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Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship

Summer Residential Program - Celebrating its 10 Year Anniversary in 2010

Scroll Down or Click for Specifics:
• Program Dates & Mission;
• Application Deadlines & Tuition;
• Program Benefits & Instructors
• Program Goals & Schedule Breakdown;
• Skills Covered in the Program;
• How to Prepare & Apply for this Program;
• Responsibilities at Camp, Program History, and a Note from Chris;

Program Dates: In 2010, our Summertime Residential Apprenticeships run June 13th - August 14th, with complimentary extension through September 4th. (see the Threee Seasons Wolf Journey Earth Skills Apprenticeship for its follow-up)

Mission of the Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship: This program is designed for adults who wish to become excellent instructors in the field of earth skills.

Application Deadlines: Non-Credit Tuition is $3,750 if you apply by March 20th, 2010, or $4,000 if you apply by June 10th, 2010 if space remains availble. A $1,000 deposit (fully refundable only if your application is not accepted - otherwise it can only be used as credit toward programs in 2010 or 2011) is required to hold your spot, with an additional $1,000 due on June 10th, and the rest of your balance due on June 20th. You may receive significant discounts for previous experience, with your financial contribution bottoming out at a minimum of $2,750. Your tuition includes participation in all programs at Wolf Camp throughout the length of your training period, including instruction, camping, facilities, and food. Beyond that, you need not incur any other expense during the summer except for health insurance, which we can help you secure at a very inexpensive rate.

Program Instructors: Chris Chisholm will be your mentor through this experience, with assistance from Kim and guidance from Seasonal Faculty who will be teaching during the summer.

Benefits of the Program: The summertime Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship was our very first Residential Apprenticeship, piloted in 2000. More than half our staff came on board through this program, while others enrolled to receive training in order to found their own schools. Past apprentices agree that they learned the greatest earth skills and teaching skills of their lives while assisting the incredible instructors at Wolf Camp as they guided youth through the summer. That is the greatest of benefits, but as a graduate, you may also complete any of our 2010-2011 THREE SEASONS COOPERATIVE APPRENTICESHIPS for just $2,500 if you register by August 14th, 2010, and future appreticeship choices beyond that at a similar discount. And finally, graduates become eligible to work at Wolf Camp as instructors, though hiring is dependent on enrollment and the ongoing development of your skills.

Your Goals & Schedule: Your goals expand over the course of the summer, from learning the basics of earth skills education, to being given teaching opportunities during the summer according to your desire and readiness.

1st Priority: Learn the best methods of teaching earth skills to all ages. The way to become the best of teachers is to observe, participate in, and take notes on all the activities our instructors present over the summer, including staying up a half hour after the kids go to sleep in order to blog your experiences. If you just want to focus on learning earth skills, and not on teaching, then simply apply to attend one of our other apprenticeships. Thanks! But if earth skills education is your goal, then listen to all our apprenticeship graduates relate how grateful they are in the year following their apprenticeship because they realize that they somehow "just know how to teach" any subject.

2nd Priority: Take care of yourself, while nurturing campers and supporting other staff. It is important that you come into the program as healthy and prepared as possible, for although during the training portion of the program your educational needs are the focus, during the summer camp season, the needs of the children at camp will be the focus, so you will have to learn to remain healthy amongst constant camp activity. This is the trick to a successful teaching career.

3rd Priority: Develop a working knowledge of all earth skill categories. Apprenticeship graduates always relate how at the end of the summer, they were amazed at how this "just happened". The opportunity to assist lead instructors and take on instructional leadership yourself during the summer is a great way to fully embody your own earth skills, because sometimes you can learn best only that which you teach.

