Who We Are
From the Britannica website:
Craft Guilds were occupational associations that usually comprised all the artisans and craftsmen in a particular branch of industry or commerce.
There were, for instance, guilds of weavers, dyers, and fullers in the wool trade and of masons and architects in the building trade; and there were guilds of painters, metalsmiths, blacksmiths, bakers, butchers, leatherworkers, soapmakers, and so on.
Guilds performed a variety of important functions in the local economy. They established a monopoly of trade in their locality or within a particular branch of industry or commerce; they set and maintained standards for the quality of goods and the integrity of trading practices in that industry.
We are not interested in controlling trade nor commerce. We strive to ensure each of our instructors maintain a level of instructional quality that is unsurpassed in the outdoor education industry.
We want to help our customers and clients feel at peace when considering classes conducted by our instructor-artisans knowing that they are buying the best quality outdoor instruction their money can buy.
We keep the historical benefits of the Guild alive
while stripping away the historical negatives.
OUR PURPOSE
The W.I.S.E. Guild’s purpose is to identify, gather, assist, and grow individuals who share a common interest in wilderness knowledge and want to share it with the world. The areas of interest include but is not limited to:
Wild Camping – Using old skills and natural materials to camp in non-designated campsites.
Ancient Carpentry – Woodworking with chisels, planes, goosewing axes, etc…
Native Skills – Any skill associated with the tribes of the Americas.
Blacksmithing – Metalworking with hammer and anvil.
Knifemaking – Subset of blacksmithing centered around the creation of bladed items.
Ancient Cooking Skills – Using ancient equipment and skills to create tasty meals either in camp or at home.
Brewing – Subset of cooking centered around the creation of fermented or brewed items from mead to beer.
Timber Framing – the creation of buildings using the timber framing method.
Weaving – the creation of woven garments, rope & cordage, and baskets.
Textiles - Subset of weaving involving the creation of fabrics and clothing.
Basketry - Subset of weaving using larger, more woody fibers to make baskets and other such containers.
Woodcarving – the creation of decorative wood carvings.
Bushcraft Notch Carving – Subset of woodcarving centered around the practical application of woodcarving as it applies to wild camping.
And more…
W.I.S.E. Members will participate in classes, events, campouts, and gatherings to promote the W.I.S.E. Guild’s values.
What is WISE?
The qualities below further define how we strive to show up in the world.
We value Nature and our fellow Humans.
We see the development of a close, personal relationship between the Person, Nature, and Society as world changing.
We are inspired to share our knowledge, skills, stories, and thoughts about Nature and natural ways to as many people as we can.
We support those who are on the path of “Teacher”, we are in competition with none but ourselves.
We respect and appreciate nature’s ways.
Each W.I.S.E. instructor is free to develop his or her own curriculum as he/she sees fit.
At the bottom are the names of each instructor and a link to that instructor’s main class list.
What is expected from each W.I.S.E. instructor?
We vet all local and regional wilderness instructors on integrity, professionalism, and heart before joining our Guild.
Being a wilderness instructor is difficult work. We need to be ready to be challenged by any “YouTube hero” at any time.
1. For integrity, our instructor should be consistently working on:
Their curriculum
Their knowledge base
Their skills base
Their presentation skills
Their business
2. For professionalism, instructors should display:
Courteousness
Patience
Authenticity
Creativity
Discipline
3. For heart, the instructor should show a strong desire to share their knowledge and skills with all generations and all walks of life. We determine this through the Interview process.
— Being a WISE instructor is not for everyone —
Who is WISE not for?
To retain an active status, instructors are required to:
Have at least two main curriculums registered with the guild
Have any of the curriculums scheduled at least two times a year
Attend at least two of the other instructors’ classes as an assistant
New instructors will have a provisional active status to work on and develop their unique curriculum with or without the materials provided by WISE.
If a currently active instructor cannot participate in the aforementioned requirements, he or she will be marked as inactive.
Inactive status can be for any reason, there is no negative connotation associated with inactive status.
If an instructor remains inactive for two consecutive years, the instructor will be dropped from the Guild member roster and their unique web page will be set to inactive.
Costs:
1. There is an application fee of $20 and covers their unique web page creation with all the information the instructor requires to be on it. This fee is due at the moment your application is accepted.
2. There is also an annual membership fee of $20 due by the 10th of your second active month
If you think you might be able to make the vetting process, we invite you to get the ball rolling by filling out our
Application Form here.
To keep our group close-knit, we only accept a limited number of applicants each year.
Our Current Guild Members
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Lee Davis "Woodchuck"
“When you respect the old ways, the old ways respect you.“