Firekeepers Spring Village Camp 2024

*** Sold out!***

"Cooee, Cooee, Can you hear the sound of the wind in the eucalyptus trees... is that sound the sound of the wind, or is someone calling me?" (lyrics by Don Spencer)

The time has come to gather around the campfire once again! It’s been too long between stories, wouldn’t you say? So, let’s heed the call of the wild village and return ourselves to the rhythms of the earth. Are you ready for nature connection and wild adventure?! Ready to reweave the threads of belonging, to self, community, and the land? 

Join with us for four days in beautiful bushy surroundings as we explore the wonders of the natural world, practice earth-based crafts and skills, play, rest and rekindle village life. This fire nest is smoking, the embers are a-glow and the countdown is on!! 

We’re so excited to announce our Spring Village Camp Rekindled!

2nd - 5th October 2024

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 thrive in the wild. 

And most importantly – help us rekindle the village fire!

With a massive mycelial gratitude in our hearts for the special humans who’ve brought camp to life over the years, we’re dreaming into all the things we love about our village with a juicy invitation for you all to pick up a thread and help us reweave our threads of connection. 

As always, this is a family friendly, drug and alcohol-free event, and everyone is welcome – from the freshest joeys to the wisest elders – diversity in the forest and the village is what we’re all about! 

For more details on how camp operates, prices, practicalities and the rekindled approach to a community-led camp, head to our website below.

https://www.firekeepers.com.au/event/firekeepers-village-camp/

~Weaving our village – What to expect…~

Village Camp Rekindled is an opportunity to gather once again, sink our roots deep into nature connection and allow the earth to support all aspects of our collective lives. Let us welcome you to the village! 

You’ll arrive with your tent and camping gear to a warm bush welcome and settle into our beautiful surroundings as village life awakens around you. For four days we will explore the natural world around us, create fire without matches, share earth-based skills, play games, share stories around the campfire, laugh and sing, and take a much-needed breath of fresh air.

Each morning, awaken to the gentle, melodic tunes of our morning singers (or earlier to the morning chorus of local birds!) After breakfast, you’ll gather with the whole village for a check-in and a couple of community games before the kids and teens go their separate ways for a morning of play and adventure.

Adults, kids, teens, parents, elders and littlies will all find magic to discover in the village. In the past, villagers have shared all sorts of skills and adventures! They’ve 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. Anything is possible in the village! What will we create together this spring? 

Kids venture into the wild to experience a free-flowing exploration of the surrounding bush with our experienced nature connection mentors. Together the mentors and kids immerse themselves 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.

Teens in our village feel empowered to lean in and co-design their own journey. We’re excited for this emergent adventure as our new community-led approach comes to life. There will be plenty of opportunities for teens to deepen their nature-based skills and exploration, lead and honour rites of passage, weave their energy in with the adult program, or be in service and support to mentor younger kids. In the past our blossoming future adults, and their experienced nature mentors, journeyed further afield on an epic overnight adventure!

Adults will have the opportunity to create their own personal journey of adventure and discovery here in our village. Held by the fabric of our interconnected threads, amongst new friends and old, there’ll be plenty of time and space for sit spots and solo bush adventures, to share and practice earth-based skills and deepen their nature observation and ecological literacy. The archetypal ‘wild child’ will come alive through games, nature play and other spontaneous connective activities. Some folks might 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. 

Little ones who are still ‘in the pouch’ gather together with their parents and other villagers to play and have adventures a little closer to camp. We are sensitive to the fact that the practicalities of camping with a toddler or younger child will probably mean that parents can’t participate fully in the sharing circles and other spontaneous offerings, as parents with older kids can. We want to support these parents to come to camp, immerse themselves in the magic of earth and community and be a valued part of the village. Should you need extra support from the village we’re here to help! We have in the past offered a program specifically to meet the needs of this stage and age of life of our villagers. Perhaps in future as our emergent community-led approach plants its roots deep in the earth the Roo and Joey program will return - perhaps you will be the one to bring your gifts into this space?! 

With our village reunited after adventurous mornings, the afternoons are free-flowing. Villagers play with new friends, practice new skills, share their talents 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 might lend themselves to after-dark bush adventures too, before sleeping close to the earth and waking to the morning chorus again.

For more details on how camp operates, prices, practicalities and the rekindled approach to a community-led camp, head to our website below.

https://www.firekeepers.com.au/event/firekeepers-village-camp/

-Logistics-

Program:

Tickets include a Welcome to Country from a respected Wurrundjeri elder, youth nature connection mentoring and facilitation, morning and evening whole village circles, camping accommodation (with flushing toilets and hot showers!) and hot camp-cooked dinner each night with storytelling and song by the campfire. Want to know more about a typical day at village camp? 

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

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

Separate offerings for adults, such a sharing circle and spontaneous skills share. 

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

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

The kids return to the responsibility of their parents and carers for lunch and an open spacious 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 lunches it’s a good idea to bring your own camp cooking equipment.

Wholesome vegetarian dinners will be provided by Ricky Rickstar and shared around the campfire at the Willum in the evenings. The Willum is a space to share stories from our day full of adventures, sing songs and relax in the atmosphere of the village. After the evening program we will head back to our camps for a restful sleep to prepare for a new day of fun and adventure!

*We are able to cater for vegan, gluten free and dairy free dietary requirements if notified on booking. If this isn’t you, you will need to bring extra food to supplement.

Ticket pricing

As part of dreaming into what a sustainable community-led village camp looks like we have updated the ticketing model to be simpler, clearer - and cheaper!

All tickets for program participants (adults and children) are the same price, with a lower price for joeys (children who are too young to participate in the program).

Prices for this camp are: 

Adult: $430

Child 4+: $430

Joey 3: $170

Joey 0-2: $50

All tickets - including volunteer tickets and joey tickets - include a contribution towards the Village Fund. The Village Fund celebrates the diversity of our community by acknowledging that not all of us have equally abundant access to funds. While some of us are able to support the village, others - including many of the essential volunteers and mentors who make camp possible - need the village's support to be able to gather with us and share their gifts. If this is you, and you need the support of the village, you can enter the code ‘fundme’ at checkout to have the Village Fund discount of $50 per ticket applied. For those finding themselves in a place of abundance, you can also make an additional contribution to the Village Fund at checkout 🌱

Volunteering and Support

Do you love stepping in to share your skills and lend a hand? Do you feel called to mentor our village youngsters in deepening their connection to the more-than-human-world? More than ever, we need your passion and presence to bring this camp back to life! 

If you are excited to jump aboard as a mentor or member of the village support crew, please fill out an expression of interest form by July 31! Follow the link below according to the type of role you are interested in. This is important as it will help us to determine how many tickets we release on Wednesday morning. We can’t wait to see you there!

I am interested in mentoring at a Firekeepers Village Camp. 

I am interested in being on the support crew at a Firekeepers Village Camp.  (Support crew roles include, among others, coordinating one of the village service jobs and first aid coordinator.)

We’re all so excited to be rekindling this fire with you, dear village!

In love and connection, 

The Village Camp Rekindled Organising Team