Welcome to The Launch of The Forest Educator Podcast!

Today marks the beginning of an idea, a vision, maybe, that began years ago, shortly after I completed The Wolverine Way Summit on Nature Connection. I had recorded about 28 different educators, naturalists, trackers, ecologists, musicians, writers, environmental workers and other visionaries who were working on the front lines to help us learn to walk on this planet with a little more awareness, more compassion, more intelligence and more long term vision. I wanted to know what they were seeing in their own part of the world, and what they were excited about, and worried about and hear their message, as well.

It was a wonderful experience, and it was eye-opening, and mind expanding. It was also a TON of work to both connect with all of these wonderful people, then develop a relationship with them, set up a time to interview them, then figure out the recording process, have a great interview, then edit everything to make it flow correctly, upload it and so much more. I had to build a website for the Summit, then design the graphics for each interview, and I was learning all kinds of new applications, web based platforms.

it was a gauntlet of effort to keep going.

Let's just say that I was a better Tracker than I was a virtual assistant! That's the short version.

I got a lot of really wonderful feedback from this effort, made some incredible new friends and peers, expanded my circle and much more. It gave me a taste of a much larger world.

However, it was not sustainable, because it wasn't something that I charged for, and when my daily routine of nature programming, timber framing and other work here at Hawk Circle began to need attention, I had to step back and roll my sleeves up and try to catch up with fire wood and lots of other tasks.

I really wanted to keep that effort going, and the thought of doing it as a podcast was exciting but I just wasn't able to figure out how to do all of those details and make it work financially. So, it got shelved but never forgotten.

Flash forward to 2022.

I began to connect with people who were experts in audio editing, and making it easy to for show hosts to concentrate on the content and interviews, and they handle a lot of the back end details. It's has taken me the last nine months to get things off the ground, but I'm finally up and rolling, and it's definitely a milestone for me to see this come together.

This show is FOR forest educators, and ABOUT forest educators, in all of their many shapes and sizes.

It's about having conversations that help us to grow as professionals, to explore subjects that usually aren't covered in the typical 'wilderness survival skills workshops' or 'tracking expeditions', and it's about getting to know people from all over the world who are doing amazing things.

I am also doing a deep dive into various topics that are important to program directors, nature leaders, wilderness instructors and educators, through my 'Forest Spotlight' episodes. In each one, I will offer a synopsis of a topic from my own experience, and offer ideas and stories and strategies to help us all begin to think about our work in ways that lead to better practices and positive solutions.

My hope is to bring you all a useful, inspiring and grounded space to explore this vital work, and help us all to move forward towards a new, powerful and healthy Nature Based World.

If you have any questions, or want to suggest a topic or guest to have on the show, please reach out to me via email or social media. I would love to hear how some of these programs 'land', so to speak, and how its helped you, if it has, or where I could add some nuance or new perspectives, as well. I'd really love to get your input, from your part of the world!

And thank you, for all of the work you do to make this happen. I appreciate you!

You can listen to The Forest Educator Podcast on all major Podcast platforms and apps, streaming now.