08/25/2026
Perfect for those learning California history, experience California’s landscapes through an authentic Indigenous perspective while exploring the plants, history, and traditions that have sustained people for generations.
Join Mentoring Tiny Humans and Alex Osuna from Wildcraft Workshops, a White Mountain Apache (Dzil Ligai Si’án Ndee) educator, herbalist, traditional bowyer, survival skills instructor, horseman, and founder of Wildcraft Explorers, for an immersive outdoor learning experience unlike any other. Born and raised in Southern California, Alex combines a lifetime of traditional Indigenous knowledge, practical wilderness skills, and hands-on teaching experience to help families reconnect with nature in meaningful and practical ways.
More than a nature walk, this course is an invitation to experience the land with reverence, curiosity, and respect. Students will explore native California ecosystems while learning ethical foraging practices, identifying edible and medicinal plants, and discovering how Indigenous communities have developed reciprocal relationships with the natural world through observation, stewardship, and sustainability.
This class also encourages learners to broaden their understanding of Indigenous culture and California history by exploring Indigenous perspectives on life before and after European colonization. Through respectful discussion and hands-on experiences, students will gain a deeper appreciation for the diverse Native peoples who have called California home for thousands of years, recognizing that these lands have long been places of thriving cultures, sophisticated ecological knowledge, and enduring traditions.
Learning extends beyond identification. Students will discover how plants, trees, fibers, and natural materials can become practical tools, nutritious foods, herbal remedies, and handcrafted items using traditional skills that have been passed down through generations and adapted through years of personal practice.
Students will receive their own foraging satchel and field guide and may explore:
● Hiking while developing observation and naturalist skills
● Native California plant identification
● Ethical and sustainable foraging rooted in respect, reciprocity, and conservation
● Traditional ecological knowledge and Indigenous perspectives on caring for the land
● Herbal remedies, teas, tinctures, salves, and natural first aid
● Wild edible foods and seasonal harvesting
● Primitive fire-making techniques
● Traditional food preservation methods, including fruit leather
● Natural soap making
● Arrow making and traditional bow craftsmanship demonstrations
● Basketry, cordage, leatherwork, beadwork, and other traditional crafts
● Environmental stewardship and conservation
● Field journaling, scientific observation, and outdoor inquiry
Drawing upon more than two decades of experience crafting traditional archery equipment, over twelve years working professionally with horses and livestock, years as a trail guide and riding instructor, and a lifelong dedication to herbalism, gardening, and sustainable living, Alex brings practical knowledge that students can apply well beyond the classroom.
At the heart of Wildcraft Explorers is a belief that these skills are meant to strengthen families and communities. Students are encouraged to learn alongside parents, caregivers, siblings, and friends, fostering collaboration, self-reliance, healthy living, and a deeper connection to both one another and the natural world. As families learn to identify native plants, cultivate gardens, forage responsibly, and understand traditional ecological practices, they gain tools that promote resilience, sustainability, and appreciation for the abundance that exists within their local environment.
This course follows a rotating two-week format that combines exploration with application. One week, learners venture outdoors to hike, observe, identify, and ethically forage native plants and materials. The following session transforms those discoveries into hands-on projects, allowing students to create useful items while reinforcing scientific concepts, historical understanding, and traditional knowledge.
Designed specifically for homeschooling families, this interdisciplinary class supports California K–12 educational standards in Life Science, Environmental Principles and Concepts, History–Social Science, Geography, English Language Arts, and Visual and Performing Arts through experiential, project-based learning. Students strengthen critical thinking, observation, communication, scientific inquiry, and historical understanding while cultivating a lifelong respect for the land and the communities that have stewarded it across generations.
Together, Wildcraft Explorers and Mentoring Tiny Humans invite families to slow down, reconnect with nature, honor Indigenous knowledge, and rediscover the value of living in greater harmony with the world around us—one trail, one plant, and one shared experience at a time.
