is also edible and can easily be made into a tasty pesto or dip.  Identification, and collection is easy and harvesting this plant could potentially be incorporated into a foraging program.  Click here for a great recipe.