Alice Austen Education: Mid-summer Wild Edible Foraging Walk & Craft Natural Bug Repellent with Aly Stoffo of Glam Gardener
Glam Gardener hosts invasive plant workshops that teach people how to identify, craft with, and consume common non-native weeds. These weeds–like mugwort, autumn olive, and Japanese knotweed–are loathed by Parks departments, as they devote thousands of dollars in labor toward removing them from green spaces. Her workshops offer a different perspective on how we can relate to our environment. They combine ecosystems knowledge with arts, crafts, history, and sensory experiences to make connections impactful and memorable. It questions
the concept of garbage, all while enabling citizens to do their part in the effort to remove invasive plants that are disruptive to the native ecosystem.
Learn about the benefits of eating wild plants on a short foraging walk throughout the Alice
Austen House Meadow to learn about different wild growing plants. Then, craft natural plant-
infused bug repellent with Aly Stoffo of Glam Gardener NYC.
All materials will be provided. This event is family-friendly. Both adults and families are
encouraged to attend. This is a great workshop for people that love the outdoors, local history, and want to connect with nature by using primitive skills like gardening, foraging, plant identification and natural crafting.
Other subject areas discussed are herbalism, ecosystems, and sustainability. Alice Austen is the founder of the Staten Island Garden Club, a club that still runs today. She was a landscape
designer and lover of natural spaces. This tour pays homage to Alice Austen’s connection to
green spaces.
Attendees are encouraged to bring a blanket to this event and picnic on the lawn after this event is over.
Wear: Long socks and shoes suitable for walking in green spaces.
Optional to bring: Bring: a small tote bag for wild plant collection, snippers or scissors,
gardening gloves. You are welcome to bring your own empty container for your bug repellent
to bring home.
What will be provided: Natural and non-natural bug repellent, twine and materials needed for
wild flower crown crafting, and some empty jars used to craft the bug repellent (distributed on
a first-come-first-served basis).
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