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
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
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.
Buckskin Moccasins
Beautiful footwear made sustainably from natural materials has been worn by human beings for thousands of years. In this class students will create a pattern customized to their own feet, and learn to craft a pair of short moccasins using genuine brain-tanned buckskin and vegetable tanned leather. This will be a two piece style moccasin, with a harder sole for longer wear. The foundations of this pattern can later be applied for making many other styles of moccasins, including boots of all lengths.
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.
The Sacred Hunt
This class is designed to explore our ancestors’ relationship to the land through the art of traditional hunting. By cultivating this relationship of respectful exchange, we can deepen our understanding of what it means to live sustainably and remember our place in nature. The Sacred Hunt will be a combination of instruction, group discussions and hands-on experience in the field.
Wild Foods
Explore the delicious, fragrant and storied California landscape by learning to identify edible, utilitarian and poisonous species. Students will become acquainted with much of the local flora of Burges canyon and begin to develop real relationships to the world of plants. In this two day class we will dive into cuisine, culture, history, natural living skills, and stewardship. Classes include meals featuring traditional recipes that integrate wild foods.
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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