Hello, we are a group of high school students learning how to forage while getting community service hours through local charity Carp Ridge Learning Centre.

Have you ever looked at a wild plant and wondered what it was? Come find out by joining our weekly foraging class on Thursdays from 4-6pm at Carp Ridge EcoWellness Centre, 2386 Thomas Dolan Parkway near Carp. We forage all year round and all ages are welcome. We have two parents, two younger siblings and a grandparent who come along.

Right now we are preparing for the Children’s Winter Camp that we host in February by creating two walks where we will forage for materials to use in nature art. We also plan to roast apples over a campfire, so we are experimenting with how long this will take. The art part of the camp will be inside the Studio, with a woodstove burning and nice music. We are super excited to do these activities with younger children! Sorry you will have missed this by the time you read our article.

In April we will offer an Easter camp where we will do an easter egg hunt in the woods, play games and decorate eggs with natural items we have collected over the seasons. We can even dye the eggs with a variety of plant, herb and food dyes. We will start with some kind of calming exercise, probably a singing bowl and meditation. The date will be Easter Friday, April 3, from 10 to 3, and includes a healthy lunch. All our classes begin with some form of meditation, earthing, creative thinking and/or discussions on various interesting topics.

At the end of the growing season, in November, we host a special event called the Wild Brunch, where we serve dishes that are made with plants we have foraged, along with ingredients from our local growers, vendors at the Carp Farmers’ Market. Some favourites include sumac lemonade, baked tubers (woodland sunflower, day lily and Jerusalem artichoke) and frittered dandelion flowers with local maple syrup and ice cream from the Carp Creamery. Last year we picked the dandelions in summer and froze them for the event — they were delicious!

We look forward to sharing these wonderful experiences with you in future articles. Feel free to contact us through our facilitator, Katherine Willow, at katherine@ecowellness.com or 698–8313. The charity that sponsors this program has a website at carpridgelearningcentre.ca.

Wishing you well,