Way of the Wilderness: Class Series 2021
Way of the Wilderness: Survival and Mentoring Class Series
*New for 2021: Sunday Classes
(four hours each, starting at 12:45 p.m. and ending at 4:45 p.m.)
Classes after September will be 10:15 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. Please bring your own lunch.
Long ago and today native peoples all over the world lived in harmony with the earth. The landscape was their supermarket and the natural world around them was their intimate friend. The purpose of this class is to have students for the first time learn and practice the survival hard and soft skills that people of the land all over the world have practiced for thousands of years so that their people might live. This course is designed to educate educators, extreme beginners or outdoor experts in the wilderness skills that are almost nonexistent in our more established education systems of today.
The Way of the Wilderness Program is sponsored by the Pearlstone Center and is designed for educators, parents, naturalists and anyone interested in significantly expanding their knowledge of ecology, naturalist skills, survival and mentoring skills. This is a fantastic introduction into the basic principles of our hands-on nature-based educational approach model. The program is a four-hour day starting at 12:45 pm. and ending at 4:45 p.m. (except where noted for classes after September will shift to 10:15 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. Please bring your own lunch)
In this class you will learn: Edible and medicinal plants, awareness exercises, cordage making, Indigenous ecology and mentoring techniques, tending the wild /caretaking, how to survive in the wilderness with nothing, animal behavior and much more.
Note: We acknowledge native and other mentors who helped cultivate the knowledge for this class and understand the word wilderness does not justly describe landscapes co-created by indigenous peoples whose eco-systems were much more abundant with life and biodiversity than is currently happening today.
What to bring? Dress appropriately for the weather, a snack, large water bottle, a notebook, a pencil, a pen and a knife. Here is our suggested knife type.
$35 per person per class.
Classes free for all Pearlstone employees. Discounted to Associated Employees.
Class Schedule:
3/21 – Basic Survival / Shelter / Water / Fire / Food / Why Nature Connection is so Important
4/11 – Spring Wild Edible, Medicinal and Useful Plants Class
4/25– Awareness / Bird Language: Wide Angled Vision / Fox Walking
5/23 – Advanced Survival: Bow Drill Fire and Cordage
—– Camp season
8/1 – Summer Wild Edible, Medicinal and Useful Plants
8/29 – Tracking Basics
Time change for all following classes below 10:15 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. Please bring your own lunch.
9/19 – Tending the Wild / Caretaking
10/3 – Fall Wild Edible, Medicinal and Useful Plants
10/17 – Reading the Forested Landscape
11/21 – Bamboo Crafts, Navigation and Grass Mats
12/19 – Winter Wild Edible, Medicinal and Useful Plants
Click HERE to see this year’s class topic list and dates.
Meet Your Instructor Joe Murray:
Joe has been teaching nature connection since 1997 and has made it his life’s work to learn from the indigenous peoples of the earth and share the old ways with as many people as possible. During that time, he has mentored thousands of kids and helped design the curriculum for several wilderness schools and is a founding member of the nonprofit Ancestral Knowledge.