Wildtender

This past weekend, some of our Wildtender crew spent time together in the enchanted Ventana Wilderness—returning to the relationships that make our work possible. It was a hot, clear, and beautiful weekend with long, sun-stretched days. The spring warmth stirred the landscape into abundant expression and thick aromatics. We spent our evenings connecting around the fire and gazing up at a sky full of stars. Backpacking season is here! The work we do asks us to stay in relationship—to keep tending intimacy with the land, with each other, and with our more-than-human kin. A few moments that stayed with us: 1. Verdant abundance on trail 2. Smiles before we set off 3. Backcountry tea rituals 4. Pine pollen magic (!) 5. Condors overhead 6. Rattlesnake encounter 7. Expansive views along the Big Sur coast 8. Birthday celebrations at camp! 9. An unforgettable swim 10. Final group photo three days in – feeling polished by the wild! 🦋🌞🌳🐍🪶🏕️🫖🌙🌟

Wildtender co-founder Fletcher Tucker reflects on the significance of the Esalen Institute in Wildtender’s upcoming spring backpacking program: Wild Pilgrimage (April 20-26th, 2026). Wild Pilgrimage, our annual backpacking journey to the Esalen Institute, now in its sixth year, continues to evolve as one of Wildtender’s most foundational offerings—rooted in the relational Gestalt lineage and our partnership with @esalen . Each spring, two intimate cohorts traverse different routes across Big Sur’s backcountry—the ancestral lands of the Esselen Tribe—exploring both inner and outer landscapes. For five days and four nights, pilgrims travel lightly over ridge and into forest, forming wandering villages of mutual support. The journey becomes a Gestalt circle in motion, where each encounter—with plants, fellow travelers, or distant stars—offer contact, meaning, and renewal. Through shared practice and the steady rhythm of walking, participants attune to both their inner lives and the animate wildness around them. The wilderness reveals itself not only as a rich ecology of life, but as a home for the human heart—inviting softness and remembrance of our inherent wholeness. At Esalen, our circles gather to reflect and integrate the insights and kinship woven along the trail, asking how to carry the wisdom of the wild into daily life and service. Wild Pilgrimage stands as a testament to community, presence, and ecological belonging—a reminder that self-awareness arises only within the living web of relationship Limited spots remain — we hope you’ll walk with us! Details in bio 🐛 Wildtender offers deep bows to our teachers and friends who have walked before us, and continue to inform this work: Dick Price, Dorothy Charles (@photogestalt ), Steven Harper (@surcoast ), Erik Erikson, the Esselen Tribe of Monterey County and all our more-than-human kin! 📍Esselen Tribal Lands #bigsur #backpacking #esalen #retreat #spiritualecology

This May, join Wildtender in the beloved and fabled tradition of walking through the wild to the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center! Rather than driving there—careening through the beautiful Ventana Wilderness at a pace that inhibits meaningful contact—let’s take four days to walk to the monastery on foot, arriving enriched from immersion in the wild. Backpacking in the spirit of pilgrimage, and guided reverently by leaders Mike Smith and Ariel Johnson @wildsomatics our days will be shaped by intentionality: mindful silence on the trail, dharma discussions, and awareness practices that attune us with ourselves, the potent landscape, and the wisdom of Zen. By the time we arrive at the monastery gate, we will be polished to a shine by our wild wanderings—radiant and ready for a 2-night retreat to partake in Tassajara’s offerings of meditation, community, and the serenity of its enchanted valley. ✨Radiant Awareness: Zen Backpacking Journey to Tassajara May 30 - June 4✨ Scholarship, payment plans, and sliding scale tuition are available. Zen or backpacking experience is not required. For more info, check out our bio | wildtender.org/tassajara2026 Backcountry photos by @brandonscottherrell & Tassajara photos by @callmealpal

Dear friends, We know you don’t need a recap of the unfolding poly-crisis. This winter we’ve all witnessed staggering acts of cruelty, violence and oppression by the powerful (alongside countless acts of bravery and compassion among ordinary folk). And we’ve watched while ignorance and greed unravel hard-won environmental protections—a defilement of our profound responsibility to steward this Earth. Zen Buddhism and Gestalt—traditions that Wildtender is foundationally connected with—ask that we turn toward what is, as it is. So that this does not feel crushingly isolating or overwhelming in these turbulent times, we must seek solidarity. An ancient Buddhist vow calls us to “take refuge in Sangha”—in community. We take refuge in each other. As spring dawns, the more-than-human world offers numberless expressions of renewal, vibrancy and balance that we can root ourselves within. Our “sangha” can include the land and all our wild kin. We take refuge in the living world. Not as escape, but as deepening of self and story; as fortification and nourishment; as fulfillment of timeless, ecological, and psycho-spiritual relationships. This spring, we invite you to join one of our immersive backpacking pilgrimages to enact this refuge together: to experience belonging with the Earth and each other, and to return strengthened for meeting these times with presence, courage and care. We believe there are myriad ways to nurture and tend your own collective refuge—whether with us, or woven into your daily life. May you continue to seek what supports you feeling whole and connected throughout these tender, turbulent times. In Kinship, Fletcher & Noël Wildtender Co-Directors Photo by @callmealpal | 📍Esselen Tribal Land

