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We welcome you to read through this page for a whole-picture perspective on the Women’s Nourishing Kitchen Retreat. If you’re looking for specific information, you can use the following links to skip around:
- Why Nourishment for Women?
- What Our Nourishing Food Retreat Students Say
- What to Expect: Holistic Cooking Classes for Women
- Skills & Subjects We’ll Explore: Nourishment Embodied
- Nourishing Kitchen Retreat Schedule
- About Our Instructors
- Location Details
- Pricing for the Women’s Nourishing Kitchen Retreat in Asheville, NC
Why Nourishment for Women?
A woman’s body is an ecosystem unto itself, and nourishing it is an art. As women, our internal ecologies change with the seasons and cycles of our lives. Learning how to feed ourselves for optimal health, vitality, and grace is one of the most powerful and effective ways we can dance with these cycles.
In our Women’s Nourishing Kitchen Retreat, you’ll come to know more intimately how the food you prepare interweaves with your health, and learn how to set the perfect table for feeling your best. More than just a cooking class, we’ll explore myriad elements of deep nourishment: beauty, pleasure, vitality, togetherness, and, of course, delicious food.
What Our Nourishing Food Retreat Students Say
scroll right to read more
Taylor Kirkbride
Simsonville, SC
Doula
“The Nourishing Kitchen Retreat was very magical and fully immersive. We cooked outside, learned about wild plants, gathered food from the garden, and did it all in such a beautiful place. I feel inspired and revitalized to go back to my daily work with this experience behind me.”
Barbara Bernish
Asheville
Retiree
“This is much more than a cooking class. Of course we learned culinary techniques, got recipes, and made a lot of food, but it was a much bigger experience than that. It was nourishing in the broadest sense of the term. We prepared food right from the garden, discussed holistic cooking across the lifespan because there were women of all different ages, the instructors were incredibly talented and professional, and we each took home a sourdough starter. It was fantastic.”
What To Expect: Holistic Cooking Classes for Women
When you know the kitchen is the heart of your home, it becomes an imperative to learn how to prepare life-giving meals for yourself and your family. In the Nourishing Kitchen Retreat, we’ll delve into the frameworks of nourishment that support vitality for women of all ages (and families) and then spice it up with a generous dash of flavor development, technique, and of course—tasting.
Throughout this holistic cooking retreat, you will:
- Learn to craft nourishing traditional foods
- Receive instruction from expert chefs & culinary kitchen tenders
- Practice flavor & sensory development for delectable meals
- Learn the art of storied food & embodied nutrition
- Experience a fully supportive, welcoming, and inclusive environment
- Be nourished by cooking classes, tasting menus, and a sumptuous feast
- Learn in beautiful, sheltered, outdoor kitchens
- Sit in guided conversational council with other women
- Have full use of our facilities and optional free camping
Skills & Subjects We’ll Explore: Nourishment Embodied
This culinary retreat and holistic food workshop is designed to bring your cooking skills to a new level of expertise; one that nurtures deeper food security and resilience for you and your loved ones while also imparting to you the gift of deliciousness. Learn how to make delectable food that feeds the vital essence of the body and tastes finger-licking good.
Our time together will be split between learning the foundations of nourishment, practicing the art of cooking, and savoring meals together while we sit in council. We will cover traditional food recipes, delve into the alchemy of fermentation, learn to preserve meat, fruit, and veggies, and explore local, wild, and seasonal menus.
Exploring the nourished, wild kitchen is a delicious way to savor life.
Some of the skills and subjects you can expect to explore, include:
Traditional Food Techniques: How to make delicious food from scratch without tremendous effort.
Fermentation: Learn to make probiotic-rich ferments and explore creative ways to include them in your daily meals.
Council of Nourishment: Be held in your personal experiences and inquiries through intimate sharing circles.
Garden Tour & Farm Harvest: Get your hands dirty in the right kind of way with a farm tour. Plus you’ll harvest veggies and herbs for the food we’ll make together.
Flavor Development: Learn to taste for flavor & deepen into the wisdom of your sensing body.
Nourishing the Vital Essence: Explore foods and perspectives that support the wellbeing of all women’s bodies.
Herbal & Wild Foods Kitchen: Bring mineral-rich, wild, and seasonal herbs into your kitchen.
