Your Lead Instructor

LUKE MCLAUGHLIN

Luke is a naturalist, rewilder, a “bro-magnon-man”, and founder of Holistic Survival School (HoSS). Luke has committed his life to mastering and teaching ancestral living skills in order to help people find their balance, health and connection to the Natural World. During his time guiding in wilderness therapy, Luke witnessed how nature connection, community, and trauma informed therapy, helps bring about growth, health, and vitality to everyone’s life.

Luke combines humor, knowledge, and patience to create an easy-going, yet informative experience. With love and compassion Luke meets students where they are at. Additionally, with his training in Holistic Counseling, inner tracking, and personality patterns, Luke loves guiding his students toward greater awareness, compassion and acceptance of themselves and of this world.

Luke is most known for his epic wilderness excursions for the shows “Naked and Afraid” “Naked and Afraid XL” and “Naked and Afraid: Alone”

During his time living off the land, Luke lived the skills and philosophy he teaches. For over 80 days, Luke implemented his philosophies and learned to live in harmony with unfamiliar landscapes. During his time in Namibia, Colombia, and South Africa, he remembered universal truths of living that modern culture has long forgotten. One of his greatest joys is sharing those stories and experiences with people in order to inspire a life rooted in the Earth and the cycles of life.

Assistant Instructor

Michael Ismerio

Michael Ismerio's passion is studying how culture is transferred from one generation to another. In 2008 he attended a program called the Art of Mentoring which catapulted him into the growing Deep Nature Connection movement and focused his work to guiding others on their journey to awareness, authenticity, and connection.  Over the past decade he has dedicated much time and energy into Vermont Art of Mentoring as well as working locally with Forest Floor Wilderness Programs running both youth and adult programs.  In 2017 he co-launched Wild Leaders Immersion, a nine month adult journey into Nature, Culture, and leadership.  Along the way Michael has also taken deep dives into shoemaking, leatherworking, wood working, bird language, and Southern Appalachian traditional music.

Michael's website-   http://michaelismerio.com/

Guest Instructor

Becky Beyer - Blood and Spicebush

I'm Rebecca Beyer, the woman behind the Blood and Spicebush School of Old Craft and one of the women behind the Sassafras School of Appalachian Plantcraft. I live in the mountains of Western North Carolina where I manage a homestead and teach people how to forage wild plants and mushrooms with No Taste Like Home. If I knew as a child that I'd grow up to be a professional forager-witch, I wouldn't have believed it. 

I have a B.S. in Plant and Soil Science from the University of Vermont where I fell in love with growing food. I completed a Masters in Appalachian Studies and Sustainability, concentrating in Appalachian Ethnobotany at Appalachian State University in May 2018. I am also a member of the Association of Foragers. Here is my Curriculum Vitae if you'd like to hire me for a lecture or University presentation. Despite my rough and tumble exterior, I love presenting in an academic setting.

I practice, research and write about Appalachian Folk Magic, Traditional Witchcraft, Primitive Skills, Homesteading, Foraging, Appalachian Ethnobotany and Folk Ways. Together, I call these things Hedgecraft. I've learned many of these things from the amazing teachers at the Earth Skills Rendezvous, my apprenticeship at Wild Abundance in 2011, my friends and mentors in our amazing community in WNC, and my serious collection of books. Listen and learn. There's no time to waste. 

I spend my days trying to learn what my ancestors did and finding ways to share traditional skills while tackling cultural appropriation through practicing and teaching those things which my ancestors would have done as a European ancestored person. I used to say I was born into the wrong time, but hell, I was born exactly when I should have been. If you love Appalachia, traditional ways, wild foods or witchery, welcome home.