Exciting news! After an action-packed trip to Cider Con with the Peck Lab team from Cornell to present on the Foraged Fruit Project, I’m headed back to the UK in late February 2024 to present our work as part of a symposium on tree cultures hosted by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Linnean Society of London! More information here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/tree-cultures-words-woods-and-well-being-tickets-795474564837?aff=ebdshpsearchautocomplete&keep_tld=1

Here’s a description of the conference:

“This conference, organised collaboratively between Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Linnean Society of London, looks back at the place of trees in global culture (trees in popular literature and arts): why do they hold such a special place in our culture? How has this been expressed through words and paintings? It will also look at how our gaze upon trees has transformed, with the realisation that trees are instrumental to our sense of belonging, well-being and happiness, and will look at the influence of other societies that have looked at and looked after trees in different ways.”

Each opportunity to take the project on the road yields new opportunities to connect with others and expand the ideas that inform our research. This summer at the Royal Geographical Society, I was lucky to connect with William Lawrence Arnold, James Fergusson, and Caitlin DeSilvey on their Some Interesting Apples project in Cornwall, which is applying some of the same interests in wild seedling fruit that we are exploring in America in their southwestern corner of the UK. Here are some photos from our connections in Cornwall!

At Cider Con, we had the amazing opportunity to connect our foraged fruit project research in New York with the work of foragers out in the Pacific Northwest through our conversations with Kim Hamblin of Art+Science Cider and Wine and Sager Small of Mast Year Cider Collective. I’m looking forward to what this next trip and meeting of minds will bring.