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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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.  Thanks...

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 Friluftsliv...

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...

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...

We're joined today by taxidermist, artist, and off-grid homesteader Sarah Bartell. We chat about how we first crossed paths back in 2015 as part of the "vulture culture" movement online, their work with wolf/dog hybrids, time in Africa on Discovery's "Naked and Afraid", and their work as a taxidermy artist. We had a lot of fun talking about the challenges that come with off-grid living, the joys of being alone outdoors, and a whole lot more. Sarah is a pretty inspiring person and has built a...

In the second half of my conversation with Tom we get into the nitty-gritty of the natural world influencing art, the value of going out and being alone in the wilderness, and how that experience should be framed for greater results. This portion of the conversation references the first half fairly often, so if you haven't listened to the first half I recommend doing that first. This conversation touched on a lot of topics that are important to SOTF's educational philosophy and it was an...

This is the first of a two-part episode in which I'm joined by poet and part-owner of Hedgespoken Press, Tom Hirons. Tom lives in southern England and while not a nature poet, his work is influenced heavily by the natural world and his experiences in it. In the first of the episodes, we talk about how Tom first started writing poetry, the incredible learning experience that being an educator can be, our thoughts about the merits of finding time in nature even if you don't live in "wild"...

We're joined on this episode by the incredible Steve Wood. Steve works as a zoologist and runs an online entity known as "The Backyard Zoologist" which he uses to educate people all over the world about the vast, complex ecosystem that exists right outside of most people's backdoors. We had a great conversation about that project, how he got into zoology later in life after years of working in health care and social services doing some pretty incredible work with infectious diseases such as...

In this episode,  I'm joined by Kyle Lapointe. Kyle is a leading member of the Vermont chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, and works as an emergency medical technician in the New England area, working with the DHART (Dartmouth Hitchcock Advance Response Team), as well as living on a working homestead in southern Vermont. Kyle and I discuss the current goings-on of the Vermont and New England branches of the Backcountry Hunters and Anglers organization. We chat a bit about the projects...

We're joined today by Andy Hartman, the founder and lead guide of "New Treks" a colorado based outdoor education and guide service for kids and their families in the Denver area. They're particularly focused on helping out families that maybe wouldn't have the resources to recreate outdoors otherwise. We talk a little bit about how Andy and I met when he was a student on a Jack Mountain Bushcraft Semester, the value of young people getting outdoors early in life, and how important it is for...

We're joined today by Mark Lesniak Nora Gordan, two of the first participants in our Friluftsliv Yearlong program in Vermont. Mark and Nora share a little bit about their experiences over the last year as participants in the program, talking about their favorite and least favorite aspects of the course, and reminisce about our time on the Aroostook River in Northern Maine for our final trip of the course. It was a pleasure working with them for the last year, and I couldn't have asked for...

This episode features our first returning guest. Mike Clough from the Southern Vermont Natural History Museum is back to talk about the newest edition to the museum's educational animals. There are now live Virginia Opposum's at the museum, and they're...

In this episode we hear a little bit from my friend Paul Sveum. Paul was my instructor at Jack Mountain Bushcraft School five years ago and has a ton of experience with outdoor living skills, and flyfishing in particular. Paul is a Registered Maine...

In this episode, we chat with Jenna Rozelle. Jenna is a  homesteader, professional forager, and member of Back Country Hunters and Anglers. Through all of her work she aims to bring people to a place of greater understanding about the ecosystems they...

Hello everyone, and happy new year. I'm excited to start this year's series of podcasts with a conversation with my friend Arthur Davis, director of the Urine Nutrient Reclamation Project at the Rich Earth Institute and coordinator of Rich Earth’s new...

In this episode, I'm joined by my friend Nora Gordon. Nora is an incredibly talented textile artist and has spent the last year or so studying natural dyeing in order to add to the self-sufficiency and sustainability of her craftsmanship. Nora is a...

In the latest episode of the SOTF podcast, I'm joined by Jackie Stratton, a registered Maine Guide, and Maine master naturalist. We talked about everything from Jackie's passion for the outdoors and how it started, her path to becoming a Maine guide and...

We're back after a long break for our semester programs.  Sorry for the wait, but we're glad to be back. In this episode, I'm joined by Nick Daniel of Dartmouth-Hitchcock in New Hampshire. Nick has taught AWLS courses regionally and internationally and...