Chase is a proud husband and father of five kids. His favorite things to do are be with his family and help with homeschooling the five kids. He is lucky to have a wonderful wife who supports him in all his crazy endeavors.  He found primitive skills gatherings and was hooked.  He is most famous for his bag of tricks he keeps with him and the stories of the day Paul Bunyan came to his house or the famous hot sauce story! But his favorite story book he brings to the gatherings is called “Don’t touch my hat!”.  He is often referred to in camp as the guy with the brown campaign hat and the kids love to try to sneak up on him so they can hear him say “Don’t touch my hat!” in his best cowboy voice. If you see him around say hi!

Tamra has been a primitive living/wilderness survival instructor and backcountry guide since 2006, working with The Anasazi Foundation, Wingate Wilderness Therapy, California Survival School, and Coyle Outside as well as independently. She has been featured on survival, bushcraft or wilderness therapy themed TV shows on The BBC, History, FOX and Discovery channels. She has been nomadic for 8 1/5 years and lives in a converted short bus with her adorable but rude cat, Monster.

Bill has been the spoon carving instructor at the Rabbitstick and Wintercount gatherings for over a decade.  Besides carving wood, he knits, spins his own yarn, teaches Nalbinding and Fingerweaving, ply-split braiding, and how to make string net bags called bilums.  His favorite and oldest primitive skill is making plant cordage from dogbane, milkweed, and nettle.  His current interest is processing local raw wool and producing large pieces of felt.  “Once I get this down I’ll probably have to figure out how to sew it into clothing.”  What Bill decides to teach at a gathering is a bit of a mystery since giving up the spoon carving role.  You can be sure it will be fun and informative! Also, Bill homeschooled all his kids, so he is a wealth of information for parents. 

Jim loves fishing and hunting. He is a family man and loves spending time with his grandchildren and loves helping children connect with using bows and arrows. His passion is having every child own a bow and arrows. He is a generous man! He is a legend amongst the Gathering Community. We're so grateful and thrilled he will be joining us this year to teach bow making!

Colin has been playing music and performing since he was five years old when his father started a family folk music band. In addition to performing in various choirs and bands over the years, Colin has conducted choirs, led bands, written music, and written and directed several short musicals for children. He loves singing and playing music with others and the joy that it brings.

 Justin Lunt has always loved the outdoors and was raised by his father who was an avid hunter and fisherman. He taught friction fires and other various skills to Justin while outdoors in the late 80's early 90's, and Justin was hooked. With a passion for survival and archeology the historical artifacts became intertwined early on. Now Justin teaches "The History of Humans Through Beads" class which is about the only artifacts known to man on every continent amongst every clan, tribe, society, or civilization. Join him for the deep dive into a life changing rabbit hole of knowledge you might not have known to exist.

Magdalena is the youngest of three homeschooled siblings. She loves nature and the beach. She has been to 7 different gatherings in 4 states and attended a total of 15 gatherings.  She loves traveling and has visited 14 states in the last 3 years. She enjoys doing handwork and art. She will be teaching candle making and will be assisted by her dad.

Dino's story is the connection between wildlife, the environment and people. He has been teaching about the intimate and complex relationship of all three.

     Dino worked as a Naturalist for a regional park for many years. He taught cultural history and natural history programs to school children, as well as to college students. Weekend public programs included topics and hands-on activities, like fire making, ethnobotany, ecology, cordage making, basketry, astronomy, and other traditional skills. Dino has also taught workshops on indigenous skills, Stone Age technology and wilderness survival competence at several traditional and wilderness skills events like Rabbitstick, Buckeye Gathering, Winter Count, Acorn Gathering, and the Yosemite Knap-In. He believes that knowledge is not complete until it is passed on.

     Dino is a co-founder of the website called PrimitiveWays.com. The site has various articles on ancestral skills and traditional technology.

