About Living Earth School

Our Mission

The Living Earth School is dedicated to renewing our connections with the earth, caring for the earth and building healthy relationships with nature, self and community.

The classroom

The Living Earth School is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of central Virginia, outside of Charlottesville. We are in the Chesapeake Bay, James River, and Rockfish River watershed. The Blue Ridge are some of the oldest mountains in the world, once as tall as the Himalayans, and now the rounded tops and ridgelines around us rise about 4000’ above sea level. The mountains are rich with medicinal plants, wildlife (including bobcat, bear, coyote, deer, owls, etc) and some of the highest diversity of amphibians in the world. There are rock outcrops to explore, creeks to follow, and mysteries that keep pulling ones curiosity further.

We use two sites, a camp facility in Sugar Hollow for our summer camp programs and our base camp in Afton. We are currently in the process of trying to get the appropriate permits and facilities to have the camps on our land permanately.

Who is Living Earth School

Kate Knott is the co-founder and co/director of Living Earth School, which began in 2002.  She also is owner/director of The Corn Maze in The Plains, in its 11th year.  Kate knew as a youngster that she wanted to have a wilderness school, where kids immersed themselves in nature.  She spent the next phase of her life traveling the world, mountain climbing, sea kayaking, teaching environmental education and working with troubled teens.  She has been blessed with many great teachers and mentors along the way, such as Tom Brown Jr. and Jon Young. She now makes her home in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. She is a graduate of The Evergreen State College, with a BA in Environmental Education.  She is a certified Wilderness Responder.  She loves seeing the magic that unfolds when a child immerses them self fully in nature.  Her passion is harvesting wild edibles, poking around in the garden and of course, being a mommy to sweet Violet.
 
Hub Knott is co-founder and co/director of Living Earth School, now in its 9th year.  He also is owner/director of The Corn Maze in The Plains, now in its 10th year. Hub lives in Nelson County, Virginia with his wonderful family (which includes his wife Kate, daughter Violet, a dog, cat, flock of chickens/ducks and currently 2 sheep). His backyard consists of tens of thousands of acres of rich Appalachian Mountains that are a perfect classroom. He loves to wander this land, getting to know the wild plants, the tracks/sign of animals, and discovering the magical nooks of the mountains. He loves to wander the landscape in any part of the country from desert to temperate rainforest, ocean to mountains. He has a passion for gardening, seed saving, and permaculture. Hub has a Bachelors degree from The Evergreen State College in Washington State, where he met his wife Kate. He has been studying natural history and survival skills since 1991 and has had many great teachers along the way including Jon Young and Tom Brown Jr. He is a Certified Wilderness First Responder. Hub loves to help others learn to ask questions, and see things in fresh light. This allows one to study their passions, and find their gifts.

Violet was born during the blazing summer sun in 2006.  She is proud to be Living Earth School's youngest camper.  She is currently 3.5 years old and loves running around with the campers.  She has been nick named the camp mascot by many.  She loves to laugh, pick berries and make rock paint at the swim hole and yes she has been found getting into campers lunches........so look out. She also is the happy caretaker of her "baby" chickens.

About our Logo

It symbolizes to us the opportunity we have on this earth and the vision for our school. The turtle symbolizes the earth itself. Within the turtle’s back is an acorn, the seed that lies within all of us. If that seed has a good home, nurturing, support and the opportunity, it can grow into the grandest oak tree ever seen. And we know that if humans are given the opportunity, their gifts will take root and be shared with the community.

Our Philosophy

At Living Earth School, we aim to teach a holistic balance of skills to help the students understand their place in the natural world, their role in the community, and finally a better awareness of their passion and vision for life. We use coyote mentoring in our nature-based approach to help people connect with their place and to deepen their relationships.  Coyote encourages us to break out of old habits of awareness, and to see nature with fresh eyes.  The mentor ideally guides from behind the scenes, opening up the edge-stretching curiosity of each person, and their fascination to learn more.  Then the mentor can step out of the way, and let nature teach the rest. It aims to develop more passionate and alive human beings that are actively engaged with life. In time, mentoring uncovers the gifts of creativity and power that lie within each individual. 

Our curriculum is nature based, developing naturalist skills, survival skills, animal tracking, edible/medicinal plants, and understanding the language of birds. We ask lots of questions because it nurtures self-sufficiency.  We utilize core routines that help students more fully immerse in nature, with all their senses.  The benefits to the student are the excitement of discovery, a real connection with animals and plants, and a sense of belonging.      

In ancient times, coyote mentoring happened as a sort of “invisible” school.  Elders would ask questions, tell stories, send the kids out on a mission to fulfill a community need, and build on experiences so that the children had a deep understanding of their place and their role in the community.  It was done in a way that children gained a deep breath of knowledge, but never really knew that they were learning while it happened. That is our goal at Living Earth School, we want the experience to feel like a wild, unplanned adventure, that is full of passion and discovery.

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