Foraging Through Central Park

Lina Zeldovich — Wed, 09 May 2012 18:52:58 +0000

Steve Brill, a New York naturalist and vegan, began his 30th year of leading foraging tours in Central Park this spring. Equipped with a small shovel and an iPad to demonstrate how plants look at different stages of growth, he led about 30 New York nature enthusiasts on a recent exploration of the park’s flora. The group found and collected about a dozen edibles, some of which had medicinal qualities.

Among them were common blue violet (Viola sororia), a stemless perennial with heart-shaped leaves; yellow wood sorrel (Oxalis stricta), a low-growing plant with shamrock-like leaves and small yellow flowers; and poor man’s pepper (Lepidium virginicum), which tasted like mustard. All three would be delicious in a salad and some are also good for making soups, Brill said.

“They are weeds that reproduce themselves, and that’s why we can eat them,” he said, adding that people always used weeds for cooking. As the tour progressed, he cited historical anecdotes. Poor man’s pepper got its name back in the days when real pepper was imported from Asia and thus was expensive. “People used it because they needed to cover up the taste of rotten food or starve to death,” Brill said.

“This is my apocalypse plan,” said Sarah Anderson, originally from Utah and now a New York resident, explaining what drew her to the event. She added she was only half-kidding.

Participants also chewed on vanillatasting flowers from a black locust tree and dug up sassafras roots as Brill shared a recipe for root beer. Ignacio Parkman, age 4, said “that lemony one was my favorite,” referring to wood sorrel. Another participant, Bill Gallagher, found a plant Brill never saw growing in Central Park before: catnip.

Brill also pointed out poisonous species to stay away from, such as white snake root (Eupatorium rugosum) with dark green opposite leaves. “It stops your brain from communicating with your heart and lungs,” Brill said.

Not everyone supports foraging in city parks, though. The New York City park authorities are concerned about residents harvesting from the parks, and have always been. In 1980s, Brill was arrested for foraging. Later he appeared on David Letterman’s show, where he humorously described how he was handcuffed but eventually let go because he had “eaten all the evidence.” The charges were later dropped and Brill was allowed to continue foraging, although there is no such thing as an official permit. “They just look the other way,” he said.

“We don’t condone what he does,” said Vickie Karp of the City of New York Parks and Recreation press office. She added that foraging can be dangerous. “Some plants can be poisonous,” she said.

There is also a concern that aggressive foraging may affect the park’s natural habitats. “Every plant should be left in its place so that Central Park’s 38 million annual visitors can enjoy everything about its landscapes while they’re here,” said Maria Hernandez, director of horticulture for the Central Park Conservancy.

Brill emphasized that he teaches responsible foraging. He harvests plants that regenerate and digs up tree sprouts that won’t grow because they are under a bigger tree. He also brings attention to poisonous species, including those that are edible early in the season or have to be cooked properly to dispose of the toxins. “I’ve been picking the same things in the same place for 30 years,” he said. Brill does not have a degree in botany, but believes in reconnecting with nature.

“I learned it all on my own,” he said. “I’m a science geek.” He leads foraging tours in other boroughs, Long Island, New Jersey and Connecticut. Originally from Queens, he now lives in Westchester.

“There’s plenty to eat there,” he said.

Sisters in Crime

Lina Zeldovich — Fri, 27 May 2011 00:00:00 +0000

“Those folks know everything about killing
people,” a friend said while pointing at the Muhlenberg Library on the corner
of West 23rd Street and Seventh Avenue. My friend shared my addiction for
spine-tingling crime fiction and, supposedly, this library harbored a secret
society of experts on all things sinister who organized monthly meetings to
indulge in discussions of murder and mayhem. As a Russian-born New Yorker who
fell in love with American suspense novels and aspired to write my own, I was
hooked.

On the third Thursday of the following month,
the specially programmed elevator took me to the top floor meeting room, usually
inaccessible to the general public. I expected a crowd of rugged men. Instead,
I found a room full of women, as refined and affectionate as they later proved
to be wicked and wacky.

“Welcome, New Blood,” a woman said in greeting
as she ushered me in. “Today our featured speaker is a forensic psychologist
and the topic is ‘Ten Character Traits Your Serial Killer Must Have.’” An hour
later, I was done in, deep in cahoots with this vicious and frighteningly
intelligent group of femme fatales, who called themselves Sisters in Crime. And
crime they loved.

Sisters in Crime, or SinC, was conceived in1986 by bestselling author Sara Paretsky and B.J. Rahn, a Hunter
College English professor and detective scholar. Shortly after,
mystery writer Sandra Scoppettone invited Edgar Symposium guests for breakfast
at her Soho loft, where SinC was officially born. The organization’s mission:
to help women get recognition in the suspense genre, traditionally a
male-dominated field.

