upcoming events
Durango Farmers Market continues each Saturday May through October
Come by the Turtle Lake Refuge Booth
8am -12pm in the TBK Bank Parking Lot
🌿Wild Wisdom Plant Walk & Slideshow with Katrina Blair
Thursday, June 5th, 2025 @ Arco Iris Institute in
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Discover the 13 Global Weeds That Can Feed, Heal & Sustain Us
Join us for a powerful day of reconnection with the wild world through a guided plant walk (10:30am) and/or a visual slideshow (7:00pm), inspired by Katrina Blair’s The Wild Wisdom of Weeds. Learn to identify and work with 13 resilient edible and medicinal plants found across the globe - our natural allies in nutrition, healing, and earth regeneration. These plants, often labeled as “weeds” are actually nature’s survival kit: free, abundant, and full of life-giving potential.🌱Thursday, June 5th Schedule:
10:30 AM – Plant Walk
● Guided walk to meet the 13 wild weeds in their natural habitat
● Learn identification tips, foraging ethics, and practical uses
● Followed by a celebratory green juice together!
7:00 PM – Slideshow + Wild Food Tasting
● Visual journey into the wisdom and versatility of wild plants
● Sample wild-foraged foods like dandelion pesto, amaranth seed crackers,
and thistle root chai tea
● Explore how these “weeds” support personal and planetary health💌
Spaces are limited!
RSVP for location and parking map:📧arcoirisyurt@gmail.com
💚Suggested Donation: $10–$25
Please park at 2121 Botulph, Santa Fe, NM.
Beaver Festival
10am-3pm Saturday, June 14th
Held in Rotary Park, Durango
Turtle Lake Refuge will be serving wild local food
Visit: giveadambeaver.org for more information
Wild Plant Retreat
with Katrina Blair
July 25-27, 2025
Location: Silver Star Hut in La Plata Canyon
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Facilitated by Katrina Blair and staff
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Begins with lunch on Friday at 12pm at Turtle Cafe.
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Includes field trip to the Turtle Lake Community Farm
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Two nights stay at the hut
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Classes include: wild foraging, food prep, bodycare, and wild medicinal recipes.
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Retreat ends Sunday by 12 Noon.
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Lodging options: one private bedroom, bunks in the hut, or camping outside.
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$333
Telluride Mushroom Festival
August 13-17 2025
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Inquire about the Wild Food Walkabout w/ Katrina Blair
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Send a message to turtlelakerefuge@yahoo.com if interested
Wild Heart Woman's Gathering
August 22-25, 2025
Mancos, Co
Local Wild Living Soil Program
Spring Course 2026
Learning through Nature’s Wisdom
Wild Edible and Medicinal Plants * Permaculture * Holistic Health * Nutrition
Primitive Skills * Outdoor Adventures * Community Building
~ April 6th – October 30th, 2026
~ Includes Overnight Field Trips
~ 333 Hour Program
~ Suggested Donation: $3333
Contact Katrina Blair at 970-247-8395 or visit turtlelakerefuge.org
This seven month program is a full immersion, hands on exploration of wild edible and medicinal plants, mushrooms, living food nutrition, permaculture design, holistic health, primitive skills, and outdoor adventures. Immerse in an experiential journey of internal and external health on a daily basis in a community setting while gaining practical skills for living in alignment with nature's wisdom.
We cover topics including: harvesting wild foods for our daily diet, creating simple to gourmet living food recipes, making cultured and fermented recipes, making herbal medicines, building solar dehydrators, learning about soil mycology and mushrooms, worm bins, organic farming/gardening, primitive skills, and outdoor adventuring as well as integrating holistic practices into our daily lives. Each day begins with a centering movement practice such as yoga, tai chi or meditation.
The syllabus includes overnight field trips for deepening our learning about the wild plants and skills in the mountain and desert ecosystems. The program prepares students to be competent as a local, wild, and living food chef, to offer education on nutrition and holistic health, to lead wild food identification and medicinal preparation workshops, to practice permaculture design, to integrate healing modalities, gain primitive skills and outdoor proficiency and incorporate deep earth-centered skills into daily life practices.
