Wildcrafting and Permaculture
Those gathered to discuss wildcrafting and permaculture opportunities focused on the low barriers to entry and the vast potential of a series of underutilized wild crops, including: a variety of fungi, watercress, ramps and wild fruits. The abundance of these crops in the Driftless Region leads to opportunities for entrepreneurial collectors to create new markets. While the knowledge of such crops is present in the community, little has been done to organize interested collectors to share information and resources.
Next steps:
- Who are the sectors leaders and how do we connect interested collectors to those in possession of local knowledge?
- Would the establishment of collectors’ co-ops have beneficial effects?
- Can we augment the presence of and demand for ethically-harvested wild foods at farmer’s markets and other retail venues?
We would like to encourage your participation in continuing conversations. Please step forward by posting a comment below or by emailing us. If you have suggestions on how we can proceed please don’t hesitate to share them.
What is in the photograph on the right? I don’t recognize it. At first I thought watercress, but it isn’t.
Good catch Joe. I liked the photo and didn’t look closely enough. I’m pretty sure the new photo accurately depicts Nasturtium officinale.
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Have you fine folk made much progress on compiling a list of sector leaders, creating a collector’s co-op, and marketing wildcraft products?
I am an interested, albeit amateur, collector. Perhaps I could be connected with someone with some experience teaching wildcraft to the unacquainted.
Thank you,
Mia
Mia, I understand that Just Local / Keewaydin Farm / Rufus Haucke is aggregating and marketing some wildcrafted items in the Driftless. I think ramps is one of them. I’ve also heard that there is a family on the river near Prairie Du Chien that markets wildcrafted items, but I dont’ have a name. Jessie Conaway is another person to contact. I think there is a group in the Driftless that gets together to forage – she would know. Thanks for your interest!