Become a Certified Forager!
- Would you like to dive deeper into foraging?
- Do you have an interest in the wild foods that grow around us?
- Would you like to feel safe harvesting wild foods for your family and friends?
- Do you have an interest in teaching others?
- Would you like to sell wild food to local restaurants or at your farm stand?
If any of the above sounds like you, this may be the Certification Course for you!
We are looking for serious foragers that would like to dive deeper into their own education. It doesn't matter if you want to educate others, help grow the local food market with abundant wild foods, or just have the deep understanding of plants that grow around us, we'd love to work with you. Our goal is more education and protection of wild plants, and our planet.
Field Biologist, Author and Educator Bo Brown, of Owner of First Earth Wilderness School and Author, Educator and Chef Rachael West of Eating the Ozarks will be teaching you the Top 10 Invasive Plants and the Top 10 Native plants to ethically forage. After certification you will be able to properly identify 20 Plants both Invasive and Native.
Education - Protection - Preservation
Skills and Benefits Acquired with Certification:
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2024 Spring Foraging Certification Dates:
* Attendance to all classes is Required
- April 26 - 28th 2024
- Camp at Bo Brown's Property on the Niangua River Bottom
- Receive a signed copy of Bo's Brown's Book: "Foraging the Ozarks".
- A signed copy of Rachael West's Educational Cookbook: "Wild Foraged".
- Attend 4+ Plant Walks.
- Camp, Hike, Harvest and More.
- May 10-12th 2024
- Introduction to Wild Plants at "the Cabin" a bluff top camp space with river bottom access.
- Dinner on back deck, live music & bonfire
- Learn how to process plants, review plants from April.
- Learn new plants on 4 + hikes & demos.
- June 14-16th 2024
- This is CERTIFICATION WEEKEND. We will be meeting at Old Wilderness for a campout after testing, live music and tube floating.
- Review plants from April and May.
- Test with Bo & Rachael Saturday.
- Sunday Float & Hang with Fellow Students
Certification Course Instructors:
Rachael West is the Owner, Lead Instructor and Founder of Eating the Ozarks. She is an Expert Forager, Wild Foods Chef and Author of Wild Foraged an educational culinary cookbook. She's taught wild foods in the Ozarks for the past decade working with KOLR-10 biweekly Wednesday's, the Missouri Master Gardeners, Local Library's, Springfield Community Gardens, Springfield Art Museum and more. She is a Certified Herbalist through both Rosemary Gladstar and Susan Weed.
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Bo Brown is the Owner of First Earth Wilderness School, and Author of Foraging the Ozarks. Bo has been teaching outdoor skills for nearly 30 years. He is a songbird field biologist and field research technician. He conducts programs for Stone Age wilderness survival skills, and Natural Education at his schools property along the Niangua River. He also leads weekly primitive skills and foraging demonstrations at Dogwood Canyon Nature Park, a Johnny Morris Property.
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Questions? Call:(417) 468-8275
Foraging Certification Course (1 Student) - 2024
This is a 3 part series.
You will need to attend all 3 classes and know plants by the end of the course. Please check the dates on the website.
- If you do not pass, you'll be allowed to re-attend at a 50% discount.
- If you miss a class you'll need to fold into another course, hike, etc to learn plants missed prior to the certification date. We will post at least 1 - 2 hikes in May to make this possible.