🌿 Wild and Wonderful – the ethnobotany and growing of native berries in your backyard – Fiona Hammersley Chambers

With dozens of delicious (and many more palatable) native berry species, British Columbia has some of the greatest diversity of fruiting plants in the temperate zone.  Many species common in the Lower Mainland such as salal, salmonberry, black cap raspberry and red huckleberry respond well to simple gardening practices and indeed were tended and cultivated by First Nations in berry gardens prior to contact.  In this presentation you will learn to identify some of our common native berries, their attributes and suitability as garden plants, as well as techniques such as pruning, fertilizing and mulching which can improve your yield.

Fiona Hamersley Chambers is an ethnobotanist whose research focuses on traditional foods and how northwest coast First Peoples managed and co-evolved with their plant resources.  Her PhD work on B.C.’s Central Coast, working collaboratively with the Heiltsuk First Nation and supervised by renowned ethnobotanist Dr. Nancy J Turner, investigates how key berry plants were cultivated and owned in ‘gardens’.

Fiona is a long-time organic farmer and commercial seed grower specializing in food plants and soft fruit production.  She has lectured at UVic since 1999 and also teaches at Pacific Rim College, BMSC, Royal Roads University.

She has authored or co-authored numerous field guides, including Wild Berries of BC and Edible and Medicinal Plants of Canada.  She owns and operates Metchosin Farm, a small organic operation on Southern Vancouver Island specializing in heritage and locally-adapted seeds as well as a wide variety of soft fruits.

This presentation will be aired via Zoom Video Conferencing. On the Monday preceding the event, Nature Vancouver members will receive the Zoom link in the weekly e-News. To join the talk on Thursday, click on that link after 7:15 pm. The talk will begin at 7:30 pm.  Non-members are welcome and should Email denis@NatureVancouver.ca well in advance to register for the link.