Gather Ye Mushrooms

LET THE SWALLOWS come back to Capistrano. Who cares? For something you can really sink your teeth Into, go for the 25 pound mushroom that might come back to Forest Park in Queens.

It was right around this time last year that Steven (Wildman) Brill found the first 25-pounder, a Hen-of-the-Woods, and that's why he's leading a Wild Food Walk this Sunday back to the very same place. Mushrooms are the fruit of a fungus that lives year-round, Brill explains, so picking the mushroom does not harm the basic organism. Therefore, it just may sprout again at the same spot.

And even if he doesn't find another 25-pounder, says Brill, who is associated with the Queens Botanical Garden and has made himself an expert on the overlooked vegetation that flourishes around New York, his group won't go hungry. There are literally hundreds of other edible plants, roots, fruits, nuts and berries out there, and those who don't like daylily roots or field garlic can chow down on the black walnuts, which are $10 a pound in the stores and free on the ground under the trees.

That's why, every Saturday and Sunday, Brill leads a hardy band through an area park, identifying and harvesting "delicious" plants. He gathers much of his own food from local turf, and while most people aren't that dedicated, he does find, that "most people on these walks tend to be more than superficially interested. Those who just want to see nature often go on Park Service walks—which are fine. People on my walks say they're tired of wilted, overpriced supermarket food, suspicious of preservatives." Ready for some tasty wild cranberries, in other words.

The uninitiated might think of fall as a relatively unpromising season for wild food, but Brill says it's "excellent." In addition to the mushrooms, there are wild or abandoned apple and pear trees, the high bush cranberries of Central Park, and all manner of other fruits, nuts and roots.

On an average 4-1/2 to five-hour walk, he says, he finds 30 to 40 types of edible wild food, even while adhering to the principle of not eating anything you're not sure about. ("With mushrooms, for instance, you have to be 100% sure.") Best of all, he says, almost everything can be harvested without harming the plants. "Most of what we find are what gardeners would call weeds. When you pinch off the top of a weed, it grows back."

After several seasons of wild food hunting at a dozen or more local parks, Brill has found patterns. A month or so ago, he says, one group spent an hour harvesting a whole hillside of Honey Mushrooms—which he knew were there because he had found them last year at the same time.

On all his walks, as well as lectures he gives at the Queens garden and other places, Brill discusses how plant cycles continue even in supposedly barren urban areas. "There are few bare patches of ground," he says. "With birds and the wind and so on, there will almost always be something growing. First weeds, then bushes, then trees. then the gypsy moths will come along and we'll go back to the beginning. It's called succession."

The more people who take his walks, he says, the more people will understand that, and the more likely it is we will preserve what remains of our natural resources.

For his walks, Brill suggests people bring a pad and pencil, paper and plastic bags, a penknife, a trowel, pruning shears, work gloves, a knapsack or shopping bags, drinking water and lunch. Peterson's field guide to edible wild plants is also recommended. All walks begin at noon and last until 4:30 or 5; a "donation" is requested, and you can call (212) 291-6825 for reservations.