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Wolf Camp and the Wolf College

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• Expeditions • Classes
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Artwork by Wolf Journey alumn Joanna Colbert


Herbal Medicine & Ethnobotany Teachers Training

Full-Time Residential Summer Environmental Education Apprenticeship

The Herbal Medicine & Ethnobotany Teachers Training features Ethnobotany and Herbalist Instructor certifications options, plus program development and employment assistance upon graduation. Click here for course description and logistical details of this program that we founded in 2007 and which will follow this schedule in 2012:

June 8-14: Orientation; Wolf Journey Part Two - Trail of the Traditional Herbalist; Artisanry Projects; Meet with your personal mentor and receive specialty training with your apprenticeship group.
June 15-16: Help Tend Booth at Washington State Homeschool Convention.
June 17-23: Attend the Earth Skills Educational Training.
June 23, 30; July 3, 10, 17, 24, 31; August 4, 11, 18 Meet with Apprenticeship Mentors.
June 25-29, July 16-20, August 6-10: Learn to teach younger children by assisting a lead instructor during our Wild Chefs & Herbology day camps.
July 1-6 assist our Backpacking into Wolf Country overnight camp to learn plants of pine and sage country.
July 8-13 assist our Adventures to the Plant World.
July 22-27 assist our Herbal House in the Big Woods.
July 29 - Aug 3 attend our Wild Ethnobotany & Herbalism Training.
August 12-17 attend our Earth Skills Artisanry Training.
August 20 - Sept 14: Optional complimentary attendance at another day camp, plus a week Permaculture Farm training camps, a week of Honorable Harvesting, and a week at the North Cascades Spirit Trek.
Sept 15-16: Graduation Celebrations & Optional Ethnobotanist Certification evaluation upon graduation which requires a $200 fee for contracted evaluators.

 

Herbalist & Ethnobotany Teachers Training

Summer Residential Apprenticeship

In 2011, all of our Summertime Residential Apprenticeships run June 15th - August 20th, with optional stay until September 10th. In comparision with our other summer apprenticeship choices, the Herbalist & Ethnobotany Teachers Training focuses on learning to teach herbalism and ethnobotany, and it features an Herbology Instructor Certification option and also a broader Ethnobotany Instructor Certification option upon graduation.

Scroll Down or Click for Specifics:
• Application Deadlines, Tuition & Enrollment Capacity;
• Mission & Who Would Attend This Program;
• Program Instructors & Benefits including Certification;
• Program Goals & Skills Covered;
• Schedule Breakdown;
• How to Prepare & Apply for this Program; Responsibilities at Camp; Notes from Chris
• Program History & More Depth

Tuition & Deadlines, Credit Info, Cost Breakdown, Refund Policy

Click here for tuition deadlines, credit information, cost rationale and refund information. Program Capacity will be limited to 10 students between all our apprenticeships in Summer 2011. Reserve your spot by applying right away.

 

Artwork by Wolf Journey alumna Joanna Colbert, depicting mutual friends working with herbs in her kitchen on Lummi Island.

Program Mission & Participants

The mission of the Herbalist & Ethnobotany Teachers Training is to help you become an excellent teacher of herbology and ethnobotany. The program is designed for: 1) experienced herbalists, permaculturists and ethnobotanists learn to teach their crafts to students of all ages, 2) experienced teachers of other subject matters become versed in herbalism and ethnobotany in a familiar fast-paced educational setting, and 3) aspiring herbalists and ethnobotanists to teach youth these subjects while becoming versed in them simultaneously.

No matter your previous experience, you will be expected to fully participate in every possible training opportunity to push your skills to a higher level of excellence, although your own health will be the priority while developing into a better and healthier herbal instructor. We hope that your development of a personal medicine wheel of health, guided by permaculture principles, the values of earth skills, and your own spiritual study, we hope that each participant becomes a person to whom anyone could turn for learning herbalism and ethnobotany in general.


Artwork by Wolf Journey alumna Joanna Colbert, depicting Forest Flor Recovery Plant Nursery proprietor Wanda Cuccinatta.

