We interviewed Wild Harvest Nature Connection founders Alexander Britzius and Heather Hutchinson to be taught extra about their applications that contain intentional mentored time for kids and adults within the open air – particularly at Madison and Dane County parks.
Dan Miller’s son has participated in actions by the group, together with foraging for “hen of the woods” mushrooms and tapping maple bushes to make syrup. “Due to the mentoring and instructing offered by Wild Harvest Nature Connection, he is growing an actual appreciation and keenness for the pure world,” Dan mentioned.
In keeping with the group, the inspiration of this mentoring is discovering every individual’s curiosities and passions and asking questions to guide the training. Heather mentioned the umbrella of the massive image imaginative and prescient for the group is “we’re making an attempt to instill within the youngsters, adults, and ourselves a future-minded considering and reconnecting with the earth in a reciprocal relationship in order that we’re leaving this place higher than we discovered it for these generations coming in that we might by no means meet or know.” Alex added that “slowing down, listening to our hearts, and having enjoyable whereas doing so is actually essential, as a result of nature and the earth want our assist.”
Alex and Heather are companions in life and in work. They grew to become dad and mom the identical 12 months they began their enterprise. “Liska is 7 years outdated and Wild Harvest is 7 years outdated, so we are saying they’re twins,” Alex mentioned.
Wild Harvest Nature Connection works with over a dozen mentors and “elders/grandparents” to supply applications for all ages, together with homeschool teams in addition to ongoing Bushes and Saplings (caregiver and little ones as much as 10 years outdated), Saplings (4-7 years outdated), Wild Explorers (7-11 years outdated), Wild Tenders (12-18 years outdated), and Mentoring By way of the Seasons (adults). The grownup program is a quarterly meet up for 3 days every season meant for people 18 years and older who wish to study themselves and/or wish to be taught some new concepts (expertise, actions, video games, songs) to guide teams of children.
“Our objective with the grownup coaching program is to awaken adults right into a caretaker sort of perspective, caretaker of the earth/self/folks round in our lives, to be supportive, ask good questions, hear tales. Individuals are additionally studying expertise that would feed them, dress them, and shelter them,” Alex mentioned. “And our objective with youngsters is to offer an area for a similar factor to listen to their tales, to be someone that they’ll inform their desires to, hang around and joke round collectively and have time.”
Along with being lighthearted about what they’re doing, the group has a deeper affect, too. “If folks have experiences in nature the place they be taught to really feel secure and beloved and have love for the bushes and sounds of the birds and bugs, then the hope is that love is a price set and selections shall be constructed from that baseline,” Alex mentioned. “We’re constructing group as we go, which we really feel is a vital factor to be weaving.”
This group side was particularly outstanding in each of their private progress tales. “We each have school levels and had been on the lookout for our non secular middle of gravity and sort of diverged on what I name a non secular quest,” Alex mentioned. They every did this in their very own approach and “had a number of expertise connecting with nature” – Heather in a hummingbird group in New Mexico and Alex on the Tom Brown Jr.’s Tracker College in New Jersey. “We had been on the lookout for a spot the place service to the world and enjoyable and journey for our personal self and keenness may meet up, the place these issues may converge, after which additionally a spot the place additionally we felt there was one thing larger than us as properly,” he added.
Alex and Heather proceed to get coaching to allow them to “refresh and develop” and provide extra applications. “They are saying the e-book of nature has no starting and no finish; it actually does simply carry on going,” Alex added. “You would research mushrooms for 100 years and you’d simply scratch the floor; in the meantime there’s bushes, medicinal crops, wildflowers, edible roots, and animal tracks, looking, and on and on.”
Be taught extra concerning the applications at wildharvestnatureconnection.com. Understand that lots of the applications have waitlists, so it’s greatest to contact them as quickly as attainable for future applications and camps at whnc.information@gmail.com.
