Gathering Instructors & Key Staff - In no particular order. Each year will bring some returning instructors and some new ones will join us. This page is to introduce you to all of our dedicated teachers and staff who travel from far and wide to make the gathering a success! If you are interested in being an instructor please scroll to the bottom of the page for contact details.
- This symbol (*) next to the name = teaching at this year's gathering -
Mike Wells
Mike hails from Malad, ID where he resides with his wife, Rosemary and their Navajo Churro sheep. He will be teaching the art of scrimshaw this year. He may also be teaching how to tap trees and make syrup from the sap, and natural beekeeping most years.
Karie Lee*
Karie is a long-time practitioner and teacher of primitive skills. She has taught wilderness and self-reliant skills at Inner Pathworks School and a variety of other skills gatherings, such as Wintercount, Rabbitstick, Between the Rivers and Saskatoon Circle. Even though she practices many of the skills in her daily home life, she focuses on teaching brain tanning, buckskin sewing, beading, awareness skills, herbology, and energy medicine. Her passion is to bring forth the spiritual aspects of the ancestral skills and the Art of Sacred Living.
Dale 'Blond Bear' Coleman
Dale 'Blond Bear' Coleman is one of the founders of Echoes in Time Gathering in Salem, Oregon each July. He is well-versed in primitive skills and historical reenacting of the western fur trade. He comes to teach and share some of the skills that cross both worlds including wolf-eared hats, Saami Buckskin bags, housewife, and stone bowls using pecking and grinding! Follow his latest project here.
Hal Farneman
Hal hails from Spring City, Utah where he is finishing up a log cabin. He is making the trek north this spring to teach several ancient and very necessary arts. His skills include friction fire and Southeastern Soft-soled moccasins & other footwear.
David Wescott
David is one of the men responisble for much of the modern momentum of primitive skills, and is the owner of Backtracks, the company that sponsors Rabbitstick, Wintercount and Woodsmoke gatherings, from which most of the other gatherings around have sprung. He is a man of many skills, and he shared a few of them with us at Between the Rivers in 2013 including stone and bonework, cordage, adhesives, gourd fishing boxes, and more!
Patrick Farneman*
Patrick is the executive director of Bridges to the Past, the non-profit parent organization that hosts the events. Patrick has been published in Survival Quarterly Magazine, and in The Bulletin of Primitive Technology. He has been an instructor at Rabbitstick, Wintercount, Echoes in Time, and Saskatoon Circle Gatherings, and has taught classes in ancestral skills privately and for multiple organizations for over 35 years. At BtR & FallCamp he will be the person scurrying around helping things to run smoothly. Please direct questions and feedback in Patrick's direction at: [email protected]
Rick Lindsey
Rick is a wealth of knowledge in historic skills and self-sufficiency, and he lives what he teaches. He is proficient in woodworking, book binding, leather working, and well, you name it, he can probably do it well! He has years of experience reenacting history, especially the years of the American fur trade. 
Canada Jim*
Jim is joining us in 2014 and bringing a range of skills including Flintknapping, Traps & Snares and AtlAtl and Dart use. Jim brings a lot of knowledge with him from years of primitive skills and historical reenacting. He is also a skilled kayaker, hunter and forager! 
Shaun Deller*
Shaun has been practicing primitive skills and living history for years and has become proficient in many of the old skills including hide tanning, blacksmithing, and tracking and trapping. He is also into historical trekking, has all the gear and accoutrements from the early 1800's, and will be demonstrating and teaching fur trade life and camp skills. Peruse his etsy store here. 
Mike Goot*
Antler Mike Goot has a love for the Atl Atl and Dart and all things primitive, and is especially crazy about...Antlers! He is also an avid nature lover, woods wanderer, tree hugger and loving husband, not always in that order. He is especially enthusiastic in the evening at raffle time - if you need tickets, he's got 'em! 
Ray Jacobs
Ray is a one of a kind musician, singer and instrument builder and is the designer of the Rocky Mountain Dulcimer. He and his wife, Shirley, travel the West teaching classes in how to build and how to play the Rocky Mountain Dulcimer, and we are lucky enough to have them coming to Between the Rivers Gathering. 
Jean Jones
Jean is a one-of-a-kind multi-talented lady! She has been dedicated to our children's program for several years and does a great job teaching the skills and games of our ancestors to our young ones. She is a volunteer with our local radio station, KCHW, and is an avid musician, singer and guitar player. This year she has some special tricks up her sleeves for the young'uns! 
Hazen Audel*
Hazen has a broad range of primitive skills that he has cultured for over 25 years of practical travel and living among Native peoples around the globe. If given the raw materials, there isn't much of anything he can't make. Lately he has been able to show his skills and his comfort in harsh regions with a broad range of people as the host of the television shows, "Survive the Tribe" and "Primal Survivor" on the National Geographic Channel. Hazen will be teaching useful knots and will also be doing a presentation for us on his global travels and work with indigenous peoples. 
George Michaud
George has been around for a long time and has a wealth of experience running traplines in wintertime by dog sled and tanning everything from mice to buffalo. He is joining us from Driggs, ID, and plans to teach fur brain tanning, and sewing of small buckskin items. George also makes and lives in his own Tipis. You may recognize him; he was featured for a season on the television show, "Mountain Men". 
Bradley Phillips
Bradley is an Eastern Oregon resident, he has been interested in primitive skills since childhood. Hugely influenced by Mr. Jim Riggs, he has been immersed in a variety of skills since 1994. His senior thesis was on primitive skills. He has degrees in Anthropology, Sociology, and Geology. His expertise is too vast to be limited, if you have a question about anything pertaining to primitive skills, he more than likely has an answer, or at the very least a suggestion on how to achieve it. Need to find him? Check the knapping pit. 
Drea Rightsell
Drea has been a student of the outdoors her entire life, and she brings that knowledge and enthusiasm for nature, the old ways and teaching children to Between the Rivers Gathering. She is one of the amazing people who make the Children's Program at BtR such a success! 
Tom Prang*
Tom is a generalist, life-long learner, and has a BA in Archeology (specialization in lithics), and MS in Science & Environmental Education. For decades, he has done seasonal and contract fieldwork over much of the western U.S. His passion is sharing natural and cultural history experience with others (especially youth after his own struggles with Catholic grade school, and dropping out of high school). He has lived a subsistence hunter/gather lifestyle for years in Alaska. He also has backgrounds in wildland and structural firefighting and EMS. He moved to the Washington Cascades in 2015, and still enjoys the novelty of seeing the abundance and diversity of foods available in the Pacific Northwest 
Adam Brown*
Adam is a valued member of our staff, and if you have navigated our camp at night by the beautiful torch and lamp light, you have Adam to thank for it. He is our Lamplighter! He is also a huge supporter of what we do at Between the Rivers, and to show that support, he offers a scholarship opportunity for full tuition to one participant each year who needs to attend, but has difficulty achieving the tuition cost. If you are interested in applying for the Lamplighter Scholarship this year please email Adam at [email protected] to request an application. 
Nicholas Tomihama
Hi, my name is Nick! I’m an avid archer and bowyer and absolutely love archery in all its forms. One of my dreams is to teach everyone the value of archery and the lessons that can be learned. I spend a lot of time teaching others to make their own archery equipment. I have a few books out on building bows as well as some videos on Youtube all about making your own bows and other archery tackle. I try a little bit of everything but my favorite bows are short, lighter weight recurves. There is just something about them that makes them fun to shoot and their small size usually means less handshock even at higher weights. For me there is nothing quite like a short bow with a smooth draw and good speed. 
M Clutch Lambert
Since childhood, Michael 'Clutch' Lambert has felt a connection with nature and dreamed of being an explorer. That connection inspired him to earn his Eagle Scout, get a degree in Recreation Management at BYU-Idaho, become a Park Ranger, and work for the Utah Conservation Corp. Clutch considers his best skill telling jokes, but he also enjoys practicing and teaching friction fire, cordage, navigation and basic survival skills. He currently works for Anasazi working with youth. 
Kevin Kimmel*
Kevin is a Northwest local who loves to spend his time in the outdoors. Kevin is also passionate about knives and bladesmithing and he will be teaching knife making at this year's gathering, and walking students through the entire knifemaking process. 
Tom Lutyens*
Tom started his teaching career at the age of 13 at scout camp through swimming. He was a canoe guide and taught wilderness skills with the Boy Scouts of America for 60 years. Tom worked as a United States Air Force Survival Instructor at Ely and Quetico from 1968-1988. A retired Air Force Tech Sergeant, Lutyens spent the last eight of his 20 year military hitch as a survival instructor in Alaska, training air crews how to protect themselves if they crashed in the arctic.He worked as a contractor for Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape school at Fairchild Air Force Base and also as an instructor for Alaska Search and Rescue/Emergency Response. He has assisted with many outdoor program groups as a mentor and continues to learn new ideas with younger outdoor folks. He says he will keep going as long as God allows. 
Meg Evans
Meg is a lifelong student and outdoors enthusiast, Meg hails from the forests of Virginia. Currently residing in Tucson Arizona, she works for the Anasazi Foundation as trail staff and spends the rest of her time learning new skills, painting, and petting cats. 
