Adult Nature Classes
in Nashville
Learn something real. Leave with a new skill.
Hands-on workshops in wild foods, ancestral skills, wild medicine, and nature crafts
No experience necessary. Just come ready to explore.
Upcoming Classes
Sept 19 2-4 pm Session 1 (Bark Harvest)
Nov 20 6-8pm Session 2 (Basket Making)
Private Home in East Nashville
Harvest it. Shape it. Take it home.
Turn paper mulberry—an invasive tree—into something beautiful and useful.
This two-part workshop takes you from harvesting bark to finished basket. You'll learn to identify and harvest the tree, prepare the bark, then shape, sew, and finish your own rustic basket.
You'll leave with a one-of-a-kind basket you made yourself and the skills to keep working with natural materials.
Best for: Makers, beginning basket weavers, and anyone who loves beautiful things with a story.
August 22 10am-12:30pm Copper Beech Farm
October 17 10am-12:30pm Copper Beech Farm
November 7 10am-12:30pm Copper Beech Farm
Learn to see the forest through a mycologist's eyes.
Mushrooms can seem mysterious—and that's exactly what makes them fascinating. Learn the basic features mushroom foragers use to identify fungi, practice observing mushrooms in the field, and get introduced to 5 easy to identify edible and medicinal species.
You'll leave knowing where to start, what questions to ask, and how to keep learning safely.
Best for: Mushroom-curious beginners.
Friday September 4 6-8pm
Private home in East Nashville
Can you make an ember without a match?
Gather the materials, build your own bow drill set, and experience the satisfaction of coaxing an ember from wood, friction, rhythm, and patience.
This is a hands-on introduction to one of humanity's oldest technologies—and it's every bit as satisfying as it sounds.
All materials provided. No experience necessary.
Best for: Anyone who has ever wanted to make fire the hard way.
WHAT SOUNDS LIKE YOU?
Not sure where to start?
Our beginner-friendly introduction to identifying and safely harvesting common wild foods.
🌿 Foraging & Wild Foods
September 5 10am-12pm Copper Beech Farm
Start seeing the edible landscape around you.
Ever walk past a plant and wonder, "Can I eat that?" Learn how to begin answering that question safely. We'll explore common local edible plants, practice identifying them in the field, and learn how to harvest and use them at home.
You'll leave with a handful of plants you can confidently recognize, practical foraging resources, and a new way of looking at the landscape around you.
Best for: Complete beginners and curious nature lovers
August 22 10am-12:30pm Copper Beech Farm
October 17 10am-12:30pm Copper Beech Farm
November 7 10am-12:30pm Copper Beech Farm
Learn to see the forest through a mycologist's eyes.
Mushrooms can seem mysterious—and that's exactly what makes them fascinating. Learn the basic features mushroom foragers use to identify fungi, practice observing mushrooms in the field, and get introduced to 5 easy to identify edible and medicinal species.
You'll leave knowing where to start, what questions to ask, and how to keep learning safely.
Best for: Mushroom-curious beginners.
September 12, 1-3pm
Location TBD
Meet one of Tennessee's most enchanting plants.
Discover the beautiful maypop—or passionflower—growing right here in Tennessee. Learn how to recognize, harvest, and prepare passionflower while exploring its traditional uses and important safety considerations.
We'll taste the distinctive fruit, prepare tea, and send you home with your own jar of dried passionflower and tea bags.
Best for: Plant lovers, beginning herbalists, and anyone fascinated by useful wild plants.
November 14 1pm-3pm Copper Beech Farm
Make syrup from a tree.
Learn the surprisingly delicious secret hiding in hickory bark. We'll identify hickory trees, explore responsible bark harvesting, toast the bark over fire, and turn it into a smoky, sweet, savory syrup.
You'll sample the finished syrup and take home your own jar.
Best for: Foragers, food lovers, and anyone who likes discovering things that make people say, "Wait—you made that from a TREE?"
October 24, 10:30 am-12:30 pm.
Location TBD
Make root beer from the forest.
Forget the bottle from the grocery store. Learn how traditional wild-crafted root beer was made using sassafras, spicebush, sarsaparilla, wintergreen, and other aromatic plants.
We'll gather the ingredients, make the decoction, sweeten it, introduce wild fermentation, and bottle your brew to finish at home.
You'll taste it, make it, and take some home.
Optional: Add a ginger bug workshop for an additional $15.
If you’d like to work further with Sassafras, register for the afternoon class on Sassafras Incense from 2-4, registration on the website, and pack or grab a lunch for the break in between.
