Events for Foragers
North Carolina Wild Food Weekend, Reidsville, NC, April , 2011
An awesome event with generally over 100 people sharing their love of wild foods. Each year there is a keynote speaker as well as several experts leading hikes and cooking groups. A highlight of the weekend is the Wild Feast on Saturday, where an incredible smorgasbord of carefully prepared dishes are offered. For more info, email Debbie Midkiff, debbiemidkiff@hotmail.com
United Plant Savers Conference: www.unitedplantsavers.org
Nature Wonder Wild Food Weekend, Cairo, WV, Sept. 2012
This is the oldest annual wild food celebration of its kind in the U.S. (44 years). Each year there is a featured speaker, cooking contest, plant identification hikes, and a Wild Food Banquet where you can taste an amazing variety of animals and plants. The event is held at beautiful North Bend State Park, which has miles of hiking trails, varied hardwood forests, and steep hills. There are streams, ponds, and a reservoir within the park. For more information, contact the WV Division of Natural Resources.
Wild Food Summit, White Earth, MN, June , 2011
http://wildfoodsummit.org
This three-day event has a less formal agenda than the two wild food weekends listed above, but there are generally lots of plant walks. It is more focused on the learning and doing aspects of hunting and gathering, and really has the feel of a friendly group camping experience. There are no lodging accommodations—just tent camping. A great opportunity to explore the lake country of Northwestern Minnesota.
Great Lakes Traditional Arts Gathering, Drummond Island, Michigan, August 2-5, 2012
www.islandgathering.org
I'm excited to be part of this event for the first time this year. Formerly known as the Great Lakes Primitive Gathering, this non-profit educational event is sponsored by the Great Lakes Lifeways Institute. It features top-notch instructors in traditional outdoor and Nature-based skills and crafts (check out the website) in a great setting. This year I'll be teaching a couple of workshops as well as leading some plant walks. Come to learn about wild edibles, hide tanning, basketry, birchbark canoes, pottery, and more. You can participate in traditional manoomin (wild rice) processing and make your own birchbark winnowing tray.
Lake Superior Traditional Ways Gathering, Odanah, WI, August , 2012
http://traditionalways.org
This event offers a variety of workshops on such skills as basketry, hide tanning, bow making, archery, canoe building, pottery, and yes, edible wild plants. This gathering is held at a spectacular site on the south Shore of Lake Superior, with miles of undeveloped beach in either direction.
Wild Food Instructors (Who teach about wild edibles as an occupation)
Prodigal Gardens/Rose Barlow, Viroqua, WI
www.prodigalgardens.info
Our dear friend Rose passed away on June 13, 2009. Her website, sharing a great deal of practical information as well as her personal philosophy of using medicinal herbs and wild foods to maintain and promote health, is being maintained by the Coulee Region Herbal Institute, of which she was formerly the director.
“Wildman” Steve Brill, New York City
www.wildmanstevebrill.com
Wildman Brill leads mostly shorter foraging excursions in and around New York. He is part instructor, part entertainer.
Russ Cohen, MA
http://users.rcn.com/eatwild/sched.htm
Russ leads edible plant walks in CT and MA.
Francois Couplan, Switzerland
www.couplan.com
Probably Europe’s leading expert on edible wild plants, Francois has dedicated himself to researching and teaching the topic.
Robin Harford, Devon, UK
www.eatweeds.co.uk
Robin's blog and website recount his foraging experiences, recipes, thoughts, some book reviews, and links to other resources. He also offers foraging classes, which you can click to from this site or go to directly at www.foragingcourses.com. He seems like a very knowledgeable and like-minded fellow.
Ila Hatter
www.wildcrafting.com
Ila leads foraging and nature hikes in the southern Appalachians.
John Kallas, Wild Food Adventures, Portland Oregon
www.wildfoodadventures.com
John is a top-notch foraging instructor and one of the leading authorities on edible wild plants in North America. He offers a variety of workshops and classes listed on his site.
Christopher Nyerges
www.christophernyerges.com
Christopher has been foraging for decades in southern California and is extremely knowledgeable. He regularly leads wild food and survival outings in the Los Angeles area.
Vickie Shufer, Virginia Beach
www.ecoimages-us.com
Vickie is a wild food expert with many years of foraging experience. Accompany her on a hike to experience her infectious enthusiasm.
Other Institutions and Organizations Offering Wild Food Classes or Workshops
Desert Harvesters, Tucson, AZ
www.desertharvesters.org
Desert Harvesters promotes the use of locally native food sources in the Sonoran Desert, offering workshops and holding community events, and planting native food-producing trees in and around Tucson.
