Our mission is to cultivate an environment for people to reclaim their roles as caretakers of the earth by sharing earth living skills, developing community, and reawakening our inner wildness.
We are an Earth Skills School on unceded Penobscot land in Blue Hill, ME, offering a variety of programs for adults. Our programs are all nature-based and are designed to give people the tools to return to a deeper relationship with the earth, themselves and their communities.
Environment at the school: We strive to create a culture that is inclusive and accessible to participants with wide range of backgrounds, gender, race, income, etc. We want people to feel safe pushing their edge and empowered to nurture their passions.
Earth skills: All of the wild living skills we integrate into our daily life are sustained by ancient and nurturing land stewarding techniques. These skills awaken ancient parts of us and enable us to develop a more intimate relationship with the earth. There is a certain feeling of wildness and freedom that comes with developing competency in the hard skills like bow drill or foraging and a deeper sense of place when tapping into the softer skills like awareness or bird language. These skills will give you an embodied connection to the land that aligns you with nature in a very deep way.
Developing community: Nature is organized in communities of species called an ecosystem, and since we mimic nature in all her wise ways, community skills are an integral part of what we practice here. We are dedicated to exploring different tools to build deeper connections, navigate conflict in rewarding ways, and cultivate our innate gifts to share with one another. This extends to the non human community all around us; how do we help them thrive? Community is the key to the health and success of nature.
Inner wilderness: Through specially designed activities, you can learn how to move, see, listen, and feel in the same way that wild animals do. Retraining your senses like this allows you to become wild in your own body. When connected to you body and inner wildness, you will start to notice something deeper happening within you while engaging in earth based skills like weaving a basket or tanning a hide. If you use these physical skills to help reflect, guide, awaken certain parts of you that want to be seen, they become a powerful vessel to help you become strongly rooted in yourself and your own special gifts.
Caretaker Role: The caretaker role is behind everything we do at Way of the Earth. We believe humans were designed to play a role in navigating various ecosystems’ development in a way that promotes health and diversity for us and all of our wild kin. We practice earth living skills specific to this bioregion, integrate permaculture, use modern technology when applicable, and mimic nature in the ways we nurture the land. One example of how that may look is thinning over-crowded tree stands and integrating the“waste” into firewood, bark for tanning hides, mulch, mushroom logs, huglemounds, building materials, wildlife habitat, craft materials, animal feed, and more. We are constantly learning, evolving, and remaining curious to how to fully embody what it means to be a steward of the earth.
Hannah Rhea (she/her)
Co-Founder, Immersion Program, Adult Workshops, Youth Programs
The “weeds” in my garden as a teenager first showed me the world of wild edibles and medicinals. I followed the trail of those wise & playful plants out of my garden into the realm of ancestral skills. I studied and worked at various primitive skills school such as Hawk Circle, Flying Deer and Maine Primitive Skills School, teaching both adult and youth programs. I’ve traveled nomadically, sometimes with pack animals, gathering skills in other countries as well attending numerous workshops with knowledgeable instructors here in the United States/Turtle Island. My greatest mentors have been my wild kin and the skills themselves. I have a deeply rooted relationship to hide tanning, wild fiber arts, plants and trees, and the alchemical process of crafting with raw materials directly from the earth. My commitment to relearning how to steward the land through the daily participation of these skills, listening through the feelings in my body, and hard work, has given me the most intimate relationship to the earth I never knew was possible.
Colby Smith (he/him)
Co-Founder, Immersion Program, Adult Workshops, Youth Programs
Living close to the earth, feeling her power and healing abilities has been important to me my whole life. During a 14 day solo survival trip in high school, I realized the vastness of our journey back to the earth. I have studied at various primitive skills schools such as Tom Brown Jr.’s Tracker School and Bear Traks, and later taught at schools such as Maine Primitive Skills School, Earthworks Programs, and the Ecology School. My strongest skills are in shelter design and construction, working with fire and water, permaculture, and animal/wild food processing. I’ve tested and honed my skills during extensive backpacking, sailing, and earth living adventures all over the world. In 2013 I completed my bachelors of science in adventure therapy at Unity College. Through these experiences and in helping design and implement several permaculture projects, I developed an ability to communicate with the land. I am committed to working in service to the earth by helping navigate a way back to resilience and health.
The Land
I am nestled among the coastline of downeast Maine, where the ancient receding glaciers left behind rock, silt and clay deposits along Royal Fern stream. This stream is breeding habitat for brook trout and the blueback herring that love the dark tannic waters, moss and fern covered banks, and a enchanted waterfall upstream that oxygenates the water. A small spring fed creek divides me, carving out abundant riparian habitat, that the river otters are often seen traveling. I am made of northern needle leaf forest with some re-emerging floodplain. The many patches of small spruce stands offer habitat for ruffed grouse and snowshoe hare, and favored hunting grounds for the bobcats that weave through me. The coyotes and three different owl species make up part of the nighttime choir.
Mike DiMauro (he/him) of FoxWalk Adventures
Homeschool Program
Mike is a Registered Maine Guide who spent his early years exploring the woods surrounding his childhood home. After graduating college, he went on to pursue a six-year residential mentoring program with one of the top wilderness skills schools in the country to undergo intense survival, outdoor leadership, and nature facilitation training.
Since 2009 Mike has helped thousands of youth and adults enrich their lives through outdoor experiences. He has worked as a lead instructor for Maine Primitive Skills School (Augusta, ME) and Earth Native Wilderness School (Austin, TX). Mike is also the co-founder of Nature Learning Online.
Nearly a decade ago, Mike embarked on a sailing survival trip, where he brought with him little more than a tarp for shelter. Inspired by the beauty of Maine’s coastal landscape and the abundance of wild foods found in the waters, he promised to return permanently. In 2021, Mike realized his long-time dream, building a forever home in Blue Hill with his partner Amanda.
For Mike, there is little separation between work and play. When not guiding others in the wilderness, he can be found hunting, fishing, woodworking, and furthering his knowledge of ocean ecology.
Ben Knect (he/him)
Custom Programs & Youth Programs
For as long as I can remember I've had a fascination with the natural world. I was privileged to have access to the outdoors growing up in the forests of New York and the tidal zones of Penobscot bay. I sought ways to deepen my connection with the natural world, spending my free time exploring and observing the land and creatures around me. As I grew into adulthood I was left craving mentorship, and seeking a storyline explaining our relationship with the earth. I followed my passions, studying outdoor education at Ithaca College, later completing my bachelors degree in 2019 from The Evergreen State College with a focus on indigenous studies and traditional ecological knowledge and wisdom. This educational experience fueled my passion in learning about our history as humans and how we relate to the earth and all beings. I then found further mentorship at The Way of The Earth School, as a student in their immersion program. In this wonderful program, I further developed my skills in awareness, facilitation, conflict resolution, and group management. As well as technical skills such as friction fire, sensory awareness, animal and plant identification, wood and bone crafting, hide tanning and more. I am excited to be able to provide mentorship and continue to curiously embrace our relationships with the natural world.