Church of Deep Ecology

Recognizing nature as our guide, we will work to encourage a more sustainable lifestyle based in exploring and celebrating the interconnectedness of all living things and the Earth.

EVENTS Watch this page for events suggested or sponsored by the Church of Deep Ecology. North Carolina Wild Foods Weekend April 28 -29, 2007 Reidsville, NC One of the nation's premiere wild food events, this weekend features learning in a fun format with a friendly group of enthusiastic foragers. Keynote speakers will be Sam Thayer and Vickie Shufer. For more information call Debbie Midkiff @919-489-2221.  Spring Foraging Weekend May 19-20 Ogema, WI Experience the Northwoods bursting to life! Spring is the season for green vegetables, and Nature supplies them in a healthy variety of flavors. Learn about the wild foods of forests, fields, wetlands, and weedy places. We will identify and harvest the plants together, then cook them into delicious meals. This class will be held in one of the most scenic areas of northern Wisconsin, full of maples, hemlocks, pines, beautiful wooded hills, and clear lakes. Highlights will include a foraging hike to Wisconsin's highest point and a visit to a virgin tract of forest. Accommodations: meals and campsite. $125. Renewable Energy and Sustainable Living Fair June 15-17, 2007 Custer, WI The world’s largest renewable energy educational event of its kind. Featuring hundreds of workshops, speakers and exhibits all emphasizing clean energy & sustainable living. Food for Life! June 22-24, 2007 Whitwell, TN This is Sequatchie Valley Institute’s eighth annual gathering for skills-building around permaculture, organic gardening, food preservation, methods of cooking and diet choices, natural medicines and nutrition. It will also focus on the social and ecological implications of agriculture, including biotech foods, factory farming and community supported small- scale farming. Early Summer Foraging June 16 -17, 2007 Bowdoin, ME Learn to confidently identify dozens of wild food species available in the early summer in New England, as well as where and when to find them, which parts to use, and how to prepare them into delicious meals. Participants will get hands-on experience from one of the country's leading experts in the field. Accommodations: campsite/lodging. $135. Lake Superior Traditional Ways Gathering. August 19-24, 2007 Bad River Reservation, WI This is a week-long gathering of primitive skills enthusiasts and instructors. Workshops offered will include hide tanning, bow making, tracking, cordage making, fire-by-friction, black ash basketry, edible wild plants, and many more. The gathering is held on the shore of Lake Superior on a beautiful pristine beach surrounded by a vast wild country of wetlands and boreal forest. The gathering is an incredible experience and learning opportunity. Sam Thayer will be doing edible wild plant walks on two or more occasions during the gathering.  Guided Manomin (Wild Rice) Harvest Late August – Early September Northern Wisconsin Midwest Wild Harvest Festival September 7-9, 2007 Fall Creek, WI A weekend of fun and learning in celebration of wild food. Activities include a wild food banquet, cooking contest, plant identification hikes, hands-on workshops, demonstrations, presentations, and wild food fun and games. The guest speaker will be Vickie Shufer, wild food author, educator, and creator of "The Wild Foods Forum" newsletter. Get reinvigorated by hanging out with a fantastic bunch of foragers who share your passion. Learn a lot and love learnin' it! Accommodations: meals and campsite or rustic cabin. $100. For more info, check out the Wild Harvest Festival page, or call 715-767-5826.   Fall Foraging Weekend October 6-7, 2007 Caledonia, MN Learn about the incredible bounty of wild food available during Nature's most generous season: roots, tubers, nuts, seeds, fruits, greens, and more. Discover the plants that were once the staff of life for hunter-gatherers in the Midwest. We will learn to identify them, find, harvest, and use them. This class will be held in the beautiful and diverse Driftless Area of southeastern Minnesota at Dunromin Campground. Accommodations: meals and campsite. $125 The Foragers Bread and Butter: Using Staple Wild Foods October 12-14, 2007 Ogema, WI Everything not covered in the fall foraging weekend, this 3-day class focuses on processing and preparing foods that were staples of hunter-gatherer diets. Learn methods of acorn leaching and preparation, making hickory milk and oil, making cattail rhizome flour, processing wapato and hopniss, straining fruits, winnowing grains. Plants are not collected during this class; instead, explore what it takes to turn the produce into meals once it has been collected. Best taken with some experience or after one of the fall foraging weekends. Accommodations: meals and campsite. $175. Upper Midwest Organic Farming Conference February 21-23, 2008 La Crosse, WI An extraordinary, farmer-centered event, this gathering is the largest organic farming conference in the U.S. The conference is celebrated as the foremost educational and networking event in the organic farming community. For more information email events@churchofdeepecology.org See photos from our Straw Bale Construction Workshop If you know of an event that should be included here, please let us know.