It is time to heed the call back to the village, back to the land, to a deep connection to self, others and nature. Are you ready to play and explore in nature, learn and practice earth-based skills and share the magic of stories and songs around the campfire?

Do you hear that familiar call to feel the comfort of being in community around a campfire, to hear kids’ voices trailing through the bush, to relax into conversations with adults and friends old and new?

Are you feeling the call to unwind and reconnect with a beautiful, connective, earthy community?

We are excited to announce our Spring Village Camp!!

Firekeepers are running our first ever 6-day village camp this September. Did you hear that right?! Yes, 6 days!! That’s a whole extra day of games and stories and adventures. A whole extra day of unfurling into connection, a whole extra day for our bodies to sink into the rhythm of the village and of the earth.

~Running from Tuesday 20 September to Sunday 25 September at Gilwell Park Scout Camp in Gembrook~

Rediscover your inner wild.

Come alive with a vibrant community of humans.

Immerse yourself in the wonder and wisdom of nature.

Gather by the campfire and learn earth-based skills.

Watch your kids become more comfortable in the wild.

One wonderful aspect that came out of the challenges of the last few years has been a greater appreciation of the importance of nature, wild spaces, and the simple things, like veggie gardens and birds in our backyards. Camp is an opportunity to deepen into this nature connection, and experience how deeply it can support all aspects of our collective lives.

~Weaving our village – What to expect…~

Arrive to a warm bush welcome and settle into beautiful surroundings as village life awakens around you. Explore the wonders of the natural world, practice earth-based crafts and skills, share stories around the campfire, laugh, sing and relax into the rhythm of the earth. Learn, practice, play, gather, and rest as together we breathe life into the village.

Adults, kids, teens, parents, elders and littlies will all find magic to discover in the village. In the past, villagers have woven baskets from grass fibres, made fire without matches, practised listening to the language of birds, slept out in bush shelters, engaged their senses to follow tracks and signs of life in the wild, played wild games for hours, eco-dyed garments in a bubbling pot over the campfire and shared adventurous stories and songs circles under the stars. What will we create together during these school holidays?

Each morning, awaken to the gentle, melodic tunes of our morning singers (or awaken earlier to the chorus of birds emanating from the surrounding bush!) After breakfast, gather with the whole village before the kids, teens, littlies and adults go their separate ways for a morning of play and adventure.

Kids venture into the bush to experience a free-flowing exploration of the surrounding bush with experienced nature connection mentors. Together the mentors and kids immerse in story and song, play games, follow their curiosity and creativity as they wander and explore, find animal tracks and practice wild skills and crafts. Over the days, they will open into a deep awareness of the wild world as they connect with plants, earth, animals and each other.

Adults choose their own adventure: learning earth-based skills and exploring nature observation and ecological literacy. With the kids off with mentors, there is time for adults to engage in their own playful nature with awareness games and bushcraft activities – this is a chance for your archetypal ‘wild child’ to come alive. Some folks opt for deeply connective adult sharing circles where parents and adults alike are held in a safer space to share how folks are really travelling. A warm and welcoming well-being space catches tired bodies and souls throughout the day, with tea and cushions and rugs a-plenty.

Little ones who are still “in the pouch” gather together with their parents and mentors to play and have adventures a little closer to camp.

Teens are empowered to lean in and co-design their own journey. This may involve deepening their nature-based skills and exploration, epic adventures further afield, leading and honouring rites of passage, weaving their energy in with the adult program, or being in service and supported to mentor younger kids.

This spring camp we are offering our teens a bigger journey. For those who are ready and able, we are planning a 2-night hike away from the village. We will send them off in a good way to go out to have their own adventures and experiences, and then welcome them back to the village to catch the stories and learnings of their journey.

With our village reunited after adventurous mornings, the afternoons are free flowing. Villagers play with new friends, practice their new skills, share their talents with an impromptu workshop or board game or just chill out. Some might wish to head off for a wander or take some quiet time to rest and relax.

As the sun sets, delicious smells waft from our fabulous cooks in the kitchen and with song, hungry villagers gather to share in wholesome home-cooked dinner around the fire. A natural storytelling space opens as the day’s tales of adventure and discovery and laughter bubble up to be shared. When the fire dies down and the stars come out, tuckered-out little ones are sung off as they wander off to their tents. Some nights lend themselves to after-dark bush adventures too, before sleeping close to the earth and waking to the morning chorus again.

