By Kate Abbott

It’s not uncommon for Arianna Alexsandra Collins and Justin Adkins to be found along a stream bank, heads down. They are looking for plants that grow naturally (native or not) and are good and safe to eat. They love sharing their knowledge with people who can not only see but touch, smell, taste, and get a feel for where a plant grows. From April through October, they lead wild edibles walks through the Hoosic River Watershed; Collins also takes foraging groups into the woods and fields of the Clark Art Institute. Collins is an educator and naturalist in Ashfield, and the executive director of the Hoosic River Watershed Association (HooRWA), a citizens group that looks after the river. Adkins is president of the Berkshire chapter of Trout Unlimited and co-owner of Wild Soul River in Williamstown. (Both Wild Soul River and the Clark give half of the proceeds from the walks to benefit HooRWA.)

Collins revels in teaching and learning about every being that lives in the river and along the banks, in the floodplain, and the waterside ecosystems. To care for the river, people have to get to know the richness of life in and around the water, she said.

To identify plants, she does use field guides and apps, but with care, and with cross checking multiple sources. Her favorite way to learn is to walk in the woods with someone she can ask. “It’s important to learn kinetically, with a guide,” she said. As she explains how to recognize a plant, a leaf, or a berry, she also can discuss how to prepare the harvest. Safety is obviously paramount, but she and Adkins also caution people to forage where foraging is allowed and welcome. Look around to see that more of the plant is growing around you before you harvest any, taking only a small amount of the whole.

It is important to make sure the plants will survive and take care of themselves, she said, and feed and interact with other plants, birds, insects, animals, and people, too.

For foraging walks, visit hoorwa.org. Want to know what’s growing wild in your own backyard? Collins also offers individual wild plant inventories through her own organization, Offerings for Community Building, offeringsforcommunitybuilding.com.