By: Hailey Colwell
A group of University of Minnesota students, staff and faculty members stood under an oak tree on the St. Paul campus Tuesday, their guide wielding a Nut Wizard — a scepter-shaped tool used to gather nuts — and explaining ways to harvest acorns and eat them.
The urban foraging tour was one of a series of de-stress events put on by University Libraries to help students manage their stress before finals week.
The creative and technology-free study break was created to fit into the topics taught on St. Paul campus, said Kristen Mastel, outreach and instruction librarian at Magrath Library.
“Students are so tied to technology,” Mastel said, and having a couple minutes to relax while getting their hands dirty can be an effective stress reliever.
In addition to crossing the St. Paul campus to learn about edible foods, students and faculty can plant organic plants and make aromatherapy sachets.
Strolling along Cleveland Avenue by St. Paul campus’s miniature “frat row,” tour guide Charley Underwood explained how cattails are the “supermarket of wild food,” because you can eat every part of it depending on time of year.
Raking acorns into the Nut Wizard with a quick sweep across the ground, Underwood talked about the process of preparing acorn flour. Since the nuts are bitter, he suggested boiling them in multiple batches of water before grinding them in a mixer. The powder can be mixed with what flour to make pancakes, he said.
The flour can also be used on its own as a gluten-free option, he said.
“A lot of things from the wild are sort of flavor-intensive,” Underwood said, and a good forager not only needs to be able to identify plants but have a “discriminating taste” like a cook.
Educational psychology graduate student Ha Vo said she went to the event because she was stressed from finals week. Since she lives close to campus, Vo said it would be useful to know which plants are edible.
“It’s just cool to know that there are a lot of them around and I can eat them,” she said.
Vo said she particularly enjoyed learning about the barberry bushes, found all around the St. Paul campus, which are currently full of sweet berries that can be eaten off the stem or made into wine.
Thinking about this new food source made her feel less stressed out, she said.
“I just feel like [I’m] in a different world and I can distract myself from my studies a little bit.”
Operations manager for St. Paul libraries Mark Desrosiers said it was really interesting to learn about how plant species like the Ginkgo tree can change gender.
“We Americans don’t really think about food and where food comes from as much as we should,” Desrosiers said.
The other libraries are hosting de-stress events that fit closely with the different locations, Mastel said. Walter Library will hold a gaming study break on Monday and Wilson will have giant crosswords available next week from a faculty member who writes crosswords for the New York Times.
Mastel said she hopes the event helped students get in touch with nature and let go of their stress.
“I think everyone walked away with a little something and got a breath of fresh air as well,” she said.