Learn how to forage for wild foods on your property with this one-of-a-kind private foraging package!
Wild foods are growing on your land.
We guarantee it.
What is FORAGE-AT-HOME?
Many of our students have asked us how they can learn about the edible plants and mushrooms that grow on their private property. From these inquires, FORAGE-AT-HOME (formerly known as Rent-a-Forager) was born!
If you have property, whether it’s a small urban lot or hundreds of acres of untamed nature, you have wild food at your fingertips.
From ‘weeds’ in your lawn, to mushrooms, herbaceous plants, edible trees and shrubs, nuts, berries, spices, seeds, and more, Michigan offers a bounty of wild foods – if you know how to identify them!
FORAGE-AT-HOME is a one-of-a-kind service package, designed to help you safely and confidently forage the wild food growing on your property – with thorough in-person foraging instruction, land flags to mark the location of your wild foods, a personalized report of all the wild foods we find, and lifetime follow-up support via email.
FORAGE-AT-HOME packages include:
- An in-person foraging walk on your private land with IYE wild food instructors Katie and Luke. This portion of the service varies in length (based on your package choice) and includes identification of the wild foods growing on your land, hands-on learning, a thorough overview of identification factors, and an option of “wild food” flags to label and mark plant or mushroom locations, for your future reference.
- A thorough & personalized Wild Food Report to help you learn more about the wild edibles we found on your land. This report is detailed and takes us about a week to put together for you! In your Wild Food Report, we list and index all the wild foods that we found together during your property walk. Each wild food will be categorized by type and will include a photo, a note about any documented health benefits we are aware of (with referenced resources), ideas for how to prepare or use the wild food, and tips from our experience of working with the wild food in question.
- LIFETIME follow-up support via email, helping you continue to build your knowledge over time. Wondering whether your mushroom is past its prime harvest date? Think you may have just discovered a new wild food? We’re here via email to support you and your wild food adventures on your property! Unlimited plant and mushroom ID consultation via email for life.
- Travel within 30-miles of Ada, Michigan is included in our baseline rate. Travel outside this area is $1.30 per mile, to be communicated clearly at time of booking. We are happy to travel throughout the lower peninsula and are open to discussing further destinations, too!
Our Breadth of Knowledge:
Katie Venechuk has a bank of foraging knowledge from years of learning through both formal and informal coursework, time on the land, and personally foraging for her own foods, teas and medicines. She is also a Certified Michigan Master Naturalist with Michigan State University. Luke Venechuk is a Certified Wild Mushroom expert with the Michigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development, qualified to help you identify over 45 of the best edible mushrooms in Michigan, with extensive knowledge covering 150+ mushrooms beyond the 45 covered by his certification.
We strongly believe that foraging is a skillset that is built over the course of a lifetime. There is always more to learn and discover! During our FORAGE-AT-HOME service, we may not know every wild food that we encounter on your property, but we’ll bring along all of our resources and do our best to help you learn about all the amazing plants and mushrooms that make your land special. There is always something to discover, and we guarantee we’ll find some wild food for you.
A Quick Note on Ornamental Plants: We’ll do our best to help you identify ornamental plants and non-native, non-edible plant varieties in your garden, but please note that our specialty is edible plants and fungi that grow wild in the mid-west (including edible invasive species). We are not master gardeners, but we’re happy to connect you with others who are if that’s what you’re looking for!
Words from Past Participants:
FORAGE-AT-HOME Packages:
| 1-hr FORAGE-AT-HOME Package: A 1-hour private property exploration with Katie and Luke, wild food markers, a Wild Food Report, 60-miles of roundtrip travel, and lifetime email support. | $225 |
| 1.5-hr FORAGE-AT-HOME Package: A 1.5-hour private property exploration with Katie and Luke, wild food markers, a Wild Food Report, 60-miles of roundtrip travel, and lifetime email support. | $265 |
| Seasonal FORAGE-AT-HOME Package (two 1-hr property walks): Different wild foods peak at different times, and exploring in more than one season can be very fruitful! With this package, you’ll book TWO private foraging explorations during two different seasons of your choice. We recommend spring and fall! This package includes everything listed in our 1 and 1.5-hr packages, with a Wild Food Report for each season. | $405 |
| Seasonal FORAGE-AT-HOME Package (two 1.5-hr property walks): Different wild foods peak at different times, and exploring in more than one season can be very fruitful! With this package, you’ll book TWO 1.5-hr private foraging explorations during two different seasons of your choice. We recommend spring and fall! This package includes everything listed in our 1 and 1.5-hr packages, with a Wild Food Report for each season. | $477 |
Interested in learning more about your land, but you’re looking for a simple property walk without all the bells & whistles?
We love to get into all the details that our FORAGE-AT-HOME service covers, but we know sometimes it’s more than folks are looking for! If you’re interested in a simple private property walk and time for questions, we do that too. Head to our Private Classes page HERE and check out our Private Foraging & Wild Tending Classes to learn more about this option!
2026 FORAGE-AT-HOME Bookings: LIMITED AVAILABILITY REMAINS!
We have very limited booking dates remaining for 2026! If you’d like to work with us this year, be sure to submit an inquiry soon to snag one of our remaining calendar dates. To kick off your wild food adventure with us, simply submit a FORAGE-AT-HOME inquiry form to share some basic information and get the process started. We look forward to connecting with you!
READY TO BOOK A FORAGE-AT-HOME EXPERIENCE?
COMPLETE THIS INQUIRY FORM TO PROVIDE US WITH SOME BASIC INFORMATION AND GET THE PROCESS STARTED!
