The Great Lakes Foragers Gathering is the largest annual gathering of wild food enthusiasts in the Great Lakes region. You can look forward to a variety of classes and workshops covering foraging, cooking with wild foods, and other traditional skills. Plus you will have the opportunity to sample amazing wild food dishes at every meal. And, of course, we will continue our tradition of creating great memories, making new friends, and building a strong community.
Classes will be taught by herbalists, naturalists, ecologists, wild foodies, lifestyle foragers, hunters, trappers, bushcrafters, and wildcrafters from around the Great Lakes region. There will be edible and medicinal plant and mushroom walks, and classes on a wide range of topics including cooking with wild foods, herbal medicine, plant and mushroom ID, sustainability, ecology, wilderness skills, bushcraft skills, and much more. And there will be classes devoted to kids and family activities. But this event is much more than just walks and classes. This is a community. So we will also have group foraging, a potluck, a scavenger hunt, multiple cooking contests, open mic, weekend-long projects to participate in, and space for participants to vend and shop each other’s wares. We encourage everyone to participate in any or all of these activities.
Check back for the gathering schedule later.
Weekend Pass: All event activities and meals, plus a place to hang a hammock, pitch a tent, or park your camper,
Individual (14 and over): $275
Couple (2 individuals sharing a camper or tent): $525
Kids ages 4-13: $150
Family (2 individuals plus kids 13 and under): $650
Kids under 4 are free. Note that there is no childcare or classes for kids this young.
“Kids” age 14-23 pay adult price. However, we do have scholarships available for this age group. Contact us for info.
We also have work-study options for adults and kids age 14 and over. Contact us for info.
Day Pass: 8 am until dusk Friday/Saturday, includes group meals, $125 per day per person (over age 4).
Potluck and Keynote: 4 pm Thursday until dusk, $50
Food: We forage all year long, gathering and preserving foods for the event. We also do a Group Forage at the event to collect seasonal fresh foods. So we are able to use wild ingredients in every meal, giving you the opportunity to sample several different foods throughout the weekend. Thursday evening we have a Potluck, along with our Wild Foods Cooking Contest. Since wild food caterers are rare (understatement of the year) we don’t have anyone to cook for us the rest of the weekend. Instead, participants help out in the kitchen and we prep the meals together. Since we use wild ingredients in nearly every dish, this is an excellent opportunity to learn to work with wild foods. Don’t worry, you will be supervised by experienced cooks. Much of our non-foraged produce comes from local farms. We accommodate omnivore and ovo-lacto vegetarian diets. While many of the dishes may be vegan, gluten free, dairy free, etc due to change, we are unable to fully accommodate these more specialized diets. If you have dietary limitations, we recommend that you bring some food items with you to supplement what we serve.
Camping: The field can accommodate just about anything, even the biggest, fanciest glampers. Or, if you prefer, you can sleep on the grass by the campfire under the open sky. Or anything in between. Most people opt for a tent or a hammock. Note: This is not a campground, it’s a farm field. It will be fairly primitive. We will have a place for charging phones, port-a-johns, and a place to fill water bottles. There is no shower on site, so bring your swimsuit for the pond or to play in the sprinkler. There is also no electricity or dump station for RVs. If you must use a generator at night we ask you to use the far end of the field, where the sound will not bother other campers.
