Grandparents, Co-Founders & Mentors

 
Janice Schreiber-Poznik is in a hooting and howling Elder/Grandparent wherever she ends up!
Member of our Elder Council, Grandparent Mentor who Grew up as a free spirit outdoor roaming child. GM Janice brings a spirit of freedom, laughter and magic with her as a Grandparent mentor.  She comes and goes with the wind, might be hiding in the brush imitating crow calls, communicating in silence with hand gestures or greeting us with hoots and howls.  She loves children and their creativity, open Hearts.  Janice loves to create magical/mystical  moments on land with all our relations.  Grandmother Janice shares Great Lakes stories, plant teachings and life songs learned from her elder, Keewadinoquay, and appreciates the Blessings that arise with connected cultural lifeways. Tree relatives that resonate with her spirit -White Pine ( Zhingwaak) and Cedar (Nokomis Giizhik). Water that resonates -Lake Michigan, Beaver and Garden Islands. Janice loves her garden plants, wandering thru prairies, canoeing & camping, atunement through tracks & songs & birds and connecting with the trees that surround her home where her council circle is at center with a sacred fire hearth- Ishkote. May the lights of our Connected Fires also ignite the lights of our Connected Hearts! Blessings and Balance!  In the modern human world Grandma J has a practice supporting neurodiverse learners and works as a Literacy Specialist at a local technology free, song singing, story telling, art and movement doing, game playing, and earth connecting private school.

 

Wendy Alettha (she / her/ hers) is in an Elder role as Grandma for Wild Saplings and supports Wild Harvest Nature Connection through offering land that she tends for our Adult Nature Connection groups

My earliest memory is a dream that I had before I was three years old, of being saved from a house fire by a tree outside my window. Ever since then there has always been a special tree nearby no matter where I lived.  As an adult I haven't always consciously recognized the importance of connection with Nature but I always enjoyed being outside; biking, sailing, kayaking, climbing trees
and gardening.  It was 16 years ago, when I was 56, that I rediscovered the reciprocity possible in a relationship with Nature and the land I now care for.  I live with 20 acres of an oak and hickory woods.  Early on in this relationship I began to receive supportive and directive messages from the woods.  One of the first encouragements from the trees was to share the healing energy of these woods with others.  I have loved to be a part of Wild Harvest and to be able to provide a space for gathering together for Nature Connection experience  and Ceremony and a place for Alex, Heather and Liska to stay when they have needed it.  I am grateful for this role as Grandma Wendy because in the last few years I have been limited physically and unable to be directly involved in the important work of mentoring kids in connecting with Nature, community and their own spirits. 




Grant Abert (aka Grandpa G) is in an Elder role as Grandpa for Thursday Wild Tenders
I grew up near Milwaukee and spent a lot of time as a kid exploring the woods and lake near our house. I was especially fascinated by the birds. As a teen we camped and canoed the lakes of Northern Wisconsin and my love and curiosity about the wild blossomed. In the 1980's I attended Tom Brown's Tracker School and learned a set of skills and an awareness that gave me a new way to be in Nature. In the 90's I went on several wilderness retreats in California, then joined the guide team as a co-leader. These trips tested me and made it clear that Nature offers many teachings if we have eyes to see them. For over ten years I've volunteered as a mentor in Shabazz High School's Coming of Age program for juniors and seniors, and have seen their faces light up as they come back from their time in the woods. It's been a joy to support Wild Harvest's Wild Tenders as an Elder, witnessing these young people discover their connections in Nature.
 

 

Glen Chism is a Group Grandfather working with Wild Saplings


Glen was born and raised in the Ozarks of Northeastern Oklahoma. He is a member of, and was raised culturally in, the Shawnee and Lenape Tribes. In addition to the lessons this brought to his experience, he also grew up hunting, fishing or gathering other wild foods on a daily basis.
 
He furthered this knowledge by getting undergraduate degrees in Botany and American Indian Studies, from Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, OK,  while also taking the coursework to earn  minors in Math, Chemistry, Fisheries Management and Wildlife Biology.He moved to Wisconsin 26 years ago to pursue his Masters degree in Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development with an emphasis on Native American Wild Food Resources ,while doing research involving Wild Rice in Northern Wisconsin.
 
