Education & Exploration
Learn to Grow & Forage
Reconnect with the land. Grow your own food. Discover the wild plants all around you.
Why It Matters
Food Is Medicine. Nature Is the Pharmacy.
For most of human history, people grew their own food and knew the wild plants around them. That knowledge — which plants heal, which nourish, which seasons bring what gifts — is one of the most valuable things a person can carry.
Marina's classes and consultations are designed to give you that knowledge back. Whether you want to grow a backyard garden, identify the wild greens in your neighborhood, or build a home apothecary from plants you harvested yourself — this is where you start.
Marina's Story
Love of the Land
I grew up with two grandmothers who lived close to the land. One cooked with whatever was on hand and in season and processed the harvest on her front porch while watching her grandchildren play. The other dried plants from the garden and woods, made teas that kept her family well, and reached for a salve when someone got hurt. To them, it wasn't foraging or herbalism — it was just life.
I didn't realize how rare that knowledge was until I was an adult standing in a grocery store aisle, reading a label I couldn't pronounce. That gap bothered me. So I started paying attention again — walking the same kind of trails and found that the knowledge comes back quickly once you start looking. The plants never went anywhere.
My fiance grew up hunting and fishing the Michigan woods. Together we shifted our weekends around the seasons — ramps, maple syrup and morels in spring, raspberries and yarrow in summer, and chaga, hawthorn and rosehips in the fall - just to name a few. We started growing more of our own food, foraging with intention, and feeling the difference. More energy. Getting sick less. More confidence about what we eat.
I'm not here to tell you to throw away everything in your pantry or forego seeing a doctor. I'm here to tell you there is another way to feed your family and prevent illness — and it's growing right outside your door.
Grow Your Own Food
From Seed to Table
Growing your own food is one of the most radical acts of self-care you can take. It puts you in control of what goes into your body, connects you to the rhythms of the seasons, and produces food that is fresher and more nutritious than anything you can buy.
Marina teaches organic, sustainable gardening methods adapted to northern Michigan's climate — from soil building and composting to seed saving and season extension. Whether you have a small patio or a large yard, there is a growing system that works for you.
Start With the Sun
Most vegetables need 6–8 hours of direct sunlight. Before you plant anything, spend a day watching where the sun falls in your yard.
Build Healthy Soil
Great gardens start underground. Compost, aged manure, and cover crops feed the microbes that feed your plants. Skip the synthetic fertilizers.
Start Small, Grow Big
A 4×8 raised bed is enough to feed a family of four in salad greens. Master one bed before expanding — confidence grows with your harvest.
Learn Your Season
Northern Michigan and Michigan upper peninsula has a short but productive growing season. Knowing your first and last frost dates is the foundation of every planting decision.
Forage Wild Edibles
The Wild Pantry at Your Door
Northern Michigan as well as Michigan's upper pennisula is one of the most abundant foraging landscapes in the country. Ramps, dandelions, morels, chanterelles, elderberries, — the list of edible and medicinal plants growing freely in our forests, fields, and roadsides is extraordinary.
Marina's foraging education is grounded in safety, ethics, and deep respect for the land. She teaches you to identify plants with confidence, harvest sustainably, and use what you find in your kitchen and home apothecary.
Positive ID Only
Never eat a wild plant unless you are 100% certain of its identity. Use multiple field guides and cross-reference before consuming anything.
Harvest Ethically
Take no more than 10–20% of any plant population. Leave plenty for wildlife, for the ecosystem, and for the plant to reproduce.
Know the Season
Wild plants are seasonal. Ramps emerge in early spring, berries ripen in summer, and the harvest shifts with every month. Learning the calendar is half the skill.
Start With the Easy Ones
Dandelion, mullein, red clover and ramps are abundant, easy to identify, and delicious. Build confidence before moving to mushrooms.
Classes & Consultations
What Marina Teaches
Classes are offered seasonally and by appointment. Contact Marina to ask about current availability or to schedule a private session.
Introduction to Backyard Gardening
A hands-on class covering soil prep, bed building, seed starting, and planting schedules for northern Michigan. Perfect for beginners.
Spring Foraging Walk
Join Marina in the field to identify and harvest early spring edibles — ramps, fiddleheads, wood sorrel, and more. Includes a tasting.
Medicinal Herb Garden
Learn which herbs to grow for your home apothecary, how to harvest them at peak potency, and how to dry and store them for year-round use.
Preserving the Harvest
From fermentation and dehydrating to tinctures and infused oils — learn how to preserve wild and garden harvests so nothing goes to waste.
Private Foraging Consultation
Book a one-on-one session with Marina tailored to your land, your goals, and your experience level. Great for homesteaders and serious learners.
Ready to Get Your Hands in the Dirt?
Reach out to ask about upcoming classes, schedule a private consultation, support our SPROUT program or just say hello.