Tamara Wilder
Tamara became fascinated by ancient living skills in 1989 when she attended the Glass Buttes Knap In and Rabbitstick Skills Gathering. She was "hooked" and quickly began incorporating the practice of skills into her daily experience. Ever since, she has been dedicating her life to enjoying, learning, researching, experimenting with, writing about and teaching Paleo Technologies through a variety of programs, workshops & demonstrations on a range of skill topics at a plethora of locations through her company Paleotechnics: Arts & Technologies of Earth Peoples. Her main offerings are Ancient Living Skills Overview Programs for grade schools and home school groups all around Northern California, and also as part of longer adult programs such as the Occidental Arts & Ecology Center's Permaculture Design Course and the California School of Herbal Studies' Roots of Herbalism / Foundations of Health Course. A co-author of the book Buckskin: The Ancient Art of Braintanning, the handbooks "So You Have a Dead Animal", "Sharpening", "Sustainable Harvest" & "Using the Whole Animal" and numerous chapters in books Woodsmoke, Primitive Technology 1 and Primitive Technology 2, she has long been instructing at Ancestral Living Skills events around the western states for the past 30 years. More info can be found at her website https://www.paleotechnics.com 
Raena Riese*
Born and raised in Topanga Canyon, Raena Riese has always had a passion for the outdoors. Being homeschooled through her childhood instilled in her a love of all things nature and nurture. She began attending primitive skills gatherings at age 13 and has been hooked ever since. Raena currently teaches kid yoga, animal husbandry and plant identification/medicinal uses at a nature connection based preschool in Topanga. Her biggest passion is learning through nature with her students while guiding them to their innate knowledge of these skills through deep nature connection, playing games, dancing, silent time and drawing. Outside of her time with kids, her current obsession is her new drop spindle and learning how to create with it. When she isn’t doing anything listed above she is most likely learning new skills, roadtripping, camping, backpacking, hiking or at the beach. This year at Between the Rivers she will be teaching the 4-7 year old Nature Ninjas in kids camp along with the wonderful Kerri and Amy. 
Ranger Chase
Chase got his start in copper and tin smithing a few years ago and was hooked! He was fortunate to learn from the best and seeks to replicate the craftsmanship and quality of his mentor. Chase started teaching copper and tin at primitive skills gatherings and loves to share his hobby with anyone willing to learn. Chase enjoys the challenge and meditative element of the art of tin and copper smithing. He loves to create practical working art and using tools from the 1800’s. Chase enjoys the connection he feels to the past when using the same tools that were used by others over 200 years ago. He plans to teach in the children's program this year. 
Scott Wright
Scott is committed to leading visionary thought into the world through educational and mentoring solutions that create meaningful impact by bringing about change to the way people view and interact with the world of today. By focusing on the mind and the heart, Wright creates an experience on powerful, unseen principles that underline the human experience and one’s individual capacity for insight into their own unique talents and capacities. Scott is planning to teach classes on mindfulness, and how to use Nature as your guide in life. The setting for this event is a perfect backdrop to experience Mother Nature in all her beauty. His classes incorporate the use of music, smudging, and being present to find your inner guide. Possible topics include, Sacred Plants, Music, Sunflowers, Nature’s Symbolism, and our connection to all that is. Come join and bring your own vision of how you see the World. 
Brad Wade
My name is Brad Wade. I attended my 1st primitive skills gathering (Rabbit Stick) in 1993 after just coming off my 28 day survival course with the Boulder outdoor survival school. My love for these gatherings quickly grew. I love the people and the connections I've made from attending such gatherings. I now run my own outdoor family skills gathering, called Fire to Fire, in Tabiona Ut. FiretoFire.com I also enjoy working with the youth and the next generation coming up, I feel the importance of sharing and giving back to this age group, as I was this age when I came into this awesome community! It's a time of life where kids need positive influences. I have loved working with the young men in my area, to have them aim high, as we work on things, do service projects and go on difficult but fun backpacking adventures. Doing these things helps young men earn the experiences necessary to become more successful as they enter adulthood. I am excited to attend B.T.R this year. Gatherings such as these provide ways for us to learn skills and connect with people on a very unique level. 
Jim Croft*
After returning from Europe in 1970, I made bread on the first day and started learning hand bookbinding on the second day. By 1972 I was off-grid, back to the land, and wanted to study traditional hand methods around the world. The reason I like studying what took humans thousands of years of accumulated knowledge to learn is that it works so well. I teach a class on making a late Medieval book from raw materials in two weeks – make bone tools paper, thread from flax stalk, wooden covers, brass clasps, parchment and leather. Classes for BtR: 1) Making bone tools and objects from deer, elk, and moose bone – bones will be supplied and/or bring your own found bone, antler or horn. 2) Pocket size leather book – paper sections sewn onto full leather with flap. 3) Undecided yet. 
Hailu Gabriel*
Hailu fondly fools with flora for food, fiber, and fire. Whether he's teaching his girls to identify horseweed while driving, using cattail for his very first bowdrill success, or nurturing "weeds" in his yard, you can be sure he's getting distracted by all the useful plants. This year Hailu will be making wooden spoons. 
Amy Stephensen*
Amy will be working as an instructor at kids camp this year. She lives in Sandpoint, Idaho with her husband and twin boys and has been coming to BTR for the past three years. She first became involved in the primitive skills community when working in wilderness therapy at ANASAZI in 2001, where she worked off and on over a 10 year period. Amy taught high school art for multiple years and loves exploring the world, having visited 26 countries on five continents. She loves to create and learn, and looks forward to doing both along side some of BTR's youngest participants. 
Joshua Lisbon
Joshua has been practicing primitive skills since he was a child, and has been teaching those skills for almost 20 years. He began tanning hides 10 years ago and has studied under several experts, but the real proof is in practice. Over time, he has honed his own method that produces consistent results and soft, beautiful hides. He’s excited for this opportunity to share the amazing process of making traditional buckskin. At Rabbitstick each fall, Joshua teaches a ‘choose your own adventure’ buckskin sewing class, where students learn to turn their hides into useful items. Students make anything from clothing to backpacks to moccasins. When Joshua is not teaching traditional skills, or tanning hides, he is the education director for a large conservation organization. There he works to connect students of all ages to the scientific research taking place on the property. He has designed and implemented wilderness and experiential-based education programs for different agencies since 2001, and in that time has worked extensively with under-served populations. He also runs a mountain lion study and spends the winter months tracking cougars in the backcountry. As an avid outdoorsman, he enjoys any pursuit that keeps him connected to the natural world. 
Mullein Jane Farneman*
Mullein Jane attended her first primitive skills gathering at 4 months of age and has been going ever since. She is an herbalist, and she incorporates sustainability, low waste and agricultural skills into her everyday life as she turns her focuses on ancestral nutrition. She values the eclectic, personal connections made during gatherings. As an integral part of our Between the Rivers administrative team, she assists with registration, organizing work trade, and check-in at the office when you arrive, and she also fields the majority of the questions from our website traffic. 
Kirsten Longmeier*
Kirsten is a resident of North Idaho and lives on a 5-acre homestead with her hide-tanner husband, Shaun Deller, and their two littles, Lars and Bjorn. She has lived the (somewhat) simple life for the past 12 years, tending her flock of sheep, chickens, gardening and perfecting the art of sauerkraut. Her crafting specialty is spinning and knitting. She'll be leading a community knitted quilt project this year. 
Emily Bartle
Emily Bartle has been running ever since she ran away from her hometown in Ohio. She runs in Mountains and meadows, runs along rivers, highways and hillsides and and runs down train tracks even when loco-motives are coming right at her. She is an avid Backpacker and has done an immense amount of survival trips, wild food walkabouts, minimalist self-supported Ultra-runs, and some straight up hobo/hillbilly adventures. This year she will be sharing freedom running, and some fun balls-to-the-wall adult field games. And if we can get her to not shy away from a group of people she may hold a lecture on some of her minimalist long distance treks. 
