Friday, August 9, 2013

Farewell to the river city

We have received some major blessings recently, blessings that promise to change our lives drastically and make longtime dreams come true for our family. They will require sacrifices, however, and one of those sacrifices I've not wanted to face, is we will be leaving Richmond and don't know when we will be back.

I moved here knowing that this was to be a temporary stop on our life's journey, but I can't believe how much this city and the people in it have changed me, and how much I've come to love it here.  I know I'm leaving a better person than I was when I arrived, and so much richer in friends, family and life experience!  I also have twice as many kids as I came with!

Anyway, what does this mean for River city wild foods?  I have decided to keep this blog and my Facebook page active, I will use it whenever I am in town or to connect you with people or information you may need in my absence.  I will, however be doing most of my posting here, rebranding as vagabond wild foods (I know, there's nothing there yet, but there will be). Please follow me as I travel, learning how to use all the wild delights of the diverse ecosystems this country has to offer!  I will be studying like crazy, attending all the classes I can with all the amazing foraging experts I've met online, and hopefully, doing a lot of writing about what I've learned and experienced. 

Since I started teaching I've felt a drive to inspire my students to replace me. I feel like every city needs a Wildman Steve Brill.  So I leave you in the capable hands of Maw-Maw Kelli, and I hope that more of you will feel called to educate on this vital and fun topic. However, I realized the other day as I was wishing there was an active mycology club nearby, I can leave you with something even better. With the help of all you passionate phytophiles, I hope to use these last few months to start an active wildcrafting club, not just for finding and harvesting wild food, but to get together to share knowledge and experience in the field all things wildcrafting and survival. Food, medicine, primitive skills, basket weaving, trapping. So here is the Facebook group, anyone can create and share an event at a time that works for them and you can join in any events that meet your fancy. 

We will be hitting the road to live full time in an motorhome October first, with our first destination being in southern Maryland. So for a while we may be close enough to get together for some events, but just in case, I would encourage you to get with me soon about land surveys or any other service you would like to take advantage of.

I would like to leave you with one final thought. As of the finalizing of this post, river city wild foods has a Facebook following of 238, a significant presence in our relatively small metropolitan area. I have been featured in local media twice and once in a national news segment. Because I have not attached my name to the brand, it does have the potential to be transferred to another individual or even to become an urban wild crafting school of sorts. If you have the kind of passion for this sort of thing that I do and you think you may like to make a business of it, please contact me. We can get together for a hike and if our philosophies are a good match, I will gladly turn over this little baby of mine to you.

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