September 20 2pm-4pm Location Copper Beech Farm
That oak tree in your backyard is producing food. Learn how to harvest, process, leach, and grind acorns into nutritious flour—and discover why people have relied on this wild staple for thousands of years.
You'll get to:
Identify useful oak species
Learn the secrets of leaching
Taste acorn flour
Take home the knowledge to do it yourself
Perfect for: Curious beginners, foragers, food lovers & anyone who wants to eat something they found in the forest.
October 17 1:30pm-3:30pm Copper Beech Farm
Find food hiding beneath the trees.
Hickory nuts are one of the forest's richest wild foods, but most people walk right past them. Learn to recognize hickory trees and nuts, harvest them responsibly, crack and process them, and discover delicious ways to use them.
And yes—we'll taste them.
Best for: Beginners, foragers, food lovers, and anyone who wants to bring something wild home from the forest.
October 10 1-3:30pm
Copper Beech Farm
Turn a wild harvest into something delicious.
Wild grapes have a flavor that is darker, brighter, and more complex than anything you'll find on a grocery-store shelf. Learn to identify and harvest wild grapes, then transform your harvest into beautiful homemade jelly.
You'll leave with at least two jars and the knowledge to make your own batch at home.
Best for: Foodies, beginner foragers, and people who love making things from scratch.
September 26 2-4pm Location TBD
Ready to go beyond "What's that plant?"
For the foraging nerds—and nerd-wannabes—who are ready to deepen their skills.
Move beyond basic identification and learn to read habitats, recognize seasonal patterns, distinguish trickier lookalikes, preserve wild foods, and develop your own field notes and identification skills.
This is less about memorizing a list of plants and more about learning how to think like a forager.
Best for: People who have taken Plant or Mushroom Foraging 101 or already have solid field experience.
Includes attending the Annual Forager’s Gathering afterward from 5-7pm
🔥 Nature & Primitive Skills
Sept 19 2-4 pm Session 1 (Bark Harvest)
Nov 20 6-8pm Session 2 (Basket Making)
Private Home in East Nashville
Harvest it. Shape it. Take it home.
Turn paper mulberry—an invasive tree—into something beautiful and useful.
This two-part workshop takes you from harvesting bark to finished basket. You'll learn to identify and harvest the tree, prepare the bark, then shape, sew, and finish your own rustic basket.
You'll leave with a one-of-a-kind basket you made yourself and the skills to keep working with natural materials.
Best for: Makers, beginning basket weavers, and anyone who loves beautiful things with a story.
October 16, 6-8:30pm
Private home in East Nashville
Turn a rock into a tool.
Learn the ancient craft of flint knapping—the art of intentionally striking stone to create useful flakes, blades, and tools.
You'll learn how to strike flakes predictably, shape a core, and begin your own project while experiencing the surprisingly satisfying ping of stone breaking exactly where you intended.
No experience necessary. Materials provided.
Best for: History buffs, makers, primitive-skills enthusiasts, and anyone who likes hitting rocks with other rocks.
Cordage Workshop
Friday September 18, 6-8pm
Private Home in East Nashville
Turn plants into something you can actually use.
Before rope came from a hardware store, people made it from plants.
Learn to identify useful local fibers, harvest and process them, and use simple twisting techniques to transform loose plant fibers into strong, functional cordage.
You'll leave with your own cordage and the ability to keep practicing wherever you find suitable plants.
Best for: Makers, foragers, primitive-skills enthusiasts, and curious beginners.
Friday September 4 6-8pm
Private home in East Nashville
Can you make an ember without a match?
Gather the materials, build your own bow drill set, and experience the satisfaction of coaxing an ember from wood, friction, rhythm, and patience.
This is a hands-on introduction to one of humanity's oldest technologies—and it's every bit as satisfying as it sounds.
All materials provided. No experience necessary.
Best for: Anyone who has ever wanted to make fire the hard way.
🧺 Wildcrafting & Making
Friday May 22, 6-9pm
Violet Cottage (a private home in East Nashville)
Slow down. Sit down. Weave something beautiful.
Spend an evening learning the satisfying rhythm of basket weaving while working with natural materials and enjoying High Garden’s herbal tea.
You'll learn foundational weaving techniques and create a simple basket you can continue building on at home.
Best for: Beginners, makers, and anyone craving a screen-free evening.
September 12, 1-3pm
Location TBD
Meet one of Tennessee's most enchanting plants.
Discover the beautiful maypop—or passionflower—growing right here in Tennessee. Learn how to recognize, harvest, and prepare passionflower while exploring its traditional uses and important safety considerations.
