Ancestral Knowledge is group of earth skills specialists who live locally, here in Maryland. As you will read below, our core group draws from a wide variety of backgrounds – from skateboarder to scientist and engineer to environmentalist! In addition, Ancestral Knowledge brings in guest instructors from far and wide to teach their own area of specialized knowledge.
Bill Kaczor – Co-Founder/ CEO 2007-Present
Bill is the CEO and founder of Ancestral Knowledge. Bill has worked and studied intensively with the masters in the fields of; youth mentoring, naturalist studies, primitive technology and tracking. He has been teaching children and adults in these subjects since 1998 — For five years Bill worked as head instructor Children of the Earth Foundations- Coyote Tracks summer camps, and two years as the assistant director. He has instructed students at the University of Maryland, Georgetown University, Rivercane Rendezvous, Mid-Atlantic Primitive Skills Gathering (MAPS Meet), Bill has instructed for 5 years at Tom Brown Jr.’s Tracker School teaching primitive traps, bow making, flint knapping, pottery and hide tanning. In 1999, Bill chose to leave his skateboard/snowboard business and dedicate his life to teaching these skills. Shortly afterward, Bill designed and was granted an after school and summer program for the 21st Century Learning Community in Public School District 150 in Peoria, Illinois. This program was successful in that it led the children to a respect for nature, respect for themselves and others, self-discipline and adventure. Bill is a specialist in bow making, stone tool technologies, hide tanning, fire by friction and hunting.
Read what Tom Brown Jr said about Bill
Julie Biedrzycki – Board President
Julie Biedrzycki is a passionate educator and outdoor enthusiast with over 20 years of experience in teaching and environmental education, working with students of all ages from preschool to adults. As a homeschooling mom of four and former teacher, Julie is passionate about inspiring wonder, deep connection, and love of the natural world. She serves as President of the Board of Directors for Ancestral Knowledge, and offers feature programs and program design for schools and organizations. Julie’s expertise includes nature-based learning, wild foraging, herbalism, and earth sciences. She has designed nature play spaces, including the Maryland State Fair’s Nature Play Space, and collaborates with organizations like the Association for Nature Based Education (ANBE) to advance nature-based education. Through her work with Hummingbird Hill Collective and ANBE, Julie provides training opportunities for professionals in nature connection and outdoor education.
Eden Cornelius – Field Instructor
Growing up homeschooled, Eden first found the primitive skills community in upstate NY through enrollment in a program called Primitive Pursuits at age seven. From that time until her teen years, she participated in programs through a number of organizations and attended primitive skills gatherings. In her teens, her time was spent hiking, camping, backpacking, cross-country skiing, and filling her journal with detailed sketches and facts about the wildlife around her.
All of her free time was spent outdoors, building debris huts, making cordage, and adventuring in the forest. Schooled by her fiber artist and aspiring naturalist mother, her love of the natural world was fueled by a rich curriculum with a focus on hands-on learning and her intense interest in insects and plants.
Now, Eden is a multimedia artist and painter who continues to share and learn skills, with a particular passion for pottery, wet felting techniques, needle felting, and natural pigments. With a background in youth leadership, she enjoys working with groups and fostering a creative connection with the earth.
Ancestral Knowledge instructors are First Aid / CPR certified, have completed CJIS Criminal Background Checks, and have been checked against the National Sex Offenders Registry