He has dual passions, in all things related to birds (paticularly, becoming very knowledgeable of bird songs and voices), and creative writing, in particular the process of creating traditional haiku.  He has two sons who he truly loves passing his knowledge and passions to.
 
He  is very grateful for the long line of teachers who have influenced his life for the better, and enjoys passing it on. As someone said, it is much easier to teach an adult how to protect the Earth, if they were taught to love the Earth as a child.




Alexander Britzius (he/him/his) grew up in Trempealeau county Wisconsin catching frogs, turtles, snakes; fishing, camping; & canoeing.  Alex’s knowledge & love for wild things grew exponentially when he took a class at Tom Brown Jr’s Tracker School in NJ where his eyes were opened to a whole new way of seeing the world.  Alex continues to take classes with lineage holders and has enjoy being Heather & Liska at Family Camps in the Pine Barrens .  Not long after his first class at Trackerschool Alex finished college with a degree in Art and a minor in Environmental Education and Interpretation.  Longing for learning old ways in a communal setting Alex spent 3 years with RDNA (WE’s precursor) & Weaving Earth.  Alex loves singing, working primitive skills & going barefoot.  Alex is a Co-Founder.  Alex has been a mentor with Trees and Saplings up to Wild Tenders as well as co-hosting the Adult Mentoring Through the Seasons Program.

Heather Hutchinson (she/her/hers) grew up in Springfield, IL where she roamed her neighborhood in a pack of kids exploring ponds, corn fields, small strips of woods, and back yards. As a child Heather felt most at home on the soccer field. During her college years she continued to play soccer and studied psychology and graduated with an MA. Post graduating, she participated in a semi-residential immersion program through Weaving Earth Center for Relational Studies, which focused on nature connection, cultural repair, mentoring, and permaculture. It was through this program that she found the model and training for the work she is called to do of helping create healthy, sustainable, and regenerative communities & culture that includes not just humans, but the natural world and the future generations. She is passionate about cultural repair, healing, and supporting others to connect more deeply to themselves, community, and the natural world. Heather loves spending time foraging and learning traditional earth ways, and considers herself a story collector of her ancestors & the ancestors of where she lives.  Heather is Co-Founder and "Behind the Scenes Task Magician" for Wild Harvest Nature Connection. She mentors for the Adult Mentoring Through the Seasons and attends many of the groups with Liska as "Auntie & Little Sister" and offers training support.

Together we are grateful for our growth as mentors and organizers of Wild Harvest and are committed to open hearted tending to this community project as we and it continues to grow and changes. We recognize our place here as white settlers in Ho-Chunk territory and that this is part of the story of oppression of indigenous people's and Black people in this country. We are finding our way with doing our part in the healing and repairing of oppression and the historical trauma associated with this.



Laura McNeill (She/her/hers) is a Mentor with Wild Tenders on Thursdays and Wild Explorers on Wednesday.
Laura McNeill (she/her/hers) I grew up in Virginia Beach, VA next to a patch of woods and a creek that barely froze in the winter, where praying mantises navigated leafy bushes and blue herons made their nests in tall pine trees. Running through the woods, my feet knew the story of the earth. It was a knowing that comes from having the space to explore and the time to play. We camped only once while growing up, after which my Dad said 'Never again!', yet he taught me the importance of growing our own food and taking care of the land. I love immersing into each season, getting to know the patterns of plants and animals at various stages, foraging, preserving, fermenting and even giving brewing a try. Through my racial justice work, I’ve gained experience in supporting youth leadership development and cultural repair which I love weaving into the fabric of Wild Harvest. For the past 5 years, I’ve worked with a variety of family groups, ancestral skills, Wild Explorers and Wild Tenders classes. I love being the teacher as well the learner. The kids, animals and plants give voice each week to the wonders surrounding us in any given moment. Listening, with my heart and ears wide open, is where you’ll find me.

 





Donelle is a Mentor with Wild Tenders on Thursday


Donelle grew up on the shores of Lake Michigan in Milwaukee and loved exploring the creeks, beaches, and bluffs of Grant Park, one of the last (and largest) remaining natural areas in the metro area with public access to the great lake.
 
She moved to Dane County in 2020 and finding the Wild Harvest community was the best thing that could have happened. She is inspired by the enthusiasm of children and thrives on making connections and witnessing growth in others (and herself).  
 