Arnold has professional experience in classical and molecular genetics and is the father of four homeschooled progeny.  He is old enough to have had a few hobbies.  He plays a mean piano but not with his fingers.  He used two tin cans to make the most efficient TLUD stove at the 2016 Aprovecho stove technology retreat. He’d be happy to show you how you can also make one.  He has run a marathon on each continent and makes flutes in his spare time.  He has enjoyed keeping chickens, ducks, ostriches, pheasants, geese, turkeys, guineafowl, bees, dogs, pigs and sheep.  By using grafting and other tree propagation techniques he currently has over 200 varieties of fruit and nut trees in his backyard.

Less Tangled Knots, ropes , and cordage skills. Tie it all together with Aaron. Practice making splices, knots, and cordage. "Turn a string from a tangle to a useful thing. Ropes and games it's all the same." Basics of Fireside Storytelling. How we did it before modern media. "Meet the inner storyteller that was you and your Ancestors too." Aaron likes to share his passion for storytelling and cordage. He has been a professional sailing instructor for over a decade and can be found sharing stories in virtual reality or beside a cozy fire on the side of a mountain.

Mike has been drumming since the early 90's and will be teaching West African poly rhythms, basics of djembe technique, how to play with others in a freestyle circle and how to support the heartbeat if you've never played before. Mike was a wilderness therapist and has been attending primitive skills gatherings since the early 2000's.

After spending a decade as an organic fruit and vegetable farmer, Graham transitioned to a career in outdoor and adventure education. After spending a decade as an organic fruit and vegetable farmer, Graham transitioned to a career in outdoor and adventure education. He was an instructor and program director for the Twin Eagles Wilderness School, where he mentored children, teens and young adults in nature connection, wilderness crafts and survival skills. He recently retired from teaching as a job, but can still be found sharing wilderness crafts at schools and gatherings. Through these years he loved homeschooling his three children. He now enjoys a full-time career as a massage therapist, and lives with his youngest daughter in an off-grid cabin in the mountains of North Idaho.

Gabriela (Gaby) is a homeschool mother of 3 kids (18, 13, 9). Her skills and passions were inspired as a result of her kids. Her ceramics journey began 18 years ago. She is a Natural Vision Teacher and helps people improve their eyesight. Through many years of training, she learned the human body is able to self-heal poor vision and improve eyesight. She cares deeply for children/youth and loves mentoring families to transition into homeschooling so children can learn through self-interest. She currently also runs her own Spanish in Nature School.

Hi! My name is Emily Walters, I'm from Idaho, and I'm so excited to be getting to teach at Birdsong! I have loved doing fiber arts of all sorts for as long as I can remember -- I love how this craft inspires me to be creative and artistic on my own while also carrying on centuries-long traditions for the creation of practical, useful items. My story: Since 2017, I have been going to as many of the primitive skills gatherings as I can! I was always homeschooled, graduated in 2021, and then spent a gap year cooking, backpacking, and traveling. This fall I'm a sophomore at Southern Utah University studying outdoor recreation and journalism. I have a pet fish named Donovan, and I really enjoy good books.

Chad Keel is the founder of naturereconnection.org, an outdoor school dedicated to reconnecting both children and adults with nature, and he's also an established author, having penned the enlightening 'Mastering the Art of Friction Fire'. Pushing boundaries, he pioneered the Pakistan Primitive Survival Workshop in 2018, marking Pakistan's first-ever bushcraft and survival school. As the 2023 Jiu Jitsu World League Worlds Champion, he seamlessly blends his passions, offering instruction in survival, emergency disaster preparedness, and martial arts. Featured across media such as Vice TV, Discovery, Oxygen, People Magazine, and Yahoo News, Chad truly embodies his teachings. Ready and eager to impart his knowledge, Chad Keel is a testament to living one's passions to the fullest.

Kelly is a home educator and lifelong learner and loves learning ancestral skills every opportunity she gets and teaching them to others. She currently homeschools her 2 kids.  She enjoys the outdoors especially skiing and traveling. She is very talented in working with kids and showing them the love of making new things with natural materials like making their own dolls, knitting their own bags or making pancakes out of acorns! 

