Foraging
Foraging is a culinary adventure that connects us with nature, offering unique, edible treasures. Grab your basket, explore the wilderness, and let these wild ingredients inspire your culinary creations. Look for more staff-led foraging programs at KNC each season!
Please note: KNC has an official Foraging Policy in an effort to foster a safer experience that protects visitors and participants, as well as the ecological health of the natural resources in our care. Visitors are permitted to forage edible fruits, nuts, invasive plants, or other approved species on a limited basis for personal consumption following this Foraging Policy. Visitors choosing to forage at KNC do so at their own risk; the Kalamazoo Nature Center and its staff bear no responsibility or liability for adverse outcomes from foraging, even when done as part of a directed program.
You are welcome to visit the new Food Forest, located at KNC’s DeLano Farm, 555 W. E Avenue! The Forest was recently planted by a team of KNC staff and volunteers in late 2026 and will be continued in future seasons.
A food forest is a natural ecosystem and a garden; it is a space to learn from and work with nature. Food forests are low-maintenance edible landscapes that require little to no watering or weeding, they improve soil health, and have fewer pest concerns than most agricultural systems.
As gardeners in this landscape, we work with the forest to plant and cultivate edible species within the layers of existing habitat – the overstory, understory, shrub layer, herbaceous cover, ground cover, vines, root system, and mycelial network. The fruits, nuts, veggies, herbs, and mushrooms grown here provide a diverse harvest for both humans and wildlife.
We invite you to wander off-trail and think about the ever-evolving relationship
between land and people. Plants are efficient with the sunlight they capture, the water they store, and the nutrients they take up and leave behind. Do we give back as much as we take from nature? How might you be more mindful of the ways that you share land with other people and organisms?
Special thanks to Stryker and KNC’s Friends of the Forest for making this project possible.
Foraging Guidelines & Ethics
Visitors are permitted to forage edible fruits, nuts, invasive plants, or other approved species on a limited basis for personal consumption.
Please review the Foraging Guidelines for information on safely foraging at KNC.
Be mindful that by foraging you are joining a natural community shared by many species. Be respectful of other people and the many other organisms that live in this environment. Pick only what is in abundance, take only what you need, and leave most to share with the wildlife. Find ways to give back to the habitat in return, and leave it better than you found it.
Check back soon for a list of upcoming foraging programs!