She brings a spirit of curiosity and openness and loves fishing, foraging, climbing trees and singing. She feels whole when in reciprocity, when in harmony with the life around her.
 
These passages, along with so many others from Robin Wall Kimmerer, speak to her: “Knowing that you love the earth changes you, activates you to defend and protect and celebrate. But when you feel that the earth loves you in return, that feeling transforms the relationship from a one-way street to a sacred bond.” “Let us live in a way that Earth will be grateful for us.”



 
Kati Lambert is a mentor with Wild Explorers, a guest presenter at Village Day, and stepping into a new role we're discovering together and calling Connection Coordinator! She also runs Coyote Fire Arts.
Kati Lambert grew up in Buffalo Grove, Illinois (a northwest suburb of Chicago). Her love of secret wild places within urban spaces took seed there. She explored the often forbidden underground water tunnels and patches of mysterious forest that welcomed the diverted water creeks. She caught fire flies and played "ghosts in the graveyard" till the sun went down. Kati attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and graduated with a B.F.A. in painting and drawing and later the UW - Madison graduating with a M.S. in Counseling Psychology. Kati's Nature Connection journey began in 2015 when she joined Wild Harvest's first Trees and Saplings family program as a participant with her three children, Elias, Anise, and Iris (3). She's been on a deep dive into Nature Connection practices ever since and has brought her entire family along for the ride. Kati is currently  a student of Kamana Naturalist Training and involved in cultural repair and community building training through Eight Shields Institute. She has also organized the Madison Area Wildlife Tracking Club. Kati is passionate about ancestral ways, building community, and inspiring young people and families in stewardship and connection to our Earth, ourselves and each other.  In her spare time you can find her on adventure with her family in the secret wild corridors hidden throughout the city, working on various primitive skills; tracking, medicine making, fire-making, and foraging, as well as camping, reading, cooking, and making watercolor paintings.




 


 
Coral Conant Gilles is a mentor with Wild Saplings on Wednesdays.  Coral Conant Gilles (she/her/hers) grew up in the suburbs of St Louis picking her way through overgrown woods. Her family camped and she was deeply involved in an adventure-based scout group, but it wasn’t until she had the opportunity to work at a backpacking camp in New Mexico that she found people she felt held similar connections to the Earth. As a young woman in Portland, OR she discovered storytelling and deep community - human and non-human. Coming into oneself is a beautiful thing.
 
Since moving to Madison in 2013, Coral has become a professional storyteller and found community within Wild Harvest. Coral works to build curiosity, empathy, and connection with ourselves, each other, and the natural world through storytelling and outdoor exploration. She has been through two years of Wild Harvest’s adult mentoring program and has collaborated for Nature Adventures and Storytelling summer camp during the 2021-24 seasons. Fall 2024 will be her third season as a school year mentor! Coral is grateful, honored, and excited to continue diving into this opportunity.
 
Coral (often with her two kids (born 2014 and 2017) and her partner) can frequently be found exploring wild places, camping, paddling, foraging, cross-country skiing, biking, and playing ultimate frisbee.

Michaiah Ian Faraj is a mentor with Wild Saplings on Wednesdays and Wild Tenders on Thursdays.  Michaiah is a father, food magician, lifelong student of the natural world and wild ways, and an emerging artist and facilitator mindfulness, movement, and transformative experiences.  Building from experiences in Non-Violent Communication and "men's work," he strives to embody a consciousness rooted in the heart in order to unearth the full aliveness within himself and anyone he shares a connection.  He loves to dance at the drum circle with his children, make music in any moment like the birds, make reasons to laugh, listen to the wind and rain through the leaves, and craft simple and complex creations of food as medicine.

Adam Scott is a mentor with Wednesday Wild Explorers and Winter Camp.

The roots of my childhood are planted in Batavia, IL by the Fox River where my family has lived for generations. I was first introduced to the outdoors as a participant in the Boy Scouts. After high school I started working at a summer camp in Wisconsin teaching outdoor skills and fell in love with the work of Outdoor Education. After earning my bachelor's degree in Outdoor Education at Northland College, I have passionately pursued pathways at many different organizations to connect people to themselves, their communities, and life on Planet Earth with the vision that more people will be inspired by our wonderful world and contribute to making our home a paradise to live in. I enjoy hiking, biking, exploring, canoeing, cross country skiing, camping, reading books and comics, drawing, cooking, baking, board games, and bird watching. I currently live and work in Madison, WI as a Substitute Teacher and EMT. I plan to teach in my own classroom someday. 


