2017 In Review

2017 was a year for a lot of introspection, growth, and adaptation-- especially considering the drastic shift in weather and climate here in the Greater Vancouver Regional District, on the Territory of the Coast Salish Peoples.

Harvest from Bodega Ridge,
Galiano Island

Administration, management, and facilitation of MuseumEats fell entirely into the hands of its sole proprietor-- me -- Camille Flanjak. That means that any of the website design, emailing back and forth, social media, and workshops associated with MuseumEats were my responsibility, so I hope everything was lovely on your end!

That said, if you have any feedback, please don't ever hesitate to get in touch, or fill out this form to submit it anonymously. I strive to keep MuseumEats workshops fun, approachable, inclusive, and as socially equitable as I can and welcome any suggestions or calls to areas needing improvement.

MuseumEats conducted a couple dozen workshops and of course, they were ever-inspiring. Some of them were free, ASL-interpreted, or taught exclusively in ASL because of the support of organizations like the WestEnd Food Fest and Forest and the Femme, and others were advertised through the website or contracted privately. For any workshop enquiries for next year, check out the website or shoot me a message and remember that MuseumEats has a No-one-turned-away-for-lack-of-funds policy.

I did a talk at the Vancouver Food Fest about the #Foraged Food Trend alongside some very inspiring Chefs and leaders in Food Security such as Andrea Carlson (Burdock & Co) and Cease Wyss (Indigenous Plant Diva).

The Vancouver Mycological Society Foray at Manning Park was elucidating albeit incredibly dry and totally lacking fruit. Let's hope next year we get more rain in September to give our studies and mushroom harvests a boost.

There were a couple really fun contests on social media that gave participants a chance to win a free workshop, too! Look for more of that in the coming year and get your wildcrafty friends involved.

Outside of harvesting wild foods and medicine I cooked, crafted, and ate wonderful things from the wild, shared with my loved ones and friends.

Despite feeling so busy and facilitating lots of workshops, there were a lot less events and collaborations this year, which I want to drastically change in 2018! Stay tuned for a call for submissions and educators early in the year if you're interested in contributing or working with MusemEats.

To keep abreast of workshop dates and events, tune into @museumeats on Instagram and Facebook.

See you all in 2018!

Camille
Founder, MuseumEats

MuseumEats in 2017

Hello Fellow Wild Creatures. Welcome to the winter of 2017 in Vancouver...

what's this white stuff?

...where the regularly tame streets have been overcome with the forces of nature. Luckily there are some lovely ways that we can beat the winter wonderland blues and build our immune systems with wildcrafted nourishment.

Bone Broth, Curried Chicken,
 Ramen Noodles, Asian Greens

This past year I was lucky to venture into the wild across BC many times. I learned about and harvested some delicious, medicinally potent, and sacred things that I preserved in order to sustain my health when all these gifts are buried under snow. I've written a lot about my wildcrafting adventures in my personal blog - including my experiments with medicinal broth.

Processing Amarena Cherries
and their Medicinal Pits

Besides broth, I made delicious medicinal liqueurs that can be used as digestive aids or cough syrup; made jams, jellies, and pickles; blended wild botanicals for teas to treat various ailments from stomach upset and menstrual cramps to sluggish energy levels and stress; crafted tinctures with alcohol and glycerin; fashioned bath salts and dry shampoo; and even fermented some of my harvests for lightly alcoholic wild sodas.

Wild Liqueurs

2017 is a year for growth and change. MuseumEats will continue to leads its wild food forays but we also have access to some amazing spaces so we can follow-up with workshops on medicine-making, social justice, cooking with wild foods, tea blending, and so much more. Stay tuned to our website for the launch of the wild food workshops through a new collaboration with Kris Barnholden, James Timms, and Lone Pine Publishing at 'Altá.' Until then, be well and stay wild.

Cam XO

The News for Spring, 2016

Hello Old Friends!

Camille here, the director of MuseumEats. So much has happened since we last wrote.

First of all - check out the events page on our shiny new website!

Second - facebook and instagram, and scout magazine, oh my!

