30 different gatherings on this list! I may have missed some. This 10/23/2015 version is my first compilation so I need to research a few dates. 12 of these gatherings I have organized multiple years and 17 just one year. One new one is in the works. This adds up to at least 90 large gatherings I have been a main organizer for. Of course, every one of the gatherings is a team effort. Besides these large gatherings I have organized and taught hundreds of day-long or weekend workshops. Have you been to one or more of my events?
1974 - Okanogan Family Faire (aka Barter Faire). Still going strong. I have been to every single one.
1974 - 1st Conference on Sustainable Agriculture in the Pacific Northwest (went on to become Tilth). Tilth conferences of various sorts have been happening ever since.
1975 - Spring Gathering of Healers (became the Spring Healing Gathering) Lasted 20 years off and on.
1979 - North Idaho Barter Fair. 12 years off and on.
1979 - Northeast Washington Barter Fair (became the Columbia Barter Fair). Lasted 20 years or so.
1981 - 1st Maritime Northwest Permaculture Conference. Lasted One year.
1981 - 1st Interior Northwest Permaculture Conference. One year.
1982 - Okanogan Earthsong Festival. One year.
1983 - Friends of the Trees Gathering. One year.
1984 - Tilth’s 10-year Anniversary Gathering and Barter Fair. One year.
198? - Northwest Organic Seed Collaboration. Lasted several years.
198? - Northwest Permaculture Rendezvous. Lasted 6 years.
198? - Whidbey Island Barter Fair. Two years.
1990 - Bellingham Tree Extravaganza (became the Bellingham Spring Nursery Sale). Still going strong.
1990 - Port Townsend Tree Extravaganza (became the Port Townsend Tree Festival). Lasted 20 years.
1990 - Restoration Forestry Conference. One year.
199? - Kootenay Herb Gathering. One year.
1997 - Bellingham Ethnobotany Lecture Series. One year.
1999 - Northwest Herbal Fair. The last one was in 2011. It might be resurrected.
1999 - Kauai Natural Healing Gathering. One year.
2000 - Montana Herb Gathering, Still going with some breaks.
2001 - Fairy & Human Relations Congress. Still going strong.
200? - Northeast Washington Herbalists Gathering. One year
2007 - Montana Barter Fair. Lasted 5 years.
2008 - Washington Permaculture Convergence (became the Northwest Permaculture Convergence). Still going strong.
2011 - Inland Northwest Permaculture Convergence. Still going strong.
2014 - Gathering of the Realms, Kauai. One year so far.
2014 - 1st North American Permaculture Convergence. One year.
2015 - Spokane Herbal Fair. 2nd annual will be May 2016.
2016 - April. Medicinal Herb Growing & Marketing Conference.
MICHAEL “SKEETER” PILARSKI is a life-long student of plants and earth repair. His farming career started in 2nd grade and his organic farming career began in 1972 at age 25. Michael founded Friends of the Trees Society in 1978 and took his first permaculture design course in 1982. Since 1988 he has taught 36 permaculture design courses in the US and abroad. His specialties include earth repair, agriculture, seed collecting, nursery sales, tree planting, fruit picking, permaculture, agroforestry, forestry, ethnobotany, medicinal herb growing, hoeing and wildcrafting. He has hands-on experience with over 1000 species of plants. He is a prolific gathering organizer and likes group singing.