At
first, the
gang gathered at Scoppettone’s apartment, and later at the Partners and Crime
Bookshop. Their current (and hopefully permanent) hideout is at the century-old
Muhlenberg branch of the New York Public library.

“The librarian, Daria,
was happy to have a group of writers,” explains author Cynthia Baxter, who
was president at the time and found the bookish group its elegant brick-and-limestone home. “It was a large,
private space near subways and Penn Station with lots
of restaurants nearby. And I liked the privacy part!”

I
found that joining SinC was unexpectedly easy. While other writers’ unions
required published clips, any conspiring crime aficionado could enlist. No
previous murderous experience was necessary for the initiation—just the desire
alone was enough. By the end of the night, I filled out the form—which required
a $40 membership fee—and later sent in a $35 dollar check for the chapter’s
dues. The following week, I joined their online writers’ critique forum,
GUppies, which stands for the Great Unpublished, and soon began to see my
stories in print.

SinC has grown into an international
organization of mystery, thriller and noir lovers comprised of 48 chapters
worldwide, with members ranging from scribes to librarians and from publishers
to booksellers with a website (www.sistersincrime.org) that helps connect
writers internationally. It includes such famous figures as queen of suspense Mary Higgins Clark, Charlaine Harris
(whose Sookie Stackhouse mysteries were adapted into the hit HBO series True
Blood) and award-winning authors Nancy Pickard and Julia Spencer-Fleming.

The New York chapter is one
of the biggest branches, and it hosts monthly events, library readings and craft
workshops. Linda Fairstein, the former district
attorney’s sex crimes unit leader, was once a member and still gives occasional
talks. Literary agents Donna Bagdasarian and Josh Getzler, as well as Johnny
Temple, founder of indie press Akashic Books, share advice on writing query
letters and pitches.

While monthly meetings take place in Chelsea, members’ murderous
intents reach far and wide, and even back in time. S.J. Rozan’s books feature a private eye couple, while Peggy
Earheart and Elizabeth Zelvin invented unlikely sleuths: a blues singer and a
recovering alcoholic. A “Mister Sister,” Kenneth Wishnia, set The Fifth Servant
in the medieval Prague
Jewish Ghetto on the eve of Passover. Stephanie Pintoff’s Edgar-winner, In the Shadow of Gotham, recreates 1905, while Laura Joh
Rowling’s series wears the silk kimonos of 17th-century Japan. At the last Brooklyn Book Fair, a Belgian tourist bought our chapter’s short story collection, Murder New York Style, calling it “the
city’s best literary souvenir.”

An idiosyncratic bunch that plans murders
instead of dinners and plants evidence instead of flowers, we discuss plots,
alibis and the latest DNA breakthroughs at our meetings. Some of us would die
to peek inside the mind of a professional assassin. Others would kill to
temporarily think like the criminally insane. When we creep out of our
Muhlenberg lair, we get our hands dirty. Outfitted in ear plugs and eye
protection, we learned to fire guns at the Ridgewood Rifle Club, while Mike
Maione, a shooting competitor who makes his own bullets at home, taught us how
to defend ourselves against an armed gunman. I totally missed the target, but a
60-year-old retired schoolteacher hit the bull’s eye. On the day we toured the
morgue, the chapter’s president had opera tickets, thus facing a dress code
dilemma. “Basic black,” she finally resolved.

Getting
away with murder isn’t easy, so knowledge is key. Recently, psychology professor
Dr. Kostas Katsavdakis gave us a lecture on forensic profiling of men versus
women, revealing that males attack random victims out of rage while females
assault because of fear or jealousy, and typically one of their kin. Last
month, Joseph Giacalone, a veteran of the Cold Case Squad and John Jay College
professor, spoke about the homicide investigative techniques using the O.J.
Simpson’s trial as a case study. Over the course of the years I’ve met a female P.I. who explained to us
the legal issues of rummaging through a suspect’s garbage, listened to the Deputy Commissioner of the NYC Department
of Corrections tell love sagas of Rikers Island’s inmates, and have been sniffed
by the NYPD canine unit. Our speakers share true stories that never make the
news and cases that will never be solved. We typically keep them hostage until
they consent to a post-mortem dinner at Bombay Garden around the corner, and
treat them to a hearty meal. So far we’ve loved them all and poisoned
none.

While
clandestine, the chapter’s meetings are open to all bloodthirsty kindred
spirits and typically take place on the third Thursday of the month. For
complete information, visit nysinc.org.

NYPress.com - New York's essential guide to culture, arts, politics, news and more » Lina Zeldovich

Foraging Through Central Park

Sisters in Crime