We’re in the final weeks of Wildtender’s year-end matching campaign, and we’ve reached 50% of our $25,000 goal! Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to help us cross the finish line by December 31—your gift will be matched dollar for dollar. Every gift—of any size—directly supports our work of bringing people into meaningful and transformational relationship with the Earth, themselves, and one another. Monthly gifts are especially powerful: steady contributions add up over time and help sustain Wildtender throughout the year. ✨Swipe through to see how your donation can make a direct impact ✨ Link in profile to donate! Thank you for supporting Wildtender and empowering our work of healing, connection and belonging. Photos by @brandonscottherrell & @callmealpal 📍Esselen Tribal Land

This weekend we had the pleasure of hosting our very first Wildtender alumni gathering at Topanga Tower — a truly beautiful day cultivating kinship with place and community! Our day was filled with myriad moments of connection co-created by human and more-than-human kin alike, held within the unfolding story of this potent landscape. This gathering embodied where Wildtender is going in 2026 — into a more service-oriented, collaborative paradigm rooted in partnerships, place-based service, and community care. We feel so honored to have partnered with kindred collaborators who embody our ethos and brought their aligned visions and integrity to the day: 🌱Anna Morton of @_leavesandflowers served tea with intention and reverence 🌱 @Wildtender guides and Nick Handman of @treepeople_org led an embodied exploration of the surrounding chaparral wildlands 🌱@vanessawolfe nourished us with a wild-foraged lunch 🌱Tristan Partridge & Javiera Barandiaran of UC Santa Barbara’s Center for Restorative Environmental Work and Laura Crane of The Nature Conservancy (@ca_conserve ) offered wisdom through an intimate panel conversation about emergent environmentalism and weaving kinship values into California land & climate stewardship. And finally, our deepest thank you to our dear friends at @topangatower for their generosity in hosting us, and for the extraordinary property and land they so beautifully steward. Our hearts are still glowing from our time together. 💚 📍Tongva Land

Dear friends, As this first remarkable year of Wildtender’s life as a non-profit draws toward its close, we feel such gratitude and wonder. What an incredible beginning—a year rich with growth, support and beauty. A quarter of Wildtender participants have received scholarship support, making our wilderness programs more meaningful, intergenerational, and vibrantly diverse than ever before! This summer, we also launched our Kids Nature Camp—a joyful experiment in nurturing kinship, curiosity, and wonder in the next generation. In the coming year, Wildtender will deepen our roots and broaden our branches: collaborating with conservation and tribal groups; convening earth stewards, activists, artists, and healers in cross-pollinating cohorts; expanding our youth program with care and integrity; and offering new paths of integration and land-based service for all our participants. 🌼To sustain Wildtender and expand our capacity for transformational change, we’re inviting support from our community. Today we are kicking-off our annual fundraising campaign—and thanks to the generosity of an anonymous Wildtender alumni, every dollar donated between now and December 31st will be matched up to $25,000! 🌼 Please consider making a meaningful tax-deductible donation today! A gift of any size will support our efforts to widen the circle of belonging, deepen earth-kinship across generations, and tend meaningful paths of service and impact in the year ahead. In Gratitude and Kinship, Fletcher Tucker & Noël Vietor Wildtender Co-Founders Photo by @callmealpal |📍Esselen Tribal Land

Our ancestors lived in deep, reciprocal relationship with landscapes—their movements shaped by terrain, their nervous systems regulated by the rhythms of seasons and tides, their senses of self inseparable from the more-than-human world. But in this modern, frenetic age, we are conditioned to see our bodies as isolated, our healing as individual, and nature as separate. “Earth-Body”, our newest program offering that was offered in the glorious first days of Fall, invited a slowing down and remembering of older ways— an attunement with the sensuous aliveness of our bodies on the earth, and the nourishing support of a ‘village’ in healing. During four days of backpacking through Big Sur’s backcountry, followed by a weekend of rest and integration at @esalen , we let the Earth steady us, regulate us and soften us. Drawing from the Gestalt tradition and the emergent field of eco-somatics, we explored embodiment as an intimate community—moving beyond the dominant model of individualistic self-care and into a lived experience of healing as relational, ecological, and communal. If you’re needing resourcing this winter season, here are a few simple practices to try on in the spirit of our “Earth-Body” retreat: 🌱Give the gift of your attention to something alive. A tree. A ridge line. A cluster of clouds. Let your organism settle. Let your senses receive without effort. Notice what shifts when you allow yourself to be present with the living world. 🌱Walk as though the ground is listening. Slow your pace. Feel the texture of the terrain, and gravity (“the Earth’s allurement”, as David Abram calls it) drawing each foot step back to the Earth. Let the land set the tempo of your body. 🌱Seek sanctuary in authentic contact. Find a person (or small group) you trust—a friend, a partner, chosen family—and hold an intentional “check in”, sharing what is meaningful, true and alive for each of you. Offer your presence fully, and let yourself be witnessed in return. Photos by @callmealpal | 📍Esselen Tribal Land

