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Inwood Hill Park (Teens/Adults)

Join us for an immersive foraging experience where you'll discover the diverse flavors of Inwood Hill Park. Learn about roots, shoots, and greens with unique tastes like root beer and wintergreen. Dress for the weather and be prepared for a day of exploration in this city oasis.

  • All levels
  • 13 and older
  • $20
  • Broadway & Dyckman St, New York, NY
  • 4 hours
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Start Dates (14)

  • $20
  • Inwood Hill Park @ Broadway & Dyckman St At the playground, New York, NY 10034
  • 4 hours
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Notes Anne Loftus Playground, Ft. Tryon Park 4746 Broadway, Manhattan, NY
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Notes Anne Loftus Playground, Ft. Tryon Park 4746 Broadway, Manhattan, NY
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Notes Anne Loftus Playground, Ft. Tryon Park 4746 Broadway, Manhattan, NY
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Notes Manhattan at Anne Loftus Playground, Ft. Tryon Park 4746 Broadway, Manhattan, NY
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Class Description

Description

What you'll learn in this tour:

Inwood Hill Park is one of the best places for foragers in late winter. The city's hilliest park, with a large, mature forest, meadows, thickets, and cultivated areas, it's loaded with wild plants. Now is the time for roots. Burdock, an expensive detoxifying herb sold in health food stores, as well as an invasive foreign species, abounds in human-disturbed areas throughout the park. The cooked root tastes like a combination of potatoes and artichokes. 

Sassafras, on the other hand, tastes like root beer, which you make from the taproots of the highly-abundant saplings. And the black birch tree, of birch beer fame, tastes like wintergreen. The twigs, which you can chew, make a delicious non-steroidal anti-inflammatory herb tea, as well as a flavoring ingredient for "Wildman's" tapioca-thickened Stick Pudding. 

Another root we'll look for along the park's paths is the tuber of the hog peanut, with a flavor akin to raw peanuts. Peppery-sweet common evening primrose roots grow along one of the pathways. You can purchase a prostaglandin-rich oil pressed from the seeds in health food stores, for PMS and other ailments. With a sweet-and-peppery flavor, the root is outstanding in soups and stews, which it also thickens.

There are going to be plenty of shoots and greens to enjoy, such as chickweed, which tastes like corn, hot-sweet daylily shoots, pungent-tasting pepper sedum, spicy garlic mustard leaves and roots, lemony curly dock, and savory field garlic. 

Asian people collect the stems of this goutweed in this park, which they pickle. With the flavors of parsley, carrots, and celery, the leaves are excellent in soups, salads, and guacamole, and they provide a great seasoning as well if you use them like parsley.

Please Note:

  • Participants should be dressed for the weather, and be aware of very bad subway service. Trains are often canceled due to track work.
  • No sandals (there are mosquitoes, thorns and poison ivy). Everyone should have plastic bags for veggies and herbs, paper bags for mushrooms, which spoil in
  • Plastic, containers for berries from late spring through fall, water and lunch, and extra layers when it's cold. Digging implements and pocket knives are optional.
  • Please bring plastic bags for vegetables and herbs, paper bags for mushrooms, drinking water, and a pen (to sign in).
  • Dogs are permitted. Children are encouraged to attend.
  • There's no smoking whatsoever at any time.
School Notes:
If you can't attend the class you signed up for, please call or email "Wildman" Steve Brill a day before the start of the class. No-call/no-show creates an inconvenience to all participants since we can’t tell if absentees are having transportation issues, and this delays the start of the tour/class.

Kindly note that price posted is our suggested donation only.

Refund Policy

  • Participants can cancel 2 business days before an event and get a refund less a 5% nonrefundable registration fee.
  • If the participant failed to show up in the tour or failed to notify about their absence 2 business days before the class, they will be required to pay a $25 penalty per person before being allowed on another tour.
  • In any event where a customer wants to cancel their enrollment and is eligible for a full refund, a 5% processing fee will be deducted from the refund amount.

Reviews of Classes at "Wildman" Steve Brill (176)

(4.4-star rating across 176 reviews)
  • Inwood Hill Park (Teens/Adults)

    Reviewed by Anthony A. on 11/8/2023
    The beginning of the event was great. Wildman Drill pointed out some leaves in the playground that was fascinating to learn about. Everyone was able to crowd around him and hear his informative talk. But as the event progressed, we got into narrow areas where everyone was not able to crowd around him. And though he is a very informative person, and I really enjoyed learning from him, I was unable to appreciate the second half of the event because I was unable to hear anything he said. I think I would have enjoyed this event a lot more if instead of having 30+ people and 3 dogs, the group was smaller, like 10-12 people. And if he had a megaphone or some kind of loudspeaker, it would have made it easier to hear him. My wife and I went on a tour up by Fort Tyron Garden. The tour Guide had a megaphone, and we were able to hear every word she said. The tour was very enjoyable, and I recommended it to several friends and family members. Unfortunately, I will not be recommending this event.
  • Inwood Hill Park (Teens/Adults)

    Anonymous review on 3/20/2023
    Great experience, would go again a different time of year to learn more!
  • Inwood Hill Park (Teens/Adults)

    Anonymous review on 8/5/2019
    Really informative and fun class
  • Inwood Hill Park (Teens/Adults)

    Anonymous review on 8/25/2016
    The class was fun and interesting. The pace was comfortable. The only disappointment was that about half of the explanations were given by the instructor's young daughter, who was hard to hear because her voice didn't carry far. At the end of the class, I felt comfortable identifying most of the plants that we had learned about.
  • Inwood Hill Park (Teens/Adults)

    Reviewed by Jenna D. on 8/21/2016
    So much fun! We had a great time and learned a ton! And we were walking in the park today and spotted two different plants we had learned about :) excited to do more.
  • Inwood Hill Park (Teens/Adults)

    Anonymous review on 8/21/2016
    Great course, informative and fun. Good for families.
  • Inwood Hill Park (Teens/Adults)

    Reviewed by Karen S. on 11/29/2015
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"Wildman" Steve Brill

Foraging expert Steve Brill has shared his foraging wisdom at schools, museums, parks departments, environmental organizations, and with scout troops since 1982. He’s written three books and an app, stars in a DVD and maintains a website.

His History with Foraging

As part of his exercise regime, he...

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