Plant Camp, In Person
August 11-23, 2022
Western Colorado, various locations
Early Bird, Ends May 11th, 2022 - 10 day Plant Camp Package - $1600 - $1750
Join Kat Mackinnon, and Briana Wiles for botanizing, wild food foraging, camping, and exploring diverse landscapes of Western Colorado.
Be welcomed into the medicine of the mountains with our 3-10 day course that winds you through ecosystems at different elevations in the Colorado Rockies. You have the option to join us for the whole 10 days for a deep dive, or choose to take any combination of the 3-4 day a la carte sessions in the location that intrigues you the most.
We start in the high alpine country, surrounded by mountains, streams and lakes. August is the perfect time to see the plants fully blooming, and mushrooms ready for harvest. Working our way down through to lower elevations, we’ll be exploring the medicinal and edible plants of riparian and desert steppe environments.
This course is designed to give you a hands-on start in wild foods, plant identification, botany, sustainable harvesting methods, and wildcrafting ethics. We get into the nitty and gritty of herbal medicine, medicine making, principles of herbal formulation and herbal safety, and basic herbal first aid. Along the way we delve into ancestral, land based skills such as basket, cordage, and fire making, primal cooking methods, coal burning, and how to walk like a forest dweller.
“This was a truly incredible, healing, replenishing, all the positive adjectives experience. Time with incredible people and plants, and learning skills nourished every aspect of me”. ”
— 2020 PARTICIPANT
Session 1 - Location: Near Crested Butte, Colorado
August 11-15 (begins 6pm on the 11, ends 2pm on the 15th)
4 nights, 3 full days plus an evening and a morning
$650
Session 2 - Location: Near Almont, Colorado
August 16 - 19 (begins 6pm on the 16, ends at 11am on the 19th)
3 nights, 2 full days, plus an evening and a morning
$475
Session 3 - Location: Near Salida, Colorado
August 19-23 (class begins at 5pm on the 19th, ends in the morning on the 23rd)
4 nights, 3 full days plus an evening and a morning
Full time hot spring access
$800 (camping only) OR $950 (includes indoor bedroom and house option)
Plant Camp Itinerary
Session 1 August 11-15 - Near Crested Butte, Colorado (4 nights, 3 full days) $650
Join us for a weekend of ancestral skills, plant medicine, and wild foods. Learn how to identify medicinal plants of western Colorado. This course is a hands-on intensive with emphasis on plant identification, learning plant family similarities, and gaining awareness of local ecology. Designed to give you confidence in your future foraging endeavors with skillful instruction on how to avoid poisonous look-alikes, and how to feel comfortable knowing common edible and medicinal plants.
Dive down the rabbit hole of tonics and teas—learn to properly dry herbs, infuse medicinal oils, concoct vinegar extractions, make infused honey for medicinal or culinary uses, and how to tastefully blend a bag of wild tea. This class will focus more on our mountain botanicals. We will be encouraging plant sits, and understanding the communications of our botanical allies.
During this wild learning adventure learn how to start a fire and other fire building skills, including coal burning and carving wood spoons.
You can take this course by itself, or in conjunction with one or all of our Series of Plant Camps IRL.
Primitive Tent Camping near Crested Butte, CO
Botany and Plant ID
Foraging and Harvesting ethics
How to avoid poisonous look alikes
Ancestral Cooking skills
Includes 1 wild foods dinner
Wild Foods identification and preparations
Medicine Making
Infused Honey for medicinal or culinary uses
Infused Oils
Tea Blending
Drying Herbs properly
Fire Skills
Montane and Subalpine Ecology
IMPORTANT DETAILS:
Please come self-sufficient for breakfast, lunch, and dinner each day.
Program is an intensive, 8:30am - 5:30pm - be prepared to go all day.
Be prepared for hot days and cold nights
There will be some hiking and strenuous activity
Participants must arrange for their own transportation to and from the course
No dogs or pets
Camping is remote, and without services. Resupply will be limited for the duration of the intensive. Bring enough food and water for the trip (participants need to supply their own food and water).
Need Camping gear for car camping
**Day off in between Lost Lake and Campfire. Campers could choose to stay an extra night at Lost Lake, in town near Crested Butte or Gunnison either in hotel or camping, or they can check into Campfire for an extra night.
