Go wild! Forage for your supper

CAIRO, W.Va. — A recent issue of Country Living magazine featuring the annual Nature Wonder “Wild Foods” weekend at North Bend State Park opened with this paragraph: “Deer, possum, quail, raccoon, sassafras, May apples, fiddlehead fern, milkweed, Queen Anne’s Lace and pawpaw. Oh my! Guests at the annual Nature Wonder Wild Foods Weekend have an opportunity to savor such delicacies from the wild and more.”

Event scheduled

The 2015 event is scheduled for Sept. 18-20, and reservations for this 48th annual outdoors smorgasbord are being taken now.

Participants will enjoy a full weekend of hikes, programs, and a wild foods banquet.
Featured speakers include Sam Thayer of Forger’s Harvest and Nature’s Garden and Chris Chmiel of Integration Acres, Ltd.

Park tour

Activities include a park tour, dinner, presentations, the Hazel Wood National Wild Food Cooking Contest and the Bill Faust Wild Cake Contest.

Drink contest

The Wild Drink Contest winner is awarded the honorary Maxine Scarbro Friendship Cup. The weekend offers overnight packages as well as day-only attendance options.

Cost

The individual cost is $171 when two people share a room. This rate includes five meals, all activities and programs.
Other rates are available for single occupancy rooms, cabins, and fees for only the activities. Overnight options include lodge rooms, cabins or camping sites.

Camping

Openings are available for campsites and cabins, but lodge rooms are filling fast, so early registration is important for those who want to stay in the lodge.
Registration. To register, please contact Wendy Greene at the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources at 304-558-2754 or email Wendy.L.Greene@wv.gov. Reservation forms and additional information also are available online at the Event Calendar listings at www.northbendsp.com.

Five meals

Although wild foods are featured throughout the weekend, five conventional meals will be provided by the North Bend Lodge Restaurant. Nature Wonder Weekend Schedule
Event details. Registration begins at the North Bend State Park Lodge from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sept. 18. A park tour is scheduled at 3 p.m. and a buffet dinner is at 6:30 p.m.
The Wild Foods Cooking Contest will be held that evening, including prizes for best wild food cooks, best wild cake and best wild drink.

After Saturday breakfast, small groups will take guided hikes in search of edible wild foods. Following lunch, the groups will prepare wild foods for the social hour that afternoon.
A buffet dinner is available in the lodge restaurant Sept. 19. Sept. 20 will include a morning worship service and a wild foods workshop.