SKEET SUTHERLAND

Skeet Sutherland
Skeet Sutherland Director and Lead Instructor - Sticks and Stones Wilderness School

SKEET

Passionate about the outdoors since his first memory, Skeet grew up fishing and playing among the river valley’s and lakes of Ontario.  He has traveled extensively throughout North America and Western Europe, learning from everyone and everything he becomes connected with.

Skeet is passionate about and loves to connect with the natural world and with other people who share this love with those who are dedicated to Preserving the Ways of the Wild.

With a deep connection to the diverse habitats and the abundance of wildlife among Ontario, Skeet Sutherland grew up immersed in nature, within a time and space that is hard to find today.  He has been instrumental in helping others connect deeply to the natural world and to the communities that support them since 2000.    He holds a diploma in Ecosystem Management from Sir Sanford Fleming College.  During his time at college he worked as a lab assistant and on a volunteer basis, Skeet developed a series of award winning stewardship events, restoring native brook trout habitat.  As a ecological consultant, Skeet has personally educated and assisted over 150 landowners and conservation organizations, restore native habitat on over 5000 acres of land throughout southern Ontario.

Training with Tom Brown Jr and the Tracker School, Skeet gained invaluable experience over the years as a student, an intern, an apprentice and as an instructor, mentoring 1000’s of people throughout the vast habitats of the USA, in the skills of tracking, wilderness survival, awareness and stewardship philosophy.  Tom helped Skeet hone his passion by giving him the opportunity to share it with others among the school’s diverse students.

Accrediting much of his success working with Tom Brown Jr. and the Tracker School to the solid naturalist foundations established through the Kamana Naturalist Training Program and the Deep Nature Connection mentoring services, tools and resources offered through the 8 Shields Institute.  Jon Young has been instrumental in helping Skeet unpack what he learned from Tom Brown Jr. and the Tracker School and has also given him the opportunity to share those teachings with others.

Skeet currently works with the 8 Shields Institute as a mentor for various programs such as Village Talk, Living a Deeply Connected Life, the Art of Mentoring Leadership Training program, among others.     

Continuing to connect people with the natural world, Sticks and Stones Wilderness School (founded-2008) provides various programs and mentoring services, including skills workshops, apprenticeship opportunities, intergenerational gatherings and one-on-one mentoring.  Currently residing in Muskoka, Skeet works among a diverse team of mentors, amidst the abundant wildlife and diverse ecosystems of the Algonquin region.  With his wife and two children, the Sutherlands enjoy tending the wild places they live, the permaculture farm, which is at the center of camp and share the atmosphere and stories from this work with others, as a way to grow connection and empower ecological and cultural stewardship as a way of life.  

Skeet has worked both as a mentor and consultant with various First Nations communities in both Canada and the USA, helping to co-create nature connection programming that is culturally relevant to the people and places from those communities.  

Skeet is one of the co-founders of the Headwaters Earth Skills Gathering (HG) and continues to host the gatherings annually, enabling 100’s of people each spring, to connect around skills, stewardship and community.  In collaboration with other organizations throughout the world, Skeet has helped to bring the Bird Language Leaders project (BLL) to Ontario

As part of the original stakeholder team that enabled AOM to arrive in Ontario, Skeet has trained extensively in all layers of the AOM and is part of the leadership team that facilitates the weeklong program.   He is also dedicated to providing opportunities for continued training that enables the Art of Mentoring and you can find him connecting with people in this way at the BLL, HW and all of the SSWS offerings

KATE SUTHERLAND

Kate Sutherland
Kate Sutherland Communications Director and Instructor

KATE

Kate Sutherland is an Artist of the Hearth, and approaches Nature Connection mentoring with an emphasis on feminine energies.  One of her biggest passions is singing; as a Song Mover, Kate specializing in layered rhythms and multi-voice harmonies inspired by nature and themed around personal exploration and growth. She finds inspiration in the beauty of the relationships we human beings have with ourselves, nature and each other. Her music incorporates nature-based metaphors that mirror human experience, which makes them accessible to people of all ages. Kate channels song from nature with the vision of re-awakening in others a deeper sense of connection to their world within, and the world around, through finding and exploring their voice.

Sample of Kates original music – Oh the Sky

Her BA degree in psychology coupled with her strong belief in following her own vision and truth has lead Kate to facilitating workshops and community phone calls that empower people, particularly women, in their journeys of inner tracking and growth towards deeper connection to self, nature, and others.

Kate is also life-partners with Skeet Sutherland, and a busy mom of two beautiful children. She considers tending her hearth, nourishing and nurturing her family to be the most sacred of medicine bundles.  She cherishes the practice of being fully present with her children, and is grateful for the constant gifts and teachings Motherhood has to offer.  Kate also loves food art– cooking, fermenting, wild harvesting, herbal food-medicine making, intuitive culinary creation and ancient food preservation techniques.

Also the founder of BumbleToes, Kate creates hand-felted booties, accessories and all-natural and organic diaper and body care products for babies and adults.  She is a talented visual artist, her preferred media being pencil, pastel and charcoal drawing. Kate has her black belt in Judo, and also enjoys boxing, yoga, and walking on her hands.

GARRIN CARTER

GARRIN CARTER
GARRIN CARTERDirector’s Assistant

GARRIN

Garrin grew up crawling through the creeks and wooded areas around Lake Ontario and Lake Erie but as he got older his wanderings took him to various parts of the world. Garrin has always had a passion for the outdoors and mentoring so when in 2012 he found Sticks and Stones Wilderness School he jumped right into their 7-month apprenticeship program. Since then he has come on as Director/Admin Assistant wherein he writes most of the blog, newsletter, and social media content keeping the world in touch with what we do. Garrin also continues training in wilderness skills and developing his mentoring skills with the Sticks and Stones staff.

CHRIS GILMOUR

Chris Gilmour
Chris Gilmour

CHRIS

more on this amazing person coming soon…

STEW OLIVER

Stew Oliver
Stew Oliver

STEW

more on this amazing person coming soon…

JUDY BATH

Judy Bath
Judy Bath

JUDY

more on this amazing person coming soon…