Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Fall Workshop Update


This September MuseumEats Food Collections has been gently harvesting greens, roots, medicine plants and mushrooms and it has already been a generous season. We've also got a couple of Wild Dinners in the works in collaboration with some gifted social activists, chefs, bartenders, restaurateurs, and sommeliers- one is free, another will be coursed and paired with wines, while still others may be held in restaurants, featuring a plethora of mushrooms similar to the Mushroom Masquerade we conducted last year.

We have already hosted around 85 people in this year's Workshop Series and are working to build co-mentorships and community through our facebook page.

If you are interested in what we are doing and love mushrooms and wild herbs, there are some public spots available in our Wildcraft Workshops for October 10, 18, and 19, and open availability for deaf folks and signing allies for October 11th. Please note that the October 11 date will be taught in ASL without interpreters.

To register, either EMT your payment from the sliding scale of $30-60 to museumeats@gmail.com or use the pay pal button below. We do have a No-one-turned-away-for-lack-of-funds (NOTAFLOF) policy, so if you are keen but money is a barrier, email us and we can work it out.



Sliding Scale Menu
Workshop Date
None of this amazing, creative, and inspiring stuff would be possible without the people who share our passion. Thank-you so much to everyone who comes with open hearts and minds to build that connection between source and stomach with us.

Camille
MuseumEats
meelsmeals.blogspot.ca


Friday, September 25, 2015

Forager's Feast Potluck!

Looking for someone to share your wildcrafted goodies with? Wanting to learn more about how to cook wild food, build community, and harvest ethically? Want to do this all for FREE?

Here you go.




If you want to join us, make sure you register on eventbrite as soon as possible - seats are limited to 40 people.

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/foragers-feast-tickets-18643231407

Monday, September 21, 2015

Sustaining Spirit (feat. Social Yoga and the Sunshine Coast Community Forest)

This weekend was amazing. Social Yoga invited me to lead a workshop on the Sunshine Coast the day before my 30th birthday and the forest had many gifts for us. 

Beautiful cluster of Lepiota Rachodes;
Very typically situated at the edge of the forest in sunflecks
After doing some research, I led the group into the Sunshine Coast Community Forest (SCCF) to discuss stewardship and holistic observation, and to explain why going into the Community Forest is a important thing to do consciously.


Adolescent Deer Skull;
consumed either by bear, coyotes, or mountain lion?
 Not only is this space supposed to be stewarded and sustainably harvested by timber companies, it is also utilized and looked after by the shishalh people for food, medicine, ceremony, and traditions that date back to since forever. Nature bros buzz around on ATVs, coyotes stalk prey in packs, mountain cats leap onto cedar posts from high ground and drag their nails down the length of them, and wildcrafters stumble in awe and amazement into bear dens. 

Smelling Sparassis Crispa before we gratefully harvested it

Without fail, whenever I decide to end a foray, whether with a group or just a friend, and take 'stock' of what we have harvested, something magical appears like the cherry on a sundae. I say this with utmost confidence and wonder. We could actually smell this cauliflower fungus when we first walked into this patch of forest from 25 metres away. It weighed close to 3 pounds.

Camille, probably describing the flavour palette of this fungus
like a mushroom sommelier
Forests are host to many things beyond what the mainstream culture classifies as "nature" and by recognizing this, we may start to understand their value beyond timber. 

Our group of social yogis and our bounty
We stopped along the way home to observe the Culturally Modified Trees in the cedar groves and discussed forest conservation, touching lightly on the Dakota Bowl Bear Sanctuary, which is being occupied by folks concerned about how the SCCF is being managed. 

Amazed at our humongous gift! 
Back at the incredible lodge, we revelled in our finds and practiced doing mushroom spore prints and making tinctures out of oregon grape, turkey tail, and usnea. 

The rest of the weekend was filled with other awesome workshops such as calligraphy, yoga, sourdough bread-making, and DIY self-care. If this kind of retreat is something that interests you, say hello@thesocialyoga.com and Anita will let you know what other fun things she's got planned. 

If you're interested in MuseumEats wildcrafting (what I call "sustainable foraging") workshops, email us at museumeats@gmail.com

Waving from beneath boughs of cedar,

Camille
Instagram: @agaricusaugustus
Blog: meelsmeals.blogspot.ca

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Introducing the Membership Program!

MuseumEats is realizing that people have super busy lives and that workshops should be a little more flexible. Hitherto: the MuseumEats Membership Program.

Here's how it works.

There has always been a sliding scale: $30-60 and the NOTAFLOF (no-one-turned-away-for-lack-of-funds) policy. There will be no change in this structure, except that in the past this has only applied to one workshop.

From now on, contributions are considered a 1-year membership to MuseumEats which means:

1) If you contribute to MuseumEats and sign up for a workshop but have to miss it, you can make it up at any of the workshops in the following 12 months for no charge.

2) You will have access to advanced registration for workshops before they are posted on the website.

3) Subscription to our newsletter and facebook page with updates, workshop information and secret supper invitations. This also means if you want to promote a food-security related event you can do so through our sites.

4) Subsequent workshops will still be $30-60 and NOTAFLOF and monetary contributions will renew your membership.

This is going to be retroactively applied to all of the contributions made this past year, so everyone can benefit.

Thank you so much for your enthusiasm, inspiration, co-mentorship, questions, and forest stewardship. Looking forward to sharing more with you.



Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Opening Ceremonies: The First Foray of the 2015 Season

After a dreamy weekend of camping and gregarious rings of lobster mushrooms and gigantic white chanterelles, Camille hosted MuseumEats' first workshop of the fall season with the staff at Burdock & Co.

Here are a few pictures of the goings-on and a little bit of bait to get signed up for our upcoming workshops.