June 13-19: Attend the Earth Skills Educational Training Camp A: Teaching All Ages in the Outdoors, Preparing Program Lessons, and Managing the Risks. Adults not involved in our Summertime Residential Apprenticeships can attend this course at $500-$575, depending on when they register.
June 20-26: Attend the Earth Skills Educational Training Camp B: Mentoring in the Outdoors, Facilitating Groups, Wilderness First Aid, Open Water Lifeguarding & CPR. Adults and teens not involved in our Summertime Residential Apprenticeships can attend this course at $500-$575, depending on when they register.
June 27 - July 3: Learn Wilderness Survival and how to teach older youth while assisting a lead instructor during our overnight camps. Adults not involved in our Summertime Residential Apprenticeships can attend our Wilderness Survival Training Camp running this week at $500-$575, depending on when they register.
July 4-10: Learn to teach younger children by assisting a lead instructor during our summer day camps on wildlife tracking, ethnobotany, wilderness survival, and pioneer crafts.
July 11-17: Learn Ethnobotany, Human Tracking and Birding, and how to teach older youth while assisting a lead instructor during our overnight camps. Adults not involved in our Summertime Residential Apprenticeships can attend our Wild Ethnobotany Training Camp running this week at $500-$575, depending on when they register.
July 18-24: Learn to teach younger children by assisting a lead instructor during our summer day camps on wildlife tracking, ethnobotany, wilderness survival, and pioneer crafts.
July 25-31: Learn Wildlife Tracking & Backpacking and how to teach older youth and adults while assisting a lead instructor during our overnight camps. Adults not involved in our Summertime Residential Apprenticeships can attend our Coastal Trackers Training Camp running this week at $500-$575, depending on when they register.
August 1-7: Learn to teach younger children by assisting a lead instructor during our summer day camps on wildlife tracking, ethnobotany, wilderness survival, and pioneer crafts.
August 8-14: Learn Earth Skills Arts & Craft and how to teach older youth and adults while assisting a lead instructor during our overnight camps. Adults not involved in our Summertime Residential Apprenticeships can attend The Earth Skills Artisan running this week at $500-$575, depending on when they register

Optional Complimentary Week of August 15-21: Learn to teach younger children by assisting a lead instructor during our summer day camps on wildlife tracking, ethnobotany, wilderness survival, and pioneer crafts.
Optional Complimentary Week of August 22-28: Learn Fishing or Sustainable Pioneering and how to teach youth, adults and families, while assisting at overnight camps. Adults and families not involved in our Summertime Residential Apprenticeships can attend Sustainable Pioneering or one of our Fishing Camps running this week at $500-$575, depending on when they register.
Optional Complimentary Week of August 29- Sept 4: Learn Hunting or Cultural Sensitivity and how to teach youth and adults, while assisting at overnight camps. Adults and teens with prior experience at Wolf Camp but not involved in our Summertime Residential Apprenticeships can attend Honoring Cultural Traditions, or one of our Hunting Camps running this week at $500-$575, depending on when they register.
Optional Earth Skills Teaching Certification Evaluation can be scheduled in September.

Specialty Skills Learned
• Wildlife Tracking & Animal Surveying (identification, trailing, aging, interpretation)
• Birding & Bird Language (academic and song-to-alarm interpretations)
• Naturalist Sketching & Journaling (using sit spots, drawing instruction, quick journaling strategies)
• Skills of the Ancient Scout (sensory awareness, stealthy movement, camouflage, games)
• Wild Edible Foraging & Preparation (Herbs, Nuts, Roots, Flowers, Fruits, Insects)
• Primitive Cooking & Food Storage (pit cook, clay oven, ash cakes, smoking, jerkying, pemmican)
• Medicinal Herb Collection & Preservation (drawing from knowledge of area herbalists)
• Preventative Health & Herbal Spas (from daily health routines, to our special spa treatments)
• Emergency Shelter & Primitive Shelter (debris hut, lean-to, wickiup, thatch hut, earth lodge, split cedar cabins, including fire drafting strategies)
• Wet Fire Maintenance & Fire by Friction (bow drill, hand drill, fire plow, flint & steel)
• Flintknapping & Primitive Tool Making (from harvested stones, bones, wood)
• Bow & Arrow Making (survival bows, self bows, lumber bows, fletching, lashing, etc.)
• Primitive Fishing (wiering, netting, spearing, bow fishing, hand fishing, hook and line, gorges, bullfrogging)
• Natural Water Purification (seeps, filters, rock boiling, and locating natural springs)
• Bowls & Cordage Making (double and triple reverse wrap using nettle, fireweed, cedar, kelp seaweed)
• Primitive Hunting (bow and arrow, rabbit stick, at-latl, ethics, strategies, butchering)
• Hide Tanning (wet and dry scraping, brain and other high-tannin methods, hair on and off)

