A Nourishing Harvest supports the safe harvest of food and herbs, exploring environmental contamination issues that affect gardeners and foragers.
Articles are free and public.
As an herbal educator, my first love is teaching folks to grow and forage their food and medicine. Folks often ask me how environmental contamination affects the safety of these activities:
My lawn hasn't been sprayed since last year. Is it safe to grow food?
How long do lawn chemicals stay in the soil? How much do they get taken up by plants?
Which parts of the plant do chemicals concentrate in? Is the fruit safer than the roots?
I live in the city and won’t forage leafy greens due to contamination concerns. Which potting soil brands are safe to grow food in?
I live 1/2 mile from a corn or grape farm. How much of the spray is getting onto my property?
Where do local landscaping companies get their topsoil from? How can I know it's safe?
Is spraying pesticides on school property permitted?
I got permission to harvest invasive, edible species at XXX Town Park. What’s the history of land use there? Is that pretty hill an old landfill?
Does XXX Park spray invasive species with herbicide? Can I access herbicide/pesticide application records?
How might other land use variables affect the safety of plants in my community?
Image: White elder flower clusters (Sambucus nigra var. canadensis) in full bloom.
A Nourishing Harvest is for folks who’ve asked questions like these, but haven’t found satisfying answers. This may be due to a lack of time, or a sense of overwhelm when scrolling the internet (plus uncertainty about which sources are reliable).
A Nourishing Harvest readers want to understand how their veggies and herbs are affected by their soil, their community’s land-use history, gardening products, and management practices at local public spaces. When we learn about our local environment, we enjoy a deeper sense of empowerment and connection in our gardening and foraging practices.
Each month, I research and write a free monthly article exploring these questions and more. I'm excited to learn from academic journal articles, interviews with experts, and government resources.
More importantly, I model how to sleuth for this info as a "regular" gardener and forager. I’m not in academia, and I don't work for the government, but I've been surprised by how much information I've been able to find. If I can do it, so can you!
The information and principles shared in each article are widely applicable. And, case studies usually center in New York State, particularly Western New York. Business coaches and publishers may advise against giving attention to just one geographic region. However, getting to know our own communities more deeply is a central theme of this project. May my explorations in my home region support your own.
Photo by Janine Desmond
Harvesting safe food and medicine should be a human right.
We should all have easy access to information that affects our access to clean soil and plants. If an experienced gardener with a bachelor's degree can't find, understand, and accurately share data from academic journals and government resources--let alone someone without the privilege I've had to attend college--there’s a problem with those sources, and with academia itself.
May this project help bridge the gap between academia and the greater community.
I sometimes feel torn writing A Nourishing Harvest articles as a "lay" gardener. Wouldn’t the project be more respectable if I had an advanced degree? Do I need a Master’s in soil science or environmental public health?
Since grad school hasn't been in the cards, I've leaned into the advantages of approaching these topics from where I sit. After years of working for organic veggie farms, nurseries, agriculture/garden-related non-profit projects, and herbal medicine education, I care deeply about my community's ability to harvest safe and healthy food and medicine. And I know which questions to ask.
Though I may not be an "expert" myself, I reference reputable sources to ensure the quality of each article. In an age when folks are losing the ability to distinguish accurate, responsible sources from inaccurate ones, it’s important to note that my writing relies on the work of experts. I don’t make up my own information—I spotlight the work of others.
The topics I explore through A Nourishing Harvest draw from a range of disciplines; no one academic specialty would fully prepare me for this work. That said, I've begun a Journalism certificate program through NYU School of Professional Studies to ensure that I'm sharing information as responsibly as possible.
I’m so grateful to the A Nourishing Harvest supporters on Patreon.
Patrons support the project with a monthly membership, and they receive perks and bonuses in return.
My Patreon account is currently paused; feel free to join my newsletter to learn when this project restarts.
Borage flowers (Borago officinalis) fresh out of the garden.
As a health practitioner with a background in environmental studies, I often reflect on the disconnect between the wellness community and environmental justice/public health. On one hand, it’s important to own our power over our own wellbeing. Mindfulness, whole/local foods, movement, going outdoors, managing stress, and positive relationships play a huge role. And in a capitalist society, a dollar can be a vote for a more just and sustainable culture.
On the other hand, Americans live in a nation where regulations favor corporate profit over citizens' well-being. We experience daily exposure to toxic chemicals in our lawns, food, water, air, and home products. Communities of color and low-income individuals are most affected by environmental health risks, but they have the poorest access to resources that support wellness and political action.
A wellness culture that focuses on personal responsibility while ignoring social and environmental factors is missing the mark. It’s a reflection of our increasingly individualistic and consumption-oriented society--a society that ranks pretty low in Gross National Happiness. Addressing environmental risks is not only vital for improving physical health. Working together as a community to resolve shared concerns connects us, empowers us, and provides a sense of meaning.
I believe that environmental sustainability requires an intimate relationship with our local ecosystem. Cultures that rely on local plants for food and medicine have a vested interest in the vibrancy of those species. Those communities are much more likely to notice changes and problems that arise. In order to safely rely on plants in our local community, we must have access to information about the safety of our gardens and public spaces.