Practical Foraging

Find a richness of food and medicine everywhere you turn, from suburban homes and farm fields to wilderness areas and urban streets. You will build your nature literacy through direct engagement with nature to provide for your daily needs, and in the process start to break down the imaginary barriers between us and the ecosystem that is our home.

At that same time that you are ethically gathering valuable food, medicine, and craft materials you will learn to see yourself and humanity as an integral, necessary part of healthy ecosystems. We will gather invasive species to check their growth, and gently tend to native species where they grow to their growth and habitat through responsible harvest.

Topics covered include...

  • Safety principles and foraging ethics

  • Where, when, and how to go foraging

  • Identification of abundant wild berries, vegetables, and even edible trees

  • Fermenting with wild foods

  • Recipes to celebrate the deeply local flavor of wild food

  • Wild spices and seasonings

  • Ethical wildtending to manage invasives and boost beneficial plant populations

  • Easy-to-identify, safe local mushrooms

  • Gathering wild seed and propagating plants for ecosystem restoration or home gardens

  • Most valuable wild plants to incorporate into a home garden

Instructor

Jason Padvorac

Jason Padvorac grew up with organic gardens and an amateur garlic farm in the backyard. Since he was a child he has always felt most at home in natural settings, hiking in the words and picking berries. A love for the science of life and desire to serve humanity with it led him to a degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Washington.

After graduation he continued independently by integrating the study of permaculture design, forest gardening, herbal medicine, economics, wildcrafting and many other topics to search for workable solutions to the challenges we face. Since 2017 he has been teaching community-focused experiences to connect people with the land.

Jason lives with his wife and two young daughters on their half-acre homestead, along with their beloved ducks, chickens and quail.

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