Erica Schroyer is a mentor with Wednesday Wild Explorers and Winter Camp.

I grew up in Northern Illinois amidst burr oaks & shagbark hickory, amongst bloodroot and mayapples, with cousins cardinal, blue jay, great horned owl, raccoon, opossum, coyote.  I am excited to be following new paths in more direct awareness, connection and gratitude to these animal and plant friends. I'm most filled up these days tracking animals, foraging, listening for bird language, and hunting, which bring me deep connection to my ancestors, the land & animals, & the ancestors of this land. This feels like the path I was born to walk, looking for my whole life. I hope to always be an eager, humble & playful participant in the wild, from now onwards!  

I worked for a decade as a RN, primarily in labor and delivery. I enjoyed serving the breadth of the communities I lived in, supporting families in a transformational time.  I am now parenting two young children, who love soaking up the outdoors and remind me how to let go and play full out.  I'm excited to join the Wild Harvest mentoring team this year, to share my awe & curiosity in the natural world, my attention to individual needs & group process, and my love of people.


Alisha will be a mentor with Wild Saplings this year.  Alisha spent much of her first year of life in a remote cabin in the Northwoods, a place that she always is looking to return to. Growing up near the shores of Lake Michigan she explored the woods along the abandoned railroad tracks going through her backyard with her younger siblings and friends. Returning each summer to the Northwoods where her family went on great adventures only sometimes resulting in bodily injury. 

Alisha spent nearly three years in small Mayan towns in Guatemala and speaks Spanish fluently. She got a B.A. in Social Welfare from UW-Madison and lives in Madison with her husband, brother, and two kids on a small lot that she has been rewilding; nurturing native plants and habitat for all of the insects, birds, and wild urban animals to live in and visit. She spends her time caring for family members and her menagerie of domestic animals including ducks and chickens. 

She enjoys sharing in the curiosity and wonder of nature with children. She especially enjoys foraging and exploring the interconnectedness of everything in our environment including the little crawling creatures in the soil. Each day out in nature is an adventure full of unexpected moments, especially when you have the good fortune of spending it with young ones.




Weslie Cymerman is a previous mentor with Wild Explores. I grew up in the suburbs of Milwaukee, a latchkey kid, with a steep ravine out back. I would often get off the bus and then head out down into the ravine for the afternoon. I spent a lot of time down there, and developed my love for the woods and its inhabitants. I was a camp counselor in my young adult years, and that's where I grew to love Wisconsin lakes and sleeping outside. I've always been part-kid, even as
an adult. I feel grateful to have been introduced to Wild Harvest Nature Connection, and have been a part of their adult trainings and programs since 2017. I love to play games, laugh, learn, and be outside. I've been a teacher for 15 years, and prefer to teach and learn where I can feel the breeze and hear the birds. My oldest daughter is a proud Wild Sapling, and my youngest is just still wild. My own children teach me so
much about slowing down, looking, sneaking, hiding, noticing, wondering, and playing.
 
I have a degree in Elementary Education, and a Masters Certificate in Sustainability Leadership, and that all feels like a really long time ago now.   Mostly I am still learning, humbled by how much there is to know, and grateful that there is so much to love. 

Weslie is the operator of OWL (Outdoors We Learn) - a local outdoor learning organization.  see our Related Links

Megan Barrow  is a previous mentor with Trees & Saplings, Wild Saplings, and Mentoring Through the Seasons
Meg grew up in the heart of the Driftless region among the bluffs and marshes of La Crosse, WI. Her love of the outdoors was nurtured in childhood during many hiking, camping, paddling, and backpacking outings with her parents, experiencing the solitude and wonder of wild spaces.In addition to working with Wild Harvest, Meg is a pediatric OT, supporting children of all abilities and their families to promote health and wellbeing through engagement in meaningful activities. She is particularly passionate about the importance of nature connection in supporting holistic child development. In 2019, she completed her Nature-Led certification with OT Kathleen Lockyer, an approach that connects the science of human health/development and the wisdom of nature connection. In her free time, you'll find Meg playing outside with her husband Rob and 2 daughters, Anna and Zoe, making plant and bird friends, wandering by the Yahara River, singing songs and having dance parties. She is grateful to be part of the Wild Harvest community and to see the world through children's eyes.

