Foraging Intensive – 2018

 Registration is closed for this event
Foraging is the act of finding and gathering wild foods. For the majority of our existence on this planet, human beings lived as hunter-gatherers. By engaging in this age-old practice, we can provide ourselves with healthy and FREE food and medicine, become more self-reliant, and connect on a much deeper level to the landscape in which we live.


Over the course of nine months, you will go from learning foraging basics to incorporating wild plants into your everyday life and gain the knowledge to confidently share what you know with others.

Classes will span from March to November and run 2-3 hours each. The course will begin with one classroom based session and continue with seven outdoor classes on the Horn Farm. The final session of the course will be a wrap-up discussion incorporating a wild foods potluck. 

Topics covered will include: 

  • Foraging basics and precautions
  • Ethics of foraging and other considerations
  • Plant observation
  • Basic botany & ecology
  • Plant identification - meadow and woodland species
  • Foraging for mushrooms
  • Medicinal and culinary uses
  • Harvesting, preparation and preservation
  • Making plant medicine
  • Utilitarian uses - cordage, basket making, tools

During the course, students may take advantage of the following:

  • Facebook group, email list for questions and further dialogue
  • Homework and additional reading assignments to further advance your study outside of class

Student outcomes:

  • Well-rounded understanding of foraging basics
  • Good working knowledge of many local wild plants
  • Exposure to a network of foraging enthusiasts
  • Confidence to share the knowledge of wild foods with others
  • Deeper connection to the land which sustains us

WHEN: Classes will be held once per month from March through November on the fourth Saturday of each month beginning at 9:00am:  

  • Saturday, March 24: Introduction to foraging (9AM-12Noon)
  • Saturday, April 28: Plant observation & basic botany (9AM-12Noon)
  • Saturday, May 26: Making plant medicine (9AM-12Noon)
  • Saturday, June 23: Foraging for mushrooms (9AM-12Noon)
  • Saturday, July 28: Woodland species (9-11 AM)
  • Saturday, August 25: Open meadow species (9-11:00 AM)
  • Saturday, September 22: Utilitarian plant usage (9-11 AM)
  • Saturday, October 27: Roots (9-11 AM)
  • Saturday, November 10: Wrap-up, sharing, and potluck (10-12 Noon)

COST: The fee for this course is $300 per student. 

Register early, class size is limited.

About the instructors:
 
This course is being led by Jonathan Darby. Jonathan is a wild foods enthusiast and educator, former owner and operator of Sterling Farm, and has been active in the local farming community for the past ten years. Jonathan has been involved at the Horn Farm since 2008 when he volunteered on the committee that developed the Incubator Farm Project. Jonathan received his Permaculture Design Certification in 2011 from Susquehanna Permaculture and in 2014 completed his Permaculture Teacher Training through Dynamic Ecological Design. On January 1, 2016, Jonathan Darby was promoted to Education Director at the Horn Farm Center for Agricultural Education.
 
Additional instructors:
 
Nathan Carlos Rupley - Nathan is a stay at home dad, artist, and aspiring hunter-gatherer. He has been teaching classes and blogging about foraging and rewilding for about 5 years, and released a foraging DVD in 2015. Learn more at nathanrupley.wordpress.com.
 
William Padilla-Brown - William Padilla-Brown is a Social entrepreneur, Urban Shaman, Citizen Scientist,  Poet, Mycologist, Amateur Phycologist, and a Certified Permaculture designer. William has spent most of his life traveling the world, stopping at such places as the Pyramid of the Sun, Olmec Ruins in Villahermosa and Campeche Mexico, England, France, Taiwan, and various states on the East and West coast of Northern America.  He has run a non-profit in New Cumberland called Community Compassion for the past 4 years focusing on Radical Sustainability, and operates MycoSymbiotics, LLC - a small mycological research and mushroom production business. William received a certification in Permaculture from Susquehanna Permaculture, and NGOZI.
 

Jen Zerfing, LMT, MH – Jen has been a Master Herbalist since 2009, trained by the School of Natural Healing in Utah. In addition to providing various community herbal workshops and seminars, she is a practicing Licensed Massage Therapist, specializing in lymphatic massage.
 
Wilson Alvarez - Wilson is a certified permaculture designer, inventor, gardener, skilled tracker, bowyer, nature-awareness instructor, and writer from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. For the past twelve years, he has studied and taught classes and workshops on bio-intensive agriculture, regenerative technology, foraging, hunting, trapping, tracking, and wilderness survival. Wilson has studied through the Wilderness Awareness School via the Kamana program, and he received his Permaculture Design Certificate via Susquehanna Permaculture.
When
March 24th, 2018 9:00 AM to November 10th, 2018 12:00 PM
Event Fee(s)
Foraging Intensive Tuition $300.00