Thanks to those of you who have shared that, in general, you are interested in these workshops. I’ve been looking at behind-the-scenes todo lists, and brainstorming ways to offer the advanced foraging workshops. Such brainstorming has led to something I am very excited about!!!
The Field Kitchen!!!
This weekend, I found a very reasonably-priced, used Coleman camping stove, and not just any Coleman stove, this is vintage back to when my Dad was just a teenager! It needs de-rusting and a new paint job, but otherwise, the unit works!
This will let me put together a field kitchen right where we forage for each of the wild ingredients we will learn how to prepare, as all but one of the workshops I have planned, require a stove top, whether for frying, cooking, double-boiler use, etc. If this concept really takes off, I might need more than one folding table and more than one camping stove. Don’t worry, a washing and rinsing station will be set up as well, without any damaging hand sanitizer! The goal here is your health, not wrecking it with mainstream silliness.
So now that I have the critical part of the field kitchen acquired, tentative dates have been set for the Advanced Foraging Workshops for the year. It roughly works out to every 3rd (or 4th in a 5 week month) Saturday starting in February, skipping April due to Easter and craft fairs, and carrying through to November with a mid-week children’s workshop that adults are welcome to attend as well. November is anticipated to be stuffed with weekend craft fairs, so hence the tentative mid-week date that month.
To begin with, a maximum of 10 people can register for any one workshop.
The projected dates, each date’s focus, and their registration fee is as follows:
February:22, 2025 – Registration Fee: $60 Registration deadline: Feb 8th
Pine vinegar household cleaner
March 22, 2025 – Registration Fee: $90 Registration Deadline: Mar 8th
Make Your Own Wild Herb Trail Kit
3-day
NOTE: No custom leather bag comes with this 3 day event, dried wild herb ingredients are supplied, no hiking component for this workshop. Be prepared to attend all three days with the lecture most likely happening while the components of your kit are being made.
May 17th, 2025 – Registration Fee: $80 Registration Deadline: May 3rd
Making Herbal glycerine extracts
June 21st 2025 – Registration Fee: $60 Registration Deadline: June 7th
Thistle dip, breaded spears
July 19th 2025 – Registration Fee: $60 Registration Deadline: July 5th
Purslane pesto and/or chimmichurri
August 23 2025 – Registration Fee: $60 Registration Deadline: Aug 9th
Chokecherry juice concentrate, syrup, and jelly
September 20th 2025 – Registration Fee: $70 Registration Deadline: Sept 6th
Wild Herb Hygiene
NOTE: Dried wild herb Ingredients are supplied, no hiking component for this workshop. The lecture will happen while components of your projects are being made.
October 18th 2025 – Registration Fee: $70 Registration Deadline: Oct 4th
Curly Dock tortillas, sponge bread, pancakes, wild herbed ricotta dip, fir syrup, etc
November 26, 2025 – mid-week event? – Registration Fee: $40 Registration Deadline: Nov 15th
Wild rosehip garlands (kids focus)
Each workshop will have three components:
The foraging: Keep in mind these workshops are for those who already know the basics of foraging and want to learn how to prepare wild herbs. Therefore, no introduction will be given, as it was engaged with in one of our Foraging Workshop and Trail Tour sessions instead. We will gather at the trail head and immediately go out and grab the wild herb and bring it back to the field kitchen. Come prepared with your own collection vessels, bags being best on average. Note that this is not the same as the introductory foraging workshop, so no notebook is provided with your registration.
The lecture: We will discuss the nutritional/medicinal profile of the herb, various uses for it, and why we chose the particular preparation we’ll make for that workshop and how to use or enjoy the result. You will receive handouts that you can refer to later, related to the herb, and to the preparation we do at the workshop.
The preparation: We will create the discussed preparation and depending on what it is, enjoy it there after we’ve cleaned up after ourselves, or take it home to use around the house or share with family. Containers will be provided to take your portion home with you from the workshop.
If you own a folding table and a 2 element camping stove that you want to bring with you, with it’s appropriate fuel (not all stoves take the same fuel these days), feel free to pack it along BUT tell me first! We will need to ensure every stove has implements to be used for the workshop in question (no aluminium!!!).
