This Summer's Foragers Gathering
Foraged plants and mushrooms
I'm so excited to be having the Gathering again this year. I can't wait to see everyone again. The event will run from June 23-26 at Frog Holler Farm in Brooklyn, MI. I have been planning like crazy, and I wanted to share with you guys some of the things we have lined up.
Author Lisa Rose leading a plant walk at the 3rd Annual Great Lakes Forager’s Gathering (2016)
We have a great lineup of instructors, including Alexis Nikole, Sam Thayer, instructors from Will Forage for Food, Open Grown School, and Wild Persimmon School, and dozens of herbalists, naturalists, and lifestyle foragers from around the Great Lakes region. There will be plant walks, mushroom walks, herbal medicine classes, classes on hunting and trapping, fermentation classes, ID classes, wildcrafting classes and so much more!
And don't forget the wild foods. You can't really hire a wild foods caterer, so it is part of our event culture to cook our meals as a group. This means every meal prep is a chance for you to learn some wild food culinary skills. We haven't got our entire menu together yet, but we have entire freezers full of food that people have been foraging all year just for the event. Some of the things we are thinking about include wild plum sweet and sour, beaver and wild mushroom spaghetti, and acorn and wild blueberry pancakes. Whatever we decide to make, there will be wild foods in most every dish we serve. So even if you don't participate in the cooking you will still have the chance to taste lots of different things.
Cooking wild foods on the fire at the 2018 Great Lakes Foragers Gathering
Plus we will have group foraging opportunities, cooking contests, a scavenger hunt, open mic, bonfires, and many other social opportunities. Plenty of time to see old friends and meet new people. The event page is here, I will update it with class schedules and menus in a few months when things are more solid. But I wanted to tell everyone about it now because the tickets are selling fast. People have been cooped up and are eager to get out. We have sold out in the past, and I suspect that we will sell out fairly early this year. So don't wait until the last minute to buy your tickets this year! Regsitration is here.
