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We are excited to take you on a field trip to Alderleaf Wilderness College in Monroe, Washington. It’s owned by our good friend Jason and Kerry, who have transformed their property into a farm and school where they teach wilderness survival and permaculture skills. We covered so much on our visit that we will be sharing it in installments. This week learn more about co-founder Jason and what they are all about.

Watch “Field Trip: Alderleaf Part 1” on YouTube >

Julie and Jason became friends in the late 1990s when they both worked at Wilderness Awareness School. Since then Jason has gone on to earn degrees, work as a wildlife biologist, and create a very successful outdoor school. He’s a modest guy, but because of his vast knowledge and experience, he’s even been brought in to consult on TV shows and films, such as Captain Fantastic. In the video Jason gives some of his own background growing up and how he came to co-found Alderleaf Wilderness College. 

Alderleaf Wilderness College has six core focus areas: wilderness survival, edible plants, outdoor leadership, wildlife tracking, naturalist skills, and permaculture. They are one of the only organizations we know of that integrates both wild and domestic living skills. As Jason says, “If you love nature, it makes sense that you will want to live in a way that has a small ecological footprint…And if you love growing your own food and harvesting rain water, and all these sustainable living skills, it makes sense to learn about nature because that will make you better at doing permaculture.”

Jason attributes his lifelong love of nature to early experiences hiking, camping and picking blueberries. As he became a teenager he found wilderness survival books and eventually moved across the country to study with some of the leaders in the field. From there he earned degrees and became a teacher himself, as well as a wildlife biologist.

In addition to being a school, Alderleaf is also a home and farm. We first walked this property with Jason and Kerry back in 2008, when they were considering purchasing it for their school. At that time it was mostly lawn and impenetrable forest. Since then they have transformed it into an ecologically rich farm and natural area. Their project highlights include:

• Food forest

• Bamboo patch

• Annual vegetable garden

• Perennial gardens

• Rotational sheep pasture

• Chicken house and moat

• Cobb oven

• Root cellar

• Outdoor classrooms

• Indoor classroom

• Library

• Houses and cabins

• Composting toilet

• Greenhouses

• Barn

• Swimming hole

• Ponds

• Wildlife corridors

In future installments of this field trip series we will be introducing you to many of these projects and their approach to homesteading, which they call permacutlure. Whatever terms you use to describe it, Jason and Kerry’s work continues to inform and inspire us. We hope that when our homestead grows up, it will be half as cool as theirs. If you’d like to connect with Jason, Kerry, and Alderleaf the best place to start is at their website: Alderleaf Wilderness College.

From there you can:

- Read hundreds of how-to articles

- Sign up for their free monthly newsletter

- Register for In-person classes 

- Learn more about their online course