The more workstations we can set up, the more people who attend can be active over a given pot, double boiler or frying pan.
Other attendees not standing at the stove(s) will be rinsing the herbs or destemming them or chopping them or combining non-foraged ingredients together or serving onto plates, into cups or packaging for take-home. So everyone will be doing something during the preparation phase of every workshop. More stations mean more people can attend.
Plan for up to 6 hours from start to finish.
Bring a bag lunch and a water bottle. Bring your own camping chair! Something that folds up light is best, as we never know how far from the vehicles we’ll be hauling the field kitchen to set it up. Lighter is better, so no folding Adirondack chairs for example.
Dates are considered tentative for the following reasons:
1 – Weather. While we will bring a canopy with us to help keep things dry in event of rain (or in the case of February or November, snow), if the rain or snow is forecasted to come with strong winds, we may have to rebook the workshop. Secondly, if the forecast is for a sunny or cloudy day but high winds are forecasted, we may rebook. If there are ways to shield the camping stove’s flames further outside of it’s very helpful fins, let me know and that will reduce the prospect of rebooking due to weather.
2 – Craft/Wellness Fairs. I am waiting to hear back from several fair organizers who don’t book their fairs much more than a couple months out from their desired dates. If those dates land on a tentative workshop date, the only reason I won’t go with the fair is if enough people have already registered for the workshop to make it a viable replacement before the fair’s registration deadline on my calendar.
3 – Unforeseen circumstances. Lord-willing, such circumstances would arrive far enough in advance that rebooking can happen without too much hassle for everyone. If global event prospects lead to what they did back in 2020-2021 and if they are handled the same way, the workshops will continue as planned, because that’s what we do in the Okanagan. Can’t meet indoors? Go outside! We pride ourselves on being a 4-season playground, so a field kitchen fits right into that.
Registration Fees:
Various workshops have various fees, due to what is required to provide all ingredients and materials necessary for each workshop’s focus. While we continue to discover more ways to rewild our own kitchen, not everything is there yet, requiring purchases to be made to ensure preparations can be done.
The November event costs less due to far less setup and provision of materials required outside of the foraging step.
If you want to register a homeschooling group for any of these workshops, please contact me for group rates and the best day/time that works best both for your group and our availability.
Paying your registration fee by e-transfer will come with no additional cost. Paying by credit card via the website registration link will have a $2 service fee added due to the cost merchant gateways charge me to let you pay online and this fee will not be refunded, having been paid out at the time processing occurs.
Cancellations and Refunds:
If you register for a date that can’t happen no matter which way we slice the calendar, and you registered BEFORE the deadline, you will be refunded in full – registration fee only, not the service fee if you paid online. If you registered ON OR AFTER the deadline, materials have now already been obtained on my end for your attendance, so you will be refunded 50%. If you would rather your fee be transferred to a different workshop, we can do that as well.
If you cancel your workshop attendance, the same will apply. BEFORE the deadline, you’ll get a full refund of your registration fee, not the service fee if you paid online. ON OR AFTER the deadline, you’ll get a 50% refund. You are free to have your registration transferred to a different workshop if you prefer.
Transfer of Registration Fee:
In both cases above, whether unforeseen events cancel a workshop date, or you have to cancel your attendance, if you choose to transfer your registration to a different event with a different fee, you’ll need to cover the additional cost if the different workshop costs more, or you will be refunded the difference if it is lower than the workshop you couldn’t attend.
If you are interested in registering for any or several (or even ALL) of these dates, use this form to send in your registration. This form can also be found under the Event Calendar on the top menu bar of my website. That calendar will also be updated to point to this form. As noted earlier, no service fees are attached to e-transfer, so if you prefer to send registration that way, include all the information otherwise found on the form, in an email to: bnhc@naturalhealthgodsway.ca and send your e-transfer to the same email address. Please be sure to observe the various deadlines to be sure you get your registration in early.
I’ll be posting these workshops up on Castanet Events, KelownaNow’s event listings, and other locations where I can. Feel free to share with others you know who may be interested as well.
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