Program Instructors, Benefits & Certification Options

Program Instructors: Chris Chisholm will be your mentor through this experience, with assistance from Kim and guidance from Seasonal Faculty who will be teaching during the summer.

Benefits of the Program: More than half our staff came on board through our Summer Residential Apprenticeships, while others enrolled to receive training in order to found their own schools or gain experience for employment elsewhere. Past apprentices agree that the place they learned the most about how to teach in their life, as well as where they learned the greatest bulk of their herbal and ethnobotany skills, was while assisting the incredible instructors at Wolf Camp as they guided youth through the summer. Your transformation into an excellent instructor of herbology and ethnobotany is the greatest of benefits, but as a graduate, you can also attend any of our 2011-2012 Academic Year Ethno-Ecology Apprenticeships for just $1,750 per semester, and future appreticeship choices beyond that at similar discounts.

Beyond tuition, travel and health insurance, you need not spend a dime all summer, as all additional expenses are covered with work trade. You don't even need any books, as you will have free access to the Wolf College library. Benefits also include employment assistance or support to develop your own program elsewhere upon graduation, and of course, graduates become eligible to work at Wolf Camp as instructors, though hiring is dependent on enrollment and the ongoing development of your skills. Bottom line is that graduates invariably express how grateful they are in the year following their apprenticeship when they realize that they somehow "just know how to teach" herbology, ethnobotany and other subjects as well. By the end of your summer, you will feel that you have fully embodied and can live up to your title of Certified Herbology Instructor and/or Certified Ethnobotany Instructor depending on your study emphasis.

Click here for a complete description of all our Herbology & Ethnobotany Certification options.

 


Artwork by Wolf Journey alumna Joanna Colbert, depicts one of Chris Chisholm's mentors Serene Stephenson.

Nikki sporting the cedar bark skirt and had, plus tanned dear and bear hide shirts she made during her 2 year survival trek in the Pacific Coast wilderness.

Program Goals & Skills

Your goals will expand over the course of the summer, from learning the basics of earth skills education, to focusing on the development of your ethnobotany and herbal skills, to being given teaching opportunities during the summer according to your desire and readiness.

1st Priority: Learn the best methods of teaching ethnobotany and herbal to all ages. The way to become the best of teachers is to observe, participate in, and take notes on all the activities our instructors present over the summer, including staying up a half hour after the kids go to sleep in order to record your experiences. If you just want to focus on learning traditional technologies and survival skills, and not on teaching, then apply to attend our Academic Year Ethno-Botany Apprenticeship. Thanks! But if learning to teach as well as expanding your knowledge of ethnobotany and herbalism is your goal, then please join us!

2nd Priority: Take care of yourself, while nurturing campers and supporting other staff. It is important that you come into the program as healthy and prepared as possible, for although during the training portion of the program your educational needs are the focus, during the summer camp season, the needs of the children at camp will be the focus, so you will have to learn to remain healthy amongst constant camp activity. This is the trick to a successful teaching career.

3rd Priority: Develop a working knowledge of ethnobotany and herbalism. Apprenticeship graduates always relate how at the end of the summer, they were amazed at how this "just happened" but on the other hand, with skills like these, it's all about studying and working with each plant at lengh. The opportunity to assist lead instructors and take on instructional leadership yourself during the summer is a great way to fully embody your own ethnobotany and herbal skills, because sometimes you can learn best only that which you teach.

Self-Sufficiency Skills Learned

• Health & Organizational Strategies (western lineal and medicine wheel use for self, lessons, projects)
• Medicinal Herb Collection & Preservation (drawing from knowledge of area herbalists)
• Organic & Biodynamic Gardening
• Farm Animal Care & Cultivation
• Wild Edible Foraging & Preparation (Herbs, Nuts, Roots, Flowers, Fruits, Insects)
• Natural Cooking & Food Storage (pit cook, clay oven, ash cakes, smoking, jerkying, pemmican)
• Natural Selection Forestry (chopping and chainsawing, wood splitting and moving)
• Land Mapping & Water Navigation (orienteering with and without modern aids)
• Pioneer Style Shelters, plus Emergency Shelter & Primitive Shelter.
• Clay Harvesting, Molding & Firing.
• Canoeing, Sailing and Kayaking.
• Parfleching (carrying cases, drum making).
• Bent cedar boxes and other important bioregional crafts.

