Last updated on 11/29/08









 

School Profile
Earth Connection Virginia

Earth Connection is an outdoor school which was founded in March of 1997 by Tim MacWelch.  We are a licensed and insured business in Fauquier County, Virginia, U.S.A.  

We are not the biggest or oldest school teaching primitive skills.  We are however  the most sincere and least cultish school teaching wilderness survival and general primitive technologies in the entire Mid-Atlantic. We are neither New Age, Hippie, Militia or Survivalist.  We have no hidden agenda in our classes.  We are not selling our own brand of religion or spirituality.  Each class teaches what it promises to teach.  We feel that our hands-on courses and personal attention provide the best way to learn primitive technology and outdoor skills.  We're a small school with better service; and we're also leading the way in outdoor skills education by developing and offering ground breaking courses like Edible Plants of each season, Primitive Cooking and Fire Making techniques that you won't see anywhere else.  

Our mission is to teach our students how to be comfortable and feel at home in the wilderness; and to understand the resources and history around them.

Our school teaches modern, historically and prehistorically based skills in a way that makes them relevant to modern people.  We welcome students who are with us to learn skills that will keep them safe in the wilderness and students who are here to learn more about the lives of their  ancestors.


Camp Information

All Virginia classes ( unless otherwise specified ) are held at our woodland camp near Somerville, Virginia.  This rural area is rich in biodiversity, and has been an excellent place for the school's location for the past 5 years.

There will be no electricity, phone or running water at our camp.  There is a solar heated shower for use during warmer weather.  The restroom facility is a simple outhouse.  Parking is close to camp; and students will have access to their vehicles during courses. 


Course Information

All of our courses are designed to offer hands-on instruction and coaching in outdoor skills and primitive technology.  Class size is always limited to provide a personalized class and plenty of individual attention.

All courses ( unless otherwise specified ) are adult level courses for adult participants, 18 and older.  To join us for a class, we must have your application form and tuition at least 7 days before the first day of the course.  Please go to our registration page for more information and a printable application form.  You can now CHECK FOR LAST MINUTE CANCELLATIONS in our classes, which would provide you with a last minute space in that class.  Please call or email for class openings.

DAILY SCHEDULE - All of our courses are run on a predetermined schedule.  The days are spent learning in our camp, practicing the skills that have just been taught, and doing exercises to reinforce these skills.  On overnight courses,  there is usually a subject or two taught after dinner, and then the rest of the evening is spent around the campfire.  Students are not expected haul water, chop wood or do any other school chores during our courses.  They are only responsible for washing their own dishes and cleaning up after themselves.  However, we always appreciate a little extra help when we need it.

CLASS TIMES -  One day courses run from 9 am to 5 pm.  Our longer courses run from 9 am to about 8 pm on the first day, 8  am to 8 pm during the course, and 8 am to 5 pm on the final day.  A few breaks are also included in each day.

MEALS -  Students will need to provide their own meals for all of our courses, with the exception of the Primitive Cooking course. Drinking water, washing water and snacks will be provided by us for all courses.  There will be a one hour break for meal time at lunch on our one day classes; and a one hour break at breakfast, lunch and dinner on overnight classes.  Our camp is located 30 minutes drive each way from the nearest restaurants, so there isn't enough time during courses for students to go out for meals.  We recommend that students bring food that they can prepare while camping.  Please contact us if you have any questions.  


Staff Information

Tim    Tim MacWelch is the founder and head instructor of Earth Connection School of Wilderness Survival and Ancient Skills. He has been a student of primitive skills for twenty years now, studying wilderness survival and primitive technologies with most of the top schools and instructors in the east. He has also been a teaching assistant and guest instructor for many of his teachers.  He has independently studied Botany, and wild edible plants in particular, for the past decade.  Tim's favorite primitive skill is friction fire.

Tim  also has independently studied Anthropology for the past decade.  Tim has spent time studying the Coastal Algonquin cultures of the Mid-Atlantic and he used this knowledge to construct an authentic Algonquin Long house for the Weems-Botts Museum in Dumfries, Virginia. That exhibit no longer exists, but this knowledge and experience is still proving useful.  

Tim has been professionally teaching wilderness survival and primitive technology since he founded Earth Connection in the spring of 1997.  He has been working with kids through his own youth workshops to schools, church groups, the Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, and other youth groups since 1995.

Hue    Rick "Hue" Hueston is an explorer and naturalist of a different breed.   Class adventures with him are a mixture of blind discovery and carefully thought out instruction.  He uses a self-developed method for teaching that centers on the traditional Native American Medicine Wheel as metaphor.  He is a curious naturalist exploring our natural world with predator vision, awareness and intuition.  For the most part, he is a self-taught and self-effacing person whose chief interests in life has been to break free of society�s current technological paradigm, gain degrees of natural knowledge and slip into nature�s simplicity.  Recently retired from military service, he has personal adventures and professional teaching experience that range the full spectrum of nature�s biomes.  Hueston wants you to explore and learn the skills with him, instead of from him.

Jenn   Jennifer MacWelch has kept this school running since it's beginning.  She built this web site.  She handles many administrative tasks.  For years, she has stayed up to midnight cooking weeds in her kitchen the night before wild plant classes.  And she developed amazing wild plant recipes.  If you are here at the right time of year, you may get to taste her Acorn Pumpkin cake.  This school would not exist without her hard work and patience.  She has given Tim two beautiful daughters, Megan and Kaitlyn, who will hopefully follow in the family footsteps someday. 

