RETREAT REGISTRATION

We have two educational retreats that we host and together with you and Master Herbalist Chad Cornell, we want to create wonderful experiences and an educational environment in the outdoor classroom of the Forest for Hollow Reed School to have its summer retreats for its students.

The first retreat is in early August, the second at the end of August.

Along with deepening your knowledge about plant medicines, both retreats also provide you with the opportunity to be part of something, not only supporting the hard but wonderful work we do to preserve and add to the Forest eco diversity, but also an opportunity for you to be part of and help this growing community and other students of herbalism.

We offer two ways you can attend and support the Forest medicine retreat and this project / initiative.

TWO REGISTRATION OPTIONS:

• NURTURER

  5 SPOTS ONLY! Contribute to our project of sharing the land, and comes with a place to stay and a special gift we leave in your accommodation.

  Send us a message about which accommodation you wish to be a Nurturer of!.

• TRAVELLER

  12 SPOTS!

  Support the herbal medicines of the Forest and camp in your own tent and sleep close to Mother Nature in the Spruce Garden by the Treaty One Tipi and the Forest Community Fire.

NURTURER ACCOMMODATION OPTIONS

As you may know from coming to the Hollow Reed retreats we have loved creating fun accommodations just because we love to! We love providing them for you to stay in and experience them, and ‘get off the ground’ if you do not want to tent. Originally we created these because Michael just likes to create fun places to stay in so he can relive places he has stayed in on his travels! And with hosting these herbal medicine retreats for Hollow Reed we decided to open them up to you as part of the retreat experience instead of just folks tenting. This is the only time of year they are used except we stay in them too sometimes just for fun or when we have Forest friends or family out, except the Prospector which Michael stays in all year round when its warm enough, so they really are just for this retreat twice a year! Bring your sense of adventure lol :).

Message us at forestmedicineretreats@gmail.com to stay!

WHAT’S AVAILABLE?

August 8-10

Everything is available so far!

August 23-25, 2024:

Everything is available so far!

The Little Trailer

Done up in our vision of a South Western inspired motif complete with horses images and cowboy boots, it’s our first creation and most popular. I found this old trailer through a friend who was getting rid of it (the best way!), we gutted the ceiling and painted every corner and in a nice multi colour design. Propane connections redone, it’s totally cute and way back in the woods down a road/path we made going back into the woods farthest from our cabin. Secluded at the end of one of our roads and closest to Darby’s place, complete with twinkly lights outside and a custom deck we had made too complete with retro patio furniture and your own fire pit too, it’s closest to the humanure outhouse and also very close to the campsite and not too too far from the Dome. Intended to sleep 1 really, it’s an “RV double” so not even a double. Colette and I did it lol but it’s cosy, so we say sleeps 1! It’s a small but very space, with a working 1970s propane stove, working 1970s fridge, working sink, and yes has full electricity, and a good selection of kitchen wares including kettle, french press, plates/cutlery/mugs, pots/pans and cleaning supplies. We provide bedding and drinking water. Sometimes our friends and family stay in it, otherwise only you stay in it twice a year.

The Lil’ ‘71 Bus

Out in the open glowing in the sun and our welcome beacon to the Little Retreat in the Forest, we painted this old VW bus with a hippie flower motif one year, inspired by the busses of the 1960s and 70s when hippiedom was in full spirit. It is a genuine 1971 VW Bus so it is incredibly small but super cozy, so what we did was we renovated it and put in a full double bed and took out the no longer working kitchen cabinet remnants from whoever took parts out of it. We got this bus on the cheap one year (you would never ever find one for that price today haha) and friends hauled it to our property. It contains a full sized double bed and we added a rustic barn wood floor, so you actually feel like you’re in something more than an old bus and a little more space to twist and turn inside. Colette made nice curtains for it so it is totally private despite being on the road in, I suppose that also means you are not off on your own in the dark at night if that sort of thing freaks you out (you are not too far from our cabin). Loved by guests you can even sit in the front seats and pretend your off on a journey, or do a photo shoot. Store your cooler and belongings up front so wildlife don’t get them. It is closest to the medicine garden and one of our humanure outhouses, it sleeps 1 really in the double bed but I would not do 2 in it but I suppose you could, but I definitely don’t recommend it these busses were not made for that many people! We provide kitchen supplies including a portable propane stove and a table for you to do your camping thing outside the bus in nature (no electricity but we can provide access to electricity by the cabin for cell phones). We provide some kitchen wares including kettle, french press, plates/cutlery/mugs, pots/pans and cleaning supplies. You are steps away from the humanure outhouse on the road in. We provide bedding and drinking water.

