A Business With a Mission
Four Season Foraging connects you with the resources necessary to start harvesting and preparing wild foods and medicines. By promoting trustworthy sources, creating informative videos and articles, and offering sliding scale classes and workshops, we establish new foragers and inspire experienced ones.
Core Values
Harvesting red clover for tea.
Making curly dock seed crackers.
Burning juniper twigs for ash at an evergreen foraging workshop.
Increase access to fresh, healthy foods and effective medicines. People in marginalized communities are systemically denied access to fresh produce and herbal/mushroom-based medicines. One solution (though certainly not the solution) is to teach folks how to obtain these goods for free through foraging.
Welcome all people to our workshops. People of all races and ethnicities, religions, national origins, genders and gender expressions, sexual orientations, ages, abilities, and socio-economic backgrounds are encouraged to attend. We ask that minors are accompanied by an adult. We make an effort to hold events that are family-friendly, wheelchair accessible, and affordable. This may not be possible with every single event, however. If you have questions or concerns about an upcoming event, please contact us.
Foraging should be available to everyone. There's a common idea that foraging is the realm of grizzled men who live deep in the wilderness; that it's done mostly for survival. Alternately, there's an emerging idea that foraging is performed by foodies and chefs; that it's new and hip and trendy. In reality, foraging is an ancient practice, something that sustained all of humanity for thousands of years. It should be free and available to everyone, regardless or who you are or where you live.
Foraging should be affordable. The act of foraging itself is free. However, the resources you need to start foraging can be quite costly: paying for books, classes, state park passes, trips to foraging locations, etc. Therefore, Four Season Foraging aims to keep events as affordable as possible by offering classes at different price levels.
Ethical harvesting. Four Season Foraging teaches ethical harvesting practices to protect delicate ecosystems. This means ensuring that native and naturalized species remain in perpetuity for other animals and future generations to enjoy, and that invasive species are managed and harvested without spreading them.
Foraging is good for the planet. Foraging is a way to acquire healthy foods and effective medicines without emitting tons of greenhouse gases or spraying dangerous pesticides. Yes, there are 7.5 billion people on the planet and foraging alone can't feed all of us. Nevertheless, in many countries it is an underutilized resource: potential foods and medicines are destroyed as “weeds" or “pests," and land that could hold cultivated edible gardens of native and wild species are instead used for lawns, golf courses, and developments that only benefit the few.
Foraging builds community. When people come together to harvest and prepare food, it helps build meaningful relationships.
Reasonable balance of caution and curiosity. Harvesting wild edibles does have a few risks. However, it's far less dangerous than many people make it out to be. We advise caution where necessary, but also encourage you to be spontaneous and have fun!