Tending The Wild

Tuesdays 9am to 4:00pm | Stone Rd

Tending The Wild is a program for young caretakers: for kids who demonstrates an ability to work with a quiet mind on focused projects.  If your child is introspective, caring, calm, and compassionate already, this may be right program for them.

Tending is about having fun and being in the woods, and also about developing, from a young age, an ethic of stewardship, reciprocity, and right relationship.  We practice bird language, deep listening to the plants and the land, ethical plant harvesting, folk methods for simple herbal remedies, storytelling, and song lines, and thrill-filled games that teach.  

Participants are supported in understanding how they fit into the broader ecological community.  Kids and Instructors practice walking with a light footprint, expanding awareness, limiting disruption, observing the habits and patterns of the natural world, and the many ways of stewardship.

What you can expect

A welcoming & inclusive program.  Experienced instructors Arlene Slocombe, Byron Murray, and Alisha Cino bring a rich combination of knowledge and abilities to this session: art and nature craft, ecology & stewardship, a wealth of games and songs that deliver invisible teaching.   The day is flexible and varied, with options for focused projects as well as timeless wandering and quiet reflection.  Kids are offered well placed questions to help them reflect their role in caring for lands and waters, for themselves, and others. 

I love the games, and playing with friends.
— Meadow, 9
I love that kids are given the chance to see themselves as caretakers, not just takers.
— Tending the Wild Parent
I like making shelters
— Ivry, 6