Eden Cornelius - Lead 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.

Julie Ann Biedrzycki - President BOD/ Instructor

Julie is a teacher and outdoor education specialist. She is currently raising and forest schooling her 4 children. As a student of Environmental Science and Policy at the University of Maryland College Park, Julie ran educational support programs in local public elementary schools. This inspired her to stay involved with youth and her community ever since. In the education field for over 20 years now, she has taught ages 3 yrs through adults, in all variety of programs and venues, from public to private schools, from classrooms to National Parks. Julie's focus is conservation, environmental awareness, and outdoor education. She is passionate about gardening, foraging, herbalism, forest schooling, and sustainable living. She currently lives in MD, as caretaker to a beautiful historic forest and the century-old homes there. Julie brings both experience and enthusiasm as President of the Board for Ancestral Knowledge, working mainly on fundraising, community outreach, and moonlighting as instructor and host.