contact the forest
250.547.2001
REGULAR REGISTRATION
Wild Food & Gathering Experience
Regular Registration Cost:
- 1-Day Workshop: $190.00
- 3-Day Retreat: $585.00
Rates are in Canadian Dollars per person
You may register using these secure Paypal links:
Riparian - Observations within an
Old Growth Forest Riparian Area
We invite you to watch this 30 minute video which examines the ecosystem held by an old growth forest located in an Inland Temperate Rainforest in British Columbia. This riparian area is now feeling the presence of clearcut logging as a road is built along its edge.
Don Elzer shares his thoughts and observations within this footage that we call “Riparian”
Wildcraft Forest School - Bushcraft Series
Shelter spaces become central gathering points—places where food is prepared, shared, and experienced collectively. Participants learn how to create safe and practical areas for food storage and processing, protecting resources from animals and environmental exposure.
Cooking over fire transforms meals into something immersive and intentional. Without modern conveniences, participants must rely on attention, timing, and adaptability. These processes slow everything down, encouraging presence and appreciation. The act of cooking becomes as meaningful as the meal itself.
Throughout the program, participants explore ancestral diets and the ways early humans achieved nutritional balance using available resources. They are introduced to a range of wild flavours, teas, and natural seasonings—expanding their palate while deepening their understanding of food as part of a larger ecological system.
Bushcraft, in this context, becomes a pathway to awareness, gratitude, and wellness. Participants often leave with a renewed appreciation for food—not just as sustenance, but as connection.
Who Should Participate
- Food enthusiasts interested in natural and ancestral diets
- Nature lovers seeking a deeper connection to the land
- Outdoor enthusiasts wanting practical foraging skills
- Anyone curious about where food truly comes from
No prior experience is required.
1-Day Workshop
A hands-on introduction to wild food gathering and preparation:
- Guided plant identification walk
- Ethical harvesting principles and techniques
- Introduction to wildcrafting practices
- Fire cooking basics
- Preparation of wild teas and simple foods
3-Day Retreat
A deeper, immersive exploration of food systems in the wild:
- Expanded foraging methods and seasonal awareness
- Introduction to snares, traps, and small game concepts
- Meal preparation over open fire
- Food preservation basics (drying, storing, protecting)
- Creating shelter-based cooking and food processing areas
- Exploration of ancestral diets and nutritional balance
- Wild flavours, teas, and natural seasonings
- Storytelling and connection to seasonal cycles
Accommodation
Participants stay in comfortable, pre-built bushcraft shelters that provide an immersive yet welcoming forest experience.
- Designed with a primitive aesthetic
- Functional and comfortable
- Optional glamping-style upgrades available
Formats & Pricing
- 1-Day Workshop: $190
- 3-Day Retreat: $585
What You Leave With
- Foundational plant identification and foraging skills
- Practical knowledge of ethical harvesting
- Experience preparing food over fire
- An understanding of basic food preservation methods
- A deeper awareness of seasonal and ecological food systems
- A renewed sense of connection to food, land, and community
A Few More Points to Ponder
When you gather, prepare, and share food from the land, something changes.
Food is no longer just something you consume—it becomes something you participate in.
The Wild Food & Gathering Experience is an invitation to rediscover nourishment as relationship, awareness, and connection.
2026 Dates
tba
You may also register by Interac or
Wells Fargo Transfer. Send us an email and we will send you instructions.
- Glamping Camp Accommodation is extra.
If you have questions please email us or call 250.547.2001
Participants begin by learning to identify edible and medicinal plants, developing an understanding of ecosystems and ethical harvesting practices. Rather than taking from the land, they learn to engage with it respectfully—recognizing cycles, abundance, and limits.
Basic tools are introduced to support food preparation and processing, offering hands-on engagement that brings participants closer to the materials they work with. The program also introduces traditional methods such as simple snares and traps for small game—not as a primary food source, but as a way to understand ancestral survival strategies and the realities of sourcing protein in the wild.
Wild Food and Gathering
Food as Relationship with the Land
Food is often treated as a product—something packaged, purchased, and consumed with little thought about where it comes from or how it sustains us.
The Wild Food & Gathering Experience invites a different perspective.
This immersive program reconnects participants with food as a living relationship—one rooted in land, season, awareness, and care. Through foraging, fire-based cooking, and simple bushcraft techniques, participants rediscover nourishment as something participatory, sensory, and deeply human.
Bushcraft
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1-Day Workshop: $190.00
3-Day Retreat: $585.00
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