ABOUT US
About Meadows and More
Wild plants represent our past heritage of food as well as our future food security. (UN FAO)
“The thousands of underutilized and neglected plant species, know as orphan crops, are the lifeline to millions of people on Earth fomented by unprecedented climate change, pervasive food and nutrition insecurity and economic development… Harnessing this basket of untapped resources for making food and production systems more diverse and resilient to change, should be our moral duty to current and future generations.” - Kew Gardens, State of the World’s Plants and Fungi
Wild foods are markedly more healthy (higher in vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids and lower in sugar and starch) than man-made cultivated crops. Why? Because plants under environmental-stress produce chemical compounds that benefit human health (Cornell “Plant Based Medicine” David Sindair, Huberman Lab et al.)
Our practices are founded on a profound connection to and stewardship of the land. We cull invasive and non-native adventive plants towards greater resilient biodiversity, in collaboration with private landowners, organic farmers and conservation groups.
Tama Matsuoka Wong
Tama Matsuoka Wong is a forager, weed eater, wild farmer, and meadow doctor. She is the author of the backyard field guide and cookbook Foraged Flavor (Clarkson Potter June 2012) nominated for a James Beard award in 2013, followed by Scraps, Wilt & weeds with Chef Mads Refslund (winner of IACP award for Food Matters) and now Into the Weeds: How to Garden Like a Forager.
After graduating from Harvard Law School and serving more than 25 years as a financial services lawyer in Tokyo, New York and Hong Kong, she returned with her family to Hunterdon County New Jersey and rediscovered her passion for the natural world. In 2007 she was named Steward of the Year by the New Jersey Forest Service. For media coverage about her work, see Press page.
Our Team
Jade Greene brings to us her multiple talents in environmental data analysis, invasive plants strike team, brew-maker.
Skye King is putting her learnings from a masters in ecology and evolution into a foraging practitioner’s lore.
Derek Carty is an avid forager and plantsman. He is the founder of Brandywild LLC, based in Pennsylvania.
Website images by Ngoc Minh Ngo
Illustrations by Bobbi Angell & Wil Wong
Advisors
Karl Anderson – Distinguished Field Botanist., co-author of Plant Communities of New Jersey; a Study in Landscape Diversity.
Ian Caton – Wood Thrush Nursery.
Eddy Leroux – Executive Chef of Michelin Starred Restaurant Daniel in New York City, whose curiosity and unflagging passion for wild flavors started it all.
Alex McAlvay - Kate E. Tode Assistant Curator, Institute of Economic Botany, New York Botanical Garden.
Lena Struwe, Ph.D. – Director of the Chrysler Herbarium at Rutgers University and professor at the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences.
Michael Van Clef, Ph.D. – Ecological Solutions, New Jersey and Stewardship Director, Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space (FOHVOS) Michael brings more than 15 years experience in the area of stewardship of natural resources, ecological resources and policy to our team.
Gerould Wilhelm, Ph.D. – Chicago, Distinguished Field Botanist and Ecologist and Principal botanist at Conservation Design Forum. Gerould is co-author of Plants of the Chicago Region. Gerould is closely associated with the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois, and has developed the Floristic Quality Assessment methodology in conjunction with colleague, Floyd Swink. Gerould serves as adviser to the Plant Stewardship Index program.