Gary Steele*
Gary moved to Western Montana in 1976 following his dream to live in the wilds of the Rocky Mountains. He built a small cabin in the foothills of the Mission Mtns, where he had more bears for neighbors than people. There, he was able to find the dreams he sought. Gary rode his horses thousands of miles in the Bob Marshal Wilderness, guided backpacking and sea kayak adventures in Yellowstone and the Sea of Cortez. He rode his motorcycle throughout the backroads and blue highways from Canada to Nicaragua, and sailed the Caribbean with the 23 Peaks Expedition. He became a white water kayak instructor and was a EMT on a volunteer ambulance service for 10 years. About 30 years ago Gary found how much he enjoyed teaching his outdoor skills to kids of all ages. Six years ago Gary started the Gettin' Primitive program, where he focuses on primitive skills. Through Gettin' Primitive he has mentored Boy Scouts, University archeology classes and elementary schools. During the summers he hosts multi-day camps in the shadows of the majestic Mission Mountains. Four years ago he brought his Gettin' Primitive program to the Resort at Paws Up on the Blackfoot river in Montana. He now spends a good part of the spring and summer as the Mountain Man in resident at the Paws Up Ranch. Gary has taught at WinterCount making bows and atlatls and giving knife throwing lessons. Gary is Married to Teri Miller, a paramedic who sets up and runs medical units for the forest service at wild fires. She also makes wool capotes and blanket shirts. Gary he can be reached at 406-544-2725 Teri can be reached at 406-544-3070 Facebook: Gettin’ Primitive, & ETSY: GettinPrimitive 
Heidi Hampe
Heidi is a Medicine Wombyn who lives in Northern Idaho on land called Rejuvenation Sanctuary. Her healing work focuses on Detox and Self Care. Heidi offers Wombyn's groups, solo and group retreats of all sorts, teaches classes on Earth Based Spirituality and Herbalism/Self care in the Home. Heidi is an Officiant who hosts Ceremonies in Idaho and travels abroad to Officiate Weddings and other Rituals. In alignment with this work she builds Altars with the elements on the land at public events and personal spaces. Heidi offers her love for life in the form of powerful pyrography which is wood-burning affirmations onto practical tools for use in Self care. She also divines magical necklaces and earrings to adorn the first sacred altar, your body. Heidi is an advocate for wHolistic Health in Living and Dying and supports the Home Funeral Movement. She is certified in Ayurveda, Colon Hydrotherapy, Cranial Sacral Therapy, Deep Tissue, Acupressure, Reiki, Viniyoga, Death Midwifery and Permaculture Design. Passionate About Inspiring Others: "I support each woman to activate their inner healer. I have helped people regain a sense of self awareness, clarity and strength." 
David Moen*
David is a 7th generation Oregonian who grew up near the confluence of the Columbia and Willamette Rivers. He is an outgoing silly-dad-naturalist who loves fatherhood, foraging, and facilitating sacred awareness through ecoliteracy. He started his career as an avian field biologist working with endangered birds (eg: Falcons, Sage Grouse, Eiders, Eagles) and has many years' experience teaching outdoor school and experimenting with permaculture. He mixed these passions to obtain his Masters' degree in the Leadership for Ecology, Culture, and Learning program at Portland State University focusing on PNW California condor recovery. He also holds a Bachelor's degree in Cultural Anthropology. David is an avid hunter-birder-gardener-photographer who enjoys everything related to fostering resiliency with our plant and animal relatives. He currently works as a conservation biologist coordinating a hunter stewardship program for the Nez Perce Tribe in Idaho. He will be guiding wildlife walks and teaching bird language as a bridge to communion. If you bump into him ask him how Condor smells, you may be surprised by the answer! 
Timothy Jarrell
For those who don’t know me, my name is Tim Jarrell. The hats I wear around the gathering community include (but aren’t limited to) husband to my lovely wife Jamie, father to my two twin daughters Persephone and Seraphina, Native Craftsman, Tipi setter-upper, and frybread chef extraordinaire. I teach beadwork mainly, though I do many other native crafts if you have questions. I look forward to meeting each and everyone around our gathering family and hopefully learning as much from you as you do me! 
Juniper Ponderosa
Hello I'm Juniper! Some people know me as Zachary, but I don't use that name anymore! If you're a tween, you might know me as weasel, which is fantastic! I've been attending gatherings since Rabbitstick 2018. I was introduced to primitive skills through wilderness therapy. Wilderness therapy saved my life, but skills gatherings keep on saving my life! I'm beyond excited to be instructing for the first time at this fine gathering! I will be teaching finger weaving, a skill taught to me by Bill Oliphant. Finger weaving is a way of making straps or sashes without the use of a loom. It sure is going to be fun, can't wait to meet you! 
Daniel Olsen*
Daniel Olsen began his journey into traditional skills in the foothills of Central Utah with his grandmother as his guide. She grew up herding sheep in the mountains of Idaho and Foraging The Hills for most of the food that she and her family ate. She passed this knowledge on to her grandchildren through her example. Daniel has lived in many different environments including the high deserts of Utah Nevada, the Pacific Northwest in Washington and Alaska. Upstate New York, the desert southwest and the tropical northeast coast of Australia. In all of these locations the desire to learn the knowledge and skills Of the original inhabitants has remain strong. Daniel has been fortunate to find people in all of these locations were eager to share their knowledge. In addition to teaching teaching Daniel is a professional Bladesmithing and the owner of 4D Blades where he designs and makes functional works of art for outdoors men and women. He is also an accomplished public speaker and storyteller and is often sought out to make presentations to local groups On traditional skills and alternative education. Daniel has always felt a strong connection to nature and has been exploring from his childhood inspired by the stories of his ancestors, the Native Americans, and the frontiers men and women of the past. In his free time you can find Daniel roaming and foraging in the mountains and canyons of the mountain states researching and taking pictures for his book “the Bushcrafter’s Guide to Useful Plants of the Mountain States“. 
Tom Elpel
Tom is the Director at Outdoor Wilderness Living School (OWLS), the publisher at HOPS Press and author of several books, and Founder at Green University, LLC. He has a broad skillset that ranges from practical botany to making and paddling dugout canoes and homesteading. His classes are sure to be as entertaining as they are informative. He also maintains a website where you can learn more about all he does at www.hollowtop.com 
Kellie Van Leuven
My name is Kellie, I have always felt a deep connection with being outdoors and a need for deeper, more meaningful, connections with people and the gatherings have provided that and so much more. I grew up as one of the wild neighbor kids running around at Rabbit Stick starting when I was 4yrs old and haven't missed a year since. I look forward to the several gatherings I go to every year for the vast wealth of knowledge I get to learn from others as well as making new connections. I like to paint, work on projects with my sister, usually out of recycled garbage she scanvanges, camping, riding my horses, and going on spontaneous adventures with my kids. I look forward to making new connections and going more knowledge at BTR this year. 
Kerr McCarthy
Kerr has spent a lifetime involved with natural living and ancestral skills. She is a skilled tailor of buckskin clothing and will likely be teaching that skill to others. 
Chris Wujek*
Chris is a nomadic herdsman who lives close to the earth and with his eclectic flock of livestock year-round. He is skilled with animal husbandry, packing, walking, butchering and much more. As you can see he is outstanding in the field. In camp you can often see him leading "goat walks" with as many children following as other animals as they go to water and food sources and learn to lead. 
Christy Whitmore Swenson
Christy grew up learning ancestral skills from some of the living masters of the last century, several who have passed on, and she is doing what she can to preserve those skills and pass them on to the next generation. If we are fortunate she can teach us some of the things she learned from the late Jim Riggs, Paul Campbell, Mike Powell and others. 
Mandy Farneman*
Mandolin or “Mandy” has been attending gatherings since she was 6 months old. Though she is still very young, going from student to teacher has been a lifelong journey aided by many primitive skills mentors. Mandy has experience and knowledge in many skills but particularly focuses on archery. Throughout high school, Mandy competed in archery tournaments winning 4th in Washington State. She now instructs on the techniques she’s learned at various gatherings including Rabbitstick. She is also an avid fiber artist and jewelry worker and enjoys sharing those skills as well. 
MICHAEL “SKEETER” PILARSKI
Founder and Director of Friends of the Trees Society, is a life-long student of plants and earth repair. His farming career started in 2nd grade and his organic farming career began in 1972 at age 25. Michael founded Friends of the Trees Society in 1978 and took his first permaculture design course in 1982. Since 1988 he has taught 36 permaculture design courses in the US and abroad. His specialties include earth repair, agriculture, seed collecting, nursery sales, tree planting, fruit picking, permaculture, agroforestry, forestry, ethnobotany, medicinal herb growing, hoeing and wildcrafting. He has hands-on experience with over 1000 species of plants. He is a prolific gathering organizer and likes group singing. 
Carley Schwoerer
Carley has been teaching primitive living skills since graduating Alderleaf Wilderness College in 2016. As a founding member of the Regeneration Institute and Ferry County Wilderness Skills, Carley has been developing a wilderness skills education and demonstration center and curriculum for future primitive skills classes. She has been living off-grid in the PNW since 2018. She practices sustainable design, organic farming, bushcrafting and devotes her time to honing her naturalist skills. She enjoys flintknapping, hide tanning and creating custom outdoor gear for her business Carley Rabbit. Carley has been studying as an apprentice falconer, volunteering with the Kettle River Raptor Center as part of the rescue team and working with her Red-tailed hawk, Kona. 
Ean Anderson*
From a young age to adulthood Ean has lived at an off-grid homestead where he grew up with had no power and their family even had to hand dig their own well for water. He lives at the moment in a 100+ year old homestead surrounded by forests with limited neighbors not far from where he grew up at. Growing up off grid Ean’s family had to; grow food in a garden, harvest wild game, raise animals for meat and income, milk goats, and forage for mushrooms and edibles in the surrounding forest. He learned bushcraft and survival techniques from his father and then on his own. He spends many months a year in the woods living, practicing, and honing his survival skills. He has spent considerable time traveling the US from Alaska’s Bering Sea to the Florda panhandle and from Washington’s Pacific Northwest to South Carolina’s swamps. He has also traveled the world working and visiting many countries where he honed his skills in many different types of terrain and climates, from the tropical islands of Diego Garcia, Guam, Saipan to the mountains of South Korea and many places in between. He started teaching at the gatherings 4 years ago and attends as many as he can when he is not overseas. He has a passion for helping others in need and teaching valuable survival skills. 
