Welcome to Wild Blessings
A learning resource that can help you get outside and connect with nature
We offer instruction and resources to help you enjoy and benefit from time outdoors, your guide to learning more about creation and the One who made it!
Classes Offered from Wild Blessings
Wild Blessings Classes are an important way to get involved in learning with real hands-on experience. Check often to see updates.
Class choices (click to learn more)
• Teaching Tuesdays
• Plant Walks
• Befriending Plants
• Forage to Feast
• Special Events
TEACHING TUESDAYS
A free video class provided each week online following nature’s wave.
When: Every Tuesday, free online, 8-9pm EST
Where: Facebook: Wild Blessings w/ Holly Drake (a private group, request to join) or Wild Blessings YouTube channel
RECENT CLASSES: Blackberries, Poisonous Look-A-Likes, Poisonous Plant Ponderings, Edible Flowers
PLANT WALKS
With food prices soaring, it is time to Forage! Ever wonder what wild riches lie all around you waiting to be discovered and valued as they have been for centuries past? I can help you! Join me for a plant walk to discover what is in God’s grocery stores. Knowing plants in all their life cycles, learning which parts to gather and how to prepare them for food and medicine is a skill that you can cultivate, one plant at a time. I will be featuring 15 wild edible plants that likely grow near you or in your yard. You will learn to recognize them by careful observation, and fun introduction methods to help you remember each plant and learn how to harvest and use each of them for food and healing. We will enjoy a wild tea and snack together.
Wild Blessings Plant Walks will be held on most Saturday mornings throughout the Summer at various locations. I’ll post new sign ups a week before each event. August has only one plant walk scheduled.
Classes fill quickly. Sign up now to reserve your spot. Reservations are required and class sizes are limited. Pay in advance through PayPal, Venmo, or direct arrangement by contacting Holly Drake at 828-406-8241.
August 27 Wild Blessings Plant Walk
When: Saturday, August 27, 2022 9-11am
Where: West Jefferson, NC (details at the event page)
Cost: $25/person – $10 for Wild Blessings Patreon members
Who: Class size is limited to 15 people. A waiting list will be kept to fill any cancellations.
SOLD OUT
BEFRIENDING PLANTS
When: Bimonthly on Tuesday’s from 9-11 Next intensive is August 2nd
Where: At Holly’s house – 279 Deer Crossing, Todd, NC 28684
What: This is an in-person gathering where we celebrate one plant (some of my green allies) to get to know it utilizing all of our senses. Experiencing each plant through observation, learning, writing, drawing, story telling, poetry writing and then herbing around with it to make a fitting herbal preparation (to take home) and wild snack to enjoy together.
Who: People who really want to make the green world their grocery store and medicine chest. This is an investment to take your herbal learning to a whole new depth.
Cost: $35 general admission $20 Patreon members (please pay via PayPal, Venmo in advance, at hollydrake56@gmail.com)
Next Class: Tuesday, August 16, 2022 TBA Each class we will sample the tea of our featured plant to get to know it by the taste of it’s simple tea. Everyone will have an herbal preparation of our plant to take home and the handouts that I provide for this class. RSVP required. By the end of a season of this in person herbal intensive you will have learned the basic herbal preparations, lots of wild cooking tips and started to build your own herbal monographs, and personal apothecary.
Future dates for Befriending Plants Classes August 2, August 16, August 30, September 13, September 27, October 11, October 25
FORAGE TO FEAST
I am a wild foods chef and have offered many wild food feasts where the guests come to learn, forage for wild edibles, and cook a meal together. The cuisine is sometimes Asian, Greek, Italian, Mexican and Indian or just seasonal. All non-wild ingredients are organic, farm fresh and increasingly gluten free. Meats are grass finished, happy animals from local farms or local game. Here is a blog showing what Wild Blessings Forage to Feasts have looked like over the many years of hosting them. https://wildblessings.com/wild-times-remembered/
Classes fill quickly. Sign up now to reserve your spot. Reservations are required and class sizes are limited. Pay in advance through PayPal, Venmo, or direct arrangement by contacting Holly Drake at 828-406-8241.
August 20 Forage to Feast Wild Greek Cuisine
When: Saturday, August 20, 4-8pm
Where: Meet at Blackburn’s Chapel parking lot where we will carpool to our ‘wild shopping centers’.
Cost: $85/person – $45 for Wild Blessings Patreon members
Who: Class size is limited to 10 people. A waiting list will be kept to fill any cancellations.
What: A forage to dining experience. Foraging, Cooking and Eating together
Wild Greek Menu
(Menu subject to change depending on the number of cooks signed up!)
Wild Beverages: Elderberry Sparkle, Hibiscus Tea, Peach Tea
Future Forage to Feasts this Summer of 2022 will be held on these dates:
June 18 (Wild Brunch)
July 16 (Wild Fiesta)
August 20 (Wild Greek Cuisine)
September 17 (Wild Indian Cuisine)
October 15 (Wild American Cuisine)
SPECIAL EVENTS
Horn in the West 70th Celebration
When: Saturday, August 6, 2022. 12:30pm.
Where: Horn in the West, Hickory Ridge Museum, Boone, NC. My table will be set up on the back porch of the Museum
Cost: Free
What: A Wild Blessings Foraging presentation. Handouts and wild snack table offered to the public.
How to help: You can help by bringing a wild food snack to share on the Wild Potluck table. From roots to fruits! Contact me for details. I would love to have many of you join me in sharing these skills with inquirers.
TESTIMONIALS
“Ever wanted to know what plants are edible in your own backyard?
Curious which plants on your property would have been used for first aid situations by humans in previous generations? To forage safely for wild edibles and medicinals, you need a guide. And if you live in the High Country or are visiting, you’re in luck, because Holly is amazing. She can show you the poisonous look-alikes, teach you about the plant’s properties and nutrition, AND show you how to prepare them – or, rather, she has you do the hands-on work yourself. I’ve learned so much from Holly over the years, and am proud to call her a friend. You should check out her class! (I don’t do promotions, but I love Holly and her work, and think humans should reclaim some of this lost knowledge about the plants around us. Did you know you probably have a spinach substitute growing on your property that is tastier and packs more protein – and it’s free? You have to find out!) —” Laura Weant
Videos
Classes presented online are available for viewing through YouTube. Click to watch.
Poisonous Plants Poison Ivy Blackberries
PATREON
