Green University® LLC Presents...
Fall Harvest Celebration

Fall Harvest and Celebration of the Deer
Cardwell, Montana. Nov. 20 - December 15, 2025

      The autumn rut signals the start of hunting season and an overabundance of killing and waste. At Green University® LLC, we repurpose waste into abundance, celebrating the gifts offered by our brethren deer. Coordinating with local game processors, we help skin deer and salvage leftover meat and resources that would otherwise go to the landfill. For two months we gather hides to tan for buckskin clothing, meat to can and jerk for the coming year, fat to render, plus bone, antler, and sinew to fashion the tools of our craft. It is a time for us to gather together in the abundance of the deer and share the skills and stories that have guided us through the passing year. It is an opportunity to fulfill our sacred duty to those who walk and crawl across the earth by diverting them from the waste stream and honoring their gifts.

      This is not a class, but a gathering and skills-share of friends, past students, and year-long Green University immersion program participants. We'll head to the wild game processors to skin hundreds of deer without leaving holes or knife marks in the hides. At River Camp we'll make beautiful braintan buckskin along with preserving hides to tan for the coming year. If you are passionate about buckskin, you will have the opportunity to bring home dozens and dozens of salted hides and as many scraped and tanned hides as you want. We also skin hocks for bags, pull deer toes, and extract tendons and bones for tools.

      We glean the roads to butcher legal roadkill, plus we collect rib cages, neck meat, tongues, and other scraps from game processors. We collect an abundance of this free, wild, organic, and all natural meat to preserve for the year ahead. We make jerky, pressure can meat, mash pemmican, boil bone broth, and stock the freezer. Stay for Thanksgiving and make gourmet dishes out of wild venison: organ sausage, blood pancakes, stomach bread, tender roasts, rocky mountain oysters, or whatever suits your fancy.

      Lodging is available in two wickiups and an earthlodge along the Jefferson River near the base of the Tobacco Root Mountains in Cardwell, Montana. Plan to take turns cooking communal meals. We eat deer with nearly every meal and round out our fare with vegetables and bread gleaned from nearby dumpsters. Please plan to purchase additional groceries to contribute to the pot. The group will be grateful for your contribution of any additional food that you've grown, gathered, and preserved. This gathering includes several stewardship days to clean up and give back to the River Camp site and keep it nice for future events.

      If you would like to participate as a Green University student, please plan to start the immersion program beforehand to meld into the community before the Fall Harvest begins. To help keep costs low, participants are asked to help skin and salt a few extra deer hides to leave behind for Green University® LLC classes and other projects. Questions? Please click over to our contact page and send us a note.

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