Third - MuseumEats is teaming up with outside facilitators and other enterprises to spread the love and network, in order to LEARN SO MUCH MORE and promote holism.

Fourth - I am taking a break from public workshops after our co-facilitated class on May 1st to audit the MuseumEats project from an intersectional feminist perspective. This is because I want to build allyship with the First Nations on whose territory this enterprise teaches and harvests, to make space for workshops that are accessible and inclusive. MuseumEats has always been about food security, so it's time to get serious about it.*

Last - Still bringing wild greens to restaurants that have been harvested regeneratively. I still don't meet deadlines or quotas because nature decides what I bring and when I bring it. Also still accepting private bookings for workshops. Email museumeats@gmail.com with inquiries.

The next step is figuring out whether to put MuseumEats on hiatus over the summer while I WWOOF/volunteer or if we should keep doing events until something comes to us to lead us elsewhere.

Thanks for keeping in touch - stay tuned for new events posted to our website and facebook pages.

Stay Wild,

Camille
Museumeats.com

*In our current economic system, I am realizing that the best way to affect change is either by refusing to economically participate, or to subvert the system from within. If I can operate an enterprise that simultaneously pays my bills while fighting the colonialist patriarchy then I think I am contributing in a meaningful way. If anyone has any feedback or ideas about this, please get in touch with me! I will share food, medicine, and homemade hooch with you... or teach your workshops... or make you laugh... if you catch me at the right time I might even have money to share with you.

Two Workshops and a Dinner

Hey Buds,

Our website is being spun by the electronic spiders and coming along real nice.

The season is warming up quickly and lovely green shoots and medicinal mushrooms are becoming available. The cool temperature and easily accessed greens make for great fermentations, and the change of season and influx of pollen is encouraging us to get natural medicine.

MuseumEats is responding with two workshops and a dinner.

1) Workshops!

February 21: Medicinal Mushrooms and Cottonwood Propolis: featuring take-home tinctures, decoctions, broth, and cleansing greens.
 9:30-5 $50

February 22: (FULL) (Industry Monday) MuseumEats Wildcrafting Workshop: "Infusions, Shrubs, and Wild Herbs." Registration is fully booked but email us museumeats@gmail.com to get on the waitlist. 
10-2 $50

2) Dinner!

February 15th 6:30-11pm
This is another Colab @ Latab. This time we are featuring naturally fermented wines (From Matt Sherlock of Lock & Worth and Sedimentary Wines) paired to the wild ferments on the collaborative menu between Kris Barnholden and Annabelle Choi. 

Dinner is ticketed, from 6:30-9:30, buy tickets here

Drinks and snacks available after 9:30 for walk-ins, come hang out with us!

3) The Future! 
We have lots and lots of special stuff planned for workshops and adventures. Please stay tuned and check our events page on the website. 

XO Cam

Official Website and Collaborative event @ Latab Restaurant!

Hey everyone!

I've been working hard on building an official website and planning wildcrafting workshops and an intensive wildcrafting weekend in May. Stay tuned for details and have a peek at the website if it piques your interest :-)

MuseumEats is also collaborating with Latab Natural Wine Bar on the third Monday of every month for an evening event to feature some local food talent and wild products. You can learn more about it here. It's a casual affair with not-so-casual products and ideas. Limited reservations available - if you're interested please do come check it out, and bring your thinking cap because we would like to be discussing the direction of the Canadian Food Identity.

That's all for now! Just a little hello and update. I hope your New Year's resolutions are working out (I didn't really make any, except to get shit done - seems like I've been doing it.)

XO Cam

Workshop Update: the Upcoming 2016 Wildcrafting Season

Hi Folks!

We have been receiving lots of friendly emails and PMs on instagram about our Wildcrafting Workshops so wanted to give everyone an idea of the pay structure, curriculum, and sneak peek at our plans for the upcoming 2016 spring season. 


MUSEUMEATS 2016 SPRING WILDCRAFTING WORKSHOPS

Who: Camille Flanjak, director of MuseumEats Food Collections (@agaricusaugustus) is the wild foods consultant for the Acorn Restaurant and supplier to many more. She has certifications in theory, permaculture, wine, and wildcrafting. To learn more about her, check out her profile, listed under "Contributors" in the right hand scroll bar.

