Clow House

Edible Wild Plants Certificate Course

Sat, February 20, 2016 09:00 AM - 04:00 PM



Instructor: Pat Armstrong
Learn to eat off the beaten path with our Edible Wild Plants Certificate course. This course will equip you with the skills necessary to begin foraging or expand your landscape to include edible species.

Over the course of 10 months you will learn to identify, harvest, prepare, and eat 200 species of edible wild plants! Each class will include a field trip and food prepared with edible wild plants.

Students will receive an Edible Wild Plants Recipe book containing all of the recipes prepared by the students throughout the course and a printed certificate recognizing your accomplishment.

The Edible Wild Plants Certificate course is hosted 1 Saturday per month for 10 months beginning in February and ending in November. It will be taught in a classroom and outdoors at various public and private locations to provide a comprehensive experience of the plants.

CLASS DATES:

February 20 March 19 April 23 May 21 June 18
July 23 August 20 Sept 17 Oct 15 Nov 19

 

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
  • attendance at all classes (1 class may be missed, but the exam must be made up)
  • pass nine monthly exams (using your notes and books) to demonstrate that you can identify edible (and poisonous) wild plants successfully
  • prepare four edible wild plant recipes (one each season) to share with the class
  • present four oral reports and hand in four written reports on the edible wild plants used in your recipes
  • Optional: Complete a plant id catalog containing botanical name, common name, family name, habitat, food part, time to harvest, notable characteristics for each edible wild plant. This catalog can be used for all of your exams.

During the final class in November we will host an edible wild plant potluck celebration at lunchtime. Each student will receive an Edible Wild Plants recipe book containing all of the recipes prepared during the certification course, and students who successfully completed all of the certificate requirements will receive a printed certificate.

 

The instructor, Patricia Armstrong, has a Master of Science degree from the University of Chicago in Ecology (Biology-Botany). She taught a multitude of nature classes at the Morton Arboretum for 16 years, plus Botany, Ecology, and Geology at the University of Wisconsin Extension, and Michigan State University’s Juneau Icefield Research Program in Alaska.

Pat’s knowledge and understanding of all things wild and free comes from a life-long personal and intimate relationship with nature that is passionate as well as scientific. She lives in a home she and her husband designed and built to fit into the natural ecosystems of northern Illinois. It is active and passive solar, energy-efficient, and landscaped with over 300 species of native trees, shrubs, prairie grasses and wildflowers, approximately 40% of which are edible. Pat is actively involved in living joyfully with nature. She runs a consulting firm, PRAIRIE SUN CONSULTANTS, to educate and assist others in appreciating and using native plants and wild edible plants in home landscaping.


Required Material:
One book to identify wild plants

Suggested Materials:

  • A comprehensive recipe book
  • 8x magnifying glass

 

Price: $850
A non-refundable (unless TRI cancels the class) down payment of $250 may be made to hold your seat. The remaining balance of $600 is to be paid by April 23rd. Contact Michelle to discuss payment plan arrangements.

Payment must be received by February 1st.
Checks are to be mailed to The Resiliency Institute, 1421 Talbot Drive, Naperville, IL 60565

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