Earth Ways encompasses many programs aimed at serving our community and our wild neighbors.  We look forward to seeing you! 

Deep in all of our roots, there are stories of people living in healthy, regenerative communities — villages where people of all ages were (or still are) in deep relationship with the land, each other, and themselves; not perfect or without problems of course, but in functional relationship. While our culture is full of teachers, one ancient binding cultural component that we finding largely missing today is the mentoring relationship. 

While a teacher's role is to impart a specific skill to a student, a mentor's role is to develop a relationship with a younger person.  Through that relationship, many things can be nurtured, including character-building, development of skills, and guidance in a young person's life vision; in other words, helping a younger person along their way of becoming who they really are.  Our human traditions are characterized by mentoring relationships in all realms of life, where every person is a mentor to many, and simultaneously mentored by many. 


In our Earth Ways programs, the mentoring relationship is built through many different facets of an integrated whole. Young people are led in developing competency in nature-based ancestral skills such as tracking, wildlife identification, fire-making, and natural crafts. This helps build a foundational connection to the earth that is so vital to our human potential for wholeness. Fun and physically-active awareness games and the martial art capoeira help us to feel light and happy, connected to one another, and to develop the physical aspects of coordination, strength, and flexibility.  Learning to play the drum in a group context helps inspire the non-linear, musical, meditative, and celebratory sides of our human experience, and helps us connect to others in a very unique and powerful way. Circle groups and councils help develop communication skills, as well as connection to one's own heart-of-hearts: the ultimate guide in a life of connection and service.