Ep. 025: Finding Your Tribe with Rewilding Training

The foundations of this rich episode are a conversation with Laura Fairs, the Lead Facilitator and Co-Creator of the Embercombe Rewilding Training. We discuss the history of the training, the key subjects covered in the training and the importance of inclusivity and diversity. It was then our pleasure to host alumni from the 2023 course: Claudia, Olly and Gerry. They share with us their experiences and the power of the community that’s been created.

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Your Hosts:

• Tom Constable: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-constable/
• Chloe Constable: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chloe-constable-24155821b/

Grange Project Contact & Social Media:

• Email: hello@grangeproject.co.uk
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grange.project/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/grangeproject
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GrangeProject
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-constable/

Our Guests:

Laura Fairs is a conservationist, rewilder, facilitator and speaker. She is the co-creator and lead facilitator for the Embercombe Rewilding Training and the co-founder of Devon Wildland, a network of wilder sites and people across the Haldon Hills, Teign Valley and surrounding areas.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-fairs/

The alumni of the 2023 Rewilding Training were:

• Claudia Elliot, who provided comms and media consultancy for organisations and individuals working for social, economic or environmental justice. https://www.linkedin.com/in/claudia-elliot-884b811b/
• Gerry O’Brien, a nature connection specialist who is currently working as a environmental education at forest ranger in the Forest of Dean.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerry-o-brien-51007323/

• Olly

Embercombe Rewilding Training: https://embercombe.org/the-rewilding-training/ Introducing the UK’s first in-depth, blended Rewilding Training. This 9-month learning journey will take you from a curiosity about rewilding to having the confidence, knowledge, skills, ability and contacts to be able to rewild your own site, or another landowner’s.

Listen out for:

[00:00:00] Tom and Chloe briefly introduce the podcast.

[00:02:55] Our guest for today, Laura Fairs, introduces herself and the history of Embercome.

[00:07:45] We talk about why rewilding training at Embercombe and the content of the training.

[00:17:23] We discuss Laura’s perspective on the impact of the course and the power of community.

[00:22:00] Laura reflects on the 2023 course and her hopes for the future.

[00:26:22] We move to the second half of the episode, speaking to the alumni of the 2023 Rewilding Training course; they introduce themselves and what led them to Embercombe.

[00:37:00] We discuss the experiences of Olly and Claudia, who joined the Rewilding Training from a non-nature based background.

[00:46:04] Chloe asks the alumni about the impact of the training and the importance of community.

[00:57:06] Chloe and Tom reflect on the interview and what resonated most for them.

Keen for More:

Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm

In Wilding, Isabella Tree tells the story of the ‘Knepp experiment’, a pioneering rewilding project in West Sussex, using free-roaming grazing animals to create new habitats for wildlife. Part gripping memoir, part fascinating account of the ecology of our countryside, Wilding is, above all, an inspiring story of hope.

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/wilding-the-return-of-nature-to-a-british-farm-isabella-tree/942604?ean=9781509805105