ReWild Maine
Zack Rouda of Rewild Maine believes time in nature can be healing.
In a fast-paced world full of notifications, “likes”, pop-up ads, and loads of technological distractions, many of us need a little extra help maintaining an awareness of our surroundings. We may not know the name of the tree that sits outside our front door, or what species of bird we hear first thing in the morning. Zack Rouda, the director of Rewild Maine, believes that time in nature can help provide us with the awareness we all so desperately need. Rewild Maine is a Portland-based non-profit organization that strives to connect people with the natural world through education. Their classes range from half-day or full-day events to homeschool programs, to after-school classes. They work with adults, young people, and anyone who’s interested in deepening their connection to nature through small-scale, place-based human skills. We were so lucky to meet Zack today as he joined Nature Links to teach us more about Rewild Maine’s important work.
Zack began his visit with us by describing his organization’s mission to encourage people to question how our needs can be met by the place we inhabit. For example, Maine doesn’t have any naturally growing orange trees that produce fruit this time of year. But when many of us feel sick, we look to vitamin C to help us. Many don’t know that pine needle tea can be used as a locally-sourced cold remedy. Pine needle tea contains 5 times the vitamin C found in lemons, and its nutrients are released as we steep the needles in hot water. This simple example is just one of the ways Zack and Rewild Maine seek to raise our awareness of the gifts the natural world can provide right in our own backyards.
From urban foraging to tracking to tree and bird identification, Rewild Maine’s class offerings represent an impressive array of skills and knowledge. Zack teaches classes on basket weaving from natural materials, sometimes even using bittersweet (an invasive vine). Zack showed us examples of many of the baskets he has created, from tiny pine needle baskets to larger bags made from birch bark.
A coiled pine needle basket. Participants can learn to make these baskets in one of Rewild Maine’s class offerings.
In another class, participants can make flutes from Japanese knotwood
Perhaps one of the wisest lessons Zack left us with, however, was the idea that connecting with nature doesn’t necessarily mean building a shelter in the woods and surviving off of berries. If we all started with simply identifying the tree we see from our bedroom window or learning about the bird that calls that tree home, the individual and collective impact could be pretty impressive.
Thank you so much to Zack and Rewild Maine for sharing this knowledge with us today! For more information about their classes or to make a donation, please visit their website.
Participants learning about and gathering invasive vines at a Rewild Maine workshop.
