What We Teach
Reclaiming Belonging through Earth-Based Education
At Rainwalk Rewild, we believe education should feel like coming home.
We teach how a forest teaches: slowly, relationally, with room for mystery. Our philosophy is rooted in the idea that learning is not a transaction — it is a transformation. We are not here to produce outdoor technicians. We are here to grow whole humans who remember their place in the web of life.
We don’t separate “hard skills” from “soft skills.” In our eyes, carving a spoon and speaking from the heart are both acts of resilience. Learning to make fire without matches is just as essential as learning to tend the fire within. Our programs blend ancestral technologies — like friction fire, hide tanning, and plant medicine — with inner practices such as dreamwork, council, and nature-based rites of passage. Together, they offer a path to healing, wholing, and rewilding from the inside out.
Our Teaching Philosophy
✧ Learning Through Immersion
We learn best when we are fully alive to our surroundings. Our classrooms are the mossy forest floor, the salmonberry thicket, the animal trail beside the creek. In each of our programs, students are given time — time to wander, to observe, to try and fail, to ask questions, to circle back. There are no bells, no tests, no rush. Instead, we trust in the natural pace of curiosity and the rich, embodied learning that happens outdoors in all seasons.
✧ Learning Through Mentorship
Rather than traditional top-down teaching, we create a culture of mentorship. Our guides walk alongside learners, modeling humility, patience, and a deep love of the land. We don’t offer all the answers — we ask the right questions. We create space for youth to become leaders, for adults to remember their wonder, and for every student to grow into their own wisdom.
✧ Learning Through Story and Ceremony
At the heart of our teaching is story. We believe every skill has a story, and every person has a gift worth bringing into the circle. Whether we’re telling myths around the fire, sitting in council, or marking a rite of passage with ritual, we honor learning as a sacred act. We invite students to listen not just with their minds, but with their bodies and dreams — to learn in the old ways, where transformation is both practical and magical.
✧ Learning in Service to a Regenerative Future
We are teaching for the world that’s coming. The skills we offer are not just nostalgic relics of the past — they are tools for resilience in a time of great change. We believe that to face the challenges ahead, we must learn how to live in right relationship: with land, with community, and with ourselves. This is education in service to life.
We are not just passing on knowledge — we are reclaiming our wild inheritance.
And we’re so glad you’re here.
Areas of Expertise
We are not just instructors — we are practitioners, guides, and lifelong students of the wild.
With years of experience immersed in the study and practice of ancestral skills, our team brings deep knowledge and reverence to the craft of earth-based living. From bow drill fire and hide tanning to plant medicine, basketry, wildlife tracking, and wilderness navigation, we teach with our hands in the soil and our hearts attuned to the land.
Our expertise spans both the tangible and the intangible — the making of tools and the making of meaning. We blend ecological literacy with cultural repair, skill with story, technique with transformation. Through hands-on experiential learning, we invite participants to rediscover their innate capacities for curiosity, creativity, and connection.
Whether you’re just beginning to explore wilderness skills or are seeking to deepen your practice, we offer pathways to challenge, growth, and belonging. This is not just skill-building — it’s soul remembering.
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Students learn the art and science of fire making in the PNW using ancestral and modern methods. They will experiment with natural tinder, craft a bow drill kit, and construct an effective fire structure in any condition.
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The plant and fungal kingdoms have so much to teach us. Understanding morphological features of trees, plants, and mushrooms allows students to better navigate, survive, and - ultimately - thrive in any outdoor environment.
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By practicing stealth and archery in the forest, students demonstrate teamwork, expand wilderness awareness, and enhance hand-eye-coordination skills.
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Our program teaches students how to recognize different animals in the forest by their unique tracks and sign. Wildlife ecology deepens the understanding of a forest ecosystem for students while working on memorization and attention to detail.
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Practicing bushcraft survival skills just might save your life! Our students build confidence in tricky situations by honing their skills with knots, water purification, navigation, and shelter-building.
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Eating is the basis of survival - but plants have more to share more than that! Students learn how to cultivate, identify, and use the top edible and medicinal plants of our region by season.
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Our students learn how to apply the skills they learned throughout our program make custom creations from fiber, wood, stone, and bone.
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Council is a way of sharing by gathering in a circle of community members. This practice allows students to listen deeply and be heard by peers and mentors.
Upcoming Events
We have lots of field courses and community events happening in Skagit County and the surrounding areas. See what’s coming up next on our Upcoming Events page.