People gather on picnic blankets for a sunny afternoon on the main lawn in Prospect Park. March 9, 2021. Photo by Norah Hogan

A trio plays music for passers-by in front of a baseball field in Prospect Park. March 9, 2021. Photo by Norah Hogan

A neon t-ball bat sits beside a disposal medical mask in the dirt in Prospect Park. March 9, 2021. Photo by Norah Hogan

A child sits on a park bench next to her discarded jacket. March, 9, 2021. Photo by Norah Hogan

Two runners leave Prospect Park. March 9, 2021. Photo by Norah Hogan

A child and a masked adult sit on a tree in Prospect Park. March 9, 2021. Photo by Norah Hogan

Yellow flowers wrapped in colorful string hang as part of a memorial  in Prospect Park. March 9, 2021. Photo by Norah Hogan

The post Prospect Park Springs Back to Life  appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

But now, as the warm spring weather graces New York City, Brooklynites who have previously been in isolating in their homes to prevent the spread of COV-19, have come out to enjoy the changing weather.

Prospect Park, the second largest park in Brooklyn which surrounds  five neighborhoods, has become a popular gathering spot for many.

NYPD parked in front of Grand Army Plaza at Prospect Park. May 10th, 2020. Photo by Bessie Liu

Children playing kites with their father on Mother’s Day. May 10th, 2020. Photo by Bessie Liu

Bikers exercising at Prospect Park on a sunny Sunday. May 10th, 2020. Photo by Bessie Liu

Man standing on branches and dancing. May 10th, 2020. Photo by Bessie Liu

Couple enjoys the sunshine on hammock. May 3rd, 2020. Photo by Bessie Liu

Man following social distancing guidelines enjoying sunshine at park bench. May 10th, 2020. Photo by Bessie Liu

New Yorkers out to enjoy the sun on Mother’s Day. May 10th, 2020. Photo by Bessie Liu

Signs reminding New Yorkers to remain six feet apart at all times. May 10th, 2020. Photo by Bessie Liu

Intersection of Fort Hamilton Parkway and Ocean Parkway which leads to the Machate Circle. May 10th, 2020. Photo by Bessie Liu

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City dwellers step off the train at Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn with comfortable shoes and an appetite. On the menu are some of Prospect Park’s most hearty weeds, young flowers and roots.

These foodies came to Brooklyn recently to experience a taste of what grows in the 585-acre park. They are urban foragers for a day. Boldly pulling at flat green plants with tender leaves matting much of the area’s recently frozen dirt, they dust off the leaves on their jeans and indulge.

Forgoing Park Slope’s famous organic cuisine, water-boiled bagel shops and family-friendly Greek fare, people are here to discover what edible leaves are free for the taking—and eating.

Urban foraging is a unique way to eat locally. Foragers look for edible weeds, non-toxic mushrooms and colorful trees that bear fruits such as American persimmons — a deliciously sweet yellow or orange-tinged fruit with a tough skin, packing juice.

One man who knows where to locate these free juice bombs is “Wildman” Steve Brill.

He is “America’s go-to guy for foraging.” In his 60s, he’s been leading urban forages for decades since his first tour in 1982.

“I didn’t have the beard or the hat, and people said ‘you don’t look like a wildman’ so I went to the Army-Navy store,” he said. “I bought the hat and grew the beard and people said ‘you look like just what I though you were going to look like.’”

He gives off the aura of Sir Nigel Archibald Thornberry—the cartoon wildlife documentarian and nature expert—on the popular ’90s Nickelodeon show “The Wild Thornberries.” The two share a love for safari garb, the environment and for their daughters.

Brill drove to his Brooklyn tour from his home in Connecticut on a recent chilly morning. His daughter Violet, named after the purple flower that is “always tasty” to great outdoors lover, is his assistant. He jokes that she will take over the business. At 7, she can already identity many species of plants, mushrooms and more.

This was Brill’s first tour of his 30th year foraging. Tours still start in March and end in December.

Brill started off by leading the troop of 20 people to a green patch of chickweed growing alongside a fence.

Runners jogged by the walking path where tour-goers huddled, taking turns kneeling to see the small plant that Brill describes as having five trademark parted flowers. Common chickweed grows all year long, thriving in sunny, partially shaded areas.

Fun fact courtesy of Brill: chickweed gets its name because chickens love to nibble on it.

It’s considered a common weed in the U.S., but chickweed capsules as a relief for eczema, coughs, rheumatoid arthritis, weight loss, support fat digestion, cellulite and much more.

Most of the urban foragers were first timers, but none hesitated to eat clumps of chickweed.

“It tastes like corn on the cob,” Brill said.

More like the cob itself, according to the scavengers.

Brill offers tons of information about each plant and injects historical knowledge into each lesson.

“The herbalist would give them chickweed,” he said. “It has more vitamins than a health food store. They would very quickly rebuild their strength.”

Brill usually leads tours through tri-state area’s most wild areas, like Central Park, Inwood Hill Park, Queen’s Alley Pond Park, the Appalachian Trail and Tarrywile Park in Danbury, Conn.

As a nature guide, he helps reconnect urbanites with their green surroundings.

Despite the long histories and scientific facts about plants, it’s not all serious. There are a lot of jokes and sweet treats. For each tour, he brings baked goods or ice cream he’s made from ingredients on urban forages. He brought small chocolate truffles to this tour, made with “coffee essence” from Kentucky Coffee Tree seeds — definitely not Starbucks seeds.

Gary Levingston, from Lindenhurst, Long Island, didn’t know what to expect on the food tour of the park, but walked away with a full bag of field garlic, chickweed and common evening primrose roots.

“Hopefully it will never come in handy,” Levingston joked. “It’s interesting to know and pass on.”

Victoria Gershik, from Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, looked forward to making Sassafras tea — boiling a gallon of water with the root — and possibly Sassafras jello.

“This is the first time I’ve been done a tour with him,” Gershik said. “Learning about plants, it’s just so much fun.”

Many of the day’s foragers said they would be back for more free greens and natural edibles.

“This was a very good start to my 30th year,” Brill said.

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Honking fowl may no longer be a common sound in New York City parks. The United States Department of Agriculture (U.S.D.A.) and City Hall plan for another round of goose killings this year, drawing criticism from residents ready to rally for bird rights.

“The people will be joining Hands around the Lake in Prospect Park, and that’s really to stand up for wildlife to say we care as New Yorkers,” said Patty Adjamine of the Upper East Side, a bird blogger and wildlife advocate. “We come to the park because we want to connect to nature. And to say that we can’t peacefully coexist with nature is distressing.”

The federal government collaborated with the city last year and implemented the Wildlife Hazard Mitigation Program, an effort to control what it called an overpopulation of geese. The U.S.D.A. along with the Federal Aviation Administration claimed the birds posed a threat to flights in and out of John F. Kennedy International Airport.

That decision incurred widespread public dissent, said Prospect Park spokesman Eugene Patron. After residents protested methods used to terminate the geese — sighting goose gassings as the main concern — Patron said this year, the parks will enforce a no-feed policy and oil unhatched eggs.

Still, Adjamine said such measures will not resolve the problem of overpopulation.

“If we left the geese alone, their population would stabilize,” she said. “They don’t fly all over manhattan or Brooklyn; they stay around a lake or a pond. So it’s difficult to see what the complaints are about and most of them are baseless.”

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