Camping Trip: Foraging & Bio-Regional Herbal Intensive
September 8th-10th, 2023
Are you ready for an adventure of a lifetime? Join bio-regional herbalist, ethnobotanist, and forager
Crystal Brown, of Inspired North, for a 3 day, 2 night sea kayaking trip to Oak Island, part of the Apostle
Islands of Lake Superior, where you will have the exciting opportunity to learn techniques for field
identification and uses of both edible and medicinal plants and fungi of Wisconsin and the Lake Superior
Region. This trip is in partnership with experienced kayaking guides from Whitecap Kayak of Washburn,
Wisconsin, and includes all meals AND kayaking and camping gear (except for your own sleeping bag). It
is appropriate for all experience levels of kayakers, foragers, and herbalists (which includes no
experience at all). Teens 13 years and older are welcome, when accompanied by an adult.
Participants will embark on a rustic, all-inclusive adventure that will increase comfort with identifying,
harvesting, and preparing wild food and medicinal plants and mushrooms. You will be learning the
“Patterns Method of Plant Identification,” based off of the work of foraging expert and author Tom Elpel
(Botany in a Day), one of Crystal’s instructors. Crystal Brown is also a registered nurse, writer, and
experiential educator, who has been teaching people of all ages ethnobotany and wild food and
medicine classes in Northern and Northeastern Wisconsin. She has also studied with author/forager
Samuel Thayer and author/bio-regional herbalist Darcy Williamson.
Where We Meet
We will meet at and launch from Little Sand Bay.
There are changing rooms, bathrooms, and free overnight parking there.
Address:
Little Sand Bay
Russell, WI 54814
SCHEDULE YOUR TRIP
Cost
Early Registration: $625 Adults (18 years and older)
$375 Teens (under 18 years)
Rates After July 16th: $700 Adults (18 years and older)
$450 Teens (under 18 years)
Fees cover: meals, kayaking boats, equipment and instruction/guides, camping gear, intensive course
instructional materials and supplies, resource lists for further study. Post trip group Zoom meeting with
Crystal Brown to reflect on learning/experience.
Students can expect to:
- Identify and build relationship with at least seven wild plants and three mushrooms while one islands, and feel confident in using skills and resources to enhance future study.
- Discover safe and ethical harvesting, preparation, and storage techniques of wild foods and gain experience in using these skills while on the intensive.
- Taste and prepare wild edible plants and mushrooms.
- Understand and apply wild plant first aid in the wildness and urban settings.
- Create two different types of herbal medicinal products to take home with them, and have an understanding of other preparation techniques and available resources.
