艾草 / MUGWORT
IN COLLABORATION WITH DANI MERCURY AND SHENGHAN GAO
During the Qing Ming seasonal point, the air is warm enough to sustain recreation. In China, people would emerge to sweep the graves of ancestors and gather mugwort, one of the earliest greens to arrive. We will harvest common mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) at Conference House Park, Staten Island, a site with many layers of geological, botanical, and human history - all of which we shall grapple with! As we encounter other spring plants, such as dandelion, magnolia, redbud, violet, garlic mustard, and field garlic, we will discuss their stories and their culinary and medicinal uses across cultures. Along the way, we’ll delve into foraging basics: the legal, the ethical, the safe and the healthy.
This workshop is free thanks to funding from Culture Push, but a deposit is required since there are a very limited number of places. This deposit will be refunded after the event. If you cannot make it, please give 48 hours notice or risk forfeiting your deposit.
Conference House Park is accessible via public transportation, but carpool is also available to and from the event from Williamsburg, Brooklyn - just email me after signup if you need a ride!
Dani Mercury is an animist, artist, and kitchen magician. From Ciudad de Mexico, raised by the woodlands of New England and initiated into herbal medicine by the valleys of Upstate New York. Nourishing relationships and mutual care between people and plants.
Shenghan Gao (b. Chengdu, China) forages from many disciplines such as dance, history, and film, and cooks with mediums such as video/16mm film and participatory workshops. She is interested in unlearning all the systems of belief that settler colonialism and capitalism have instilled in us, such as the names we call ourselves, the food we cook and the “weeds” we walk by every day.
This workshop is part of 春游 / FIELD TRIPS, a spring foraging and cooking workshop series themed around plants from China that have naturalized in New York City - and all the questions they engender. Foraging workshops are Saturday, cooking on Sunday. See Events page for full series calendar.