In 2016 we will be linking up with several other teachers so that we can expand our focus beyond wild food collection. We've got some truly inspiring and enthusiastic chefs, herbalists, permaculturists, weavers, and plant medicine-makers on board. Stay tuned for their bios and workshop dates.

What: Hands-on, all-day wildcraft training and forest stewardship workshops that happen rain or shine.* These workshops are especially tuned into foodies and service industry professionals who want the ultimate experience of local terroir: to see how native foods express the character of the land and how we can gain food security by learning about natural systems.

Where: Public workshops meet and drop off in East Van in the Safeway parking lot at Broadway Station unless otherwise scheduled.

When: Meet at 9:30 AM to carpool to our spots (driving time may be up to 90 mins). Potluck-style lunch around 1:30 with snacks in between. We aim to arrive back in East Van by 6pm.**

Cost: Wildcrafting Workshops are $50 per person. 

MuseumEats does have a NOTAFLOF policy, so if cost is an issue, you can apply for our mentorship program by emailing Camille at museumeats@gmail.com. We are also hoping to host pay-what-you-can classes that are supported by grants. 

For private/group bookings, enquire at museumeats@gmail.com. 


Registration is only complete upon payment: this is to ensure that we can fill each of the seats available with committed people. For this reason we also cannot offer refunds. If you're registered and not able to attend, please contact us as soon as you know and we will try and fill your seat with folks on the waitlist and get you booked for another date. Because payments include a membership to MuseumEats, your place in a workshop will be valid for one full year until from the date of purchase.

Curriculum: Varies with the type of workshop. For service industry folks, training is geared toward the local food movement and 'terroir,' as well as sustainable harvest, integration of forest food systems in the consideration of menu planning, and how to process wild products into safe, edible foods. 

Every workshop you'll be going home with wild knowledge, medicine, and/or food. Some days we'll provide a pocket knife and booklet, others we'll make tinctures on-site. There's always a surprise goodie or two that Mama Gaia throws in.

Payment options: Once workshop dates are released you may pay via EMT to Camille at museumeats@gmail.com or through paypal. 

As always, stay tuned to our blog for updates on workshop schedules, themes, and special events like our Annual Mushroom Dinner and secret brunches.

*Please come appropriately dressed- gumboots and parkas are encouraged on rainy days, and sunscreen is important on sunny days.
**If you aren't able to bring anything to share for the potluck don't worry. Also, we welcome all kinds of food so if you have any allergies please share this information with facilitators ahead of time.
***IF THERE IS A WAIT LIST for the workshop you'd like to join: In this day and age people do cancel, so the admin at ME will contact you if a space comes available and we promise to be honest and forthright if the list is excessively long or if we think you have a good shot of getting in.

MuseumEats Events, Fall 2015

Here is a list of this season's MuseumEats events as well as the links to their individual pages for details and to make reservations.

This list will be updated regularly with new events, so feel free to check back often. 

For enquiries about private workshops and dinners, please email us at museumeats@gmail.com

September

26 Mushroom ID and Conscientious Collection Workshop

27 Mushroom ID and CC Workshop

28 Mushroom ID and CC Workshop (full- service industry folks)

October

4 Growing Chefs Fundraiser

10 Mushroom ID and Conscientious Collection Workshop (full)

11 Mushroom ID and CC in ASL (full)

15 Forager's Feast Potluck (full)

18 Mushroom ID and CC Workshop (one spot left)

19 Mushroom ID and CC Workshop (full-service industry folks)
25 Mushroom ID and CC Workshop (full)

27 Mushroom ID and CC Workshop

November

1  Corpse Reviver Brunch (SOLD OUT)

6  6-Course Mushroom Dinner at the Juice Truck (cancelled)

7  Mushroom ID and CC Workshop (4 spots left)

8  LAST public Mushroom ID and CC workshop of the fall! (FULL)
26 6-course Foraged Slow Food Dinner @ Latab call for reservations: 604-428-7004