Medicine Trailer

Along the road to the Little Trailer (above), we got this ‘newer’ 1980s trailer and cleaned it up and made it into a medicine and dharma library… Sink in and nestle away on your own and read from the dharma and plant medicine books, make yourself a medicinal tea, sit at the table and read about making your own plant medicines and chill. You can see the forest around you but you’re nestled away inside in your own little hippie medicine sanctuary. Careful smudging or what not it has a smoke and CO detector as all our creations do for safety. We kept all the 80s decoir including the 80s RV shag carpets but added some good hippie and buddha decor. You can see our cabin from the trailer so you are cliose but still have tons of privacy on the road to the Little Trailer. We stay in here ourselves when we have people over at our cabin so we love it. We named it after the drying plant medicines we have from Hollow Reed School of the Healing Arts and plants from the land that are drying. Sleeps up to 2 in 1 double bed, you could squeeze two adults in here in a cosy way. This trailer has a full kitchen with older and working propane stove, no fridge we are working at replacing it, it has a sink and full electricity, and some kitchen wares including kettle, french press, plates/cutlery/mugs, pots/pans and cleaning supplies. You are steps away from the humanure outhouse by the road in. We provide bedding and drinking water.

The Little Sailboat

Pretending you are in a tree house up in the trees isn’t hard in the Waif, the 22 foot tanzer sailboat with mahogany handles to hang on while you’re sailing. Backing out with a view though the giant poplar and nestled against the spruce forest, you can check out the sunset or sun yourself on deck. Sleeps 1 really I would not do 2 in here, even though you possibly could squish two people in here but I wouldn’t recommend it (the V shaped sailboat stern bed). I found this 1980s boat (which is still seaworthy and has its certification) by an ad I put out there, my idea was to have a sailboat in the forest because I loved the imagery - thinking maybe something post apocalyptic like the lake dried up or you’re ready for the next flood, anyway I loved the idea and the older folks that responded to the ad said they were too old to sail and had enough adventures around the world sailing they were ready to give it a new home. So there it is. Lots of good karma in this boat. Found some cool sailor art for it for decor and there ya go. The benches in the cabin are great for hanging out inside, complete with retro plaid fabric, anyway there’s even room to stretch your legs lying down inside. Not really standing room inside you have to go outside for that, so not the best if you get claustrophic maybe, but pretend you are at sea. But you are in the forest so you’ll be wanting to hang out outside, and high enough (you’ll have to go up a ladder of about 8 steps to get in the sailboat) so you are farther away from the bugs and all the other creatures of the forest. There’s a hatch you can open above the bed for air flow and a screen, and a screen door for the entry door for more air. You might hear the mast ropes clang in the night is it’s windy just a note. Complete with an ice box (not fridge), sink and a propane stove for you to use outside, and some kitchen wares including kettle, french press, plates/cutlery/mugs, pots/pans and cleaning supplies. Not far from the Little ‘71 Bus and our cabin nestled in the woods, also close to the humanure outhouse. We provide bedding and drinking water.

NOT IN 2025 SORRY ABOUT THAT!

Not So Little Prospector

The Little Prospector in the Forest is all of your frontier, yukon or trapper dreams rolled into one. Raised on a very large platform above all of nature's elements, the canvas tent keeps out nature but let's all the sounds in :). Chop firewood, make a fire and relax and enjoy the sounds of nature alone amongst the trees when you stay under the stars (you won’t want a fire in summer lol. It has electricity and a humanure outhouse all to yourself. This is actually my home from May to October and I stay in here instead of our cabin because the cabin is rented on Airbnb. I am here a lot but we clean house loll just as iof we would be putting it up on Airbnb too for when you come, we put away our things in the huge chest in there when you come out to stay. We provide the bedding and drinking water. You also have use of our outdoor screened in kitchen with a propane stove and our fridge. The cupboards are full of our stuff but you’ll have enough room to make something to eat or a tea. Feel free to wander around and suit by the pond if you like, there also a meditation spot by the prayer flags amongst the spruce trees. It’s a ways away from the rest of the folks at the camp site so you’ll walk a bit but it’s time to unwind, we do give you a bicycle you can use to get over to the cabin it makes it all much faster when you need to get back to class! You are not far away from our usual parking spot for our vw van and usually Ali stays in there when he is playing his meditation music Friday night so you aren’t completely alone over there.

The Little Skoolie in the Forest

I have always wanted a school bus project and found this partially retrofitted 1968 Blue Bird school bus - all the work of framing in cupboards done and benches and bedframes, even a sink. Someone travelled in it I am told, it needed some renovations, updating and cleaning but I was super excited to find it partially done. Maybe you rode in one like this as a kid in the 70s? It’s a large and roomy renovated 22 foot short bus, so not the really long ones. You can even stand up inside even if you are 6 foot tall. a self contained space that sleeps up to 2 in one double bed so it’s meant for a couple or one person. It’s got the antique retro green control panel and the huge steering wheel and stick shift - totally looks like a bus from the 60s. It comes with portable propane stove, a fridge you can use for an ice box (since it is off grid and not plugged in), sink and kitchen table and eating area. We provide the bedding and drinking water. It’s along the road into our place a ways away from the rest of the folks at the camp site and away from our cabin so you’ll walk a bit but it’s time to unwind. You can use the humanure outhouse near the vw bus.

Message us at forestmedicineretreats@gmail.com to stay!

All Nurturer Options come with water dispenser and a supply of drinking water.

Both NURTURERS and TRAVELLERS use the eco friendly outdoor humanure composting outhouses.

We are happy to show you more about it and how they work.

We also provide potable well water and a water supply and soap for washing.

Both Nurturers and Travelers also have access to an outdoor sink and a water tap/running water for washing your camp dishes and cooking utensils.