A plucky young girl from Kansas once said something about the treasures to be found in one’s “own backyard.”

Sounds like Langdon Cook’s kind of girl, and it’s advice he’s going to be passing along to adventuresome island foragers.

The noted Seattle-based writer and instructor, the author of “The Mushroom Hunters: On the Trail of an Underground America” and “Fat of the Land: Adventures of a 21st Century Forager,” will make the trek over to Bainbridge for a special island-centric “Farm & Forage” workshop hosted by Heyday Farm, in partnership with the Bainbridge Island Metro Park & Recreation District, Friday, March 27.

Participants will learn about and harvest what’s in season around the farm, explained Alice Skipton, who, along with her husband Craig, manages the 25-acre farm.

The class, she said, will especially focus on how to find and safely harvest nettles, a plenty local delicacy, as well as other naturally occurring local edibles.

Back at the farm kitchen, attendees will then learn several ways to pair and prepare what they harvest.

Though national curiosity and participation in foraging has been on the rise of late, Cook is quick to point out that those seeking to learn the safest way to take advantage of the hidden culinary treasures around them would learn best through hands-on experience.

“Knowing your identification is paramount,” he explained. “The best way to learn is in the field from another person, being mentored.”

Though there’s no shortage of resources for the curious would-be forager, Cook said that no source material can take the place of simply being in nature with someone to show you the ropes.

“These days, as people are rediscovering these foods, there’s all sorts of classes, workshops, ID clinics and plant walks,” he said. “You need to see these plants and fungi in their habitat, you need to hold them in your hand if you can. Pictures in a book just don’t tell the full story.”

This class marks Cook’s first collaboration with Heyday, though he’s a semi-regular featured speaker at park department events, including berry gathering and shellfish harvesting workshops done in the area.

The resurgence in such activity, what Cook calls “home art,” is a wonderful kind of antidote, he claims, to the high-tech world we live in.

“We’re all taking this big step backward,” he laughed. “For someone like me, I think it’s wonderful to see so many folks out there reinvigorated by the past, reclaiming these skills that sort of dwindled over these recent decades.”

Specific fauna Cook said his workshop will focus on, in addition to nettles, will be dandelions, bittercress and cat’s-ear, among others.

“I think weeds are a great place to start,” he said, adding that they are “off-the-charts nutritious” as well as almost always readily available and in no danger of being over-harvested.

“If prepared the right way they’re delicious as well,” Cook added.

A word of caution, however, before eager novices start running around the island’s forest mouth-first: “The forager’s golden rule is to never eat something you can’t identify 100 percent,” Cook cautioned.

The workshop does have a limited number of spots available. The cost is $110 per person. Registration is through the park department, call 206-842-2306 or visit www.biparks.org/index.htm for more information.

Visit www.heydayfarm.com to learn more about this and other upcoming classes.