John Jay Homestead
Sunday, May 24

With farmlands, lawns, a woodland, and edge habitats, and cultivated areas, this picturesque historical site is an ideal venue for a mid-spring foraging tour. Held in conjuction with Katonah Green, you can be assured that there will be tons of wild greens to be found.

Everything edible that comes up in the spring could be there. In sunny areas and along the edges of trails and woodlands, we'll look for tasty violet leaves, piquant greenbriar leaves and shoots, sour curly dock greens and flower stalks, spicy garlic mustard leaves and flowers, and jewelweed, a poison ivy preventative and cure for mosquito bites.

Disturbed habitats should produce pokeweed, a fabulously tasty, highly nutritious potherb that's poisonous if you consume it raw, or dine on the roots, berries, or seeds.

We'll look for sassafras, the original source of root beer, along the edge of the woods. Further in, we may find wintergreen-flavored black birch trees; and spicebush leaves, for making a flavorful anti-fever tea.

Given enough rain beforehand, we could run into some choice spring mushrooms. There may be chicken mushrooms, dryad's saddle, wine-cap stropharias, or even morels.