YURT FOR REWILDING: Building a Warm Learning Space

Help Us Bring the Magic of Nature to Children All Year Round

Hi there! My name is Becky, and I'm the Founder and Co-Director of Rewilding Education Farm & Forest "School." I'd like to share my story about the magic of connecting children to the wonders of nature and the incredible journey I've embarked on.

Our Journey:

In today's world, it's easy to get lost in the overwhelming fear and challenges we face. Many of us have wondered, "But, what can we do!?" We see more problems than solutions, and the problems seem to be growing into major crises.

We believe in a simple yet powerful solution: building strong relationships. Relationships with each other, with nature, and with ourselves.

And here's where our journey began. Rewilding Education was born out of a deep desire to provide a better learning experience for our children and create a space for our community to connect with and learn from nature. Rewilding Education is my lifelong passion project quickly becoming a reality, and what's truly beautiful is that more and more people are embracing this passion project as their own. Kim Keckes, owner of Moondance Organic Gardens, shares my vision of reconnecting our communities to nature, learning about growing food in a sustainable way and together, we are creating a magical space for children and our community to connect, grow, learn, and heal.

For over 20 years, I've worked with children and youth in various settings, including a decade in public and private schools. I couldn't ignore the glaring gap between witnessing how children learn best and the one-size-fits-all models in our current education systems. Children need movement, they need play, they need the freedom to explore their interests, and daily contact with nature. My vision was to create a space that reconnects our community, especially our children, to the natural world through the farms and forests that surround us.

Our Impact:

We know that what we're offering is what children need right now. The growth we've witnessed over the past year confirms that families are seeking unhurried days spent entirely outside, immersed in nature, with supportive, experienced educators guiding and learning alongside them. Research supports this, showing that children need unstructured free play for healthy brain development and ample time outdoors.

In our first year of operation, we provided paid programming including summer day camps, PD Day camps, preschool programs, and our school-aged enrichment "Wildlings Program." We've also hosted field trips for local schools and launched a “Farm to You” initiative to bring farm and forest learning experiences into classrooms. We also host a donate-what-you-can Saturday morning program called "My Grown-up and Me" to create a space for children and their Grown-Ups to come out and spend time connecting, learning and playing together, using the donations from this program, to fund our fee subsidy fund; which we used this past summer to fund 3 children attending our summer camps either free or at a subsidized rate. We ultimately want to help remove the cost of the programs as a barrier and welcome as many children as possible.

Our Winter Challenge:

However, here's where we face a big challenge – the cold and snowy Ontario winter. It's difficult for children to be outdoors all day in these conditions, and we need a warming centre. To address this need, we've decided to bring a Yurt into our programs. We researched so many options for our indoor space and we always felt pulled back to the yurts. Yurts serve as an inspiring example of how human dwellings can coexist in a balanced and sustainable manner with nature. The design of Yurts, perfected over centuries in Mongolia, takes into consideration the harsh Mongolian winter climate which is similar to ours in Canada. An authentic Mongolian Yurt (known as a Ger in Mongolia) is similar to a living organism, hand-made and hand-painted, they are works of art. As Groovy Yurts beautifully describes, they feature felts made of sheep's wool, wood crafted from pine and larch, canvas and cotton blends for both interior and exterior covers, and even horsehair ropes to secure them. They simultaneously provide shelter and warmth for the people and maintain a respectful relationship with the land. A traditional and authentic Mongolian Yurt is a symbol of sustainability and harmony with nature. A Yurt will enable us to continue our programming throughout the winter and provide a safe shelter during adverse weather conditions. In following our solution of building better relationships, and in keeping with the ethos of sustainability in our programs, we have intentionally selected Groovy Yurts, a Canadian company selling authentic exported Mongolian Yurts, as our yurt provider because they also incorporate this philosophy into their business practice.

Why We Need Your Help:

Technically, we could apply for a bank loan to acquire the funds for the Yurt, but we believe in the power of community and people who want to contribute to something positive. We've saved up enough to cover almost half the cost of the Yurt ($20,000), but our goal is to crowdsource the remaining $30,000.

Be Part of the Solution:

We're reaching out with open hearts and hands, asking with humility: would you like to be part of this solution? Your support will make a world of difference. Our ultimate goal is to create a fully-accessible, diverse hub for community engagement with a focus on the outdoors. Your financial assistance will help us take big steps toward achieving this goal.

How You Can Help:

If you can't donate, sharing and promoting this fundraiser will also make a significant impact. Every contribution, whether big or small, brings us closer to our goal. Your support will help us bring the magic of nature to children all year round, allowing them to build a deep connection with the Earth and become innovative adults who care about our environment.

Thank You:

Thank you for taking the time to read our story. We are deeply grateful for your support, and together, we can make a lasting impact on the lives of children and our community. Let's bring the wonders of nature to more children and create a brighter, greener future.

Mongolian Connection:

An added gift of heart and spirit is also part of this mission: a nod to my 2 years living in beautiful Mongolia when I began my teaching career. I personally know how impactful this type of structure is on one's connection to the earth. I experienced the warmth of a yurt (known as a Ger in Mongolian) through every season and this is where I began to unlearn a way of educating that disconnected children from their natural surroundings, where the sparks of Rewilding Education first lit and landed.