Experiential Skills Introduced
• Natural Selection Forestry (chopping and chainsawing, wood splitting and moving)
• Sustainable Building
• Organic & Biodynamic Gardening
• Farm Animal Care & Cultivation
• Human Tracking
• Backpacking & Camping
• Land Mapping & Water Navigation (orienteering with and without modern aids)
• Sailing, Kayaking, Canoeing, Raft Making
• Trapping
• Clay Harvesting, Molding & Firing
• Parfleching (carrying cases, drum making, sheaths and quivers with fur and tanned hide)
• Bioregional Ecosystems (old growth temperate rainforest, glaciated alpine meadow, intertidal and estuary, river and lake, wetland and bog, desert and sagebrush steppe, mixed pine and subalpine forest)
• Music and the Arts (flute making, drumming, songwriting, poetry, clay sculpting, natural paints, singing and pianos/guitars on hand)
• Rock Climbing & Alpine Mountaineering

Earth Skills Educational Skills
• Best skills to introduce to each age group (3-6, 7-9, 10-12, 13-15, 16-18, 19-21, young adults, parents, elders)
• Most effective methods to use with each age group (didactic/wolf, questioning/coyote, imagining/fox, imitation/dog)
• Delivery of age appropriate stories (personal, european, african, persian, chinese, other eastern, indigenous)
• Risk Management (assessing sites, planning activities, mitigating hazards)
• Emergency Rescue, Advanced First Aid, CPR (wilderness and water settings)
• Influences of Nature on Spirituality (buddhist, christian, hindi, indigenous, jewish, muslim) including opportunities of retreats and quests, sweat lodges and fasts
• Health & Organizational Strategies (western lineal and medicine wheel use for self, lessons, projects)
• Incorporating Earth Skills & Starting New Schools (examples of non-profits, partnerships, sole ventures, and communities)
• Political Environmentalism (left and right wing strategies, legislative and artistic strategies)

Preparing for the Program

Although there is no prerequisite for this program, you will have greater success if you have experience with as many of the following activities as possible. However, some novices have been successful with the program, so if you have any question as to whether to apply right away or wait for another year, please Call Chris with any question.

• Teaching Experience (especially understanding the needs of various ages)
• Time Outdoors (especially growing up playing in the woods, deserts, or beaches around your home; harvesting fruits and vegetables, fish and animals both domestic and wild, as a youth; plus taking adventures on the mountains, prairies, and waterways of this beautiful earth as a young adult)
• Camping & Water Experience (especially knowing how to pack and travel safely in the backcountry in any season)
• Community Living Experiences (successful and unsuccessful)
• Wildlife Tracking & Birding (biology field work, etc, is a plus; while training in the Joel Hardin method and/or CyberTracker system is especially helpful)
• Sustainable Pioneering Skills (like knowing how to chop wood, using tools safely and efficiently, etc.)
• Wild Edible Foods; Herbal Studies (we're looking for a great herbalists)
• Wilderness Survival; Primitive Craftwork (earth skills specialists)
• Music & Artwork; Photography & Recording; Writing & Journaling
• Wilderness First Aid, Search & Rescue; Lifeguarding; Risk Management, EMT Training

Application Process

This cooperative intensive program requires a lengthy application process to ensure that this is the right choice for you, and that you are the right choice for us. To apply, first Call Chris or Email Us with questions.

