Last week, Patrick and I did some honeymoon hiking in Colorado. On a trail near the Chautauqua Institution in Boulder, I was delighted to find the sign above. This notice of pesticide application may be the first I've seen in a public park or forest. I love that it tells the hiker which invasive species will be targeted, and lists the dates of application.

Though I wasn't familiar with the park's rules on foraging, I assumed picking a leaf here and there for educational purposes would be no problem. However, it was a problem for the girls I worked with. They heard my shpiel about the importance of knowing whether a lawn or garden is treated with chemicals before we harvest. I suggested that tasting a leaf here and there wouldn't pose enough of a risk to worry-- but a few of the girls were wary (students after my own heart!).

I wish I had made the time for students to call the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy to ask this question for themselves. I'm making the time to find out now-- and will be ready with the answer for next year's program.

I enjoyed this park's beautiful creekside hike this spring, starting at the south end. My walk generated enough questions to do some research. First, I noticed that Ellicott Creek, which runs through the park, smelled like sewage. This didn’t seem to bother the fisherpeople wading with their poles. Turns out, the southern half of the park’s 80 acres is on the flood plain, and is "subject to periodic inundation by floodwaters" (Town of Amherst). What is known about the water quality?

The more I learn about many “medicinal” plants, the more I realize that they are just real human food—the food we evolved eating, making our bodies what they are today.