What are we doing and
why are we doing it?
Internally, the purpose of our foraged
and farmed operation is visitor
engagement, but you can think of
it as a way of farming—borrowing
from multiple approaches—that
grows interesting things for you
to do, learn, eat, cultivate, make,
and enjoy related to native plants.
Whether it’s through purposeful
work, learning opportunities, or
even beer brewed with native edible
plants in collaboration with a local
brewery to create a “conservation in a
glass” experience, it’s all about using
native edible foods to help visitors
build relationships with nature. It’s
a celebration of hyper-local native
foods that speaks to Cincinnati
Nature Center’s mission of Inspiring
Conservation and its Plant
Native initiative.
Native
In keeping with our Plant Native
focus, the species we grow are nearly
all native to our region. Like native
pollinator plants, native edibles are
hardy once established, and they feed
native wildlife.
Restrictive in some ways, focusing
solely on edible native species has
allowed us to dive deep into their
botany, history, and related foodways.
You won’t find apples from (Eastern
Asia) or cabbage (native to Europe),
but you’ll delight over the honey
caramel flavor of American persimmon
(Diospyros virginiana) and Ohio’s
own “taste of the tropics,” pawpaw
(Asimina triloba).
Perennial
You might be familiar with garden
annuals, those species that are planted
from seed each year. Our focus is
on long-lived, mostly woody trees
and shrubs with herbaceous plants
underneath. Growing perennials saves
time and allows us to invest in plants
over the long term. It also assures
we always have living roots in the
soil, protecting it from erosion. We
continually add wood chips and old
hay on top of the ground, which soil
life will consume over time, releasing
nutrients for the plants to use.
What’s Growing on
at Long Branch?
A Foraged and Farmed Update
By Jason Neumann, Public Programs Manager
“It’s a celebration of hyper-local native foods that
speaks to Cincinnati Nature Center’s mission”
Which plants do you
pick to grow and why?
New terminology will help expound on this question. We are farming a native
perennial polyculture. Examining each word in the term:
Our foraged and farmed operation is partly aimed at bringing back a true sense of
"farm" to Long Branch Farm & Trails, but for us, it's much more than merely foraging.
It's generated a fair amount of inquiry, so it's time to explain some of the purpose,
philosophy, and principles behind what we're doing.
4 Newsleaf | Fall/Winter 2024