Additional Herbalist & Earth Skills Learned:

• Preventative Health & Herbal Spas (from daily health routines, to our special spa treatments)
• Various Basketry Projects (one of our specialties), woodwork, and other pioneer crafts.
• Nature Sketching & Journaling.
• Wet Fire Maintenance & Fire by Friction
• Natural Water Purification (seeps, filters, rock boiling, and locating natural springs)
• Bowls & Cordage Making (double and triple reverse wrap using nettle, fireweed, cedar, kelp seaweed)
• Backpacking & Camping
• Wildlife Tracking & Bird Language.
• Bioregional Ecosystems (old growth temperate rainforest, glaciated alpine meadow, intertidal and estuary, river and lake, wetland and bog, desert and sagebrush steppe, mixed pine and subalpine forest)
• Music and the Arts (flute making, drumming, songwriting, poetry, clay sculpting, natural paints, singing and pianos/guitars on hand)
• Influences of Nature on Spirituality (buddhist, christian, hindi, indigenous, jewish, muslim) including opportunities of retreats and quests, sweat lodges and fasts


Artwork by Wolf Journey alumna Joanna Colbert.


2010 Apprentice Rachel Edwards with Yarrow.

Herbal instructor Megan Damofle, surrounded by plants (and shelf fungus) of an old growth temperate rainforest, completed her apprenticeship in 2006.

 

