What we offer
The Wild Series offers in-depth education in earth-based skills and crafts. Our instructors are artisans, naturalists, musicians, cooks, storytellers, villagers and stewards. We weave, tan, wild tend, spin, felt, dye, woodwork, track, forage, feast, hunt, smith, sing, learn, make and more! We share a love of creating beauty through fun, hands-on experience and believe that learning to work with the hands is one of the ways to awaken and remember our diverse legacies of traditional ecological and cultural knowledge.
Wild Series Courses
Fiber Arts Weekend Workshop
Join us for a weekend of natural fibers and plant-based dyes! We will explore the basics of dyeing fabric and wool with plant-based dyes in a variety of colors. We will experiment with resist techniques to create patterns on our fabric. We will also do a small three dimensional felt project with wool we have dyed. There will be the opportunity to try the basics of drop spindle for anyone who wants to learn to spin wool.
Archery Weekend Workshop
Join us for this knowledge-packed weekend workshop on traditional archery! Archery holds an expansive place in the story in our human history – we invite you to be part of that continuing history as we learn and practice intuitive archery in a beautiful high desert setting. Connect with your body through the practice of this ancient functional tool, and connect with nature as you move over the land.
Holiday Handcrafting
Join us for a fun and cozy weekend of making beautiful handmade holiday gifts! In this two-day class, students will have the opportunity to learn a variety of small crafts under the mentorship of several skilled Quail Springs stewards. Using mostly natural and simple materials, many of which have been locally hand-harvested and prepared by our teachers, you will have the opportunity to create several projects from a range of possibilities.
The Art of Hide Tanning
Join us for a four day immersion into the traditional art of making leather by hand. In this intimate and experiential class, students will tan one deer or goat buckskin from start to finish, learn to make rawhide, and participate in a fur tanning demonstration. The art of hide tanning is a cross-cultural human legacy
The Art of Blacksmithing
Blacksmithing is an ancient form of alchemy, bringing together fire, metal and air to birth functional and beautiful items that we depend upon in our daily lives. Instructor Justin Starting has been inspired by the way tribal blacksmiths use the simplest methods and materials to forge the highest quality tools. He believes that we can look to their traditional relationships with blacksmithing to bring consciousness and harmony back to our connection with metal.
Trailing Cuyama
Learn the art of trailing an animal as it moves through its daily routines. Deer, cougar, black bear, coyote, and all the little creatures of the desert provide ample learning opportunities as we explore the Dick Smith Wilderness, Chumash Wilderness and the Los Padres National Forest.
Upcoming Courses
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