Walks + Forage Picnics

Juneberry and linden flower sodas

Welcome to my plant walk and forage picnic page. New fall walks are live, and you'll find them if you scroll right down. Otherwise, read on, or purchase a Gift Walk, valid for a year. 

To be added to my quarterly mailing list (and first dibs at new walks), or for private walk enquiries, please email me: myviljoen (at) gmail (dot) com. 

My second book, Forage, Harvest, Feast - A Wild-Inspired Cuisine, is a useful and substantial resource, with over 500 recipes intended as a guide for exploring the range of possibilities for delicious and very versatile botanical ingredients growing (or begging to be grown) near you. Please order from your nearest bookshop (or, you know, Amazon).

About my Walks

I lead plant identification and nature walks in wild and tame green spaces. As much as these experiences are about sharing my passion for plants, they are an immersion in the rich natural world that surrounds us, even in the middle of a city.

Every part of every season offers a unique opportunity to learn more about the plants that surround us in plain sight, especially in places where we do not expect to find them. Yes, we even walk in winter.

On urban field trips we identify and talk about so-called weeds, or plants whose habit is invasive; exotic plants (introduced species); and native plants, some of which could - and should, but still don't - define an authentic regional cuisine. Awareness, conservation and stewardship are the cornerstones of these immersions in nature. My own approach evolves, and I welcome the diverse perspective that you bring to our roving discussions.

In terms of edible plants, we talk what parts of plants are safe to eat, and why, as well as culinary ideas and techniques for unfamiliar ingredients (warning, there's a lot fermentation-talk). The conversation always touches on the evolving do's and don't's of foraging; pollution issues; the relationship between invasive plants and natives, and why it does actually matter, if we care about the planet and biodiversity; and the real problems of commercial over-harvest of native wild plants (like ramps), all tying in to my approach of conservation foraging.

My real goal, though, is to help tune your senses to the botanical and natural details at our feet, and above our heads, and to inspire you to notice nature, even if it's on your city block. 

The group-size for walks is small, low-impact, and personal. It's not unusual for new friendships to grow over the course of the walk. Meet plants, make friends!

Forage Picnics

Most walks end with a wild-inspired tasting picnic. It's exactly what it sounds like: Tastes of in-season, wild ingredients, as well as preserved small-batch forages from my feral pantry. Non-foraged ingredients are high-quality, and organic or locally-grown, where possible. I take broad dietary preferences (vegan, vegetarian, omnivore) into account where possible within a group. You can also book a diet-specific, private walk.

Pine pollen pignoli

Ways to Walk and Talk

Scheduled Walks - seasonal walks are booked via this page (scroll down).

Gift Walks - buy an open ticket to any scheduled walk; valid for one year.

Private Walks - for institutions, corporate groups, schools, families, friends.

Plant Identification - I identify plants on your land, public space, or in your garden.

Talks, Classes - for botanic gardens, design firms, conservancies, garden clubs, etc.

Consultation - native and edible garden creation, wild recipes, mixology.

Buy a Gift Walk

A Gift Walk ($85) offers admission to any of my seasonal walks with forage-picnics (classes I teach for outside institutions like the NYBG are not included). Give an experience that includes plant identification, nature immersion, wild-inspired treats, and the company of like-minded humans. Valid for one year. Gift Walks are non-refundable.

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October forage

Frequent Walker Miles

For every five walks you attend, the sixth is free. You can also transfer your free walk to a friend or donate it to the Forage Fund, which makes tickets available to anyone who needs one. Please keep track and alert me when you're up for a gratis stroll. 

July forage

Cancellation Policy

Tickets are non-refundable. Cancellations up to 48 hours in advance of a walk receive credit for a future walk (this can be transferred to a friend, too). Cancellations within 48 hours of a walk do not receive credit (this includes Gift Walk tickets).

If I cancel for any reason, you receive a full refund. 

Classes and walks for institutions like the New York Botanical Garden have their own cancellation policies. Details will be found through those ticketing links.

