Katrina Blair’s (1970-2026) Wild Foods Dinner Lives on at the Telluride Mushroom Festival

A month before she passed, Team Mushroom met with Katrina Blair to hear her wishes on how she’d like her legacy to be held at the Telluride Mushroom Festival. Her deepest wish was that the spirit and joy of Wild Plants will be held and Team Mushroom will do that in as many ways as we can.

She passed the torch to Mila Garelle who will hike to Durango just like Katrina did the last 16 years. Mila will be hiking out wild plants to serve at the wild foods dinner and will be joined by culinary artist Chef Gerard LaBonte.

Mila shares what this means to her “The gift and responsibility held in this illuminating torch are a magical honor to hold. With Katrina’s trust and kinship I am strengthened in journey and softened in mind with each step and harvest. “

We invite you to join us in this dinner to celebrate us carrying forward the spirit of what Katrina has offered TMF: gratitude for the earth, generosity of knowledge, and the understanding that abundance is found growing all around us.

The essence of Katrina was something both ethereal and rooted. Katrina’s TMF legacy is celebrated by remembering the joy and wild wisdom the plants bring to those who tap into their spirit. Some of her fondest memories were hanging out with Gary Lincoff at TMF. Each attendee who comes to the Wild Foods Dinner will receive a copy of Katrina’s book, The Wild Wisdom of Weeds: 13 Essential Plants for Human Survival to share the knowledge of wild weed wisdom with each attendee.

This year, the dinner will celebrate all that Katrina has gifted to the Telluride Mushroom Festival by sharing her songs, poems, and stories from the many lives she has touched through her devotion to wild lands, food, and community. Mila will guide the spirit of the evening, sharing stories about five wild plants that have shaped Katrina’s life and work.

Blair’s Wild Foods dinner was the first wild and raw foods dining experience at Telluride Mushroom Festival. Paired with her walk from Durango to Telluride, her influence on TMF has made one of the most significant marks in TMF history. Each year, attendees share elaborate dishes like thistle green juice, zucchini lasagna, Palisade peach tart and other decadent, divine creations. During the dinner, Katrina shared with folks that when they consume the wild juice or wild plants, they rewild a part of themselves and become more connected to earth medicine. People leave the evening feeling enchanted, nourished, and more connected to the living world around them.

Katrina walked with a lightness and looked people in the eyes when she talked to them. She was always present and lived what she preached more than most people. She created a life where each step she took was in integrity with what she shared. Her passions, career and devotion to community were how she lived her life. In addition to her wild plant wisdom, Katrina was one of the original creators of conscious community in the Southwest of Colorado. She inspired people not only through what she says about wild foods, but through the way she lives in relationship with the earth herself.

While Katrina would have never bragged about herself, the work she did was exceptional. In 2020, her farm, Turtle Lake Refuge started a mycoremidation project. Turtle Lake purchased neighboring land from a chemical herbicide storage business and the soil was ridden with glyphosate. The project consisted of applying an oyster mushroom sludge and in 3 years the glyphosate was removed from the soil. This is something that with conventional practices typically takes 7 years. Now, the garden is a market garden and is made up of healthy soil.

Before her passing, Katrina passed the torch of her non-profit Turtle Lake where a board of directors is now overseeing their community lunches at the Turtle Lake Cafe at 848 E 3rd Street in Durango. Lunch is served on Turtle Tuesdays and Frog Fridays from 11:11 to 2:22. She also created Bee Happy Lands under Turtle Lake Refuge which conducts homeo-dynamic (natural!) approaches to Organic Weed mitigation and has been hired by both the Town of Telluride, Durango and by private residents for thistle, knotweed and other invasive plant mitigation.

We are looking forward to the many ways we’ll be honoring Katrina Blair this year at the Telluride Mushroom Festival. If you’d like to support Turtle Lake Refuge, you can donate through Colorado Gives here. You can read a statement directly from Turtle Lake Refuge here.