Earthwork Programs, Williamsburg, Massachusets
www.earthworkprograms.com
Offers classes on edible wild plants taught by Frank Grindrod, an enthusiastic and knowledgeable wilderness skills and nature educator, and a great guy, too.
Medecine Bow/ Mark Warren. Dahlonega GA
www.medicinebow.net
Offers classes in botany and edible wild plants
Delta Institute of Natural History/ Arthur Haines, Bowdoin, ME
www.arthurhaines.com
Botany and foraging classes taught by Arthur Haines, one of the most knowledgeable people I have ever met regarding edible wild plants.
Maine Primitive Skills School
www.primitiveskills.com
Offers a variety of foraging and plant classes, some taught by Arthur Haines.
Hawk Circle, Cherry Valley, NY
www.hawkcircle.com
Offers a variety of primitive skills classes, including a few focusing on wild edibles
Wilderness Learning Center, Chateaugay, NY
www.weteachu.com
Offers a one-week wild plant course, taught by excellent instructor Marty Simon.
Earth School, Asheville, NC
www.lovetheearth.com
Offers edible wild plant workshops and classes
Nature Awareness School, Lyndhurst, VA
www.natureawarenessschool.com
Has long offered wild edible plant weekends
Earthwalk Northwest, Issaquah, WA
www.earthwalknorthwest.com
Offers a variety of workshops related to edible wild plants, as well as wild dinners.
Foraging Blogs
Abe Lloyd, Victoria, BC, Canada
http://arcadianabe.blogspot.com
A lifelong student of nature and wild plants, Abe has a master's degree in ethnobiology and has been intensively studying wild foods for the last decade. This blog chronicles his thoughts and explorations, accompanied by vivid photographs. I love Abe's blog because he's not only interested in gathering ands eating the plants, but also is a serious student of botany and ethnoecology.
Fergus Drennan (Fergus the forager), UK
http://www.wildmanwildfood.com
Extremely knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and witty. Read about his long-term experiences living on all wild food.
Erica Marciniec
http://wildfoodgirl.com
Erica hails from Colorado and claims to be a foraging neophyte but if that's true she hides it well. In her posts she asks and answers good questions and reveals the process of learning through both doing and researching. Check this one out.
Peter Gail
www.goosefootacres.blogspot.com
Really pertinent and intelligent commentary about incorporating wild foods into our everyday lives. I read Peter’s stuff and cheer for it!
Kevin Feinstein (Feralkevin)
http://feralkevin.com
Has a happenin’ blog and also offers some plant walks/workshops in the San Francisco Bay area.
Ben Marheine’s foraging blog
www.whatinthewild.blogspot.com
Simple and straightforward entries on the adventure and beauty of foraging. The only agenda seems to be sharing information and expressing excitement.
Rebecca Lerner, Portland, Oregon
http://firstways.com
Rebecca Lerner is a forager-journalist actively trying to excite and inform the public about the opportunities ofered by food gathering. Accompany her as she learns, teaches, and challenges herself to eat more wildly.
Sam Schaperow, Connecticut
http://foraging.posterous.com
Sam is an avid amateur forager who shares his experiences and insights in this blog.
Langdon Cook
http://fat-of-the-land.blogspot.com
Langdon shares his foraging and culinary adventures. Fun reading, and a well-organized blog.
Botany Sites
USDA NRCS Plants Database
http://plants.usda.gov
Database for all plants known to grow wild in North America. Multiple images for most species, plus descriptions and data about ecology, uses, etc. Shows occurrence by state with links to many state distribution maps, plus links to many other sites for further information.
Electronic Atlas of the Plants of British Columbia
http://www.geog.ubc.ca/biodiversity/eflora
A very good site for plants of the Pacific Northwest and BC, with range maps, images for many plants, descriptions, and ecological information.
Calflora: Information on wild California plants
http://calflora.org
Information about wild plants known from California. Often has good photos. Distribution maps within California. Very little additional information about each plant.
Connecticut Botanical Society
http://ct-botanical-society.org
Does not cover all species in the region but has good photos for most of those covered.
Missouri Plants
http://www.missouriplants.com
This is the best internet site I’ve seen for plant identification. Although it does not have all Missouri species, it does have over 1,000 of them. Each is typically accompanied by a thorough technical description and several good color photographs, plus some valuable ecological and natural history information.
University Of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Freckmann Herbarium
http://wisplants.uwsp.edu
Detailed range maps and specimen information for Wisconsin plants, usually accompanied by images. Offers field botany courses with Dr. Emmet Judziewicz, who is a first-rate botanist and author of the excellent guide Wildflowers of Wisconsin and the Great Lakes Region
Wisconsin State Herbarium, UW Madison
http://www.botany.wisc.edu/wisflora
Range maps and specimen information for Wisconsin plants, often accompanied by images and ecological information.
