Medicinal Herb Growing & Wildcrafting Seminar
Fort Worden, Port Townsend, April 15-16, 2017
March 16 Update
I am looking forward to our exchange of information on growing and wildcrafting medicinal plants. Our focus will be on commercial-scale growing and wildcrafting, but much of the information will be applicable to family-scale as well.
A little more than 5 weeks before the seminar and 22 people have contacted me that they are attending. In addition to these people, our Facebook Events page currently lists 54 as going and 1,300 as interested.
https://www.facebook.com/events/752888291541994/
Those who plan to attend and haven’t paid or reached an agreement with me should do so at your earliest convenience. It will help us in our planning, particularly if you wish to stay at Fort Worden or enjoy their meals.
We can accept everyone who wants to attend. At the 2016 MHGMC Conference we had two herb farming intensives on Friday. 100 people attended Jeff Carpenter’s workshop and 75 people attended Peg Schaffer’s. We have rented the room that Jeff used.
Show & Tell. We are renting one of Fort Wordens biggest classroom buildings. This will give us room to sprawl out. So bring show and tell - plants, herb products, books, seeds, tools, We encourage a little marketplace activity. I will bring show and tell of all of the above and expect to have plants for sale.
For food and lodging you can go the cheap route or the luxurious route.
Camping is $40 per night per campsite (up from $30 last April). Up to 8 people can be at each campsite. No charge for the first car but $10 per car after that. Some sites have hookups for RVs and trailer campers (electricity and water at each site, sewer dump station nearby). The camping areas have bathrooms and showers. There are two campgrounds. Ocean and Forest. The Ocean campground is right at the beach. Nice view and a busier area with more traffic. A bit longer hike up to the classroom. The Forest campground is much quieter, sheltered and a shorter walk to the classroom. If you want to share a campsite, let me know.
You can make advanced reservations by calling 888-226-7688. Parks.wa.gov
Fort Worden accommodations have a great reputation. These are very nice digs for the price. The setting is magnificent. All accommodations have large common spaces with living and dining rooms and kitchen facilities. People who stay at Fort Worden increase their networking opportunities. There are some Pet Friendly options. Inquire for details.
The Colonel Suites on Officers Row feature:
• 4 Bedrooms, 3 w. Queen Beds, 1 w. Twin Bed. All with Luxury Linens.
* 1.5 Bathroom
* An equipped kitchen and dining room.
• Wrap-Around Porch.
• Fireplaces
Bedrooms are upstairs and common space is downstairs. There is one roll-away bed per suite. These homes feature classic Victorian details such as entry halls, grand staircases, formal living and dining rooms, fireplaces, and eat in kitchens.
$389/night (four bedrooms) ($97.25 per bedroom). If 8 people share the suite it works out to $48.62 each.
https://fortworden.org/stay-here/officers-row/
Corporal’s (NCO) Suites. Each suite has two bedrooms, one with a queen bed and one with two twin beds. Each suite has an additional roll-away bed. ADA compliant. They are fully furnished, with a fully equipped kitchen, dining service and linen service. These suites cost $179 per night. If 5 people share the suite it works out to $35.80 each.
https://fortworden.org/stay-here/courtside/
GROUPS: Groups of friends can reserve a whole suite or part of a suite so they can share the same common space. Any group that wants to do so should let me know. If two people wish to share a room, one of them has to pay for the room.
You can register with Fort Worden directly but checking in with Michael Pilarski for collaboration would be good. Of course some people will be local or staying with local friends or making other sorts of arrangements.
Meals. The Fort Worden Servery produces gourmet food and they received lots of compliments at the MHGMC. The Servery is close to our classroom building and if we can get 16 people involved we can have the convenience and pleasure of taking meals there. The Servery features world-class dining selections with a focus on local and organic foods. All food is made from scratch. The Servery needs 16 people minimum per meal. They need to know two weeks ahead of time (April 3). Let Michael P know if you are interested in the meals program.
A meal ticket for Saturday lunch, Saturday dinner and Sunday lunch is $46.
Or you can purchase meals separately.
Breakfast $11.00
Lunch $13.00
Dinner $18.00
These are 2016 prices and I hear there is a slight price rise in 2017).
The Commons Café, open from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., offers espresso drinks and coffee; house-made pastries and desserts; daily lunch specials and flavorful grab-and-go choices, including freshly prepared sandwiches, salads and made-from-scratch soups. The Café is in the same building as the Servery.
Participants are welcome to bring their own food. Many of the accommodations include kitchens. Port Townsend has many restaurants.
Networking: At the seminar there will be networking between the participants and we will talk about marketing cooperation. We will create a special Saturday evening program to do this. Bring your ideas. Bring business cards, promotion materials written proposals, posters, what have you. We will have tables and bulletin boards for printed materials.
I would like to make a running list of participant’s affiliations so we can get a head start on networking. We won’t publicize anyone’s name or contact info beforehand. Send me some sentences or a paragraph on what kind of information/networking you are specifically looking for/offering. We will include these in later email updates. I will have this info compiled at the event and we can fill in the blanks and have a contact list with networking info produced by the end of the event so you can take a copy home.
PLEASE HELP WITH PUBLICITY. We appreciate any help with publicity to make this as exciting an event as possible.
