The School Of The Forest Podcast

In this episode, I'm joined by a good friend, and former student, Adam Lougee who runs a sister program to SOTF in New Hampshire. Adam was a Student at Jack Mountain in my early years as an instructor there and has since gone on to lead education programs all over New England. His program, First Magnitude is getting ready to hit the ground running with a 40+ acre piece of property in New Hampshire. In this episode, Adam and I get down into the nitty-gritty of challenges to anyone looking to b...

Glad to be back after a short break, Really excited for this podcast to go live since it'll allow me to announce our latest course offering. I sat down with Rick Swain to talk about his business "The Scroll", a SOLO certified wilderness medicine training program. Rick was a student of ours last year and has helped out on other programs since then. It was a pleasure to talk to him about why his twenty plus years of real-world field experience makes the programs he's offering different than oth...

Welcome, This episode we're joined by Kathleen White and Steve Shriner, members of the Friends Of The West River Trail, an organization that was founded to create accessible nature trails here in southern Vermont. The goal of the organization is to create a contiguous trail system that connects the towns in the west river valley of Vermont, and provide everyone in that area with access to the natural world. During our chat, we cover the founding of the organization, some of the experiences we...

Welcome,This is the second half of my conversation with Murphy Robinson of Mountainsong Expeditions, and we jump into talking about the guided hunts that Murphy Facilitates for women and marginalized genders, the myth of the "lone hunter", and the value of a good camp cook. This whole conversation was a joy, and the perspectives Murphy brings to the guiding/outdoor education community are really valuable. Thanks again to Murphy for joining us, and if you haven't yet, go check out the pr...

Welcome, In this episode, I'm joined by Murphy Robinson, who runs Mountainsong Expeditions here in Vermont. Murphy and I talk about how they first got involved in working as a guide, what drew them to start Mountainsong, and how that's developed since. We also touch on the culture of hunting as it exists in modern North America, and how the programs at mountainsong offer a different approach for new hunters, specifically women, and marginalized genders, that they wouldn't be able to find in a...

Welcome to the last, and my favorite piece of my conversation with Bob Henderson. Bob and I talk about a mutual admiration for Arne Naess, and his "anti-expedition" to nepal, and how that sort of attitude to the outdoors changes the way people enjoy their time in nature. We go on to chat about Bob's plans to continue that anti expedition with his own trip to Nepal, and I've got to say it sounds like one of the most rewarding and inspriring undertakings I've heard of in a while. Than...

We're joined again this week by Bob Henderson, as we pick up our conversation from last week. In this section, Bob and I chat about his time in Norway, and some of the cultural differences he saw that influenced his approach to taking students into the outdoors. Bob shares a lot of great insights and stories from his time in the bush, and it was a pleasure to chat with him. Bob is a writer, guide, and outdoor educator. Bob is the Editor and author of "Nature First; Outdoor Life The...

Welcome to the school of the forest podcast. This week we're joined by a really exciting guest, Bob Henderson. I was a little stars truck during this conversation, as Bob's work was crucial in creating the Friluftsliv year long program, and remains a huge influence on my guiding style, philosophy about experiential education and approach to spending time in the outdoors.Bob is a writer, guide and outdoor educator. Bob is the Editor and author of "Nature First; Outdoor Life The Friluftsli...

Welcome back. This is the second half of my chat with Willa Moore. In the first half, we discussed how she got involved in a life lived outdoors and developed a passion for basket making and hide tanning. In this second episode, we have a really compelling conversation about some of the negative sides of the American outdoor industry, ranging from representation and accessibility, to a need for a more welcoming and caring community during long term wilderness experiences, instead of the curre...

Welcome to Episode 21 We're joined this time by basket weaver and hide tanner Willa Moore. Willa and I jump right into the first half of this conversation talking about her shift from growing up in new york city, to now living in Maine and teaching things like basketry and hide tanning, and how those practices foster a reverence for the natural world. We also talk about the value of taking your time to do something and paying attention to the materials you're working with as opposed to ...