In the mountains east of Esalen Institute, an enchanting, ecologically diverse, and psycho-spiritually fertile wilderness awaits… This Spring, join Wildtender for a transformative Backpacking Journey to Esalen – a four-night, five-day contemporary pilgrimage through the ancestral lands of the Esselen Tribe, now known as the Big Sur backcountry. Our journey concludes with a full weekend at the coastal grounds of Esalen Institute for deep rest, reflection and integration. This pilgrimage weaves backpacking with mythic, ecological, and somatic practices that awaken our senses and restore kinship with the living Earth. Each day offers a rhythm of mindful hiking, wilderness skills, and Gestalt practices from the Esalen tradition to help us connect authentically with ourselves, the land, and one another. Historically this program fills quite fast, so we encourage you to consider registering soon if you would like to join us in April! As always, we have scholarship, payment plans, and sliding scale tuition available. Prior Esalen/Gestalt or backpacking experience is not required. 🥾April 20th-26th 🥾 We hope to see you on the trail! Photos by @brandonscottherrell |📍Esselen Ancestral Lands

Anyone else feeling a Halloween hangover – not the alcoholic kind, but an existential one? After an evening spent trick-or-treating with our daughter, we’re reflecting on how culturally and spiritually bereft – not to mention environmentally wasteful! – the contemporary western Halloween holiday feels to us. For thousands of years, autumnal harvest and atavistic holidays such as Samhain (Celtic), Hallowe’en (British), Ghost Month (East/Southwest Asian), Día de Muertos (Mexican), and Vetrnætr (Nordic/Scandinavian) have served as ceremonial foundations — anchoring land-connected peoples across the world to landscape, ancestors, and ritual time. Many cultures believe “the veil thins” during this time, letting enchantment flood back into our world, offering a potent window to renew sacred relationships with the Earth, ourselves, and beings seen and unseen. The time is rife to make ecological and spiritual offerings back to field and forest, and to ancestors and spirits– affirming bonds of reciprocity with the local patch of Earth & spiritual community which feeds us. In our view, the modern western overculture presents us with only the consumeristic, plastic simulacra of these deeper ways of being and seeing. But we believe that the Earth, and your own human heart and spirit, remember the older ways. So, during this fertile and liminal season, what (or whom) are you feeling called to ritualize – to support, enact, kindle, shed, grieve, summon, compost, give birth to, or connect with… in your own life, and for the world? Will you join us in gestures to renew the ancient, animate, fecund world of animism and enchantment? 🍂 In kinship, Noël & Fletcher (Wildtender co-founders) Photos by @callmealpal |📍Esselen Ancestral Lands

This summer marked a joyful milestone for Wildtender: the launch of our very first youth program, the Big Sur Kids Nature Camp! Guided by Wildtender facilitators with local teachers, we spent three bright, curious days exploring rivers and creeks, redwoods and coastal bluffs, pollywogs and a tiny sleeping bat—inviting local children to discover what it means to feel at home in the wild world. Our camp offered reliable, high-quality summer childcare for working families while giving kids a chance to: 🐛Dig their hands into the soil, sand, and mud 🐛Drop into their animal bodies and senses 🐛Make art with natural materials, tell stories, and bundle herbs 🐛Learn through direct encounters with the living land Through our youth programming, Wildtender seeks to dissolve some of the barriers that separate many children from the nourishment of the natural world, and allow them to make meaningful and playful connections with wild nature, themselves, and each other. This year, almost every child in our summer camp received scholarship support made possible by donations! As we look toward summer 2026, we’re excited to grow our vision for youth programming. Our hope is that every child, regardless of circumstance, can grow up with the wild earth as a teacher, a friend, and as a source of balance and resilience in an ever-changing world. 🌍

This Spring, Wildtender will embark on our annual wild Zen backpacking pilgrimage through the Big Sur backcountry, culminating in a three-night retreat at the Tassajara Zen monastery. Along the trail we’ll sit in meditation beside creeks and ridges, walk in contemplative silence, and gather tea, poetry, and timeless wisdom from the mountains. Carrying only what we need on our backs, we’ll enter into the ancient practice of pilgrimage—forming a sangha (practice community) that includes the land, waters, stones, plants, and animals as teachers and kin. Our retreat at Tasssajara will include hot springs, nourishing food, meaningful work service, and formal Zen instruction and practice in the historic “Zendo” meditation hall. Check out @tassajaratales for a glimpse into the beauty and richness of Tassajara’s monastic community. This pilgrimage is already filling quickly so we recommend registering soon if you are feeling called to join our sangha! (UPDATE: the program has filled, but waitlist is open!) 🌿Wild Dharma: Backpacking Journey to Tassajara 🌿 May 9-16, 2026 Scholarship, payment plans, and sliding scale tuition are available. Zen or wilderness/backpacking experience is not required. Backcountry photos by @brandonscottherrell & Tassajara photos by @callmealpal