Gathering and Tending Plants

 Wild Gathered Plants

The Eastern Woodlands contain an assortment of edible wild plants that Indigenous people relied on for thousands of years. While these plants are considered “wild”, it is likely that incidental as well as intentional human activities acted to increase suitable growing locations as well as increase produce yields. Even as people were domesticating native plants and growing non-local crops, they still tended and harvested wild plants as an important part of their diet. The Arkansas Archeological Survey’s Plum Bayou Garden at the Plum Bayou Mounds Station and the WRI Teaching Gardens both feature some of the many types of plants tended, harvested and eaten by Indigenous people living in Arkansas. These include various types of nuts, fruits, and greens. We still eat many of them today.