Your application (which will become your personnel file) should contain:

• Completed and signed registration form.
• 3 year driving record with a copy of your current driver's liscence.
• Police background check
• Copies of all past relevant certifications you have received, particularly in Wilderness Medicine and water-related rescue training. If you do not have a recent 24 class-hour or longer Wilderness First Aid training, then you will need to show that you have registered for such an upcoming course (regular first aid is not sufficient).
• Your most recent educational transcripts. If you do not have a high school diploma, then you will need to schedule a date for taking the GED exam.
• A cover letter detailing your passion as an outdoor educator or earth skills specialist, and your intention to complete this apprenticeship opportunity.
• A description of any training, skills or experience you have in teaching, coordinating and guiding outdoor educational activities.
• A description of any previous environmental education you have received, including academic work, mentoring during your childhood, personal dirt time, and trainings at other earth skills schools.
• A letter of recommendation from a recent employer, and a letter of recommendation from a recent teacher.
• $1,000 deposit, which will be refunded (only) if your application is not accepted and you do not wish to attend any of the scheduled training courses.
• Please request an exact price quote from Chris on what your costs will total, and after your application is accepted, he will include that on your apprenticeship contract. If at any time you decide against completing the apprenticeship after applying, you will receive a full credit (not a refund) toward the cost of any Wolf Camp programs you wish to attend in the coming year for which you meet the prerequisites. In addition, like all students being required to follow our behavioral agreements, our policy is that if Chris asks you to leave Wolf Camp for breaking the agreements and not being able to prove that you won't break them again, you will receive no refund or credit for any payments you have made. Please ask Chris to clarify this policy if you need a better sense of its context. Thanks!
• After being accepted, you will need to review our web site to understand Wolf Camp offerings and its full schedule, plus read the Wolf Journey Handbook for Students & Teachers which we will send you before arriving.

Word to the Wise: All those who have kept their applications concise and focused have been accepted without exception. We generally don't get applications from people not eligible because the very detailed description of the program on this page has turned out to be an excellent filter. In other words, you decide if this program is what you most need in your life next year. Those who wrote rambling essays or thought we weren't completely serious about our drug policy, for instance, weren't successful. Suggestions for your biography include any previous training, skills or experience in teaching (including age groups and a description of knowledge of their needs), a list of any nature awareness and survival skills you know and your level of study with them, and a description of your method of continuing education in these skills.

Notes on Tuition for the Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship: Your tuition includes $1,000 charged for administrative time spent preparing you for the program, plus your outdoor lodging, food, facilities, logistical support, and mentoring throughout the summer. $1,000 is charged for your first two training weeks (the Earth Skills Educational Traning camps) and beyond that, you are charged the cost of overnight training camps throughout the summer, which works out to be $2,000 - $3,500 depending on when you register and how long after August 15th you end up staying. Then we reduce the cost of those camps depending on your previous training, and consider your expected work trade over the summer, which works out to reduce your tuition by $500 - $2,000. Credit: Most of our students do not wish to attain credit for their participation, but if you would like to apply for credit through an accreditaded college, we will facilitate that at no extra charge, although the college you choose will charge a fee per credit. We are also going through a multi-year accreditation process ourselves and hope to offer credit directly in the future.

Responsibilities at Camp

The most important behavioral expectations while enrolled in the apprenticeship programs include: pouring your greatest effort into learning these earth skills and teaching skills; maintaining professional hygiene (including appearance and smell of body, hair and clothes) and behavior (including the very same agreements which youth campers must uphold during camps and contracts guaranteeing the physical and emotional safety of all participants - see youth camp pages to read these agreements - obvious exceptions include provisions for married persons, for example) throughout the summer youth camp season; remaining free of drugs (including alcohol, tobacco, and illicits) during the youth camp season; never harboring any illegal items, people or behavior on or in the vicinity of Wolf Camp; never having participated in child abuse or workplace sexual misconduct, nor having any impulse to do so; not unfairly discriminating against anyone based on color, ethnicity, origin, sex, sexual orientation, religious preference, or handicap; and performing in a professional, safe manner to help make Wolf Camp the most excellent outdoor educational program possible.