Wren (Erin) Schmitz (they/them) is a previous mentor with Trees & Saplings, Wild Saplings, and Wild Explorers 
Erin grew up in Madison, exploration marking their childhood in the form of camping trips, hiking, and being on the water. Catching frogs, mud squishing, and foraging making up a few of their passions since childhood. Their love for nature has been deepened by experiences caring for and rehabilitating wildlife, and a semester living on the border of the Sylvania Wilderness attending Conserve School. Following their passion for connecting with others, Erin has been working with children in after-school programs through MSCR. An avid learner and explorer, Erin has been fortunate to learn much from their travels to India, South Africa, Guatemala, and Spain. They are grateful to have the opportunity to continue learning more about community, nature, and fostering connections to nature in children from the Wild Harvest community. 

Alyson McGinty is a substitute mentor wherever needed.
Hello my name is Alyson McGinty, I grew up in the Green Mountains of Vermont spending most of my time riding my bike, swinging from the rafters of barns, skiing, sailing on Lake Champlain, playing in the mud and challenging everyone I knew to running races. I discovered my love of the natural world at an early age hiking, camping and back packing with family and friends in New England. That love and connection to nature continued when I moved to Colorado to focus on Outdoor Recreation and Leadership in College. Getting credits in Kayaking, backpacking, ropes course and even running! While in school I worked for the city as the town gardener having the freedom to plant anything I wanted in the town parks and planters along the main street.  This is when I really started to understand the power of plants, using edibles and medicinal plants in my living creations. A few years later I would make the move to Oregon to pursue my love of plants by going back to school for horticulture.  In 2015 with my Husband and Daughter I made the move to Wisconsin, a diverse land I had seen while biking across the country after college. The Midwest experience has been magical in many ways- the water, the plants, the wildlife, the people.  I also found a job that I love growing Native Plants. I look forward to being a part of Wild Harvest to learn and share my love of what the world around us has to offer. 


Justin Novotney (he/him) is a previous mentor with Wild Explorers on Thursdays.
 
Justin is a dad to 3 boys, spouse, and caretaker of chickens. He grew up in Illinois working summer jobs mowing lawns, hauling dirt, pulling tassels in corn fields, and working on survey crews. These experiences outside, in all kinds of weather, in the smells of morning dew, and stumbling upon wildlife are memories that are reawakened around Wisconsin's lakes, fields, forests, and the Ice Age Trail.
 
Justin is committed to nonviolence as a way of life (albeit a work in progress), as well as a method for social change. He and his wife Andrea practice nonviolence in their activism, their intentional parenting, their land ethic, and wellness practices. Justin left his full-time job in 2019 to pursue making change in the world at the intersection of racial healing and climate justice. He has been mostly stay-at-home dad-ing since that time, trying to raise anti-racist, climate aware boys (and chickens).




Andy Gricevich is a  former Mentor and continued collaborator between his project: What Got Gathered and Wild Harvest Nature Connection.


Andy spent his many early years exploring the woods, creeks, and ragged edges around his hometown in southernish Illinois, reading and writing as much as he could, camping and hiking with his family.  Now still in his early years, he spends a lot of time in the woods, prairies, and ragged edges around Madison, led by a love of wild foods into a deepening, unending curiosity about every aspect of being a humble human among plants, fungi, animals, water, earth and sky.  He loves to forage and wander alone, with friends, and with his sweetheart and her two great kids, and looks forward to sharing all that with the very very new arrival to their family. He still reads and writes as much and as often as he can, devoted to poetry as a way of meandering through the world and stumbling into its bright clearings. He works with other poets and nonpoets to make strange everyday music with language, to publish little books, and to host readings for local and traveling writers under the umbrella of the Oscar Presents series.  And then there's music, which has always been a part of his life.  Having spent a decade performing satirical and utopian songs with the Prince Myshkins, he now mostly plays and sings as part of day-to-day life.  He's grateful to have the opportunity to see how all these gifts that have fallen into his lap might overlap, overflow and interweave.  He's bashfully writing this in the third person.