Wapato Table

What is Wapato Table Ancestral Medicine Unschool? 

Wapato Table Unschool is a long-term skill-sharing community that tends to the land, more-than-human kin, and the healing path. You will learn gentle ways of coexisting and trusting natural spaces to provide lasting relationships. We believe remembering, deep listening, and working with your hands counters the separation that intellectual study produces. Intuition and immersive experience provides a foundation for integral medicine-making paths. Wapato Table Unschool offers the opportunity for people who feel the call of the world to put their hands in the dirt, engage in ritual, and remember ancestral roots. Each of our community members will have the blessing and responsibility to learn from growing medicine on a 10’x 10’ plot of land on Wapato Island Farm, optionally extending beyond the end of the 2025-26 session for up to four years.

Tending is the true teacher

Why is this important? Through service we cultivate a kinship with the natural world that’s respectful. Our relationship with the plants and the medicine we make with them is a reflection of our ancestral and land ties. Through this we are initiated into supporting ourselves and our communities for generations to come, but more importantly, we are initiated into real commitments.

We believe that through skill-sharing, dedicated practice and empowerment we can all be in better service to each other to complement impersonal systems of societal support. We are aware that BIPOC communities are disproportionately excluded from meaningful access to land, natural spaces, ancestral medicine and institutional health supports. With awareness that humans are healthier when connected to natural spaces, we prioritize BIPOC applicants to counter long-standing injustices.

Our Ancestral Herbalism Unschool will run on a seasonal, three-month cycle. We will generally meet the one weekend each month, this can range from a two day, three day or a four day weekend. We begin at 9:00am and end at 4:00pm at Wapato Island Farm. Hours may vary on harvesting days since we will be carpooling to different locations. The layout of each weekend will vary depending on the seasons but throughout the year we will be harvesting, medicine-making, garden tending and skill-sharing.

We’ve included the dates of our meetings below so you don’t have to waste your time applying for classes you can’t attend! We’ll be building a learning community, and while we understand that everyone has things come up in life, our learning will be richer if everyone who signs up to attend follows through. You’ll bring your own supplies for learning, harvesting, and practice such as mason jars, alcohol and clippers, for example. We will provide you a supply list each session. 

In addition to our class meetings, each participant at Wapato Table will get their own plot of land at Wapato Island Farm, approximately 10’ x 10’, to grow medicine. Your plots will require some watering and weeding beyond our class meetings. You are free to coordinate with each other to handle this. We’ll collaborate with each other to design the plots and pick plants that work with realistic watering, weeding, and tending commitments. You’ll keep half of what you grow, and the other half will be donated to the community. If you feel called to care for your plants beyond this learning session, we would be honored to share the land with you for up to four years.

Tuition of $5800 ($5600 cash/check price) covers the cost of our intentionally created curriculum, at least 3 teachers per class meeting, space and energy, land and plants prepared for you to be here, and a plot for each participant. This averages out to about $150/class. We know this is a significant amount of money, even though it is what we need to charge in order to offer sustainable learning. We urge you to reach out to your community for financial support if you need it, since it is our intention that you will share the gifts of Wapato Table with them.

Tuition can be paid in a payment plan. If you need to make arrangements for a payment plan, please indicate on your application so we can discuss options. There will be a non-refundable $500 deposit required to hold your position. Please note an additional initial payment of $500 must be paid in full before the beginning of the program by October, unless otherwise discussed.

We do offer two half scholarship positions that is a general helper work-trade position. This would be a commitment to spend 10:30am to 2:30pm on the farm every Tuesday during peak season(usually April-August) and one Sunday a month 10:30am-2:30pm. You would be responsible to help coordinate volunteers, lead farm task and tend to the land. This is a physically demanding position, you will need to be able to lift 25Ibs and be in potentially difficult weather. We will prioritize BIPOC applicants for these scholarships. Please indicate on your application if you would like to discuss this work-trade position.

We offer one half scholarship that is a photography/videography work trade position. This is a commitment to take photos and videos at every Unschool meeting, edit, and upload to a shared drive. Please indicate on your application if you would like to discuss this work-trade position

We offer one full scholarship a houseless community member. This includes pickup, drop off, and provided lunch if needed. Please indicate on your application if you would like to discuss this work-trade position

Logistic:

• Most weekends will be spent on Wapato Island Farm located on Wapato Island (aka Sauvie Island), about 30 mins outside of downtown Portland.

• St. Johns, a neighborhood in PDX is 15 mins way. There you can find grocery stores, places to stay, convenience stores and anything else you’ll need.

• You can take TriMet 16 Bus to Sauvie Island from a TriMet station in town to get dropped off about 1 mile away walk from the farm.

• Uber is available but limited.

• We are offering dry camping on the farm during our weekends together. If you decide to camp please know you are responsible for packing in and out all your own equipment and supplies. The only thing that is provided is a spot for a standard tent and a compost toilet

Students are responsible for their own arrangements for food, lodging and transportation. We will provide snacks and an occasional evening meal during class hours, beyond that you are responsible for your own meals and comfort. Please discuss if you have any questions or concerns about food, lodging, or transportation.

We understand that this is a big commitment, please take it into consideration before applying.

Under the Banner of Sacred Hospitality we welcome all people regardless of cultural background, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disabilities.

This is an intercultural space where hate speech and acts are NOT acceptable.

Applications close August 1st 2026!