EarthWalk – Fairbanks
at Matsinger Forest
EarthWalk learning is a fully immersive experience with the land (ALL outdoors!) and with a small community group of learners. Our year-round programs for children, teens, adults, and elders embrace these principles:
- Learning together with Nature
- Practicing outdoor living skills
- Building caring communities, and
- Nurturing land stewardship
EarthWalk has been inspiring and growing caring communities rooted in nature since 2005.
Matsinger Forest Location: 3072 Thaddeus Stevens Road at the Danville-Peacham town-line. Public Parking. Restroom facility (open May – Nov).
EarthWalk-Fairbanks Site: a short walk into the forest with a rustic shelter and seating area.
Some EarthWalk Learning Activities are: making crafts, foraging wild edibles, listening to birds, sharing gratitude, shelter-building, making a fire, carving a spoon, wading in the brook, nature journaling, basket-weaving, exploring wetlands, singing songs, cooking over the fire, making cordage, finding medicinal plants, wildlife tracking, sharing nature stories, bow-drill fire-making, helping others, stewardship projects, storytelling & more!
Youth Camps & Forest School
With Nature as the primary teacher, and with the support of skillful and caring mentors and elders, children can learn to feel comfortable, joyful and at home in the forest, meadows, and along the waterways. EarthWalk mentors honor each child as a unique learner and valued community member, meeting each individual where they are, so they feel excited to learn and make strong connections with each other and the land.
Forest School
Thursdays
9:00 AM – 3:00 PM
Each session is limited to 12 students
Wednesdays, ages 6-10 (9/10, 9/17, 9/24, 10/1, 10/8, 10/15, 10/22)
Thursdays, ages 8-14 (9/11, 9/18, 9/25, 10/2, 10/9, 10/16, 10/23)
- $495/student
- $20 sibling discount
- 20% discount for Fairbanks Museum members
Forest School (ages 8-14)
Join us for a weekly outdoor learning adventure in Matsinger Forest.
Let’s learn together with the land through the seasons! Explore the wonders around us, learn new skills and crafts, play forest games, follow tracks, and discover nature mysteries. Let’s share stories and songs—sometimes while sipping tea made with gifts from the forest—-always learning to care for one another and the land! Join us for one season (Fall, Winter or Spring) or for all 3 seasons*
To apply, please fill out an online application for each student. We will review all applications and get back to you within a week.
The Forest School application includes important questions because we value nurturing and supportive relationships, and we believe in growing a caring community together. We want to take steps to make sure the Forest School is a good fit for your child. Thank you for your understanding!
Registration is complete once payment has been recieved or a payment plan has been approved. Full payment is required before the start of the program.
EarthWalk-Fairbanks
Forest Workshops
For adults, elders, teachers, and teens
1:00 – 4:00 PM at Matsinger Forest
Join Ange Gibbons and guests, for this series of EarthWalk-Fairbanks Forest Workshops, learning together with the land through the seasons. Let’s expand our naturalist knowledge; share outdoor skills; make crafts, grow our community and learn to steward the land.
- All workshops 1:00 – 4:00 PM at Matsinger Forest
- Limited class size
- $40 fee includes materials
- 20% discount for Fairbanks Museum members (enter discount code “Member“)
Matsinger Forest Location: 3072 Thaddeus Stevens Road in Danville, VT (Danville-Peacham town-line). Public parking. Restroom facility open May-Oct.
EarthWalk-Fairbanks Site: a short walk into the forest with a rustic shelter and amenities.
September 13 Root Basket-Weaving
Dig some spruce roots to weave a useful & beautiful basket.
September 27 Cordage-making
Learn to prepare & work with inner fibers of plants & trees to make cordage.
October 11 Spoon-Carving
Create, shape, and whittle—start to finish–a wonderful, simple cedar spoon.
October 25 Wild Cooking & Preserving
Learn to harvest & prepare wild roots to cook, eat and preserve.
November 8 Forest Medicine-Making
Learn about and gather evergreen needles to make your own healing salve, while sipping tree-tea around the fire.
17. Theresa all smiles!
25. Group of happy basket-makers!
Summer Camps
Mon – Fri
9:00 AM – 3:00 PM
For children ages 6-12
- $350/child
- $20 sibling discount
Summer camps are currently fully enrolled, however plans change and cancellations happen. To be placed on a waiting list for the session you’d like, please fill out the registration form.
Forest Explorers Camp (ages 6-10)
June 23-27 (FULL) OR July 7-11 (FULL)
Campers can tap into their innate curiosity and wonder, as we explore the forest, learn new skills, all while building relationships with the wild ones who share the forest with us. We will play fun games, share stories, sing songs, make forest crafts, build a shelter, make fire without matches & cook wild snacks and do some wood-carving projects. Let’s explore, have some fun, learn skills and make new friends!
Forest Adventures (ages 8-12)
July 21-25 (FULL) and/or July 28 – August 1 (FULL)
Campers will have many adventures in the forest, including: playing stealth games, exploring and deepening their naturalist knowledge of the land. Campers can hone their outdoor skills, such as fire-by-friction, shelter-building, wood-carving, and using hand-tools for camp stewardship projects. Let’s take care of each other and the land, while having some wild forest adventures together! Forest Adventures is recommended for campers who have experienced EarthWalk, or similar camps.
EarthWalk – Fairbanks
at Matsinger Forest
EarthWalk has been inspiring and growing caring communities rooted in nature since 2005. For more than 15 years, from the Plainfield location adjacent to Goddard College, EarthWalk Vermont, offered transformative education programs, annually serving over 300 families in Central Vermont. Since EarthWalk Vermont ended their programs in 2021, founder, Angella Gibbons, has continued EarthWalk’s vision of mentoring all ages, to care for one another and the earth, building strong resilient nature-connected communities in Central Vermont. In January 2024, Angella formed EarthWalk L3C, where she is excited to be offering nature and community programs through land partnerships with families, libraries, schools and now a new EarthWalk partnership with the Fairbanks Museum at Matsinger Forest.
Matsinger Forest Location: 3072 Thaddeus Stevens Road at the Danville-Peacham town-line. Public Parking. Restroom facility (open May-Nov).
EarthWalk-Fairbanks Site: a short walk into the forest with a rustic shelter and seating area.
Angella Gibbons
EarthWalk-Fairbanks Director
Angella (Ange) Gibbons, M. Ed. is a seasoned Nature Educator, Community-Builder, Consultant, Tracker, Naturalist and founder of EarthWalk. She has been mentoring, guiding and teaching children, teens and adults to care for one another and the earth for over 35 years. Recipient of the 2021 Zetterstrom Environmental Award given by Green Mountain Power, Ange is well-known across the state for her contributions to nature education and environmental stewardship. Ange and EarthWalk are featured in the book Greening Vermont: A Search for a Sustainable State, which documents the history of the Vermont Environmental Movement.
Ange is certified in Wilderness First Aid and CPR, and holds a Level 3 Track & Sign Certificate with Cybertracker Conservation. She also has certificates in both the Herbal Roots Apprenticeship and Family Herbalist program, from the Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism. Ange lives with her husband Dennis, in a small sun-powered home on a hill in Marshfield, VT where they tend vegetable and herb gardens; chickens and bees, and grow and eat really nourishing food.