Living on campus also means sharing responsibility for maintenance of all common facilities as well as your own shelter space (usually tent under tarp in the summer, or in a yurt or cabin in the fall-spring) just like if you were renting a house elsewhere and needing to spend time cleaning, etc. However, it is much more efficient to live in a community like this where you are taking turns cooking, cleaning, recycling, shopping, organizing supplies, caretaking farm animals, etc., etc., rather than having to do all that on your own, and thereby leaving more time for your studies. Blog entries, making foods from scratch, maintenance checks and first aid drills can also take up some time, and they are important aspects of your learning program.

Potential for future work as a lead instructor will depend on enrollment in camps, the number and size of school contracts that become available, your progress on improving your earth skills, the number of camps for which you assisted in the past, your previous education and work experience, and our assessment of your teaching skills. Remember, this is a teaching apprenticeship designed for people who really want to share these skills with others in the near future. Beyond the training period, you will be learning the skills vicariously while on the job, and ultimately, it is up to you to practice on your own during the off-season to become accomplished in these earth skills, although you may enroll in any of our fall-spring Cooperative Intensives as well. During the summer, the needs of our youth campers will be our focus. If you simply want to learn the skills instead of spending time assisting children this summer and teaching (here or elsewhere) in the future, we encourage you to consider another program.

Apprenticeship History and where graduates are now:

• Blog Summary for Typical Three-Seasons Apprenticeship
• Blog Summary for Typical Summer Camp Season
• Wolf College Adventures on BlogSpot
• Wolf College Facebook FanClub Page
• Wolf College Opinion on Twitter

Nikki was the first Wolf Camp apprentice in 2000 after starting our adult classes in 1999. She became our most advanced student ever, and a lead instructor by 2001. She grew to develop many of the new programs we now offer, and is no doubt the most inspirational teacher most students have experienced. She was the pilot student for most of the residential programs we now have, and last year she went on sabbatical to test her primitive living and survival skills for a couple years. Would you like a sample of past apprentice achievements? Click here for a Written Message from Nikki that will blow your mind.

Kate Hedges was the only graduating apprentice in 2001. She lived the program fully, including staying up every night to journal everything we did each day. She integrated the skills she learned here into her original job serving youth, and also started her own Blue Skies earth skills program back home for which she recently purchased 20 acres of land. She also continues to use the Wolf Journey Handbook for Students & Teachers and her notes from here summer here in most lessons, which is a testament to the power of journaling.

Otherwise in 2001, one apprentice dropped out because she realized she required better accommodations despite being cautioned a number of times about camping, though we have since improved our facilities considerably. The other dropped out because she didn't understand our teaching style, which prefers the art of questioning and experiential education over spoon-feeding answers to students. In 2002, we had four apprentices who received excellent earth skills education, but none of them finished the summer due to their unwillingness to follow camp rules, which taught us a lot about setting appropriate Teaching Apprenticeship expectations, such as emphasizing that the youth at camp are the focus during the summer.

Krista Rome graduated from her apprenticeship in 2003 and was lead instructor for Mystery of the Drum, Wild Chefs & Healers, and Games of the Forest Dweller during the summer of 2004. She is currently working as an environmental consultant, specializing in wetland surveys.

Ryan Tarbell graduated from his apprenticeship in 2003 and was lead instructor for Future Survivors Fun, Wildlife Tracking & Birding, and Games of the Forest Dweller during the summer of 2004, and returned to teach all summer in 2005. In 2006, he graduated from Warren-Wilson College and started his own sustainable forestry program.

Two other 2003 graduates of our apprenticeship have gone on to become very successful in the earth skills field, including Micah Fay who completed a 2 year Primitive Living Experience with Nikki (see above link), and Rebecca Bruhn who went on to teach at other earth skills schools around the country.

Bill "Griz" Chambers is our first former-camper-turned-instructor. He first came to camp in 2001, completed an entire summer in our Youth Mentoring CIT program in 2003, and then the apprenticeship program in 2004. Bill taught a variety camps for us in 2005 and assisted with the apprenticeship program in 2006. He is currently studying emergency rescue and laying the foundations to start his own programs back home.

