Tending the Wild: Spring 2024
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“Plants are also integral to reweaving the connection between land and people. A place becomes a home when it sustains you, when it feeds you in body as well as spirit. To recreate a home, the plants must also return.”.
- From ‘Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants’, by Robin Wall Kimmerer.
9th-14th April 2024
Follow the path of your ancestors and learn how to gather and process wild foods and medicines from coast to forest, river to meadow and all the hedgerows along the edges.
Join Lucy O’Hagan and guest facilitators for this five day immersive Ethnobotanical Echtra/adventure in the wild and enchanting surroundings of Falcarragh, in the beating heart of the Donegal Gaeltacht.
Over the course of five days and nights, we will explore and become reacquainted with our plant, fungal and seaweed allies through food, medicine, craft and lore.
We will come together, beneath the watchful gaze of Muckish mountain, and share moments of wonder, curiosity, song and gratitude as we live and learn together with the land as our teacher.
Over the course of the days, you will learn:
How to safely identify and respectfully harvest from a range of plants, trees, seaweeds and fungi. We will meet between 30-50 wild plants, trees, fungi and seaweeds, as well as many growing in the herb garden.
How to honourably transform plants into delicious foods and potent medicines. Knowledge that will continue to smoulder within you for many moons to come.
How our relationships with plants have shaped us and how we can reweave this relationship in to our daily lives.
How the wider more-than-human community relates to and depends upon one another for their own thriving.
Spring time foraging is a fantastic way to brush off the winter cobwebs and boost our energy levels with the revitalising nourishment of wild plants. Many of the green plants in season at this time of year contain exactly what our bodies need to feel that spring in our step again. This course has been designed around the super low spring tides of the new moon so expect to meet lots of seasonal, nutritious seaweeds as you dip into the wild Atlantic.
Not only will we forage together as a community, but you will also learn creative and exciting ways to process natures gifts into wild ferments, vinegars, salts and syrups to take home with you.
This course will finish with a Wild Feast with food prepared by you and supplemented with local & organic produce.
This week will be woven together with focus on taking time to relax, unplug and reconnect with our inner and outer nature. You will be invited to take part in nature-based meditations and sensory awareness activities to connect you deeply with this place, within and without.
You will also hear from the local voices of this land and meet with poets, gardeners, herbalists and folklorists who know this place so intimately.
Each day will begin at 9am as we head out to a local area to identify and gather wild produce. Lucy has been foraging in this area for the past 13 years and knows some ideal spots.
With our arms and hearts full, we will return to The Song House to process nature’s gifts into food or medicine to take home with us or use in our feast.
Teachings will end at 5pm, giving you time to explore the local area and maybe enjoy a pint of Guinness at a local music session.
What other people have said about this course:
"My mother and I spent an amazing 4 days Tending the Wild with Lucy and a group of inspiring people foraging by river, forest, coast and bog in Donegal. Highly recommend Lucy and this beautiful programme connecting you to the land and your inner landscape....."
"Lucy is mind blowing in her knowledge of all things that thrive in the wild! After spending 5 amazing days learning to forage in the beautiful Donegal forests, rivers, bogs and shores I feel much more competent in picking berries, grasses, seaweeds, flowers and more! I highly recommend Wild Awake if you are interested in learning to forage and process! Thank you again Lucy!!!!!”
Food
Self-service breakfasts and wholesome and nutritious lunches will be provided, as well as the wild, foraged feast at the end of the course. Dinner on the night of arrival will also be provided.
You will need to buy (or forage!) food to cook for 3 nights and we recommend that people do this in cooking groups. This is a great way to practically use the plants you have foraged that day and to incorporate the wild cuisine into your life. We love creativity!
Accommodation
Nestled in the foothills of Muckish mountain in the wilds of the Donegal Gaeltacht in the north west of Ireland, the Song House is an inspirational retreat centre, a place to reconnect with the essentials in life. Surrounded by elemental nature- the wild Atlantic ocean, expansive sandy beaches, mountains and bogland, it is a place that fosters reconnection to ourselves, rekindling a sense of community, and our place on Mother Earth.
The song house can sleep up to 10 people in shared rooms and there is also space for camping at a reduced fee. There is a huge table around which to share our meals and a large workshop space to process our harvest, overlooking Muckish mountain.
As the name suggests, it’s a song house! So expect to kick start your day with a song to lift your spirit and give thanks to the land.
What’s included?
Accommodation for 5 nights in The Song House
Meals: Simple, self-service Breakfasts & Lunches on all days. Dinner on 2 nights. Hot drinks.
Materials to make and bring home some wildcrafted medicine & food
Seanchas / Local Storytelling
Folk herbalism with local woman Margaret Chití Ní Bhaoill
Visit to a local land regeneration site to learn about ecological stewardship in Donegal
What’s not included?
-Transport to and from the Song House. Guests will be expected to make their own way to the house. Full directions and transport options will be given. We will car share to other venues throughout the week.
- Dinners on three of the nights.
- Any snacks outside of the meals provided
When?
9th-14th April 2024
Arrival from 5pm on the 9th, dinner at 7pm. Departure at 10am on 14th.
Cost:
€500 - €680
A non-refundable deposit of €150 will secure your place
En Suite twin room: €680 pp
Twin Room: €650 pp
Double room: €1250 (Based on two people sharing)
Bunk Room (with 3 or 4 people): €600 pp
Camping in The Song House garden (limited spaces) €560
Non-residential price (includes all lunches and dinner on first and last night): €500 pp
You can view The Song House bedroom layout here.
Covid considerations
We are doing all we can to ensure a safe environment. The Song House is Failte Ireland Covid approved and we do our research in relation to keeping up to date with safety guidelines, policy and procedures.
As we will be in living in close quarters for the entirety of this course, I ask that people please take an antigen test before arrival.