We'll taste the distinctive fruit, prepare tea, and send you home with your own jar of dried passionflower and tea bags.
Best for: Plant lovers, beginning herbalists, and anyone fascinated by useful wild plants.
Sept 19 2-4 pm Session 1 (Bark Harvest)
Nov 20 6-8pm Session 2 (Basket Making)
Private Home in East Nashville
Harvest it. Shape it. Take it home.
Turn paper mulberry—an invasive tree—into something beautiful and useful.
This two-part workshop takes you from harvesting bark to finished basket. You'll learn to identify and harvest the tree, prepare the bark, then shape, sew, and finish your own rustic basket.
You'll leave with a one-of-a-kind basket you made yourself and the skills to keep working with natural materials.
Best for: Makers, beginning basket weavers, and anyone who loves beautiful things with a story.
Friday November 6, 6-8pm
Private Home in Cleveland Park
Make your own symbol of harvest and abundance.
Celebrate the season by weaving a traditional horn-shaped cornucopia from natural materials such as willow, grapevine, and flexible plant fibers.
You'll learn foundational basketry techniques while creating a beautiful piece that can become a seasonal centerpiece, gift, or lasting reminder of the harvest.
No previous basketry experience necessary.
October 24 2pm-3:30pm Location TBD
Take the forest home with you.
Explore the rich, unmistakable scent of sassafras while learning to turn sustainably harvested plant material into natural incense.
We'll explore the history, folklore, traditional uses, and harvesting considerations surrounding sassafras before making your own aromatic incense to take home.
Best for: Plant lovers, makers, herbalists, and anyone who loves the smell of the woods.
🌲 Special Experiences
Saturday September 26, 5-7pm Location TBD
This gathering is a welcoming space, open to all ages and experience levels, and is informal. Come with questions, knowledge, resources, and/or a dish to share. Bring a spoon, bowl, and cup for sampling, a notebook, and a sense of gratitude. Hopefully we’ll all leave with new skills, new/deeper friendships, and inspiration for our future foraging journeys!
Join us to experience:
Connection with the land and community
Inspiration
Informal skill-sharing
Gratitude
Tasty wild treats
and… return home nourished!
Ticket sales cover the shelter rental, and any extra will be donated to Friends of Warner Parks.
Your land has a story. Learn to read it.
What edible plants and fungi are growing right outside your door?
Take a personalized walk through your property with a Nature Explorers guide and learn to identify up to 20 species while discovering when to harvest them, how to work with them, and how they fit into the ecosystem around you.
Includes site-specific resources and a collection of wild treats.
1.5 hours
Best for: Homeowners, gardeners, curious land stewards, and families.
This deeper, three-hour experience teaches you how to identify plants, rather than simply handing you a list of what's growing.
You'll practice using sight, smell, touch, and taste to develop an identification process you can take with you anywhere—then apply those skills to the edible and unsafe species growing on your own property.
You'll leave with greater confidence, practical resources, and a much deeper understanding of your land.
Great for families and small groups
Dec 5 1pm-3:30pm
Private House in Cleveland Park (East Nashville)
Turn a wild tree into a traditional herbal preparation.
Black cherry is a tree with a fascinating history of traditional use. Learn to identify it throughout the seasons, explore responsible bark harvesting, and make traditional preparations including syrup, tincture, and decoction.
You'll leave with your own preparation and the knowledge and safety considerations needed to continue working with this plant at home.
Best for: Curious beginners, herbalists, and experienced plant people.
This 5 hour foraging consultation and tour goes more in depth, akin to a Foraging 101 class, which starts with plant identification basics, practicing this new skill with the plants and fungi in your care, plus making a dish together with something available on your land, yum!. You then move to learning the edible species and apply the new plant identification skills to the edible (and unsafe) species in the yard to help remember them. This sensory exploration uses smell, touch, and taste. You’ll leave with practical skills and confidence to forage independently. You’ll learn what’s safe, what’s sacred, and what’s spectacularly delicious and unique.
Your land is unique, so this isn't a generic list of edible plants—it’s a curated discovery of what thrives right around you. You'll gain insight into your ecosystem's natural rhythms and how to foster biodiversity. (This is a great option for families and small parties up to 8!)
Included:
🌻Site-Specific Insight
Every piece of land tells a story. We’ll help you understand the unique plant and fungal communities in your care— deepen your connection with them, and learn how to further work with them and the land.
📚 Resources
Information on ways to further educate yourself, practice identification skills, recipes tips, and more!
🎁Wild Treats
A goody bag of unique, wild treats lovingly gathered and prepared by your guide.