Rachel Rothman graduated from the apprenticeship in 2004 and then spent the next full year studying at Oregon State University to receive a Masters in Education. She also continues to be an integral part of Aprovecho Research Center with her husband Jeremy Roth, while now working as her school district's special education teacher.

Lorien MacAuley and Scott Fanello were our first married couple who graduated from the apprenticeship program. They both practiced their earth skills at other venues before completing the apprenticeship in 2004. They stayed at camp during the off-season to participate in the Wolf Journey Naturalist Survey and they have provided incredible support during our transition to the new camp property. Lorien specializes in birds and other tracking skills, while Scott is also excellent with plants and various survival skills. They each managed to lead day camps for us toward the end of their apprenticeship period, and they both taught several camps for us in 2005 and 2006 before returning home to start their own earth skills programs.

Chris "Huck" Anderson served as our camp nurse and graduated from the Teaching Apprenticeship in 2005, when he also co-taught our Rock Climbing course and assisted with several day and overnight camps as well. In 2006 he ran the GeoTRIP, and he taught a variety of camps for us in 2007. He comes to us with a plethora of previous experience, including as an ambulance driver EMT in his home of Phoenix, AZ. He is a gifted musician, and is multi-talented enough to be our summer camp director. Huck founded Lost & Found Adventures after returning home from his apprenticeship, and you can contact him through us or visit his website directly at www.lostandfoundadventures.com or telephone 602-228-0211 to find out about attending one of his great courses or to arrange a custom-designed program.

Jason Patterson came to us with a lot of previous experience and although he went through the Teaching Apprentiship in 2005, we can't take credit for improving his already-excellent earth skills. He continues to teach for us each summer.

Glen MacKay first came to camp in 2002, and he returned at age 16 as part of our Youth Mentoring CIT Program in 2004, then completed his Teachign Apprenticship during the summer in 2006. He graduated from high school this year, and for his senior project, he did a solo survival trek and is completed a senior thesis about it. You can read a summary by clicking on Survival Trek Log. He is now attending Oberlin College in Ohio on a full-ride scholarship!

Megan Damofle and Laura Donohue successfully completed the Teaching Apprenticeship in 2006 but took leave of the ongoing educational requirements and written work required for graduation in favor of moving on to study at a variety of other educational venues during their college years. Some of their endeavors included Megan helping pilot our new Wild Healers Herbal Exploration last year, while Laura visited Kate at Blue Skies in Scotland during the summer. Megan is now a regular lead instructor at Wolf Camp.

Andrew Twele was the only one to complete the Earth Skill Teaching Apprenticeship in 2007 although he shed the required written work in favor of focusing on a Primitive Living Experience he is embarking on here at Wolf Camp. He has been here since March 2007, and as you can see on our Staff Bios page, he already came to us with good experience teaching hide tanning and other earth skills.

Three others who studied with us during the off-season between March-June of 2007 departed as camp began in order to focus on their own earth skills, despite originally planning to enroll in the Teaching Apprenticeship. That experience caused us to return the apprenticeship to its original, successful schedule of starting adult students in June rather than in early spring. During the spring, this group acheived incredible earth skills accomplishments through the excellent programs we designed for them, but we learned that it's best to send prospective instructors through the summer apprenticeship sooner than later in order to help them determine asap whether they are really interested in focusing on the needs of kids at camp or just their personal desires.

In the end, you never know about people until you experience them for at least a couple seasons, and no matter how wonderful a program is, it may or may not be what you need. It is also important to remember that there a balance between "going with the flow" which is something we can do a lot when we have few responsibilities, and "pushing through the pain" which is something we need to do in order to learn the value and rewards of honoring commitment. Knowing which to choose in any situation is a key to success. Whatever your choice - whether or not to commit to this program and/or complete the summer with us - we will respect your decisions as long as they are in the best interest of your higher self and of the world community. So once you commit (which is symbolized by your non-refundable tuition) then endeavor to follow-through (as most do) because we love hearing participants gradually realize over the course of the summer how indescribably wonderful the experience unfolds to be.