2011 Schedule

June 15: If you are driving or taking public transportation to the Wolf Campus, please arrive between 4:00-5:00. If you are flying or taking the bus or train, please book your arrival into the Seattle or Tacoma Transit Stations or SeaTac Int'l Airport by 1:00 p.m. because we will be picking up at those locations at around 2:00 p.m. We will unpack and prepare dinner together from 5:00-6:00, eat from 6:00-7:00, do an introductory orientation from 7:00-8:00, and share stories and music around the campfire from 8:00-9:00.
June 16: Breakfast from 8:00-9:00. Campus renovation meeting and work party from 9:00-12:00. Working Lunch from 12:00-2:00 to set up your blog and prepare Wolf Journey Volume II - Trail of the Traditional Herbalist notes (goals, earth skills assessment, etc.) to share with your Herbalist & Ethnobotany Instructor Training mentors, then meet with them from 2:00-5:00. Prepare dinner from 5:00-6:00 and eat from 6:00-7:00. Work on Wolf Journey field exercises from 7:00-9:00.
June 17: Breakfast from 8:00-9:00. Help set up our interactive learning booth at the Washington State Homeschool Convention from 9:00-11:00. Learn to make cordage with various materials from 11:00-12:00. Lunch from 12:00-1:00. Learn to make cattail mats from 1:00-2:00. Work on Wolf Journey field exercises from 2:00-5:00. Prepare dinner from 5:00-6:00 and eat from 6:00-7:00. Work on Wolf Journey field exercises from 7:00-9:00.
June 18: Breakfast from 8:00-9:00. Learn to make birch bark baskets from 9:30-10:30, and willow baskets from 11:00-12:00 at the homeschool convention. Lunch from 12:00-2:00. Work on Wolf Journey field exercises from 2:00-5:00. Prepare dinner from 5:00-6:00 and eat from 6:00-7:00. Campfire music and stories from 7:00-9:00.
June 19-24: Sunday Breakfast from 9:00-10:00. Pack from 10:00-12:00. Lunch from 12:00-1:00. Travel to the Yakima Canyon from 1:00-3:00. Set up camp from 3:00-4:00. Prepare dinner from 4:00-5:00 and eat from 5:00-6:00. Begin your training week at 6:00 with the Earth Skills Educational Training: Preparing Lessons and Teaching to All Ages, Backcountry Guiding and Risk Management, Group Facilitation, Wilderness First Aid, Open Water Lifeguarding & CPR, and Issues Facing Outdoor Education. Adults not involved in our Summertime Residential Apprenticeships may attend this course at $525-$675, depending on when they register. Course ends Friday at 5:00. Dinner from 5:00-6:00. Travel back to Puyallup and unpack from 8:00-9:00.
June 25: Saturday Breakfast from 8:00-9:00. Repack for next week's day camps from 9:00-10:00 and attend week-in-review meeting from 10:00-12:00. Working Lunch from 12:00-2:00 to blog your week and prepare Wolf Journey notes to share with your Herbalist & Ethnobotany Instructor Training mentors, then meet with them from 2:00-5:00.
June 26: Sunday Dinner from 5:00-6:00. Help lead instructors prepare for this week's day camp from 6:00-9:00 p.m.
June 27 - July 1: Learn to teach younger children by assisting a lead instructor during our Wild Chefs & Herbology Day Camp serving King & Snohomish Counties on duty from 8:00-5:00 daily Mon-Fri.
July 2: Saturday Breakfast from 8:00-9:00. Repack for next week from 9:00-10:00 and attend week-in-review meeting from 10:00-12:00. Working Lunch from 12:00-2:00 to blog your week and prepare Wolf Journey notes to share with your Herbalist & Ethnobotany Instructor Training mentors, then meet with them from 2:00-5:00.
July 3-8: Sunday Breakfast from 9:00-10:00. Pack from 10:00-12:00. Lunch from 12:00-1:00. Travel to the Bellingham area from 1:00-3:00. Set up camp from 3:00-4:00. Prepare dinner and help orient arriving campers from 4:00-5:00 then eat with camp families from 5:00-6:00. Learn how to teach older youth while assisting a lead instructor during our Wild Gardening & Herbology Camp. Course ends Friday at 7:00. Pack from 7:00-8:00. Travel to Puyallup from 8:00-10:00.
July 9: Saturday Breakfast from 8:00-9:00. Repack for next week from 9:00-10:00 and attend week-in-review meeting from 10:00-12:00. Working Lunch from 12:00-2:00 to blog your week and prepare Wolf Journey notes to share with your Herbalist & Ethnobotany Instructor Training mentors, then meet with them from 2:00-5:00.
July 10-15: Sunday Brunch from 11:00-12:00. Pack from 12:00-2:00. Travel to the Olympia area from 2:00-3:00. Set up camp from 3:00-4:00. Prepare dinner and help orient arriving campers from 4:00-5:00 then eat with camp families from 5:00-6:00. Experience a unique perspective on permaculture and ethnobotany while assisting a lead instructor during our Mystery of the Mima Mounds overnight youth camp co-sponsored by Wolf Haven, Int'l. Course ends Friday at 7:00. Pack from 7:00-8:00. Travel to Puyallup from 8:00-9:00. Unpack from 9:00-10:00.