Renee Rink
Renee is a member of the Northwest Colonial Reenactors Association and loves living in the Northwest with her family. She has been actively attending the Northwest Colonial Festival for the last 4 years and other events in the area, as well as her own North Idaho Colonial Encampment. She is a licensed Cosmetologist and uses her knowledge to give 18th century hair demonstrations at events as well as daily living demonstrations. She also loves to sew and create ladies caps and hair products to sell at events. She also portrays Sarah (Sally) Franklin Bache, daughter of Benjamin Franklin and Deborah Read. Sarah was just 33 years old when the Revolutionary War started. She was proud Patriot and active member of the Ladies of Philadelphia in which with her participation, over 2000 shirts were sewn for the Continental Army men. Sarah was also a charming hostess for her father's foreign dignitaries in their home in Philadelphia. 
Clark Patton*
Clark has been teaching and mentoring in primitive skills since 2008. During that time, he has worked and trained with the PAST Skills Wilderness School, and had the pleasure of working formally with the Kootenai, Salish, and Apache tribes in cultural preservation. His experience as a head instructor in wilderness therapy inspired him to pursue training in effective methods of healing. Now, he runs a private practice as a clinical hypnotherapist, and also teaches survival and naturalist skills at the ENDVR / Aspire / Learning With Meaning school in Missoula, Montana. Clark has developed an avid passion for the sacred hunt with all primitive equipment, and uses these skills to put food on the table. 
Joshua Enyart
Joshua is a former Army Ranger and Green Beret turned Wilderness Skills Instructor. He teaches Wilderness Skills, Bushcraft, Primitive Skills, Preparedness, Wilderness Medical, and Tactical Skills across the United States to civilians, military, and law enforcement. He is the Founder and Lead Instructor for the Gray Bearded Green Beret LLC and Gray Beard Media. He is also the author of Surviving the Wild, his debut book that focuses on foundational Wilderness Skills. He is featured in several films including Into the Woods, Wilderness Medical, Into the Ozarks, Green Berets No Nonsense Bug Out, and Into the Winter. Joshua is a seasoned instructor with nearly 30 years of teaching experience. His teaching career started in the military and private military contracting where he completed multiple Instructor Training Courses. He was a member of two units within Army Special Operations Command, and later served as an Instructor for both the Air Force Special Operations Command, and the Marine Corps Special Operations Command prior to exiting service altogether to focus in teaching civilians critical skills. 
Leif Swenson*
Leif has been an Air Force Survival (S.E.R.E.) Instructor and primitive skills practitioner for close to 20 years. He has instructed in the mountains of Northeast Washington building shelters, practicing friction fire, plant identification, improvising, and procuring game through primitive means as well as experiencing multiple military courses in all global environments. He likes to concentrate his time with bow building, hunting, ancestral skills, woodworking, and metalworking. Join me this year for our bow making class and bring home a fun, efficient weapon! - YouTube – Survival School House 
Kale Shillig
I'm a mom of two littles living in Utah. I enjoy teaching and learning through movement. My formal education is in Exercise Science and Outdoor Recreation. During my spare time, I like to cycle, read, and cook. I enjoy the peace and pace the outdoors brings. "Unlike television, nature does not steal time; it amplifies it." -Richard Louv, Last Child in the Woods 
Katie Rose*
My name is Katie Rose. I am a woman rooted in body and earth. Deeply connected to the elements of nature. Inspired by this beautiful earth, folk traditions, ancient symbols, ancestry, and the power of the heart. I weave this inspiration into seed bead jewelry, creating wearable talismanic adornments. 
Rain
Rain attended his first skills gathering in 2016, and fell in love with the community and felt right at home. Since then he has frequented many of the gatherings each year and has devoted much of his life focus to cultivating proficiency in the ancestral life ways. He is especially passionate about hide tanning, weaving/basketry, and bow building. Though relatively new to the role of instructor, he's excited to be sharing what he knows. If he's not at hide camp, you might find him playing music around the fire! 
Carolyn Wagner*
Shown here in 1855 period dress for interpreting history at Fort Nisqually Living History Museum, Carolyn has a passion for traditional hand crafts of fabric, yarn and thread and loves teaching these skills to others. The history of cloth, garments, and useful textiles is woven throughout human history and has shaped who we are, where we can travel and has knit far flung communities together by trade. This year at Between the Rivers, she is offering the opportunity to make a “hussif” (also known as a housewife) and teach the history/ context of this very old style of portable sewing repair kit. She also plans to offer a series of basic sewing/ repair skills essential to self sufficiency. A family practice nurse and accomplished textile artist, Carolyn likes making things by hand that are useful and beautiful. When not in her Olympia quilt studio, she enjoys exploring the wilderness coastlines of BC by sea kayak. 
Alisha Nielsen*
Alisha grew up in the sticks of Hibbard Idaho where she spent many hours exploring and developing a deep love for nature. She has attended many gatherings throughout the years where she enjoys weaving, felting, brain tanning and most recently has decided to delve into flint knapping. “The best part is returning to the community of open minded and kind-hearted people… it's like a big family reunion.” She will be helping out at kids camp this year and is looking forward to helping to keep traditions alive." 
Lynx Vilden
Lynx has traveled, explored, and researched the nature and traditional cultures of arctic, mountain, and desert regions from Hudson Bay to the Kalahari Desert. She emerged from her first sweat lodge ceremony in 1989 with the realization of the calling back to the Earth, learning, sharing, and teaching the old ways. She has been practicing and teaching primitive living skills with passion both in the US and in Europe since 1991. Instructor at Boulder Outdoor Survival School in Utah for several years she has taught workshops at primitive skills gatherings, including Rabbitstick and Winter Count. She's contributed regularly to the American publication Bulletin of Primitive Technology. She's lived in a Sami village in Scandinavia and has lived and studied in the desert Southwest of Arizona and New Mexico, the Rocky Mountains of Montana, and the North Cascades of Washington. In 2001 she started the Four Seasons Prehistoric Projects program dedicated to sharing the ancient skills of primitive living. Lynx teaches all Living Wild classes with the assistance of many fine instructors and past students. 
Drew Dunn
I'm Drew and I have a passion for making Native American style flutes, I've been creating flutes from wild elderberry wood for the last three years and am about to expand to other kinds of hollow woods like bamboo, and rivercane. I have a deep respect for Native American culture and am excited to share with you the history of flutes, the lore, and how to make your very own out of one of the most iconic native plants on our continent, the blue elderberry. 
Kyle Thomson*
Kyle is a modern-day minimalist and wilderness enthusiast whose life is deeply rooted in the timeless skills of living off the land. Raised in a way that emphasized self-reliance, simplicity, and a deep respect for nature, Kyle developed a fascination with the ways mountain men and Native Americans thrived in the vast, untamed wilderness of America. This passion grew into a lifelong pursuit of understanding and practicing the skills that once defined their way of life. Kyle’s outdoor adventures are anything but ordinary. Armed with a blanket pack and only the bare essentials, he explores both desert and mountain terrains, putting his knowledge and resilience to the test. For Kyle, the wilderness is more than a place to visit; it’s a classroom, a proving ground, and a source of profound connection to the natural world. Kyle’s expertise comes not from theory but from years of “dirt time” and field experience. He has spent countless hours honing his skills in fire-making, shelter-building, tool-crafting, and other essential techniques, refining them through real-world practice. His approach to living minimally in nature isn’t just about survival—it’s about thriving with a deep understanding of what the land provides. Through his Pathway Program, Kyle teaches others how to embrace the wilderness with the same minimalist philosophy, instilling confidence and competence in his students. His teaching and personal practice are driven by a desire to preserve and pass on the wisdom of the past while inspiring others to find fulfillment in the simplicity and challenges of the wild. This book is the culmination of Kyle’s journey—a guide born from his passion, experience, and commitment to living a life that is connected to nature, shaped by resourcefulness, and inspired by the traditions of those who came before us. WEBSITE: www.wildernesswildsurvivalschool.com FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/share/18hxA9BpHB/ INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/wilderness_wild_survival?igsh=cDByYjVpcGFrcmdr TIK TOK https://www.tiktok.com/@wilderness.wild.survival?_t=ZP-8tYsL8cuKvW&_r=1 
Annie Bernauer*
Bernauer is a Master Naturalist, Master Gardener and Mental Health Therapist with a focus on alternative approaches to therapy such as nature based and equine therapy. She grew up running wild in the forest behind her family’s rural farmhouse swinging from vines in the trees, playing in the creek and catching fish for her family’s dinner. She was taught by three generations of women in her family how to can and preserve food, cook from scratch, nurture plants to grow, create with sewing/weaving, and live a simple, meaningful life. Annie’s latest crafting adventures have been learning how to naturally bark tan deer hides, hair on sheep hides and fish skins. Her current creative passion has been sewing unique bark tan skirts and creating bark tan earrings. Annie is passionate about all things homesteading, nature connection, being a lifelong learner, helping others, sharing her knowledge/skills through teaching and contributing to the greater good in our world. Over a decade ago, Annie created the website Montanahomesteader.com where she writes about her family’s adventures in modern day homesteading. In addition to her website, Annie teaches various homesteading topics in person as well as international online venues. Annie is also an instructor at the homeschool forest school where her children run wild with friends learning a wide variety of ancestral skills, handcrafts and nature connection. When not immersed in homeschool or homestead projects, Annie can be found spending time with her herd of therapy horses, throwing Atlatl, bird watching, foraging, playing in the creek on her homestead, and enjoying the daily simple gifts in life of watching the sunrise/sunset/stargazing and howling at the full moon with her kids and dogs. |
Kandis Larson*
Kandis currently lives in Colbert, WA and is one of our local primitive skills practitioners and outdoor living enthusiasts. She has picked leatherwork and beadwork from her many talents and skills to share with us at the gathering.