-Logistics-

Program:

Tickets include a Welcome to Country from a respected Wurrundjeri elder, nature connection mentoring and facilitation, morning and evening program, camping accommodation (with flushing toilets and hot showers!), workshop materials and hot camp-cooked dinner each night.

Participants need to bring their own tent and camping gear (get in touch if you need some help here).

Morning mentoring program: 8:30 am -12:30 pm

Separate programs for kids, teens, littlies (0-3) and adults

Kids aged 4 and up, and teens go out in small similar-aged groups with experienced nature connection mentors.

Adult program of sharing circles, earth-based skills, nature observation and ecological literacy.

A Roo & Joey program for parents and their children under 4 who are still “in the pouch” they stay closer to camp and go on smaller adventures.

*All of our mentors have Working With Children Checks and we have qualified First Aiders.

The kids return to their parents for lunch and an open space afternoon, with opportunities to contribute to the collective running of the village.

Dinner is served around 6 and an evening program follows.

All members are welcome to participate as much or as little in the activities as they need to feel at home in the village.

Food:

Each villager or family will bring their own breakfast, lunch and snacks. Depending on fire restrictions, there may be some space for campfire cooking, but if you want cooked breakfasts or dinners, it’s a good idea to bring your own camp cooking equipment.

We provide 4 delicious and simple kid-friendly evening meals. Catering for omnivorous, vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and dairy-free dietary requirements – if notified on booking. If you have further dietary requirements, you may need to bring extra food to supplement.

Covid 19:

All villagers will need to have tested negative on a RAT or PCR covid test just prior to travelling to camp. We will be taking extra precautions on camp to keep us all safer during the pandemic.

This will be our first village camp since the end of the covid vaccination mandate. We are glad and relieved to be able to welcome all of our community back together again We also recognise that many people may still feel some hurt, tenderness or uncertainty around all that has unfolded over the last couple of years with covid, lockdowns, vaccination mandates and general upheaval and uncertainty in the broader community. We are also mindful of the risks and ways that the ongoing pandemic is still affecting our community, especially those at highest risk. We welcome all that is alive in each of you and we look forward to finding our feet together again.

Firekeepers’ general Covid Safe Plan and procedures specifically to reduce the risk of Covid on camp, will be available to participants in our welcome email.

Tickets will be released on Wednesday 17 August at 7:30 am. Note this time in your diary as they are likely to sell quickly.

Pricing

To account for the extra day (a whole extra day!!) and higher camping fees at this site, prices for this camp are 20% higher than previous camps. As with our last camps, there are sliding scale and pay-it-forward pricing options available, as well as zip-pay, and invoicing when necessary, eg for using NSID funding, so that folks can contribute from their various financial situations. We are trying tominimise the admin necessary, and if you need us to write you an invoice for the cost of camp, please type in INVOICE, as a discount code, and we will follow that up ASAP. Please get in contact with us for with any further questions and clarifications.

For Spring 2022 Village Camp, regular prices for the various ticket types are as follows- with the pay-what-you-can, through to pay-it-forward range underneath:

Adult $500
(325-950)

Parent/carer $450
(325-850)

Parent/carer coming for part of the week only $300
(200-600)

Elder/senior $0-450 sliding scale
(0-950)

Unaccompanied young person (aged 16+) $450
(325-850)

Child (aged 4-17) $500
(325-950)

Multiple siblings (2) $350 each
(260-950)

Multiple siblings (3) $300 each
(260-950)

Additional siblings $0-200 sliding scale
(0-950)

Younger child (aged 1-3) $250
(150-500)

Babies come for free

SO, some quick maths for you families, using the regular prices:

A one-parent, one younger child constellation = $700

A one-parent, one child constellation = $950

A one-parent, two-child constellation = $1150

A one-parent, three-child constellation = $1350

A two-parent, two-child constellation = $1600

A two-parent, three-child constellation = $1800

Volunteering and Support

Are you keen to join the team as a mentor or member of the village support crew? If so, please fill out an expression of interest form ASAP – follow the links below according to the type of role you would like.

I am interested in mentoring at the Spring Village Camp.

I am interested in being on support crew at the Spring Village Camp. Support crew roles include coordinating one of the village service jobs, wellbeing space holders, first aid coordinator and photographer.

We can't wait to camp out together with you all!

The Firekeepers Village Camp Organising team