Professional and nationally ranked rabbit breeder since 2016 specializing in Rex and Florida Whites. Known in the community for being educators and leaders. President of the Kings of the Southwest Rex Club. Offering private processing classes. Practices using the entire animal from preserving skulls and feet to tanning hides in house.

hoppydaysrabbitry.com

Jim is a self-described “generalist” and systems design philosopher.  Raised in the alpine village of Idyllwild California, Jim grew up building forts and exploring miles of forests, boulders, and creeks in his own backyard.  In high school, Jim excelled as a track athlete in the 800 meters and during his junior year, lived in Europe as a Rotary Exchange Student.  Upon returning to US, Jim found himself as somewhat of a fish out of water in trying to share the different ideas that he had been exposed to in Denmark, Germany, and Holland.  Jim completed 2 associates degrees, a B.A. in Literature and a Master’s degree in Multicultural Education. Jim has a long list of former jobs ranging from camp counselor, lumberjack, lead carpenter, billing system technician and has been an owner operator of several businesses.  Jim served as a firefighter for 12 years, followed by 21 years as a high school English teacher.  He has served in leadership positions in local non-profit chapters of Green Coalition and for Lions Club International as the regional chairperson of Environmental Services.  Jim also founded EcoMind Youth Service club where he organized hundreds of teen volunteers to renovate 3 public parks by creating water catchment swales and reintroducing native plants into recreational landscapes to vastly improve water conservation.  Jim is the original founder & has been the principal driver of Down-To-Earth Eco LLC.

He will be teaching Wilderness and Remote First Aid. With nearly 10 years of practice in wilderness first aid, and 15+ years of wilderness experience, he is eager to share the dos and don’ts of the backcountry. Having used these skills across the country, and even in international settings, he is proud to say these skills have saved his and others lives. They are a necessary part of having a safe, remote adventure.
He has spent a good portion of his life in the wilderness and has had the privileges to establish an intimate relationship with her. Mother Nature is not something (or someone) we should take lightly. Things inevitably will go wrong when in remote situations.

James was in the United States Airforce. He is a life member of the NRA, NRA Safety, Certified Muzzle Loader Instructor, CA Representative and NMLRA Officer. He remembers going hunting since he was 7 years old. He is dedicated to passing on knowledge that people have passed on to him especially young folks.

An avid outdoor adventurer, has experienced homeschooling grades 8-12. His interests include heath, fitness and full-time tiny living. Recently crafted a home build camper truck. Primitive skills include leather crafting, hiking, camping and yucca cordage.

Jose has many years experience with wilderness survival skills. He has shared his knowledge with non-profit youth organizations. He currently resides in Montana.

Ray Halverson and his grandson Aaiden love the outdoors and camping. They will be teaching how to make arrows in addition to jewelry making.

Mallory currently lives at the Ecoshire Sage. She recently moved from Idyllwild, CA, where she taught art and photography at Idyllwild Arts Academy, and managed the Parks Exhibition Center. Currently she teaches photography at CSU San Bernardino. She is also a musician (guitar, ukelele), back packer, and Mother of 2 grown children. Her artwork specializes in printing and alternative process emulsions on fabric.

Wilderness therapy guide for many years and was a survival skills instructor. Loves passing on my outdoor and historical knowledge. I fell in love with the fur trapping era of American history and the ingenuity the mountain men showed. They crafted what they needed out of what they had, and that included their coats! Called Capotes,” blanket coats that were extremely useful in battling the harsh cold of the western frontier.

Soapy Su is a wonderful longtime teacher in various fields. She will be teaching kid's nature crafts that include beeswax candles, gourd bowls, and gourd rattles.

Marianne and Bernie have taught medicinal plant classes for many years. They started learning to use plants for medicine for their own children and since then have taught others about making medicine with plants and how to treat different conditions.

Goodness surrounds you. That’s the lesson from Doug Kent’s workshops on foraging. California’s urban and natural landscapes grow health and wellbeing. Beyond food, Doug will also share what he knows about other uses, such as dyes, fibers, medicines, and useful wood. Doug began foraging in 1979 when he started helping his great aunt, a Depression Era gardener, in her expansive landscape. He is author of Foraging Southern California (Wilderness Press 2019). Along with his six other horticultural books and teaching appointments, Doug has biked-packed and foraged the entire California coast. His walks are as educational as fun.