Jamey Jamey Hueston has been assisting us for two years now, and bringing us the great outdoors from a woman's perspective (this can be a very testosterone driven "primitive Industry").  She is a great craftsperson in gourd work and a serious camping chef.  Her wild greens quiche can turn even the staunchest " I don't eat quiche" guys into believers!  Jamey is kind and very helpful, even teaching a stubborn old fire making dog like Tim a few new Bow Drill tricks.


Where have you seen us?

In addition to volunteering at many Boy Scout events over the years, Earth Connection has been featured in Conde Nast Traveller Magazine, the Washington Post newspaper and several local publications.  We appeared on the National Geographic Today news program teaching reporter Kristin Whiting how to make a friction fire, and she got it (Jan. 18, 2001).  We have also been featured live on Good Morning America teaching Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and Tony Perkins the Weatherman how to make friction fire with the Bow Drill (Jan. 23, 2001).  We were sponsored by Men's Journal to provide workshops at Camp Jeep 2001 (July 26-28, 2001).  Earth Connection was back again at Camp Jeep 2003 (June 26-28, 2003) sponsored this time by Men's Journal and Rolling Stone Magazine.  We have 3 outdoor videos on MonkeySee.com that you can watch for free any time.


Why do we offer the most reasonably priced classes around?

Because we don't believe in price gouging.  It's that simple.  It shouldn't cost a fortune to learn to rub two sticks together.  We want to put outdoor skills in the hands of everyone.  Maybe your money is limited, or your time is limited.  Not everyone can take off  a week of work (and spend a thousand dollars, too) to go break rocks in the woods.  We run concise, subject specific weekend classes that are respectful of our student's time and money.  Some of our students said that they didn't try us first because they thought we were "too cheap".  They thought that the high dollar classes at big name schools must be better.  They told us that they were sadly disappointed with the expensive classes, and very glad they found us. 

How can the cheapest be the best?  We invite you to come to see for yourself.  2009 will be our 13th year of continuous operation, offering weekend classes every season of every year, and weekly Custom Classes year-round.  Over three quarters of our students are returning students, taking multiple classes with us.  And often, they bring their friends back with them to share their experiences and fun.  Their repeat patronage speaks volumes.
 


Why do we teach this stuff?

In a nut shell, we love the subjects that we teach; and we love teaching. The philosophy of Earth Connection and it's staff is pretty simple - we love nature and history; we want to preserve both; share them with others; and hopefully, inspire our students to do the same.  

Our school's mission is to share the concept that all of our ancestors lived in a similar way.  Everyone's ancestors rubbed sticks to get fire, broke stones to make tools and made homes from the natural materials around them, no matter what culture they lived in or which continent they lived on.  We believe that from this prehistoric common ground, we learn lessons about cultural understanding and harmony today.  Our business plan is to provide you with high quality class content; reasonable and realistic survival strategies; and a safe, enjoyable learning experience. 


What we are

We are living historians and primitive technologists.  We are stewards of the land and the skills of our ancestors who lived close to the land.  We teach how to be a part of the landscape,  and how to preserve it for future generations.  One of the nicest compliments that we ever got from a student was simply - " You guys are exactly what I wanted, a cross between the Sierra Club and my college Anthropology Department."  Mike C. of Washington, D.C. 

Our survival skills do not destroy nature, in fact, we feel it is our duty to preserve nature and the skills of the peoples close to the earth for future generations.  We feel that our future will be positively affected by promoting an understanding of the skills common to all of our  ancestors.  That's how we think and operate.  Moving toward something positive.  And hoping to inspire some fellow travelers to join us on similar paths.  


What we are NOT

We are not a cult.  We are not tree hugging drum thumping hippies.  There is no religious or philosophical agenda at our classes.  We are not "Survivalists" waiting for the BIG ONE to drop.  We are not new age weirdos motivating people through fear like so many outdoor gurus who sell you the illusion of salvation along with the promise of Apocalypse.  We DO NOT believe that the End of the World is coming.  I (Tim) have sat in other school's classes and heard their head person promise me that the world will end in my lifetime, and if I take all of their classes now, my family and I have a 100% chance of surviving.  Well, that was my last visit there.  That's not how we operate, or think.  We're not trying to get you to take our classes through any scare tactics.  Each class stands alone.  We enjoy repeat guests, and we get A LOT of repeat guests, but we are certainly not trying to scam anyone into taking all of our classes.


Why go to Earth Connection courses? 

Earth Connection's courses provide the following valuable benefits to our students.

  • Earth Connection is a small, streamlined business with the ability to provide priceless, lifesaving skills at prices well below our competition.  We try harder and we pour more into our classes that the "Name-Brand Schools".
     

  • The Custom Classes can be scheduled Monday thru Friday - year round, at prices very close to our regular class prices.
     

  • Our curriculum is compartmentalized, to allow you to select and combine the subjects that suit your needs and interests.  Add on a Private Class before or after a regularly scheduled class for a longer training period.
     

  • Even if our students have received extensive survival training, our innovative survival techniques will provide them with additional new survival strategies.  These new skills will give our students even more tactics to survive.
     

  • All of our courses provide students with a written manual on the skills covered in that course, so that everyone has consistent information to study during the course and to review afterward.
     

  • Earth Connection's curriculum is designed to pack many new skills and skill practice time into every class.
    We don't believe in scamming our students with useless filler.  There's no marching around or busywork on our classes.  If you want to go hiking to fill up a day, you can do that yourself for free.  It won't happen on our clock.  We pack into 2 or 3 days the amount that other guys stretch out over a week.  So you cover the same ( or probably much more ) information at a fraction of their cost!
     

  • "The class isn't over when you go home!"  We care about our students and their progress.  The door is always open for further study, for your questions and to help you join the local and global Primitive Skills community.
     

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This site was last updated 11/29/08