Edible Gardening

The Wild Ones

Join us for a free session on six “weeds” you’ve likely seen pushing through cement or creeping over fences. You’ll learn their food and medicinal uses from pictures, plus live examples. You’ll meet dandelions, bindweed, and crabgrass, also known as fonio. Mallows, dock, and lambsquarters round out the group.

We’ll also trace where each one comes from. Some are native here, while others arrived centuries ago on purpose as crops. A few are simply underappreciated in our neck of the woods.

Then you’ll spend about 40 minutes making art around the story of the one you choose. Expect collage, natural dyes, and paint on heavy paper. You’ll take home a “plants of my neighborhood” booklet to help you spot other wild species worth eating or using for healing.

FACILITATOR

Jerise Fogel is an artist and teacher living and working in and around Washington Heights. Jerise loves plants, especially mischievous ones! Jerise is a proud long-time volunteer with Word Up Community Bookshop.

ACCESSIBILITY

• The kitchen/classroom is wheelchair accessible; with advance notice we can add a mat path across the greenhouse’s pebbled ground (garden entrance has a small raised threshold; garden paths are grass).
• Tables adjust height; backless benches/stools available.
• Kitchen is shared—we avoid peanuts but can’t guarantee a nut-free space; water provided in refillable pitchers.
• First aid on-site; nearest AED is one building away.
• Nearest restrooms are ~1 min walk; a gender-neutral restroom is available by key from staff.
• Not a scent-free space (essential oils used in class), though we ventilate and welcome masking/distancing.
• Other access needs? Contact programs@thehort.org.

All Greenhouse Education Center events happen rain or shine.