July 16: Saturday Breakfast from 8:00-9:00. Unpack from 9:00-10:00 and attend week-in-review meeting from 10:00-12:00. Working Lunch from 12:00-2:00 to blog your week and prepare Wolf Journey notes to share with your Herbalist & Ethnobotany Instructor Training mentors, then meet with them from 2:00-5:00.
July 17: Sunday Dinner from 5:00-6:00. Help lead instructors prepare for this week's day camp from 6:00-9:00 p.m.
July 18-22: Learn to teach younger children by assisting a lead instructor during our Wild Chefs & Herbology Day Camp co-sponsored by Wolf Haven, Int'l on duty from 8:00-5:00 daily Mon-Fri.
July 23: Saturday Breakfast from 8:00-9:00. Repack for next week from 9:00-10:00 and attend week-in-review meeting from 10:00-12:00. Working Lunch from 12:00-2:00 to blog your week and prepare Wolf Journey notes to share with your Herbalist & Ethnobotany Instructor Training mentors, then meet with them from 2:00-5:00.
July 24: Sunday Dinner from 5:00-6:00. Travel with lead instructors to the Portland/Vancouver area from 6:00-9:00 and help them prepare for this week's day camp.
July 25-29: Learn to teach younger children by assisting a lead instructor during our Wild Chefs & Herbology Day Camp serving Portland OR & Vancouver WA on duty from 8:00-5:00 daily Mon-Fri.
July 30: Saturday Breakfast from 8:00-9:00. Repack for next week from 9:00-10:00 and attend week-in-review meeting from 10:00-12:00. Working Lunch from 12:00-2:00 to blog your week and prepare Wolf Journey notes to share with your Herbalist & Ethnobotany Instructor Training mentors, the meet with them from 2:00-5:00.
July 31 - August 5: Sunday Brunch from 10:00-12:00. Pack from 11:00-1:00. Travel to the Pacific Coast from 1:00-3:00. Set up camp from 3:00-4:00. Prepare dinner and help orient arriving campers from 4:00-5:00 then eat with camp families from 5:00-6:00. Attend the Wild Ethnobotany & Herbalism Training. Course ends Friday at 7:00. Pack from 7:00-7:30. Travel to Puyallup from 7:30-10:00.
August 6: Saturday Breakfast from 8:00-9:00. Unpack from 9:00-10:00 and attend week-in-review meeting from 10:00-12:00. Working Lunch from 12:00-2:00 to blog your week and prepare Wolf Journey notes to share with your Herbalist & Ethnobotany Instructor Training mentors, then meet with them from 2:00-5:00.
August 7: Sunday Dinner from 5:00-6:00. Help lead instructors prepare for this week's day camp from 6:00-9:00 p.m.
August 8-12: Learn to teach younger children by assisting a lead instructor during our Wild Chefs & Herbology Day Camps in Puyallup on duty from 8:00-5:00 daily Mon-Fri.
August 13: Saturday Breakfast from 8:00-9:00. Repack for next week from 9:00-10:00 and attend week-in-review meeting from 10:00-12:00. Working Lunch from 12:00-2:00 to blog your week and prepare Wolf Journey notes to share with your Herbalist & Ethnobotany Instructor Training mentors, and meet with them from 2:00-5:00.
August 14-19: Sunday Brunch from 11:00-12:00. Pack from 12:00-2:00. Travel to Dash Point from 2:00-3:00. Set up camp from 3:00-4:00. Prepare dinner and help orient arriving campers from 4:00-5:00 then eat with camp families from 5:00-6:00. Co-mingle between our Overnight Youth Camps and our Earth Skills Artisanry Training, to work on ethnobotany projects offered such as cedar bark basketry, grass thatching, nettle rope making, bamboo instrument making, etc. Course ends at the Wolf Campus in Puyallup on Friday at 7:00. Attend week-in-review meeting from 7:00-9:00.
August 20: Saturday Breakfast from 8:00-9:00. Blog your week and finalize Wolf Journey notes to share with your Herbalist & Ethnobotany Instructor Training mentors from 9:00-12:00. Working Lunch from 12:00-2:00 to prepare for evening activities. Meet with your Herbalist & Ethnobotany Instructor Training mentors from 2:00-5:00. Make Dinner from 5:00-6:00, and eat from 6:00-7:00. Campfire Party & Informal Summer Apprenticeship Awards from 7:00-9:00.

Optional Complimentary Week of August 21-27: Same schedule as for the week of June 26 - July 2 learning to teach younger children by assisting a lead instructor during our Wild Chefs & Herbology Day Camp in the Skagit Valley.
Optional Complimentary Week of August 28 - Sept 3: Attend the Permaculture Farm Camp at SongCroft.
Optional Complimentary Week of September 4-9: Attend the North Cascades Spirit Trek for summer apprentices and other long-term students.

September 10: Summer Apprenticeship Evaluations & Graduation



2006 apprentice Laural gathers Bull Whip Kelp for drying into electrolyte replenishment supplements.

 

Employment: We only need instructors with experience running camps and teaching in the field of Earth Skills Education, including skills of the Neighborhood Naturalist, Traditional Herbalist, Wildlife Tracker, Survival Scout, Ancient Artisan, Honorable Hunter, Permaculture Pioneer and Environmental Educator. Apply to become an instructor through one of our Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeships.

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