When she is not at a gathering you can often find her riding her mountain bike, or just chilling in her hand-crafted cabin Cat Farneman
Cat is a well-known herbalist and wild medicine specialist. She has been teaching herbal medicine at gatherings since 1997, and she will guide you through holistic processes of finding and choosing your herbs and learning to make appropriate medicines that are tailor made for your body. Check out her wares on her website here.
Bob Kitch
Bob Kitch is well known around the country for his skill in making and using the ancient weapons system of the Atlatl and Dart. Many have made an Atlatl with Bob and learned to use the technology that brought down the mammoth, and that was still in use until nearly modern times. This weapon has seen a resurgence in popularity in recent times. Bob will be in charge of the ISAC World Atlatl competition at BtR.
Kamber Farneman*
Shown here teaching a class in the technology of writing, Kamber loves the unique bits of human history that many take for granted. In her classes you will not only learn skills, you will learn the historical context that surrounds that skill and brings it to life. At Between the Rivers she plans to teach her Technology of Writing class which includes learning to make quill pens and write with them. Kamber also has an antiques and vintage store in Chewelah, WA called Black Sheep Vintage - follow her on facebook here.
Gayle Kitch
Gayle is a long-time enthusiast and fine human being at primitive skills gatherings around the West. A resident of Washington State, she will be at Between the Rivers Gathering this year teaching students the art of beadwork.
Rosemary Wells
Rosemary is accomplished in a myriad of primitive skills and simple living. She has a Master's degree in Clinical Social Work, but at the gathering she will teach Felting (felt-making) from natural wool, and maple tree tapping and syrup making as taught to her by her grandfather from Nova Scotia. She also teaches spinning, food preservation and natural yeast breads.
Emil Daily*
Emil is an avid gardener and homesteader, and has a host of other skills including how to sharpen and use crosscut saws, how to make candles , soap, and more.
Kirby Records*
Kirby is the Man in Buckskin! He is also a man of many skills, including flintknapping, bow making, leather tanning and use, and more. He is also the author of the young-adult novel, "Grandfather's Cave." This year he will be teaching the art of leather tooling, and he will often be heard singing and playing the guitar. Kirby's literary works and projects can be seen here.
Leah Palmer*
Leah grew up off-grid and after leaving home, finishing college, and starting a family, has returned to a simpler way of life (mixed with some modern conveniences). Leah has a love for gardening and self sufficiency. She is our kitchen manager, and one of the essential staff that keeps BtR running. 
Cassie Faggion
Hailing from North Idaho, Cassie has been learning and teaching skills and nature awareness to all ages for over a decade. When she's not out chasing down that mystery bird song, or hunting whatever herbs are in season, she loves to weave. This year, she will be teaching Adirondack-style pack basket making. 
Mick Robins
Mick is a retired archaeologist and resides in Southwest Washington with his family. He has a passion for modern homesteading, country crafts, and living history. He volunteers at the carpentry shop in Fort Vancouver, (a reconstructed Hudson's Bay trading post), and has taught several classes in bowl turning on a pole lathe. In addition to woodworking Mick has skills in tin and copper smithing. He plans to teach tinsmithing at this year’s gathering. 
Todd Isaac*
Todd is a Hunter/Gatherer who loves the great outdoors. I hang my hat in Northeastern Wa. I enjoy spending time with family and friends, organic gardening, self sufficiency, angling, traditional archery, and practicing primitive skills. He is one of the core staff that keeps the camp running each year! 
Jessica Spurr *
I am a mother, wildcrafter, herbalist, permaculturist, teacher and owner of Earthly Apothecary LLC. I am a board member of the Four Seasons Herbal Guild, our Spokane Herbalist Without Borders Chapter, and I co lead the annual fundraiser the Spokane Herbal Faire. I have been studying plants and their relationships to human bodies and surrounding Nature since 2012. Back then my mom called them, "Jessica's Potion" and the jars were eyed skeptically, today I create tincture formulas, simples, salves, elixirs, syrups, honeys, pastilles, bitters, teas, fire cider and all sorts of other goodies. Come join me for a plant walk, a medicine making class or just come by for books and conversation, there is so much to learn. My hope is that sharing knowledge of plants and the natural world will connect you to Nature in a new way, empower you to improve your quality of life with plants and help the herbalist in everyone wake up, so that there is one of us in every household. 
Rene' Nolting
Rene' (skeleton lady), has 10 years’ worth of experience in Industrial EMS working in remote locations. She currently resides in Leduc, Alberta, Canada. She is a long time participant in gathering and survival courses, and this year she will be teaching silversmithing, casting molten copper and weaving hemp jewelry at Between the Rivers Gathering. 
Rod Dotson
Rod has been practicing ancestral skills since he was very young, and he is a highly skilled primitive technologist in many areas including flintknapping, stonework, tool making, primitive pottery, and blacksmithing, to name a few. He currently lives in Boise, ID. He will be teaching primitive pottery at this year's gathering. 
Vicki Hillstrom
Vicki learned felt making from Jack Fee over 7 years ago while apprenticing with him for 5 months, and since she has taught felting at Acorn, Elements, Saskatoon, Buckeye, Echoes in Time, Rabbitstick, and Wintercount gatherings, and she holds workshops in felting everywhere. She will be one of our felting instructors this year at Between the Rivers. 
Katie Russell
Katie is a driving force in primitive skills in the Northwest. She is instrumental in making Saskatoon Circle happen every year in September in the Methow Valley, WA. For the past few years she has led Buffalo Bridge in Montana helping traditional hunters to process their kills. She has also spent time teaching people on the Nez Pierce reservation how to make brain tanned buckskin. Katie has a diverse skill set, and we are thrilled that she plans to share some of it with us at this year's gathering! 
Hari Heath*
Hari, a longtime primitive enthusiast, is coming from Santa, Idaho where he lives and works in the woods. He will be teaching paddle carving and making diddley bows, a primitive musical instrument from the plantations. He will also share in the Scottish Highland fun. 
John Huffstutter*
John Huffstutter's Quailside Forge in Chewelah, WA grew from his passion for making "stuff." A change of careers gave him the opportunity to turn an eclectic collection of interests and hobbies into a focused avocation. He has now been blacksmithing for more than ten years, with a focus on traditional styles and methods. He blends smithing with woodworking and his other hobbies to produce attractive and functional items. Blacksmithing is physical, mental, creative and fun... come learn how to use an anvil, a hammer, and a fire to make metal bend to your will. 
Hilary & Jed Petterson*
Hilary and Jed live off-grid in the forests of Northern Idaho and are both passionate about a variety of primitive living and homestead skills. Jed is a natural builder and craftsman and will be primarily offering classes on primitive shelters and backwoods building skills. Hilary has been teaching primitive skills for the last decade and this year at Between the Rivers will be teaching how to make a variety of primitive containers from bark to buckskin. Pete & Kerri
Pete and Kerri became involved in the traditional skills world while being trail staff at Anasazi Foundation. Pete is a certified in Permaculture, he had studied Western Herbology for many years, has taught traditional woodworking in a middle/elementary school, he is a treasure hunter, he has also been a farmer, and is a proud papa to four boys. Kerri loves long walks on the beach and a good reads, between providing and making home for five boys, that number includes her husband. 
Peter Michael Bauer
is a student and teacher of ancestral technology, specializing in basketry, bone tools, and friction fire. He is the organizer of Echoes in Time, Oregon's oldest ancestral skills gathering. He is the director of Rewild, Portland. 
Barnes*
Barnes will be at Between the Rivers this year just being Barnes, and everything that entails. 
Randy Breewsma
is the power behind Karamat Wilderness Ways’ in Canada, and has been to and instructed at Rabbitstick, Wintercount, Winter Camping Symposium, Rat Root, Northern Lights primitive skills gathering, Sundog, Frostbite, and Junior Forest Wardens gatherings. He is currently spearheading the Global Bushcraft Symposium in June of 2019. 
Callie Russell
Callie has been on the trail and teaching primitive skills for many years. As far as we know, she and Katie are not related, but they like a lot of the same things. Callie plans to share her knowledge of whole-shoot basketry, rice processing, and wild edibles! 
Justin and Kylie Schramm*
The Schramms are our resident Highland Gamers. They have competed for nearly 6 years and love introducing the sport to everyone. Justin was mentored by Patrick for many years and through him learned the love for the outdoors. He owns a woodshop and is an engineer by trade, working specifically with 3D printing and modeling. Kylee spent much of her youth camping and backpacking. She's also a former massage therapist who enjoys teaching bodywork at the gathering. These two have 3 small children; Runa, Thatcher and Freya. 
