🔥 Make Fire, forage food, explore some of the 100 acres of forest, cook, craft and learn about nature.
😎 Chat, chill, listen and be heard by others who are going through similar things.
💚 Develop real-life skills like how to support your friends and how to be compassionate to yourself, and how we are all connected to nature in ways that can be quite mysterious!
🌮 Cook lunch together on the campfire and make snacks.
The longer and deeper aim of this group is to help each young person build or find their connection with nature, place, with themselves and each other. We will support them to work towards an overnight solo time that marks a step into becoming a full teenager, when each young person is ready; a rite of passage.
We will develop activities with the young people as the sessions progress, and we will guide and hold a safe space. This winter/spring/early summer we are going start to learn about how to care for the woods through practical activities and explore beyond the wider woods into new areas. We will be foraging, crafting, playing and having group discussions. We will explore what it means to be alive at this time, the challenges young people face and how to find hope through being with others and with nature. 🦋 🌿 🐾
2023 dates, cost and booking
28th January, 25th February, 25th March 11am – 4pm (more dates will be added when we have them)
🍃 Places cost £40.
🍃 We have funding for young people from Taunton thanks to the local council and YHA, so they can come for FREE. 🍃 There are bursaries for young people from other places who really want to come and might not otherwise afford it. Please do contact Jenny and she can organise things
Before you book online, contact us to give you the booking code. Then we can have a quick chat to make sure that your child knows what will happen and that it will work for them.
Call or text Jenny on 075410 80397. We can call you back.
Transport
We organise a contract minibus to collect young people in Taunton. This is free, with the cost currently covered by the grant funding from SW&T Council and YHA. Please let us know when you book where you need a pick up - Roman Road or Priorswood.
Food
Everyone gets more hungry outdoors and cooking is an important life-skill.
We bring something to cook for lunch together each session, like pasta and sauce, or soup and wraps. Let us know about any dietary needs, allergies or food preferences when booking in and we'll do our utmost to find something for everyone. When we can we will forage food to add to our cooking.
In the afternoon in our final circle we will have toast, or crumpets or muffins with spreads, toasted on the fire.
Each session will roughly have this structure: Foraging, collecting, exploring Circle/group time to discuss the plan of the session Lighting the campfire Preparing and cooking lunch Making/crafting/ activity Games & play Sit-spot and "solo time" Campfire cooking for afternoon snack Circle/Group time to finish
The kinds of activities we will do ....
Saw & knife-work, making balms, clay pots or creatures, willow weaving, putting up tarps and learning knots, fire-making, sound making, body movement, laying trails, tracking and finding wildlife, learning about nature and how our relationships with it can positively impact on climate issues.
Sessions go ahead in all weathers, apart from very high winds and lightening storms. Please come prepared for rain, heat, cold and sun... If you'd like to book onto a day click here
This is a step towards a rite-of-passage, a growing into the teenage years that marks the first steps into adulthood. As hormones flood our young ones bodies, the experience of being I nature, with peers, guides and elders, will help them to be-come more themselves and stay rooted in these tough times. Sessions are lead by Sarah Churchill and Jenny Archard, with Nancy Castle and Clare Smith. We are experienced Forest School leaders, rites of passage guides, nature-connectors and eco-therapists.