Ethical Foraging: A Guide!

With the Gathering of the Fairies event around the corner (it's Saturday, September 6), we're in the midst of a lot of prep! This annual event, our biggest children's activity of the year, has been going on for nearly two decades. Children and their caregivers are invited into the garden to participate in magical activities such as hearing fairy stories, creating a fairy wand and making other nature crafts. (Plus, there will be face painting and live music!)

We've posted a flyer asking our volunteers and friends for donations of found nature materials - because one of the little ones' most treasured activities is building fairy houses all around the Growing Center using all-natural plant materials: twigs, bark, pinecones, acorns, stones, seashells, leaves and moss are some examples. So we thought it would be helpful to talk a bit about how one might go about foraging for such items in the most ethical way possible.

Examples of some fairy houses built at the Growing Center by kids (and kids at heart) during the Gathering of the Fairies.

Informed Actions

Here are a few things to think about:

• We aren't the only ones! August/September is the time of year when wildlife starts collecting food items for the winter: acorns, cones, and spent flower heads, for instance. Although they don't look like food to us, they are indeed food for animals, such as squirrels and seed eaters in general. The production of acorns was fair but not phenomenal this year, so thinking about who we might deprive of sustenance when we gather an acorn is important.

• Animals Recycle, Too! This is also a time when nature recycles. For instance, a gall (a solid mass that forms on the outer tissues of plants) that has an exit hole might serve, at this very time, another different purpose. For example: it might now be the home of a spider guarding her eggs.

• Check First, and Replace When You Can Take caution with turning over logs to find stuff to collect: This is also the time when some salamanders lay and guard their eggs on the undersides of fallen limbs and logs. Any form of stress on them can be detrimental at this time. Flipping a log is one thing - replacing the log in a way that does not crush what was revealed is another thing to think about. There are techniques.

• Can You Move it Back? If you can, don’t move something you aren’t sure you can put back!

Minimize Your Footprint

Just like with the rules of camping and hiking, like at our state and national parks, the seven principles of Leave No Trace are a good rule of thumb. Specifically, in the case of foraging for nature materials, collect in moderation, leave what you find for the most part, and respect wildlife. Fallen twigs and branches, a handful of river stones, or loose bark or pinecones on the ground are fine to collect in small amounts.

Think Globally, Act Locally

In general, avoiding hoarding is key. Acknowledging that we are not the only ones collecting brings another perspective. It's not just me collecting, but many others are doing the same thing at this time of the year. There is actually scientific research from a few years back about the negative impact of shell collecting on beach erosion in Spain! The point is that there are consequences to our actions, and what may seem like an innocent collection activity can accumulate and indeed have a solid impact.

Collecting in the Fells

One thing to convey is that no collecting can happen in the Middlesex Fells Reservation or on any DCR property. Per MA Regulation 302 CMR 12.04: 21

(21), No person may damage, disturb or remove any DCR property or resource, real, natural, personal, cultural or historic, except through hunting, fishing, or trapping where permitted and carried out in accordance with regulations issued by the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, or other written authorization by the Department.

More information specifically about the Fells can be found at the Friends of the Fells website.

Leaving the Fairy Houses?

One thing we're starting to think about is the ecological implications of leaving the fairy houses in the Growing Center for a while (maybe even over the winter). After all - maybe the fairies will indeed use them! One thing we try to do is re-collect the stones and seashells so that they can be reused the following year. Even humans recycle nature materials!

Some cultures in the great north, like Iceland, build elves' houses in their gardens and elves' villages in the countryside. Surely the "hidden people" use them!

(Of course, now that Elfland is being rebuilt, it seems they have plenty of places to live!)