James Turner*
James has spent over 20 years learning and practicing ancient living skills. From an early age he loved the simplicity and peacefulness of spending time in nature. He currently is a Jr. High history teacher in the Spokane area. He holds a Master’s degree in Outdoor Education and has a passion to connect young and old with the never ending adventure that follows those individuals that seek a relationship with nature. He has worked as a backpacking guide in Yosemite N.P., taught survival skills at various events and programs and has been invited to lecture at different venues on topics ranging from primitive skills to cast iron cooking. He is a top ranked Atlatl thrower and some of his other specialties include brain tanning, friction fire, wool blankets, vintage cast iron identification and bird language. 
Adam Hardy
Adam hails from Rexburg Idaho, just a few miles from the site of Rabbistick. When he’s not making pottery or books or fire or spoons or building houses, he’s studying as an art student at Utah State. He fell in love with the quiet elegance of primitive skills while walking with the Anasazi Foundation, but has always had an incessant curiosity about the natural world. This will be his first year at BTR. 
Paul Wright
Paul has been an avid outdoorsman all his life. Spending most of his life in Southeast Idaho and Bear Lake County he gained an appreciation for all things in Nature and a close relationship to Native American Traditions. He has experienced much in life, as an avid hunter and outdoorsman. He was a hunting guide and worked in taxidermy for several years. Due in his interest in History and Culture he was the President of the Upper Snake River Valley historical society and served on the board for 5 years. His interest in the art of Flint Knapping began when he met Dave Wescott and started attending the Rabbit Stick gatherings in 1995. Since then he has honed his skills and freely shared his experience with those around him. His work can be found all over the west in stores and homes. He has an affinity for working with Stones, as he would say “I like to play with Rocks” and has produced some beautiful work with Fire Opals from the mine in Spencer, Idaho. He has developed the skill of wire wrapping stones and jewelry, as well as setting his stones in silver and gold for rings, earrings, pendants, etc. His magnetic personality and jovial persona draw others to him in a very natural way. He has the “gift of gab” as some would say, and is a great person to get to know around a fire. He and his brother Scott open their camp to anyone to join in an evening of conversation and music as part of connecting to each other, and inviting others to join. He is affectionately know as “Pauli Lama” because of his clear way of seeing and expressing himself. 
Melody Eckroth*
I’ve always been making things. I felt the back to the land movement of the 60’s and 70’s gave me the inspiration and the far flung supportive community to explore alterations to my earlier life. Necessity is a great motivator. I acquired skills in gardening, wildcrafting, basketmaking, sewing, fiber arts for yarn and so on. I’ve lived in Santa, Idaho, Northern Panhandle for the last 42 years enjoying the good life with Jim Croft. Classes I’ll teach: 1) Small cedar bark basket. 2) Splitting roots or using rattan to make a small strainer. 3) Making or reading a grafted pattern to use in a crocheted project. 4) Drop-spinning Wool. 
Paul Wagner*
Paul has a lifelong interest in natural history, wilderness travel, primitive skills. He likes making things by hand that are useful and beautiful. A professional Biologist and an accomplished woodworker, Paul has been practicing blacksmithing for over 20 years. When not at the forge, he enjoys exploring the wilderness coastlines of BC and Alaska by seakayak. 
Uri
Born in 1981, lives with my wonderful wife in Yodfat, Israel. Since I remember myself, I was fascinated by the beauty, power and mystery of nature. hiking, wandering and backpacking was major part of my early life stages. At the age of 16 I became backpacking guide in SPNI (Society Protecting Nature in Israel) During my army service I met "Shomrei Hagan" which is Nature connection organization (founded by Ofer Israeli – tom's brown student) here in Israel. For the first time in my life I felt that there people like me, which means (for that time in my life) that I don't have to spent the rest of my adult life on a lonely Island – away from civilization and that I'm not the only crazy one that is deeply in love with nature! I worked for few years as field ornithologist in SPNI and later as field botanist and ecological surveys coordinator in SPNI. In 2012 I made biggest dream come through: to live fully as hunter-gatherer with my amazing teacher Lynx Vilden. Coming back to Israel from stone age I founded "Avnei Derech" (stones of the path) – Primitive skills gathering, Inspired by Rabittstick. In March 2019 we'll celebrate our 10th gathering! While dream after dream was coming through, I met Bird language and…. My mind was blown away! How come I spent the major part of my life outdoors without understanding what the birds are telling me? Or about me??? I felt in Love and In 2014 I founded "Sfat Hatsiporim" – Bird language Israel. giving workshops and courses about Bird language and deep nature connection. In 2018-9 we have five different year-long programs and another five 3-months courses and may other short event. 
Bryce Wood
Bryce has been studying and sharing his enthusiasm for blade smithing for over twenty years. He brings a unique low tech approach to blacksmithing seldom seen outside of non-affluent countries. Bryce emphasizes the use of hand tools and the virtues of simplicity as he guides students through the process of making a knife. He makes the dubious claim of being primarily self taught, but has studied with renown knife maker Tai Goo as of late. When not writing bios about himself he likes living off-grid, making stuff, walking, dancing, beachcombing, camping and looking at flowers, among other pretty things. 
Eddie Spicer
Eddie lives with his boys in the Idaho panhandle so far north, that if he stands on his gypsy wagon he can see Canada. He lives simply, and there aren't a whole lot of things he can't do. He is a natural story teller, and he can often be found with a guitar in hand. He plans to teach about the tinder fungus and will also have a class on practical knots. He may be talked into teaching other subjects as well if you ask... 
Mikhail Merkurieff
Mikhail is the head mad scientist and inventor at Emberlit Stoves and Merkwares. At BtR 2019 he taught Indonesian Rat Traps. He is also an accomplished illustrator. If you need him, he will be in his laboratory. 
Lori Breeuwsma
Lori is the administrator of Karamat Wilderness Ways in Alberta Canada and also does instruction on the needle arts, natural crafting and some primitive skills. She has been to and instructed at Rabbitstick, Wintercount, Northern Lights Primitive Skills Gathering, Frostbite Winter Camping Symposium, Junior Forest Warden Gatherings and was on the committee for the Global Bushcraft Sympsoium in June of 2019. Randy and Lori also have the Rat Root Rendezvous in August and run 7 day Winter and Summer Wilderness Living Skills/Survival Courses. 
Ken Peek
Ken has been flintknapping for over 25 years and has studied with some amazing master rock breakers including Greg Nunn, Larry Kinsella, Craig Ratzat, John Kiernan and more. He is the creator of the Coyote Hills Knapp-In in Fremont, CA and he has taught classes and demonstrations in flintknapping and lithic technology in many places. Ken will be one of our expert instructors in the knapping pit at BtR. 
Alex Heathen
Alex lives in North Central Washington with his family and community of earth centered kindred. Aside from being a father, chopping wood and carrying water, he is passionate about animal processing and hide tanning, horses and developing his skills as a farrier, playing music and enjoying time in nature. Alex will be teaching an involved class in whole animal processing. 
Mike Tari*
With a passion for nature, ancestral skills, and spiritual traditions, Mike has been practicing and teaching primitive skills for most of his life. In 1989, he started teaching at Rabbitstick; since then, has taught primitive skills and bushcrafting at other gatherings such as, Winter Count, Earth Walk Northwest, Anasazi Boy Scout Explorer Camp, and for some private organizations and the Boy Scouts; he has also co-hosted the Goldendale and Ellensburg Knappins. While Mike’s interest and experience in the primitive skills is extensive, he primarily focuses his teaching on wide variety of friction fire methods, shelter crafting, hide tanning, bow and arrow making, flint knapping, fiber footwear, rawhide painting, and the Try Stick. This year, Mike will be teaching the Mammoth Cave Slipper and the Trystick. The Mammoth Cave Slipper, is a twined slipper based on the original 6,000 year old Mammoth Cave Kentucky Slipper. The Try Stick, as originally taught by Mors Kohansky, will focus on the safe, efficient, and skillful use of the knife, while learning some of the carving techniques and practical applications that may be useful in wilderness living. 
Heidi Lamb Castle, MS
Heidi is a Love Warrior. Her life’s passion is building people up and supporting them through life's challenges. Grief, loss, and abuse are not strangers to Heidi. Experiencing life, knowing death and living each moment curiously has helped her recognize the synchronicity and beauty in all of life’s experiences. Experience has ignited her desire to help others with their own grief, self-compassion, and healing. An outdoor and ancestral skills enthusiast, Heidi brings a childlike curiosity to all she does. She is a lifelong learner, Holds a Master’s degree in Counseling and teaches at the University of Minnesota in Education and Natural Resources. She loves teaching yoga in her spare time. Heidi is a mountain girl from Idaho, she currently hails from the prairie in North Dakota. Her hobbies include writing poetry, blogging, spoon carving, yodeling, singing, basketry, homeschooling, mushroom foraging, and travel. 
