My name is John Slattery and I’ve been helping people learn about the native plants of the Sonoran desert for about 20 years now. My passion is to help you re-connect to the living world around you so that you can empower yourself, and your family and friends, with the knowledge you gather.

What you’ll encounter in the Foraging in the Sonoran Desert course:

• Learn to Identify nearly 100 different Wild Edible Plants

• Become intimately familiar with key identifying features of our primary food plants

• Learn to observe plants through the seasons practicing Patient Observation

• Become familiar with a variety of habitats within the Sonoran desert

• Learn to ethically gather wild plants, through experiential knowledge

• Become immersed in an ancient tradition of gathering the wild Sonoran desert

• Become acquainted with some therapeutic applications of wild plants

• Learn to process the major edible plants of the Sonoran desert

• Begin to learn how to select wild plants for your personal healing

• Deepen your personal relationship with wild plants

• Learn the optimal seasons and locations to find nutritious wild plants

• Discover unique edible & therapeutic plants, abundant within our landscape

Learn to walk out into the Sonoran desert - any time of the year - and procure nutritious plant foods for you and your family.

The Sonoran desert is considered by many bushcraft enthusiasts to be one of the best places in the world to survive off the land - if preparation and timing are on your side.

There is no better way to prepare than to immerse yourself in the desert, over sequential seasons, alongside a seasoned foraging expert.

Take part in the ancient tradition of passing down knowledge orally ~ in person, hands-on ~ amidst the plants and all the natural world.

Gathering wild plants to make our own medicine is a sacred and powerful act that is our natural right as human beings.

In order to restore the sacred circle that has been broken, we must return to Nature in order to re-learn the ways of our ancient ancestors.

It is important to know where wild foods can be found. It is equally important, if not more so, to begin to understand the flow of the landscape as well as the relationships between plants and animals. This is how a true system of ethics is developed and enriched - through authentic relationship with the land.

• A return to learning with Nature and from Nature herself. Balancing the intellect with the heart-mind in tune with all of Nature.

• A recognition that Nature is fluid and our learning with the plants is part of a dynamic continuum.

• Respect for the individual as a sovereign being. To each their own path with respect to all living things.

• Promoting an environment of respect, honor, and integrity in action as well as in word.

• A traditional approach to learning that prioritizes personal accountability while providing a secure environment meant to facilitate deep learning and healing for the individual.

• Knowledge preserved and passed down for generations becomes a living entity through our active and authentic engagement with the landscape.

I arrived in the Sonoran Desert over 20 years ago at a time when very few were thinking of how to live off the desert in a harmonious way. I was called to walk the plant path and was solely married to this way of life for many years. I have since raised my daughter on wild plant foods and have shared this knowledge with 100s, if not 1,000s of people through my classes, apprenticeships, and books.

I invite you to join me on this path towards becoming an able steward of the desert as a forager like myself. Everyone has it in them to succeed at learning these ways if they simply apply themselves. Like all things, if you apply yourself diligently and honestly you will be successful in the knowledge you seek to gain.

• Learn to Identify Wild Plants for Food & Medicine

• Learn to Identify plants in various habitats over the span of seasons

• Learn to ethically forage all year round in a variety of habitats

• Learn to prepare highly nutritious wild plants

• Integrate wild plant foods into your daily diet

This course is designed for those seeking to learn how to forage wild plants for food and medicine in their area.

All field study classes will be within 2 hours of central Phoenix OR Tucson, AZ.

All class days (but for one Friday afternoon on our final weekend) will be on either Saturday or Sunday.

Basic herbal medicine making skills will be covered (and applied, hands-on) in the field as roughly one quarter to one half of the plants we discuss will be medicinal as well.

Full Tuition - $1,765

Early Bird Tuition Price* - Expired

*Receive a FREE copy of Southwest Foraging upon registration

*Full tuition must be paid by December 31, 2022 to qualify for Early Bird Tuition (limited spots available!)

*CASH OR CHECK DISCOUNT - Contact us to pay by cash or check and receive a 5% discount!

Limited partial Scholarships are available based upon need and merit. Scroll down to submit an application. Early Bird rates apply to Scholarship applicants, but payment must be completed by December 31, 2022.