Wilders Guild Restoration Immersion:
Wild Plants, Homesteading & the Wilders Garden
In our Restoration Immersion program you spend 9-months immersed in the study of wild edible and medicinal plants, homesteading crafts, village gardens and sustainability and restoration of native landscapes.
Life of a Wilder
At the heart of our Wilders Guild is a life rooted in the land and all that grows there. This is more than horticulture, permaculture or other schools of sustainability. Our purpose is the renewal of native plants and their habitats. We accomplish this restoration by integrating harvest, village livelihood and abundance into how we see and interact with the land.
Restore the Earth
The Wilders Guild pairs seasonal wildcrafted harvest with traditional homesteading crafts. Students get hands-on experience in everything from natural building with local materials to animal husbandry and mushroom cultivation to accelerate the building of dynamic soil.
The Wilders Garden
Wild plants run through our Gardens as our Gardens run through the wild places. Wilders do not stop at the edge of where we grow our food. We pattern our care and cultivation by the story of the forest and its village. The Wilders Garden express a very ancient relationship with the land.
How it works
Decide to attend one, two or three weekends a month. Each weekend focuses on a core study. For example, you only have to attend the Homesteading weekend if that is your focus.
Wild Plants Every 1st weekend of the month for 9-months, Cultivate and harvest to feed the village. Go in depth with wild foods, medicines and care taking for the land.
Homesteading Every 2nd weekend of the month for 9-months, Embark on projects of self-sufficiency and sustainability projects in animal husbandry, sustenance gardening, natural building and much more.
The Wilders Garden Every 3rd weekend of the month for 9-months, Discover connection with the land that goes beyond permaculture. Get hands-on experience implementing an argoforestry plan.
Please note, you are allowed to mix and match the core study weekends of our Rangers Wilderness Immersion with our Rangers Wilderness Immersion program.
Compare us to the Others
Other Wilderness and Outdoor Skills schools offer year-long immersion programs. We urge you to compare or intensive Overnight Weekends with other day-based programs, both locally and nationally. Trackers recognizes the value that deep wilderness immersion training offers to our community. We work hard to commit and donate exemplary resources to keep our program up to one-third the cost of similar courses while maintaining the most intensive and professional level of skills mentoring and certification available anywhere.
Wild Edible Plants, Homesteading or the Wilders Garden
Commitment
Our Weekend Immersion Program integrates well into your working and personal life. Each weekend begins Friday evening and ends Sunday afternoon. Most weekends take place within a one-hour drive from Portland, Oregon and PDX Airport (an international terminal).
Tuition
Tuition includes instruction, Saturday dinner and camping for program weekends. Payment options include...
Pay in Full Simply add your core study to cart below or pay a $500 non-refundable deposit due upon acceptance, then the remaining balance is due by August 31. All tuition deposits and payments are non-refundable.
Seasonal Payment Plan Tuition is divided into 3-seasonal terms with an additional 10% administrative fee. Fall term tuition due upon acceptance. Winter term tuition due November 1. Spring term tuition due February 1.
Contact Us for payment plans
Location
Class takes place on the Trackers Homestead, 40 acres of incredible Pacific Northwest forest on the southern edge of the Bull Run watershed and adjacent to a 90 acre wildlife sanctuary.
Our agroforestry plan is instrumental to our curriculum. From mushroom cultivation to micro scale timber harvest, this is a classroom where you live with the land. Tending to it as you would your own village.
Register
Deposit Tuition $500 we contact you to designate core-study or studies |
Wild Plants September-June 9-months, 1-weekend a month Tuition $149 per intensive-overnight weekend, total of $1341 for year (9 weekends) |
Homesteading September-June 9-months, 1-weekend a month Tuition $149 per intensive-overnight weekend, total of $1341 for year (9 weekends) |
Wilders Garden September-June 9-months, 1-weekend a month Tuition $149 per intensive-overnight weekend, total of $1341 for year (9 weekends) |
Environmental Educator Training Program
3-9 weeks in summer, 1-3 weekends Learn to become an outdoor skills instructor and teacher with Trackers's unique model of environmental education. Combine training in our Summer Youth Camps with our Rangers or Wilders Immersion program. Learn more
The Wilders Guild
Decide to attend one, two or three weekends a month. Each weekend focuses on a core study. For example, you only have to attend the Wilderness Survival weekend if that is your focus.