Nathan Donnelly
Nathan grew up between the Palouse, Spokane Valley, and the Selkirks, and currently lives in the San Juan Islands. He has been a backcountry professional (ranger, biologist, firefighter, adventurer), homesteader, and recreationalist nearly his entire life. He's taught wilderness living skills for 20 years, as well as permaculture, disaster preparedness, and runs the San Juan County FireWise program. Last winter he spent 72 days surviving on season 6 of History's Alone show where he lost 60# and gained a lot of humility and winter survival experience as the first-ever to rely completely on friction fire in -30f conditions. An avid traditional bow-hunter, kayak fisherman, tracker, and wood crafter, you will likely find something to talk about. Nathan will be teaching Knife and Axe use, How to Make Survival Kits, Disaster Preparedness, and is always ready for a discussion on any survival topic. There's a good chance you can find him for an impromptu lesson at the archery range too. Don't hesitate to say "hi". -Nathan Donnelly, Northwest Resilience 707.820.7645 
Mary Weidl
Mary has been instructing in ancestrals skills for many years and has taught at several gatherings and events throughout the northwest. Mary will be teaching: Lucet braiding Quill pens Inkle weaving Pounded Copper 
Daniel Giddings*
Daniel originally hails from California's North Bay Area. He's a self-confessed general survivalist, and has done everything from firearms/martial arts instruction, EMS and machining to permaculture, wilderness medicine and singing. Though a relatively new instructor in the primitive skills community, he's been coming to Gatherings since 2011. By preference he's usually exploring the Western US by foot, bicycle, car, bus, kayak, etc. He works when necessary in the knife industry as a professional sharpener. At BTR, he'll be running the knife safety and sharpening class (while peddling sharp and shiny things on the side). 
Dakota Shaffer
“I have worked as a wilderness therapy guide for many years and was a survival skills instructor. I have a love for history and learning how folks lived in different times. My passion is 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, these blanket coats were extremely useful in battling the harsh cold of the western frontier. Swing by and I would love to teach you how to make one of these beautiful pieces for yourself!” 
Kelly Magleby
Kelly has been practicing and teaching primitive pottery for 11 years with a focus on the ancient southwest styles. Kelly uses harvested wild clay, organic plant based or mineral paints and pit fires with wood in an Anasazi style trench kiln. Her inspiration comes from the landscape that the materials come from and continue to be part of... as well as the ancient people that were connected to the land and knew it intimately. She believes that when the pots are made with a focus on this connection the vessels become an echo of the landscape as well as a creative expression of the potter who shapes it. Sharing this knowledge and helping people interact with their environment in a healthy and natural way is one of her main goals. Kelly lives in Orem Utah with her two daughters. She travels and teaches at various earth skills gatherings and private classes in the west. She sells her pottery through her website: Www.anasazipottery.net 
Spencer Thayne
Spencer has been involved with the Primitive skills community for 5 years now. He has walked with young walkers in the Arizona desert for Anasazi Foundation since 2018. Last year Spencer helped with Teens Camp at Fire 2 Fire and had a blast getting involved into teaching skills outside of Anasazi for the first time. Spencer loves to make primitive skills an educational and fun environment and is so excited to be able to help with tweens at BtR this year. 
Justin Lunt
I was raised outdoors by a father who lived with nature. I followed suit and soon became enamored with everything that nature provided. Honing my outdoor skills fulfilled many needs of joy, except strong community. When I found primitive skills gatherings it was something that I had been searching for to add to my joy and balance. Now I'm willing to serve the community which has brought me so much joy. What better way to do it than to offer what my father taught me to the youth. 
Erin Garvey
Erin has been a full time nomad for just about three years now after retiring from a seventeen year long dedication to veterinary medicine. She is a proud mother who has shared her deep connection to the Earth with her daughter, but now is the time in her life she able to be brought closer to nature through a nomadic lifestyle. Her interests include the local flora, fauna, and animals native to the areas she travels to and to learn their uses and symbiosis. She has a lifelong passion for growing and preserving her own food and limiting waste and consumption. 
Kenny Furrer
Kenny is a nomadic herdsman who lives simply with his small goat herd, often teaming up with other nomadic shepherds during gatherings and cold months. He is highly skilled in a good many things to do with outdoor living and he will likely be teaching folks how to butcher ethically with little waste. If it's cold you may also see him wearing his massive felted coat. 
David Dye
Born in the Bitterroot Valley, Montana, David's teen years were spent hiking into Idaho via the Bitterroot-Selway wilderness. As a young teen, he devoured Larry Dean Olsen's book Outdoor Survival Skills. A love of tradition and the old ways is in his blood, from his Irish, Scottish and Native American ancestry. An appreciation of the new ways came from his college-educated parents, and his own education, being a licensed psychotherapist, as well as having two doctorate degrees (Transcendental Philosophy & Theology). Eighty pounds and 30+ years ago, he worked in one of the first wilderness therapy programs in Utah. He is a voracious student, of life and death (currently he works with hospice patients). His interests include family activities, ancient spiritual practices, modern philosophy books, martial arts, all things primitive, and the teachings of Epictetus. 
Traolach
Traolach Ó Ríordáin was born in New York to Irish immigrants in 1964. His parents returned to raise their young family in Ireland in 1965 and it was in county Cork that Traolach was brought up. He was educated by the Christian Brothers and at University College Cork, where he graduated with a PhD in modern Irish Language and Literature from the National University of Ireland. Traolach has lived in a number of different parts of the United States over the past twenty years. He has worked construction in Boston, New York and San Francisco, and has taught at University College, Cork, Notre Dame, Carroll College and The University of Montana. He first came to Montana in 1996 to visit Butte, a place he had heard many stories about as young boy growing up in Ireland. He returned to Montana in 2001 at the request of the Montana Gaelic Cultural Society to teach the Irish language at the University of Montana. Since that time he has worked with faculty and administration at UM, with the community in Montana, and with the Irish Government to help establish an Irish Studies program. This program is now the largest west of the Mississippi, offering courses in language, literature, history, music, dance and sports. Traolach is currently the Director of the program. Traolach is married to Erin and has four children: Éamonn; Róisín, Seán and Séadhna. 
Vicki Boynton*
Hello to All!!! I am an herbalist and fiber artist. I was raised in tri-cities, WA. Was raised learning about herbs for food and medicine. I moved my family to White Pass, WA on Mt. Rainier. I taught Silva culture and Horticulture students from Evergreen College in Olympia. WA. Our classes were in the Alpine and Sub-Alpine of Mt Rainier. I also taught thru the WA state Extension Agency. I moved off grid at the base of the carbon glacier where we were told no one could live - - Ha Ha!!! I’m now the retired owner of Cascading herbs and Carbon Canyon hemp & Herb co. We relocated to outside of Kettle Falls where I learned to spin fibers, knit, and weave. We have been off grid for 23 years! Fiber has become a Heart-felt Passion of mine and brings much joy to each day!! 
James (Jaime) Van Lanen
Jaime descends from a family of late 19th century Wyoming homesteaders and was brought up learning much about Paleoindian and Plains Indian history and material culture. He recently spent fourteen years working as a ‘Subsistence Resource Specialist’ for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game traveling all around bush Alaska learning everything about Native American prehistorical and contemporary survival skills in the Far North. For several years Jaime also spent time on-and-off staying with hunter-gatherers in Southeast Asia, South America, and Africa, becoming immersed in a diversity of indigenous lifeways. Jaime has been engaging in primitive skills for two decades and, after over a decade of practice, continues to pursue a wild food subsistence lifestyle from his home in the Wrangell Mountains of Alaska. His favorite activity is semi-nomadic large game hunting. Jaime has an MA in anthropology and is currently writing three different books about hunter-gatherer studies and rewilding. 
Tim Chandler
Tim currently lives in Rathdrum, Idaho. He has been involved in colonial reenactments, including recreating the battles at Yorktown for their 225th anniversary. He’s been with Morgan’s Riflemen (a Rev War reenactment group) for over 20 years, including acting as a Sergeant for the group. He’s been an avid buckskinner and mountain man rendezvous enthusiast for over 30 years. Through all these events, he has been lucky enough to learn from some of the best and picked up many primitive skills. Tim also has his own blacksmith shop and has been smithing for 18 years now. Come by and say Hello – I’m looking forward to meeting you all – sharing and learning from each other new ways to do things the “old ways”. 
Richard Waters
Richard has made his living making yurts for over 10 years through his website CampingYurts.com. He will be teaching “An introduction to Yurts”, it won’t be a yurt making class, but we will be setting up a yurt to show how it all goes together and will discuss the various aspects of structure, parts, materials and construction. Originally from England, he now lives in the high desert of Central Oregon. 
Eric Castle, PhD
Eric is a lifelong learner who thrives on gaining and sharing knowledge with others. His day job is filled with teaching in a formal setting and he really enjoys the outdoor classroom. His desire to learn how humans can live more in harmony with the Earth led him to earn degrees in Conservation Biology, Landscape Architecture, and Earth Systems Science and Policy. After learning about ancestral skills gatherings in 2016 he has expanded this search for harmonizing knowledge within these settings. Eric has taught classes in drawing, charcoal making, and making knife sheaths. He is continually on the search for The One Shoe to Rule them All. A native of the Western US, he now lives in North Dakota, which suits his preference for cool weather just fine. 
