Wild Foods Expert Edelene Wood at Pipestem State Park Nov. 28

            If you’re still thinking about food the day after Thanksgiving, wild foods expert Edelene Wood has some suggestions that she’ll share during a special event at Pipestem Resort State Park in Summers County. Wood will be a featured speaker at Pipestem November 28 at 1 p.m. at the Pipestem Resort Lodge. There is no charge to attend. This is the 35th year Wood has presented her wild foods program.

            “She is quite the character and teacher,” according to Jim Phillips, naturalist at Pipestem Resort. “Her devotion in sharing her interests and educating people about edible and medicinal plants in the wild is with no less energy than when she organized the first wild foods weekend at North Bend State Park some four decades ago. We are tickled to death to have her back at Pipestem. This program comes at an appropriate time, Thanksgiving, when food preparation is a priority; but with Edelene, it’s all about plant use and game found in the wilds.”

            Edelene Wood organized the first wild foods weekend at North Bend State Park in 1968.  Her guest speaker was Euell Gibbons, who had just published a book, “Stalking the Wild Asparagus.” Gibbons was ahead of his time in touting organic gardening and cultural-based food preparations and that weekend started a network of wild food enthusiasts who still gather annually 40 years later. Edelene Wood, like Gibbons, is considered by many to be a charting new thinking about organic and wild food preparation.

            In addition to her role as organizer and president of the National Wildfoods Association, she is an avid vitrolite glass collector and historian. Wood is a resident of Wood County, W.Va.

            For more information regarding events and activities at Pipestem Resort State Park, call (304) 466-1800, visit www.pipestemresort.com or 800 CALL WVA and ask for Pipestem Resort State Park.