HANDS-ON CLASS: Wild Foraging

Join us for an immersive, hands-on foraging class at Ada Hayden Park, where we’ll explore the natural abundance of edible and medicinal plants growing in our local landscape. Led by Crystal Jewell, a Neuroscience Graduate Student at Iowa State and Science Communicator, this class will teach you how to identify, harvest, and use a variety of wild plants safely and sustainably. We’ll cover key identification techniques, ethical harvesting practices, and traditional uses of native and naturalized species found in the park. Be prepared for a leisurely walk on uneven terrain. Bring a notebook, a field guide (if you have one), and a sense of curiosity!

Class Location: We will meet next to the picnic shelter in the main parking lot by the lake.

Meet the Instructor!

Crystal Jewell M.S. is a science communicator and PhD student studying the neuroscience of mindfulness. Outside of academia, she nourishes her passion for food sovereignty through foraging, gardening, herbalism, and experimenting with traditional food preservation.

If you have specific dietary restrictions, please reach out to us in advance before signing up for the class at or by calling the co-op at 515-232-4094 and speaking with Sheba Wright, Education Coordinator.

Limited substitutions can be made during the class.

Host or Publisher Wheatsfield Cooperative