The ability to increasingly call more of our local flora by name, receive their gifts, and foster stewardship of their ecosystems is a profound pleasure.
Upcoming Events
About Me
My name is Silas Betadam (they/he). I am a first-generation Assyrian-American born and raised in Skokie and Glenview, IL. From their homeland in the Middle East, my family brought their love of gathering wild edibles. As a young child, I have many delightful memories of reaching up for berries and fruit on branches and bending down to the ground for aromatic greens. While in the middle of a high-density suburban neighborhood, I could still feel the abundance and nourishment of Mother Nature. As I grew up, I was surprised to find out that many of my peers were not aware of the food freely growing around them. I now regularly bring others into my foraging escapades, and witnessing their excitement and awareness grow is a blessing. The ability to increasingly call more of our local flora by name, receive their gifts, and foster stewardship of their ecosystems is a profound pleasure.
Through my events I hope to bring focus and energy to ecological sustainability, community building, food access, and supporting native wildlife.
Formal and Volunteer Experience
I am formally trained as an Aerospace Systems Engineer, with 5+ years in the aerospace industry.
Outside of my engineering career, I am deeply interested in permaculture and ecological sustainability, urban agriculture, and reusing secondhand or discarded materials to make art and build furniture. I have always envisioned my career moving towards supporting sustainability, agriculture, and horticulture. I am a detail-oriented, hands-on, problem solver with a talent for understanding and working with machinery, tools, and mechanical systems and a love for beautifying my surroundings.
My passion for local foods and agriculture was deeply intensified when I began learning about permaculture—working with nature to create resilient and self-sustaining systems that support the three main permaculture ethics: earth care, people care, and fair share. I have studied Midwest Permaculture’s written- and video-course. From this learning, I have been guided to a more integrated and supportive relationship with the flora, fauna, and fungi all around me. Driven by these ethics, I volunteer at local trail gardens, prairie parks, and farms nearby.
Land Acknowledgement
Here in the Chicagoland area, we forage on the traditional unceded homelands of the Council of the Three Fires: the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi Nations. Many other tribes, such as the Miami, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, and Sac and Fox, also called this area home. The region has long been a center for Indigenous people to gather, trade, and maintain kinship ties. Today, one of the largest urban American Indian communities in the United States resides in Chicago. Members of this community continue to contribute to the life of this city and to celebrate their heritage, practice traditions, and care for the land and waterways.