Bill Olliphant
As a teen in the late 70’s, Bill and his big brother got ahold of Larry Dean Olsen’s “Outdoor Survival Skills” book, and it changed his life. Even using an electric drill on the spindle, we never did get a friction fire going but I did learn to make cordage out of plant fibers. Since then, many mentors and teachers have shared with me their passion and knowledge of all things “primitive”. A passion of my life has become exploring the question of “how did people used to do this?”. For many years my focus has been in the area of textiles although I realize that the skills are all tightly interrelated. I did end up getting good a fire starting but I believe is really should only be done with a natural fiber cord. 
Lotta Clark
My name is Lotta Clark. I attended my first primitive skills gathering in 2001. It was Rabbitstick and I was hooked! For the next ten years I was a student of all things and learned so much. Basketry, felting, herbal medicine, Flint knapping, cordage, you name it and I have probably taken to class. Around 2011 I started teaching primitive bag making utilizing the lower feet of animals from the knee down. I discovered that I love teaching and I have plenty of students with amazing bags they have made! I am a native of Sweden and I have lived in America since 1993. I live in Coalville with my husband Kent who provides me with all the Buckskin I need! I have bred Cairn Terriers, corn snakes and ball pythons. I am an EMR, a preschool teacher, professional nanny and a beekeeper. I love learning new things and meeting new people 
Carol May*
Carol is a retired college dean who is obsessed with learning and practicing new skills. She is an avid gardener and camper during warmer months, and she spends winters sewing, quilting, knitting, beading, weaving baskets, making various kinds of brooms, and practicing sashiko. 
Keri Mae
Keri is a mama-bear to 3 man-cubs. Miss Frizzle by day and Lorax by night. Pointe-shoe wearing ballerina with perpetually dirty fingernails. Spider lover, heart beam hugger, and novice rock climber. Far too much education, and far too few skills. Precariously straddling the chasm between granola and tech. She loves as loudly as she laughs, and has a knack for making people smile. She is currently the director of the children’s program at Elkhorn founded by Kelly Magelby in Southern Utah. She is excited to bring that same love and passion to the Tween’s program this year at Between the Rivers. Andiamoci! 
Jason Jermain
Born and raised in beautiful southern Oregon, Jason has been living off grid for 15+ years learning and experimenting with all kinds of primitive skills, including yurt building, alternative structures, felting, solar ovens and cookers, water heaters, and other fun older technologies. Wet felting is my passion and what I would like to to share with those interested in an ancient, fun and creative skill that can bring a sense of great achievement by making something that is both functional and artistic I can also share some alternative cooking stoves and techniques for those interested." 
Daniel Baird
Amber St John
I am excited to share my love for the outdoors and curative education with the children at kids camp this year. I have over 25 years of experience working with children of all ages and backgrounds. I am a mother of three, homeschooler, athlete, Waldorf educator, body worker and healer, with a passion for off grid living and raising animals. I spent my childhood in the backcountry of the Northern Sierra Nevadas developing an early love for snowboarding and traveled extensively before spending 15 years on Maui. Surrounded by the remote and pristine wilderness of Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, I now live with my children as stewards on our land in Southern Utah. 
Robin Blankenship*
In 2025, Robin Blankenship celebrates her 35th year as the founder and facilitator at the Earth Knack school in Crestone, CO. Her work has taken her all over the US, Europe, South America and into many indigenous communities to both learn from and teach primitive living skills. She incorporates song, art, literature and most importantly, humor into Earth Knack courses. To her, "If you can teach with humor and not take yourself so seriously, there is no better bridge." Her outdoor career began In 1978, leading horse packing trips into the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness for Adventure Unlimited Ranches, eventually directing their mountaineering program. She began teaching for Larry Olsen’s School of Urban and Wilderness Survival in 1984, the National Outdoor Leadership School and Outward Bound. A woman of many talents, Robin Blankenship is a primitive, survival and outdoor living skills instructor, musician (her CD is called, "My Loincloth Has No Pockets"), home builder, artist,, author, and most importantly a mother. Her books, "How to Play in the Woods", and "Earth Knack Stone Age Skills for the 21st Century", include her own illustrations and are used as guides for many primitive skills courses today. She holds a B.A. in English Literature, a B.S in Education and a minor in Spanish earned at CU Boulder. Check out Earth Knack's website at http://www.earthknack.com 
Seth Larsen*
My name is Seth Larsen. I have been teaching wilderness survival skills since 2017. As a child, I became fascinated with the idea of living using only what nature provides, as all our ancient ancestors did. I have spent over a decade learning and practicing skills needed to not only survive, but thrive without dependence upon modern technology. I have begun teaching at primitive skills gatherings such as Rabbitstick, and have cultivated a large social media following through teaching these skills online. I now teach these skills to help others become more confident in their own abilities in the outdoors, and to help people get in touch with their ancient heritage that we all share. https://sagesmokesurvival.com/ 
Collin Blace*
Collin is a semi-nomad from eastern Washington who has been a Green University student, a marine, and a wanderer of the outer and inner wilderness for nine years. His best teachers have been children, hobos, and birds/squirrels/honeybees, and his best students are usually the ones that appear outside of classes. He will be teaching how to darn and mend clothes this year. 
Anni*
Anni and her family reside in the Pacific Northwest. She is one who wishes for mankind to live again in harmony with nature. She enjoys learning various indigenous skills and loves crafting with natural materials. She sometimes finds it necessary to use man-made materials to deal with man-made problems. For example, she adds synthetic rubber soles and foam insoles to shoes that are used for prolonged walking on city streets. She has been learning to make shoes for her family in the past few years. She has not yet perfected the art of shoe-making but knows enough to help a novice get started. She believes that everyone who wants to have a comfortable pair of shoes can gain the skills to make their own. She has learned her shoe-making by self-studying indigenous shoe patterns, Earthing Moccasin's shoe patterns, reading Sharon Raymond's books and by trial and error. Shoes that fit right are not only good for the health of the feet but for the rest of the body. |
Other Instructors to be added (that need to get me a bio to publish): Myron Cretney, Jim Cannon, Clair Gabriel*, Harmony Cronin, Michelle Warmuth, Devon Smith, Raven Howe*, Daniel Howe*, Monique Wynecoop, Bob & Debbie Tuomala*, Jessica Lynch, Jack Gibson, Bill Delyea*, Brittany Burkhart, Adam Larue, Ray Young*, Digger Crist, Jack Thompson*, Tula Deva, Katherine 'Lady Red' Burnell, Thaddeus Koster, Elling, Shelby Kolar, Susannah Kretzschmar, Samantha Hern, Sam Smith, Rae Harmes, Mandela Van Eden*, Alice Tulloch*, Eleanor Kirby, Austin Hanzelik, Joshua Sage*, Ethan Hickman, Mitch*, Audie Trautman*, Sabina Boehm*, Kathrine Eid Wild*, Bo Earls*, Bruce & Sarah McGlenn*, Wade Garfield*, Eric & Natalie Earl*, Hazel Gabriel*, Eric Sheffield*, Sam Hunzinger*, Aaron & Carola Gutierrez*,
Instructors who have already confirmed attendance - please email Patrick your Bio Info & a photo of yourself for inclusion on the website if you haven't done so already. Thanks!
So, you want to teach at a gathering for Bridges to the Past...
Information for Instructors
It is important for our Instructors to know what to expect and to be prepared for a successful event. It is generally advised that if you have not instructed for us previously, that you attend at least one event as a student participant to get a feel for our events and see if it is a good fit for you. This will also allow us to get to know you and see if you are a good fit for us. Comfort and respect both ways is important to us.
Instructor spaces are limited at this event and are pre-arranged because we are trying to provide a wide array of classes while avoiding too much class subject duplication. We wish to have the basics covered and still have a good variety of subjects & skill levels. Instructors who have taught a subject in previous years will have preference. Please do not show up at the gate with no prior communication with us and expect to be an instructor.
Material Skills from around the globe are the emphasis at this gathering. We believe that awareness is fantastic, and we desire to take people to the next level of competence and confidence in ancestral skills, arts, survival, wilderness and homestead basics, and the fine-arts of outdoor living.
If you are an interested instructor please email Patrick at [email protected] for more info, or call 509-936-1599. We will email or snail mail an instructor packet to you with detailed information. (email preferred) We will confirm your acceptance as an instructor prior to the event start date. You will not be able to show up at the gate and have instructor status without prior contact and approval!
Instructor spaces are limited at this event and are pre-arranged because we are trying to provide a wide array of classes while avoiding too much class subject duplication. We wish to have the basics covered and still have a good variety of subjects & skill levels. Instructors who have taught a subject in previous years will have preference. Please do not show up at the gate with no prior communication with us and expect to be an instructor.
Material Skills from around the globe are the emphasis at this gathering. We believe that awareness is fantastic, and we desire to take people to the next level of competence and confidence in ancestral skills, arts, survival, wilderness and homestead basics, and the fine-arts of outdoor living.
If you are an interested instructor please email Patrick at [email protected] for more info, or call 509-936-1599. We will email or snail mail an instructor packet to you with detailed information. (email preferred) We will confirm your acceptance as an instructor prior to the event start date. You will not be able to show up at the gate and have instructor status without prior contact and approval!
