When Tama Matsuoka Wong looks out at her backyard meadow, where others may see an unruly mess of weeds gone wild, she sees a treasure trove. It contains over 225 native and non-native plants, which she observes, identifies, and forages daily. “I have to do foraging,” she said. “It gets me out, rejuvenates me. After I do some busy or mundane task, I’ll go out and cut juniper.”
The care goes both ways. While she’s out there, Wong assesses the health and stability of her meadow. She notes the coming and going of plants, seeing which ones take a foothold and which seem to die out; she sustains the living conditions of rare or extirpated species and controls the spread of others that could overwhelm. In foraging and using the latter, she said, “you’re helping to keep them under control, which is stewardship.”