Chelsea Toone, Andy Russo, Glen MacKay, Patrick Wiley, Morgan Tidd and Indigo Tidd all finished their apprenticeships in 2008, the latter 4 being returning campers who previously completed the Youth Mentoring CIT Program in previous years!

Here's a few selections from some of the many classic notes we received from Kate after her first year of training at Wolf Camp. She sure followed through on her intention to return home and start her own earth skills school after receiving training here..... Hope yous are well. I'm doing good, and am trying to immerse miself in the world of schoolwork as I remember that I'm still a student and not a natralist for a few more painful weeks. so, i'm doing intensive 'environmental education workshops' which is my research method- visiting groups of young peeps. went to the lake district (n.w. england) to do a first aid course last w/e. had mad adventures as I scrambled over heathery hillsides in the dusky evenings. saw loads of wildlife- buzzards, kestrals, a perigrine falcon or merlin, deer, fox, oh, an' went to sleep every night to the sounds of owls hooting. found some bone and harvested some birch bark fae a very dead tree which will be good for holding tinder, some hazel for fire kits and lots of slate. it's great mi room and whole house for that matter is constantly filled with wood chips and bits of stick. i'm making lime 'bast' at the moment which is cordage fae the inner bark of short-leaved lime trees- apparently the strongest natural fibre........ i had a pretty life changing week. i saw mi classes in print in the programme with folk booking onta courses and everything. is sooo good, but also a little scary. but then i met a teacher. yep this REALLY old guy who lives just a few miles away is a primitive fire making expert. he became an archaeologist and is involved in reconstruction work. he's been studying fire for over 20 years. i finally got to meet him and got fire with flint and steel, using a torch as a magnifying glass, iron pyrites (fools gold), egyptian bow drill and bow drill. i even got fire with a reconstruction of tooten karmen's fire kit that was buried with him to take to the next world. and used hazel (spindle) and pine (fire board), a limpet shell as a handhold and mi Bucke farm bow to get fire. that night i lit mi first proper fire in scotland up at tentsmuir where i sent you some photos of using bow drill. lots of tips...pretty exciting....... Spent the long weekend up at tentsmuir on the pretense of writing mi literature review, but had some pretty magical nature experiences. stalking deer, hanging out with seals, watching herons build a nest in the trees, watching red squirrels play, listening to owls calling at night, experimenting with funguses as tinder and tracking rabbits. wowwee. seriously blissed out after that........ But guess wot? i do have a question. mi one omission in mi rediculously thorough journaling was the sweat lodge. i'm thinking of doing one with mi survival residential group just before their survival trek, and maybe another one with the beltane group before that. I will obviously have to go with the feel of the group and wot they are up for, but i would be greatful if you could refresh mi memory on the rounds of prayer. (wowee.. "i would be greatful..." is such a british-ism!)

Note from Chris

The Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship is an environmental education internship designed to train you to become an instructor for Wolf Camp or another earth skills institute, and if desired, to train you to start our own earth skills program independently or in conjunction with an existing camp or school elsewhere.

Not only is it my goal that all graduates of the apprenticeship program are gainfully employed using their earth skills in the summer following graduation, but I want to ensure that the individual goals of every participant become reality. Employment right here at Wolf Camp will of course depend on how many campers we enroll next year, and also on your ongoing education, your relationship with us, and where you need to direct your career energies based on your own vision in life.

No matter your previous experience, you will be expected to fully participate in every possible training opportunity to push your skills to a higher level of excellence, although your health will be the priority. The goal is to always develop ourselves into better and better earth skills educators.

I’m looking forward to receiving your application, but feel free to call or email me so I can clarify any questions you have. There is so very much to gain and to give in this program, so I'm looking forward to sharing it with you.

Until then! - Chris Chisholm

Employment: We only need instructors with experience running camps and teaching in the field of Earth Skills Education, including skills of the Naturalist, Tracker, Herbalist, Survival Scout, Primitive Artisan and Sustainable Pioneer. Apply to become an instructor through our Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship.