The Wisdom of the Woods - Earthskills Mentoring & Rites of Passage for Teens

Description:

Get ready for a life changing journey with our Earthskills Mentoring for Teens! Designed for kids aged 12-17, this program promises to equip your teen with essential life skills and leadership training to smoothly transition into adulthood. We will combine ancient wisdom with modern technology, guiding your teen to blossom into a self-assured leader and a dependable team player.

We're walking the tightrope between the old and the new, blending ancestral mentoring practices with contemporary life skills. This unique approach fosters growth, harnesses the power of choice, and encourages a healthy connection with Mother Earth.

But that's not all! We're thrilled to offer ongoing mentorship on a weekly basis. Just imagine days filled with hands-on learning, wilderness exploration, and a keen focus on earth skills. Your teen will master core skills like plant identification, animal tracking, and fire-making. And as they grow, they'll take on more responsibility and make wise decisions. Here's the exciting part - they get to choose their area of focus from a list of skills. Get ready for an adventure into the wilderness of life!

When: 11am-4pm December 11, 2025
Ages: 13-17
Location: Riverdale Maryland (transportation is available from some locations)
Registration Fee: $25-$75/day sliding scale (Add each day you'd like to attend to your cart individually, we recommend registering for 3 or more at a time)

*on a rare occasion there may be material fees associated with different skills

What will you learn: (below is a representation of topics that may be taught throughout a participants involvement in the program. The program will be individualized for each participant.

Bow and Arrow Making from natural materials
Natural Gardening Practices- stewarding the land
Archery - Learn proper form and techniques to become a safe, efficient, and accurate shooter
Wood Craft - Learn basic and advanced techniques of woodcraft
Natural Basketry - Learn twinned, splint, bark, and coil baskets
Stone Tool Making Learn the fine art of stone tool making to produce a plethora of tools
Fire by Friction - build your own fire by friction bow drill kit and learn MANY other techniques of fire by friction methods
Emergency Wilderness Survival
Primitive Fishing
Natural Leather Making
Gathering and open fire cooking techniques
Animal Tracking - Learn how to track animals, read sign, and understand the language of the birds
Edible and Useful Plants - Learn many useful plants from our region that not only can feed you but also provide medicine and other resources
Stalking and Movement - Learn how to move silently and undetected through the forest to become the ultimate observer.
Primitive Pottery- learn how to create earthenware right out of the ground.
Primitive Hunting and Trapping
Long Term Wilderness Living
Felting
Natural Fibers and Weaving
Basic Carpentry Skills
DIY Skills
The possibilities are endless....

Click to Register for this Program!

Eden Cornelius - Lead Instructor

Growing up homeschooled, Eden first found the primitive skills community in upstate NY through enrollment in a program called Primitive Pursuits at age seven. From that time until her teen years, she participated in Ancestral Knowledges Homeschool program for many years and attended primitive skills gatherings. In her teens, her time was spent hiking, camping, backpacking, cross-country skiing, and filling her journal with detailed sketches and facts about the wildlife around her.

All of her free time was spent outdoors, building debris huts, making cordage, and adventuring in the forest. Schooled by her fiber artist and aspiring naturalist mother, her love of the natural world was fueled by a rich curriculum with a focus on hands-on learning and her intense interest in insects and plants.

Now, Eden is a multimedia artist and painter who continues to share and learn skills, with a particular passion for pottery, wet felting techniques, needle felting, and natural pigments. With a background in youth leadership, she enjoys working with groups and fostering a creative connection with the earth.

Keith Grenoble - Lead Instructor

Keith Grenoble has been a product of the Back to the Land movement and developed close ties to Native communities from an early age. Keith started his journey by making stone tools represented in the rich archaeological record of Tidewater, Virginia and has been teaching earth skills since 1987. Over time, Keith has become skilled in a variety of earth skills. He is very passionate about making simulations of prehistoric cookpots, and enjoys working with people of all experience levels and interests. He can often be seen catching a knap here and there.

Bill Kaczor - Co-Founder/ CEO 2007-Present

Bill is the CEO and co-founder of Ancestral Knowledge. Bill has worked and studied intensively with the masters in the fields of; youth mentoring, naturalist studies, primitive technology and tracking. He has been teaching children and adults in these subjects since 1998 — Bill was a lead instructor at Children of the Earth Foundations- Coyote Tracks summer camps for 5 years, and two years as the assistant director. He has instructed students at the University of Maryland, Georgetown University, Rivercane & Falling Leaves Rendezvous, Mid-Atlantic Primitive Skills Gathering (MAPS Meet), Bill can often be found instructing at Tom Brown Jr.’s Tracker School teaching primitive traps, bow making, flint knapping, pottery and hide tanning. In 1999 after 11 years, Bill chose to leave his skateboard/snowboard business and dedicate his life to helping people connect with the Earth through ancient skills. Shortly afterwards, Bill designed and was granted an after school and summer program for the 21st Century Learning Community in Public School District 150 of Peoria, Illinois. This program was successful in that it led the children to a respect for nature, respect for themselves and others, self-discipline and adventure. Bill is a specialist in bow making, stone tool technologies, hide tanning, fire by friction and hunting and experienced in many more skills.

A letter from Tom Brown Jr