Join us for this learning adventure with Nature as our greatest teacher!
Turtle Lake Refuge
848 East 3rd Ave Durango, CO
Call 970-247-8395 or Email - turtlelakerefuge@yahoo.com
recent past events
Earth Day FestivalApril 12, 2025
Time: 11am to 3pm. Location: Buckley ParkTurtle Lake Refuge will have a booth!
16th Dandelion Festival
Friday, May 2 - Pre-Festival Wild Foods Lunch 12-2pm ($20)
Plant Plant Hike and Farm Tour 2pm -4pm ($20)
Meet at the Turtle Cafe ($33 -for both events)
Saturday, May 3 - Free Festival - 1pm - 9pm at Rotary Park
www.dandelionfestivaldurango.org
Earth Day Free Wild Edible Plant Walk
with Katrina Blair
April 15, 2025
Time: 3pm
Location: meet at the Colorado Trailhead in Durango
Herbal Aphrodisiacs: Heart Celebration and Gift Making Workshop
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Date: Tuesday February 11
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Time: 6 to 9 pm
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Location: Turtle Lake Refuge - 848 East 3rd Ave
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Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/turtle-lake-refuge-7828548910
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Turtle Talent Show
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Please feel free to join us and participate in the Turtle Talent Show. It's a free event for sharing and witnessing our collective talents and inspirations with each other. Anyone from the community is welcome to perform and participate.
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Date: Monday November 11th, 5pm to 7 pm
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Location: front room at Turtle Lake Refuge, 848 East 3rd Ave in Durango, Colorado
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Free and open to the public
Wild Wisdom of Weeds and Radical Remediation by Katrina Blair
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Hosted by the Bioregional Explorers Club
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Dates: Saturday November 23 @ 11am for mushroom foraging adventure and 7pm for evening presentation
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Forage Location : Please join us @10:45 on the west side (big parking lot side) of the Fairfax Good Earth grocery store - 720 Center Blvd, Fairfax, CA 94930 https://maps.app.goo.gl/cixt9jhVxjscwqYs7
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Potluck at 5pm, Slideshow at 7pm
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Potluck and Slideshow Location: 451 Meadow Way, San Geronimo, California
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By Donation
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West Marin Mushroom Foraging Collective Dinner and Plant Talk, followed by music making and merriment around the fire. Bring a sack lunch and something to share for a potluck dinner.
Winter Vitality Recipe Class with Katrina Blair
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Date: Tuesdays from 5:30pm to 7:00pm, January 7, 14, 21, 28 2025
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Location: Turtle Cafe, 848 East 3rd Ave, Durango, Colorado
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$111 for all 4 classes, or $33 for drop-ins
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Join us for this four series experiential class where we will learn new recipes using wild and local foods that support our health and personal immune system for the winter season
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Register here
Tree Planting and Reforestation Lecture:
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Intro to Miyawaki reforestation and indigenous agroforestry. Q&A to follow.
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Date: Saturday evening October 12 and Sunday all day October 13
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Location: Turtle Lake Farm - 53 Misty Lane
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Instructor: Coakee William Wildcat and Mother Tree Food and Forest.
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Suggested Donation: $15
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Details: Join us for two special events this weekend at Turtle Lake Farm (53 misty lane)! On Saturday from 530pm to 730pm we will have a pre workshop lecture on indigenous and modern approaches to planting trees and creating diverse forests. We will focus on indigenous agroforestry and Miyawaki reforestation. On Sunday join from 9am-4pm for a daylong workshop on planting trees from seeds, hands on learning, and much more. Please reach out with any questions.
Apple Pressing Harvest Potluck
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at Turtle Lake Community Farm, 53 Misty Ln, Durango, CO 81301
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October 20th, 3pm to 8pm
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Bring jugs, apples, and a potluck dish
Wild Edible and Medicinal Plant Class with Katrina Blair
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October 22 @ 5:30pm
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by donation