Allyn Cox Reservation
82 Eastern Ave.
Essex, MA
Discover the secrets of the edible coastal landscape on a unique foraging tour with local author Russ Cohen. This comprehensive, 4-hour educational event pairs a trail walk with an exclusive, step-by-step wild food preparation and tasting demonstration.
- 2-Hour Guided Walk: Stroll a gentle, one-mile trail while learning to spot black walnuts, staghorn sumac, shagbark hickory, sassafras, pineapple weed, and purslane. Russ will share insights on sustainable harvesting, native versus invasive species, and local farming history.
- .2-Hour Processing Demonstration & Tasting: Move from trail to table for a session focused entirely on black walnuts. Attendees will not be cooking. Instead, watch Russ demonstrate how to properly remove the husks, crack the tough shells, and process the nutrient-dense nutmeat. Afterward, enjoy a tasting session featuring Russ's own prepared wild creations and receive a collection of recipes along with a list of foraging locations for wild nuts.
What to Bring & Wear:
Clothing: Long sleeves and pants are highly recommended to insects.
Gear: Bring a notebook for notes, a smartphone to capture plant identification photos, bug spray, water and a lightweight folding stool or chair if standing for long periods is difficult.
Russ's book Wild Plants I Have Known And Eaten will be available for purchase at the event.
Biography:
Until his retirement in June of 2015, Russ Cohen served for over two decades as the Rivers Advocate for Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game's Division of Ecological Restoration. He now has more time to devote to his passionate avocation: connecting to nature via nibbling on it, and assisting others in doing the same. Russ is into his fifth decade of leading wild edibles walks and talks at a wide variety of venues in eastern Massachusetts and Elsewhere. In addition, since his retirement, Russ is acting as a “Johnny Appleseed” of sorts for native edible species. He has set up a nursery containing hundreds of edible plants native to this region, many of which he propagated from seed he collected himself. You can read more about Russ and his work at eatwild-ne.org.