The Nourishing Kitchen Retreat Schedule
This retreat spans four days of hands-on cooking classes, designed with women’s nourishment at the center.
- Thursday – Saturday: 9:30am – 5:00pm
- Sunday: 10:00am – 4:30pm
Day 1: Opening Circle, Crave-Worthy Condiments, and Nutrition for Women
Our retreat will begin with a warm welcome, opening circle, and orientation to the Wild Abundance Campus. After we greet each other and get settled, we’ll explore some of the condiments that form the kitchen’s foundation: culinary butters, infused vinegars, and herbal honeys. After lunch, we’ll dive into the nuances of nutrition across a woman’s lifespan.
Day 2: Morning Circle, The Animal Body & Organ Meats, Garden Tour
We’ll start our day in circle together with a grounding ritual and time to ask questions. Throughout the morning and early afternoon, we’ll discuss the animal body and how to integrate organ meats (essential to women’s nutrition in most traditional diets) into meals in delicious ways. Plus, we’ll cook! Possible culinary projects include how to properly prepare meat, liver pâté, and/or bone broth and stock. Later in the afternoon, we’ll tour the Wild Abundance gardens and gather veggies, fruits, and herbs for our table.
Day 3: Morning Circle, Ferments & Sourdough, Cooking Class, & Evening Feast
We’ll continue our morning circle tradition and create space for Q&As. Afterwards, we’ll dive into nourishing ferments—condiments, sourdough, kvass, etc…We’ll also cover pantry items and tools that will help you ferment with success. We’ll round out the day with a group class and celebratory feast!
Day 4: Morning Circle, Wild Foods & Edible Flowers, Women’s Council & Closing Circle
Today will be our final morning circle and grounding ritual, followed by a class on easy-to-access wild foods and edible flowers, plus a tasting menu! Later, we’ll sit in council together for conversations on beauty and slowness as essential ingredients in women’s nourishment, and end with a closing circle.
*note, the schedule is subject to change based on weather and the unpredictability that adds spice to life
Keep Me in the Loop…
Join the waitlist and be the first to know when new classes open up for registration!
We’ll let you know when classes open for registration, and send you our fun and informative newsletters.
Instructors
Kearsley Tate Schweller
Meghan Gemma
Chloe Lieberman
April Rainsong
The Women’s Nourishing Kitchen Retreat is held at the Wild Abundance Sanford Way Campus
Our Paint Fork campus is a bustling creekside landscape with gorgeous mountain views, a breathtaking timber-framed pavilion classroom, and covered open-air wood shops for learning in all weather, plus other lovely features like a beautiful outdoor kitchen and newly completed bath house.
Our campus is both a peaceful place and a site for community learning. At times, two or more classes may overlap. This means you’ll have more opportunities to connect with a wider community of students and teachers and you may also notice some additional background noise and activity.
Many of our classes utilize power tools, so please keep this in mind. On occasion, we may need to bring in maintenance folks to keep our structures and systems operating smoothly. We’ll always do our best to make sure your class time is as focused and limited in distractions as possible. Please reach out if you have any questions or concerns.
Please note: our campuses are all unconventional, with rustic amenities and uneven ground. Read more about planning your trip and about our campuses for additional information.
The Paint Fork campus is 30 minutes north of Asheville. You’ll receive detailed directions on how to get here upon registration.
There are many options for staying both on or off campus, click here to learn more!
There are many affordable on and off campus accommodation options, starting at just $35 per night. We also offer free on-site camping to all students. Click here to learn more!
You won’t need a car during your class. There’s a chance you may want to run an errand or go out to dinner with fellow students, and if this happens, it’s highly likely that another student with a car will be happy to give you a lift.
We’ve also got a list of folks who will do airport and grocery shuttle runs for $50-$80 each way. We share this information in the student handbook when you register. If you’d rather rent a car, those run anywhere from $45-$200/day. Just like with lodging, teaming up with a group of fellow students to share a car rental can help build connections and reduce costs.
Pricing for the Women’s Nourishing Food Retreat in Asheville, NC
Regular Pricing: $850 – $1,700
*Please pay what you can within this range. The median price helps cover the class costs. Choose the low end if you’re low income, or the maximum fee if your household earns over $115,000/year. Place yourself within this range based on your income.