06/03/2026
A year or so ago I’d reached a bit of a crossroads, not sure which direction to continue forging this path I was on.
In my process of seeking out avenues for connection, I signed my 9-year-old up for a day of Wilderkids Wildercamp. So one day last summer, we packed his lunch and headed to the park to meet up with a group of 15 or so kids of different ages.
We got there early and climbed trees together, tromped around in nature and made little discoveries. As the other kids started to trickle in, M headed out into the group and started a conversation with a new friend who had been a stranger a few moments before. I sat down under a tree and watched.
Angela Wildermuth, the adult facilitator of this space, greeted everyone warmly as they arrived. They chatted briefly and then the kids bustled off to their chosen tasks.
More kids arrived and quickly found their place in this wide open space. Some grabbed potato peelers and started whittling sticks. One started a campaign to get a fire going and quickly had enough followers to bring her idea to fruition. That crew worked together to gather up kindling, prepare the space, assign someone to fire-watching duty, and eventually roast black walnuts.
Another group started turning over logs and collecting the biggest worms they could find. Still another group got out a frisbee and started tossing it around. A 5-year-old wandered up to me and started talking about his morning.
Everyone just seemed to know what to do without being told.
Witnessing all of this unfold from an outside perspective restored my faith in my own path.
I knew that it didn’t always feel like this. There would be moments of chaos, uncertainty, conflicts to navigate. Those moments are valuable too. There was the massive amount of behind the scenes work—insurance, paperwork, marketing, parent communication, waivers, COUNTLESS decisions to make, hiring staff, dealing with weather, managing different needs and personalities….and most importantly, being responsible for EVERYONE’s physical and emotional safety.
But feeling the magic of this particular moment reminded me that it is all worth it.
There seems to be an awful lot in flux these days. I know a lot of amazing people working to build systems that will continue serving human evolution. It’s hard to know what skills will best equip our children to navigate an uncertain future.
I know that I feel compelled to facilitate spaces in which children can experience a flow state in a group setting. Where they have the opportunity to discover their important role in a larger group context. To move through the discomfort, the uncertainty of not-knowing that role at first, and arrive at the solution for themselves. With guidance, but without anyone telling them exactly what to do. From my perspective, this is a very valuable skill that we can help our children develop. It is the underlying aim of so much of what we do at Juniper Root.
This spring, Angela came to Juniper Root and led a 7-week session of Forest Fridays. She guided us around the Juniper Root campus to spaces that I had not yet explored.
On our adventures, we:
-identified hundreds of plant varieties
-learned which were edible, and to always confirm with an adult before eating.
-brewed tea from honey suckle and wood sorel
-whittled sticks to roast food over a fire
-picked up several trash bags worth of garbage from a nearby bioswale
-learned about Native American artifacts from a local expert
-collected countless treasures: wildflowers, mushrooms, skeletons, abandoned wasps nests…
-built dams in the creek
-sawed through some invasive honeysuckle
-discovered a perfect swinging vine
-constructed forts and villages
-scaled and slid down our huge mud slide
-field tripped to a local park…
Most importantly, we created a tiny community and formed fast friends. We figured out how to make decisions as a group and work through any conflicts that arose, learned to communicate our boundaries clearly and respectfully, and discovered where we fit (without shrinking) into the group as a whole.
I am so grateful to have had this opportunity. Thank you.
Another Forest Friday session is in the works for this fall!
Stay tuned for details.
JuniperRootSTL.com
