Eden Cornelius - Program Coordinator and 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 Ancestral Knowledges Homeschool program for many years 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.

Laura Rose - Field Instructor

Laura spent her childhood summers camping and hiking in the old forests of Minong, Wisconsin where pine trees grow as far and tall as the eyes can see.  These childhood summers nurtured her love for the outdoors and connection to nature.  Her education and cultivated background in Yoga, herbal medicine and natural wellness,  led her to study and obtain a Masters degree and license in Chinese Medicine, which is entirely based on the laws, cycles, and rhythms of Nature.

Coming back into balance with Nature, Laura has always found equals greater health and happiness.  A life-long learner, her passion for a deeper nature connection led her to the Wilderness Awareness School  in Duvall, WA where she was taught among other things, Coyote Mentoring which is the same philosophy followed at Ancestral Knowledge.  Laura is so happy to share her mentoring and nature based skill set to help foster that wild, playful, and intrinsically connected nature within us all through the programs at AK.   Initiating deep nature connection and fostering respect, confidence and knowledge in the wild that surrounds us and is a part of us is a great passion for Laura and she loves to share this sacred part of existence with humans of all ages.

Keith Grenoble - Instructor

Keith Grenoble has been a product of the Back to the Land movement and developed close ties to Native communities from an early age. Keith started his journey by making stone tools represented in the rich archaeological record of Tidewater, Virginia and has been teaching earth skills since 1987. Over time, Keith has become skilled in a variety of earth skills.  He is very passionate about making simulations of prehistoric cookpots, and enjoys working with people of all experience levels and interests. He can often be seen catching a knap here and there.

Bill Kaczor - Co-Founder/ CEO 2007-Present

Bill is the CEO and co-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 — Bill was a lead instructor at Children of the Earth Foundations- Coyote Tracks summer camps for 5 years, and two years as the assistant director. He has instructed students at the University of Maryland, Georgetown University, Rivercane & Falling Leaves Rendezvous, Mid-Atlantic Primitive Skills Gathering (MAPS Meet), Bill can often be found instructing at Tom Brown Jr.’s Tracker School teaching primitive traps, bow making, flint knapping, pottery and hide tanning. In 1999 after 11 years, Bill chose to leave his skateboard/snowboard business and dedicate his life to helping people connect with the Earth through ancient skills. Shortly afterwards, Bill designed and was granted an after school and summer program for the 21st Century Learning Community in Public School District 150 of 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 and experienced in many more skills.

A letter from Tom Brown Jr

Ben Kamm - Field Instructor

Raised in the DMV, Ben spent his summers camping and hiking all over the east coast, even to Canada. He developed skills in plant ID and tracking, on these trips, and continued to draw inspiration from his childhood experiences as he was mentored by Ancestral Knowledge Staff. During this mentor-ship, Ben honed his skills around fire making and carving, with a strong focus on friction fire (Bow Drill method).

Ben is passionate about History and the way that ancient people lived, he strives to share the ways that our ancestors used to thrive and survive. As a home schooler and one of seven, Ben has experience with mentoring younger children and working in a group!

Always an active person, Ben enjoys weight lifting and exploring his local landscape.