Spring Preview: the 3 month program26thJuly
The following is a preview for the Earth Village (Spring Session). Its rounds out the story for our tandem 9 month program.
In spring we immerse ourselves in the world of plants and the realm of the birds. Everything is exploding with life. Early in the term you take your Permaculture Design Certification and in hands on projects throughout the 3-months we remake and reshape the Trackers Homestead (our cabin that sits on 3 acres of cultivated land and 400 acres of willife refuge). Harvest and preservation of spring milk and eggs folds into artisan cheesemaking, pickling and fermentation. Still, the core of the program is the new growth of spring plants. You practice nutrition through wildcrafted foods, making medicine through tinctures and gardening for sustenance crops. We even cover herbals for the farm and stable, working with livestock on the Trackers Homestead. As with all Trackers courses, the focus is on hunter-gatherer or horticultural relationships to the land, so while we cover many homesteading relationships it all dovetails into tending to "wild" garden and lands. Places of harvest that are intricately woven into a living and diverse ecology.
Our naturalist studies also take us to the treetops. We cover intensive relationships with birds and their viewpoint of the forest. Tracking reveals on a entirely new role as we learn the Language of the Birds. This is the ability to tell the movement of a sneaking deer or cougar simply from the sequence of the avian calls above. Of course we address what some may see as classic track and sign skills, along with ecological relationships.
As with all of our 3 month immersion terms our collaborative and natural learning model makes all experience levels welcome and useful. Our class discourse does not follow a coversation linear path but is instead an intricate web of eloquent conversation, allowing diverse interests and skill sets of individuals to enrich the learning community.
The fitness component for this term focuses on nutrition, strength and flexibility. Yoga is at the core of the program, while safe, accessible boxing provides a playful self defense component. Urban foraging expeditions happen by two wheels, in fact the bike is a required component of the program. We often ride by pedal power during this term.
All this and you work with cut baby animals born in March and April...
Spring Session: The Earth Village
Permaculture and horticulture training includes...
• Receive your Permaculture Design Certification intensive early
• Take it to next level, apply your certification to hands on design projects throughout the term
• Overnight at the Trackers Homestead and our 400 acre wildlife refuge
• Working with small livestock including chickens, goats, and rabbits (even bees)
• Breeding and birthing said livestock, experience super cute baby animals
• Intregration of small livestock into reenriching land and diversity
• Focus on cheese making and other traditional dairy preservation with self harvested goat's milk
• Do a traditional and homestead butchering (options for those who opt out) with traditional sausage and meat preservation
• Practice sustenance gardening in way that will really feed your village
• Learn about urban farming and market gardening culture and practices
• Tend to "wild" gardens on our 400 acres, truly reintegrating human relationships with the land
• Help design and develop several natural building projects
Wild edible and medicinal plants curriculum includes...
• Intensive spring wild plant identification and harvest
• Only harvesting by methods encouraging wild and long term sustainability
• Learn about herbal plant medicine, also apply it to livestock in the farm and stable
• Stock your medicine kit by preparing herbal teas, decoctions, tinctures, slaves, poultices, oils, syrups and honeys
• Develop your own understanding of personal nutrition from local and wild plants and other foods
• Start to stock your pantry even in spring to feed yourself and your village
• Harvest and preserving sea vegetables
• Explore the diverse history of herbal lore and medicine
Spring birding and naturalist studies includes...
• Immerse yourself in the many migratory species and their habits, learn the story of their journeys
• Train the Language of the Birds. Magically map the forest and animal movement by bird song and call.
• Train to track on any surface: even moss or rock
• Learn intensive systems awareness and mapping
• Play the Urban Hawks Role Playing Game, score points
DIY and Wilderness Survival skill building includes...
• Develop ultra-lite weight wilderness and backcountry travel abilities: the art of taking little to no gear
• Train navigation with map and compass, land, sun and stars
• Basic bicycle maintainance
• Basic Ultra-lite packing gear
Art and theater skills includes...
• Build team rapport with theater and improv training (all experience levels apply, we walk folks through any fears of public performance)
• Develop your creative skills through training professional level wildlife illustration with plant illustration and journals (all experience levels apply, we walk folks through any fears of art)
• Make traditional and DIY musical instruments. Jam with your friend (all experience levels apply, we walk folks through any fears of jamming
Teams skills include...
• Work with iterative development processes
• Develop clarity and eloquence in communication with a focus on function, not being "right or wrong"
• Learn agreement processes that are efficient, timely and functional, not long winded, boring or dramatic
• Experience the power of the "15 minute meeting"
• Structure collaborative teams that get work done well, quickly and competently
• Write a simple business plan
• Develop collaborative teaching skills as an educator, mentor and guide: especially pertinent to working in the out of doors
Yoga and body awareness training includes...
• Regular yoga training and class
• Work through fun cross training
• Become superpowered with accessible boxing exercises
• Set about urban foraging expeditions by bicycle
Take a Wilderness First Responder as an option
Please Note As we already have many of our 9 month applications starting for fall, we'll likely only hold space for four to six applicants for the 3 month option this September. Priority is also given to currently accepted 9 month applicants who may see 3 or 6 months as a better fit for them.