Wild & Medicinal Plants Schedule
Fruits and Berries: Gathering, Fermenting & Preserving September 13-15, 2013
Plant Taxonomy and Crafting Your Herbarium October 4-6, 2013
Filling the Pantry: Nuts, Roots and Saving Seeds November 1-3, 2013
Winter Harvest: Winter Twig ID and Propagation January 4-5, 2014
The Digging Stick: Root Harvest, Root Beer and Folk Remedies February 1-2, 2014
Stinging Nettles: Stocking the Spring Pantry and Wildcrafting March 7-9, 2014
Spring Greens and Wildland Foraging April 4-6, 2014
Coastal Harvest Expedition: Sea Vegetables and Seashore Life May 2-4, 2014
Program Graduation May 30-June 1, 2014
Community Summer Celebration & Archery Tournament June 7, 2014, 10am-4pm
Homesteading Crafts & Self-Sufficient Living Schedule
Animal Husbandry: Large and Small Livestock September 20-23,
Fermenting Foods: Cheese, Wines and Beers October 11-13, 2013
The Larder and Pantry: Harvest and Preserving November 8-10, 2013
Fiber Arts: Spinning, Knitting and Felting January 11-12, 2014
Blacksmithing and Homestead Hardware February 8-9, 2014
Pig Butchering: Bacon, Bacon, Bacon March 14-16, 2014
Sustenance Gardening and Agroforestry April 11-13, 2014
Natural Building: Timber, Mud and Straw May 9-11, 2014
Program Graduation May 30-June 1, 2014
Community Summer Celebration & Archery Tournament June 7, 2014, 10am-4pm
The Wilders Garden Schedule
The Plan: Introduction to Agroforestry and Design September 27-29, 2013
Our Web: Forest Ecology and Production October 18-20, 2013
Death: Timber Harvest November 15-17, 2013
Rooted: Life of the Willow and Woods January 18-19, 2014
The Edge: Native Plant Propagation February 15-16, 2014
Being Useful: Pollinators and Predators March 21-23, 2014
Emergent Properties: Stealth Gardening April 18-20, 2014
The Plan Revisited May 16-18, 2014
Program Graduation May 30-June 1, 2014
Community Summer Celebration & Archery Tournament June 7, 2014, 10am-4pm
Core Immersion Courses
9-months Rangers Wilderness Immersion 1-3 weekends a month immersed in wilderness survival and primitive skills, animal tracking and the arts of invisibility, awareness, ecology, and natural strategy.
9-months Wilders Restoration Immersion 1-3 weekends an month immersed in wild edible and medicinal plants, homesteading, sustainability, and restoration of native landscapes with village gardens.
1-year Environmental Educator Training Program 3-9 weeks in the summer, 1-3 weekends a month in the fall. Study to be an outdoor skills instructor with Trackers's unique model of environmental education. This program combines training in our Summer Camps with our Rangers or Wilders Immersion.
Specialty Immersion Courses
7-months Archery Training Immersion 1-weekend a month immersed in the sport and art of archery. Our instructors provide expert coaching in archery fundamentals while bridging into more advanced skills.
2-months Hunting Immersion A course on the practice, ethics and regulations of subsistence hunting. This program takes place over a series of evenings and weekends.
Youth Apprenticeship Courses
Trackers Apprenticeships are the opportunity for youth to work with highly experienced mentors in wilderness skills and sustainability.
Ages 11-17 Rangers Apprenticeship Youth work with experienced mentors to develop authentic outdoor skills applicable to all aspects of life, learning, and leadership.
Ages 6-10 Junior Rangers Apprenticeship Youth learn the arts of animal tracking, wilderness survival, tracking and silent movement through the woods.
Ages 7-17 Archery Apprenticeship Intensive training program for any teen or youth interested in archery as a practice and art.