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Fall Walks

Last Light

12 October 2024

Green-Wood Cemetery

1pm - 4pm

$85

The trees of Green-Wood interrupt the clear, low light of October in a way that catches the heart. 

Blue Atlas cedars may be sifting down their pollen, and if a rough wind has shaken their spiked branches, fragrant hardy oranges will be wind-fallen and ripe. There will be sweetly sticky yew arils wrapped around tiny, extremely toxic hearts. They will not be part of the tasting picnic.

If we are lucky as lucky can be, we may find mushrooms at the trees' feet, and we will talk about why and what it means (for the tree). 

For our tea-ish time picnic there will be fragrant, hot tea and just-baked treats that reflect the turning season.

$5 from each ticket is donated to the Historic Green-Wood Fund.

Booking Closed
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Beeeeeeach!

19 October 2024

Fort Tilden

12pm  3pm

$85

Well, yes, I do like the beach. And the October light... If you visited a month ago, on that walk, come back to see how it has all changed. Repetitive observation: Seeing a place again and again allows you to see more and more, and to broaden your appreciation and understanding of the natural world where you live. 

The last of the golden rod is in bloom or just past it (we will taste it in our neon-orange carrot and yuzu soup), and the final flush of autumn olives will be plump and ripe stuffed with lycopenes and versatile tartness.

Now's the time to gather long stems of super-invasive mugwort for leafy crowns (the kind that sit on the head) or wreaths, for skewers, for fragrant kindling, and for toasting marshmallows. Along the backroads, bristling with invasive plants trying to outcompete each other, we will see privet and muliflora rose hips, and collect them if they have enough color for those wreaths.

We may see rabbit tobacco, and if we walk softly, we might find a bunny to teach us how to smoke it.

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High Tide on Hunter Island

2 November 2024

Pelham Bay Park

12pm - 3pm

$85

It's the twice-annual expedition to Little Maine. As the tide rises quietly, it covers the salt grasses and samphires, and on a beautiful day it creates a tempting swimming pool from our picnic spot on the rocks. (Bring a swimsuit, in case. Wear it under your feather fleece.)

In the quiet woods beside the water in this biodiverse botanical refuge in the Bronx, just a salsa-beat from Orchard Beach, are sassafras and spicebush, oak and white pine. We'll crunch across leaves and pay attention to logs, and put our feet in the water, where bladderwrack floats on balloon-festooned arms.

Our picnic will be hot toddy-ready, and spiked with spicebush.

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Fruitfulness

16 November 2024

Green-Wood Cemetery

11am - 1.30pm

$85

The trees are doing exciting things. The arboretum that is Historic Green-Wood features numerous fruiting trees, including native American persimmons, on trees high and low - say a small nature-prayer for high wind the night before our walk. There is the infamous and acclaimed stinky ginkgo; we will learn how to collect ginkgo without regretting it, and how to prepare and preserve these very delicious fruit (they're not really nuts, but it doesn't matter).

Our no-trace-left-behind tasting picnic will feature the flavors we encounter during our wild ramble. Yes, there will definitely be ginkgo on the menu, possibly tucked into a chrysanthemum leaf pie (leaves acquired in neighboring Sunset Park's markets).

$5 from each ticket is donated to the Historic Green-Wood Fund.

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Sand

23 November 2024

Jones Beach

12.30pm - 3pm

$85

Read this part before clicking the money-link: THEY MIGHT NOT BE THERE. If they are not, we'll be foraging fresh air. Also a precious commodity.

But if they are, the sand mushrooms are a phenomenon not to be missed, in a curious person's lifetime. After rain, on the cold, sandy shoulder of real winter at the beach, edible mushrooms appear. We will tread very carefully and go out to find them. 

In the absence of these mushrooms, this is a wide-open, sea-crashing walk, with shore birds, pitch pines (and their useful green cones), native heather, bayberry, and maybe a juniper or two. Come prepared for weather, wrap your ears warmly, and know that, failing all else, you will breathe deeply and refresh your city lungs beside the cold Atlantic. 

This is not the Jones Beach of summer. It's much better.

(When you book, let me know if you can offer ride-shares to anyone carless. I have space for three...)

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