Session 2 August 16 - 19 - Near Almont, Colorado (3 nights, 2 full days, evening, plus half day) $475
Held near the banks of the Taylor River we will be focusing on creating herbal tinctures. We’ll also be tapping into more botanical identification of the plants in the wetland and montane ecology, including identification of poisonous plants.
Learn about wild weedy foods of summer while learning ancestral cooking skills. We will learn how to cook with wild greens, and breads using coals and natural tools.
Hone in on more botany skills during this weekend with an emphasis on harvesting ethics, and how to continue a sustainable relationship with your wild gardens.
We will also learn about new plants at higher elevations while on our way to Treehouse Hotspring driving over Continental Divide on Cottonwood Pass. We will stop to meet and greet a few new plants.
You can take this course by itself, or in conjunction with one or all of our Summer Plant Camps.
Campground in Taylor Canyon near Almont, CO
Botany and Plant ID
Foraging and Harvesting skills and ethics
How to avoid poisonous look alikes
Wild Foods
Ancestral Cooking skills
Includes 1 wild foods dinner
Medicine Making
Herbal Tinctures
Canyon country through alpine
IMPORTANT DETAILS:
Please come self-sufficient for breakfast, lunch, and dinner each day.
Program is an intensive, 8:30am - 5:30pm - be prepared to go all day.
Be prepared for hot days and cold nights
There will be some hiking and strenuous activity
Participants must arrange for their own transportation to and from the course
Campsite services are limited to non-flush toilets
Need camping gear for car camping, or you can rent all your camping gear from the Campfire website.
**Do give people the option (link to campfire site) to rent for the evening of the 15th if they want -but they would have to rent a site through the Campfire site independently
Session 3 August 19-23 - Near Salida, Colorado (4 nights, 3 full days, plus 1 evening) $800 or $960 w/ bed
This course will build on the two previous workshops, and it will cover some review of plants at different stages of life, while we will also learn about new plants in a slightly different ecosystem. Continue to hone in on more botany skills during this course with an emphasis on harvesting ethics, and how to continue a sustainable relationship with your wild gardens. This course is a hands-on intensive with emphasis on plant identification, learning plant family similarities, and gaining awareness on local ecological factors.
Along with in depth plant identification, we also go into more foraging and medicine making. In this class we will be learning about the abundance of weeds and tree medicine, and how each has varying uses as food and medicine. We will touch upon the art of fermentation and preserving wild foods.
During the course you will learn to make medicinal salves, creams from our previously infused oils, as well as distilling hydrosols and talking about essential oil safety and ratios for skincare.
Over the course of this wild learning adventure learn how to begin twinning plant fibers into natural cordage for creating baskets and other weavings. We go deeper into ancestral skills with learning about natural cordage tying with dogbane, milkweed, and cattail—learning to weave small coil baskets.
You can take this course by itself, or in conjunction with one or all of our Summer Plant Camps.
Want to stay in the house? Grab a room! Rooms are $160 total (per room, not per person). They can be shared with 2 people or booked for an individual. We suggest requesting the twin room if you are uncomfortable sharing a queen bed with a friend–do so fast as there is only one room with two twin beds and 4 rooms with one queen each.
Hot spring and a House in Lathrop, CO
Botany and Plant ID
Foraging and Harvesting ethics
How to avoid poisonous look alikes
Ancestral Cooking skills
Includes 1 wild foods dinner
Wild Foods
Medicine Making
Medicinal Salves
Herbal Creams
Essential Oil Safety
Hydrosols and Distilling
Natural cordage tying
Learning to weave small coil baskets
Fermentation
Pinon and Juniper to subalpine
IMPORTANT DETAILS:
Please come self-sufficient for breakfast, lunch, and dinner each day.
Program is an intensive, 8:30am - 5:30pm - be prepared to go all day.
Be prepared for hot days and cold nights
There will be some hiking and strenuous activity
Participants must arrange for their own transportation to and from the course
Choose to camp, or stay in one of the hot springs rooms in their shared house.
Camping option is remote, and without services. Resupply will be limited for the duration of the intensive. Bring enough food and water for the trip (participants need to supply their own food and water).
Need camping gear for car camping, or pay for a room at the house, or Mt Princeton Hot Springs.
Camping info to be released, paid campsites maybe available.