Hello Steward Friends!

This is Christine Shoemaker, Director and Learning Guide of Singing Nettle Forest Stewards. We are less than a week away until SNFS starts! I am so excited to be (almost) underway with our Fall program for SNFS!! We have been cleaning the space and getting it ready to become a fully functional educational program located at Natures Nectar in Oakdale. Some of our weekly adventures will include the Gateway Trail access, and so much more!

We have a lot of guest speakers lined up, including:

• Andy Shoemaker – fur trapper professional and previous President of the Minnesota Trappers Association
• Dusty Hinz – owner of Agrarian Seed & Garden in Hiawatha neighborhood, also tending to the Badgersett Chestnut tree legacy!
• Mary Revoir and Catherine Roloff – Geologists!
• Gregg Southard and Dianna Blake – 30+ years of experience foraging
• Tom Minser and Mike Mackiewicz – professional beekeepers
• And many more!

(Pictured is professional beekeeper Mike Mackiewicz of Bone Lake Meadows Apiary, and the Honeycomb Cottage in Stillwater, Minnesota, an apitherapy retreat)

Pictured above: Gregg Southard, Dianna Blake, and I at the Lake Elmo Bluegrass Festival!

I’m still in the process of developing my logo, but I will continue to meditate & expand on the Singing Nettle design & concept with my trip down to Prairie du Chien this weekend – I am attending the Midwest Wild Harvest Festival hosted by Sam Thayer, the top forager author in the country, and his family & friends. I can’t wait to eat every meal that has been foraged and procured by Alan Bergo, the Forager Chef extraordinaire! 🙂 My mom and I will be making and bringing down an “apple, hen, and rowan potato pie” – inspired by a European potato pie recipe! 🙂 This recipe features local farmers market potatoes as the crust, farmers market zucchini, foraged hen of the woods (grifola frondosa, or maitake) mushrooms, foraged rowan berries that have been incorporated into a demi-glace (maple syrup and balsamic vinegar), and other tasty ingredients. YUM 🙂

Pictured above: “apple, hen (of the woods), and rowan potato pie” 🙂

Well, off to planning and preparing for the Fall session! Incredibly excited for our future Stewards and what I have planned for them! 🙂 I will share more about the plans and details for this Fall in my next post. 🙂

Take care,

~Christine Shoemaker

Director, Learning Guide of Singing Nettle Forest Stewards, 501 (c) (3)