Foraging is for everyone!

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ABOUT
This group is focused on increasing inclusion in the foraging community by spreading knowledge of the free food and medicine we can find in our woods and yards.

Specifically we are focused in the tri-state area of Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana but we always love others joining the conversation
Time to Forage!
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Join us for a weekend of foraging in the lower Midwest! The event will include camping onsite, potluck Friday night, a foraged meal on Saturday and classes with some great teachers throughout the weekend!Read More


  • Date: 9/20/2024 04:00 PM - 9/22/2024 01:00 PM
  • Location: Union, KY, USA (Map)

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Past Events

TitleDateLocation
Tri-Foraging Festival 2023 29 Sep 2023Union, KY, USA

What's foraging?

Foraging is the act of gathering wild food for free. Foraging for wild food is a great way to experience the natural world and connect with something ancient and primal within ourselves. And in many ways, it can be a more healthy alternative to the foods we find at the grocery store. Not only is wild food much richer in essential vitamins and minerals, but foraging also provides much needed exercise. It's a combination of hiking and gardening.

When's the next event?

Midwest Foragers Gathering this year will be September 20-22.  Tickets are on sale now!

How do I start foraging?

Before eating any wild plant, make 100% sure you can identify it.
  • Find a mentor or plant walk in your area.
  • Get a good book.
  • Use all of your senses.
  • Keep a foraging journal.
  • Don't over harvest.
  • Only forage plants that appear to be healthy.
  • Get permission to forage.

Who should forage?

Anyone!  Harvesting wild food is one of the oldest and most basic activities of humankind, but today we live in a world where these skills are almost lost. We recognize that getting out into the wild can be a privilege but you don't have to leave your yard to find plants that can help support a healthy and connected life.

Why do we think foraging is a racial justice issue?

The roots of foraging come from knowledge shared by indigenous people in this country and continues to be practiced today.  Additionally, during chattel slavery foraging provided Black people with a means of survival.  However, during colonization and post Civil War many laws were put in place to limit the freedom of Black and Indigenous people making foraging practices illegal and even removing Indigenous people from their land cutting those ties. As a result, Black and Indigenous people have been forcefully separated from foraging practices to further colonization in this land and this continues to impact those populations today.  We believe it's important to build a communal practice where everyone can feel safe and seen out in nature.

Gabrielle Cerberville

The Chaotic Forager

Gabrielle Cerberville, aka @chaoticforager or "the Internet's Mushroom Auntie," is a forager, mycologist, composer, and outdoor educator. Just a few of her current projects include a book, a TV series, and a Ph.D at the University of Virginia in music composition and computer technologies. You can find her at www.chaoticforager.com, or on all socials as @chaoticforager.

Shane Alden

The Wild Dryad

Shane Alden is a self-taught illustrator, botanist, and educator who has been featured on the Chicago Tribune, the Wild Edible World Podcast, and more. Shane has traveled to several countries and cities for his research on plants and ecology. He believes that creating a healthy environment through hands-on learning and research can aid anyone who is willing to learn about the natural world around them. You can find Shane at www.thewilddryad.com or on all socials as @the_wild_dryad.

Max McCormick

Max McCormick is an educator and creator currently residing in Cincinnati, Ohio. Former forestry technician and certified arborist, Max is a giant tree nerd, avid forager and wildcrafter, home-herbalist, and all-around plant and nature enthusiast. They teach a number of different workshops and classes including Tree Identification, Edible and Medicinal Plant identification, Wildcrafting, Foraging, and Home-Herbalism, among others. Max is also certified in permaculture design, and they are a maker, artist and organizer. Their e-mail is Mmccormick@intothetrees.green, or you can find them on instagram @megamaxxoxo

Liz Virgo

Liz is an herbalist, a forager and is certified in teaching Yoga to both kids and adults. Liz teaches in several studios and schools throughout Cincinnati and Northern KY and loves teaching Yoga to students of all ages and levels. Outside of Yoga, Liz is in the middle of a one year project of not buying food from grocery stores. Instead Liz eats food grown by local farmers, by herself or food that she has foraged and is known as the Grocery-Free Yogi. Learn more at https://www.lizvirgo.com/

Cole Perry

Cole Perry has been in youth work for 20 years, mostly outdoor ed but currently teaching high school Spanish at Clark Montessori. Cole loves learning and sharing what they know about our other-than-human relatives, mostly plants and mushrooms. Catch Cole talking about how to identify things in the woods that people can eat. Their favorites include mayapples, persimmons, and all of our native Allium species.

Ellil Rose

Ellil Rose has knowledge through 24 years of peer and self education. Currently a nature based home childcare provider teaching children about seasons, locality, the joy and importance of learning a specific forest through all seasons, edible/medicinal wild things and weeds, and how to not leave a trace. She started on this journey when she was a student/single parent on welfare and had a distrust in doctors to care for her kiddo in whole ways. She was gifted a book on home healthcare for minor things and, learned shortly after that many of the medicines were abundant as urban weeds, things easy to plant, and wild “invasives”. That was the starting point. And, now…. she likes getting into crafts like rope making and hide tanning, too! This winter she'll be making my her shoes out of a hide she tanned herself.

Megan Henshaw

Meghan Henshaw has spent many years studying the plethora of ways in which medicinal plants are woven into the fabric of everyday life. This has led her all over the United States and abroad where she has worn many hats as a field researcher, wildcrafter, herbalist, and educator. Her medicinal plant studies began with an internship with a large herb company twenty years ago and was followed by formal botanical study in herbal science and ethnobotany. Meghan currently has a private practice in Cincinnati and sees clients for one on one herbal support and bodywork. As Ocotillo Herbals, she teaches herbal classes throughout the Midwest and crafts a line of herbal products which emphasize bioregional plants using herbs she grows in a community garden in the city. Visit ocotilloherbals.com to learn more.

Lindsey Coyne

Lindsey Coyne is an herbalist, holistic health educator and forager in central Iowa with a Bachelor's degree in human nutrition and dietetics from SIUC. She began learning herbal medicine over 20 years ago by treating herself for common ailments. She has had a strong focus on foraging local edibles and medicinal plants for the last 10 years. As a sustainable forager, she spends time in nature, waiting for the plants to be at their optimal potency, using only those that are prolific in any given season.

  • Cincinnati, Ohio, United States