At World Refugee Day at the Clarkston Community Center, CDF launched a plant recognition project with the aim of assembling an experiential list of edible plants according to country of origin. We are gathering information on residents of Clarkstons’ knowledge and experience of perennial, food producing plants in both this country and in other countries.
We are trying to find ways to engage people, as well as learn from them at the same time. With that in mind, we will continue to find ways of learning about the plants they already know so that as we embark on the work of planting around Clarkston, we will have a better sense of the plants people know so they will be more likely to use them. At the same time, there may be plants on the list that people are not aware of and it may help them to think about other options for growing food in this area of the country.
We will continue to find ways of sharing this project and we are currently exploring additional ways to get community input. We hope to be able to share additional ideas here in a few months.