Out Side in Nature (OSIN) Programs & Camps
Tara Firma Farms, 3796 I Street Ext, Petaluma, CA 94953
About
Out Side in Nature (OSIN) Programs & Camps includes activities such as tree climbing, rock hopping, tide pooling, river, creek, pond, and ocean exploration, and general mucking around. Participants take part in mystery solving, tracking animals, setting trail cameras, making track casts, and learning where animals live, what they eat, what eats them, and where they hide from people. The program also includes discovering which plants are edible or not, which plants can be used for medicine or first aid, wandering and timeless exploration in forest and field, music, singing, storytelling, shelter-building, primitive fire-making and other earth living skills, listening for and interpreting the language of the birds and the forest, lots of games such as mimicking animals, hide and seek, camouflage, running, hiking, play, and laughter, as well as identifying hazards, locating edible and medicinal plants, recognizing animal track and sign, practicing primitive skills like fire by friction and shelter building, playing awareness games that awaken the senses, and sharing stories and music.
• Ages: 5–18 years old
The OSIN DNC Programs are described as designed to reconnect participants with Nature and to offer the opportunity to forge lasting personal relationships with all aspects of the Natural World in a healthy, fun, and regenerative way. The programs are described as a Deep Nature Connection and transformational journey, with core routines of awareness, tracking, and bird language, hands-on skills and crafts, and activities that are described as playful and safe while also challenging adults and children and stretching comfort zones. Program descriptions state a focus on competence and awareness building around safety and hazards in nature, confidence building experiences, deepened communication skills, teamwork and collaboration, inner strength and self worth, and awareness of natural cycles such as seasonal changes, decomposition, phases of the moon, and weather. “Dirt Time” is described as unstructured play in the structured container of the 8 Shields Mentoring Model, often referred to as the “Invisible school,” and the programs are described as firmly rooted in the 8 Shields mentoring culture. Bird Language is described as an ancient skill that all ancestors used to help them survive and thrive for thousands of years, and birds are described as the “newsfeed” of the ecosystem.
Peter “Flicker” Bergen is the OSIN Camp Director. His experience includes helping at Tom Brown Jr.'s classes in New Jersey; interning with Frank and Karen Sherwood, head instructors at The Tracker School; designing and implementing the School Overnight Program at Audubon Canyon Ranch, Bolinas Lagoon Preserve's nature program for school children; helping at Victor Wooten's Bass/Nature Camp in Nashville, Tennessee; attending an Art of Mentoring weekend sponsored by Wilderness Youth Project and Jon Young; participating in the IONA 9 month training and the 9 month Regenerative Design and Nature Awareness Training; and working with the 8 Shields Community in different capacities including Native Eyes, Bird Language, Art of Mentoring, Riekes Center, Youth Programs, and as mentor/“uncle” with RDNA adult programs. Between the years 1960 to 1967, Peter “Flicker” Bergen spent approximately 30 weekends per year on his Uncle Charles and Aunt Mildred's farm in Watchung, New Jersey.
Out Side In Nature programs are connected with or have been done for Tara Firma, Wild Harvest Kids at Middletown/Avalon Springs, Audubon Canyon Ranch at Martin Griffin Preserve (Overnight Program, Advanced Docent Training, Mono Basin Bird Chautauqua), Clem Miller Ed Center at Point Reyes National Seashore, Point Reyes Field Seminars, Slide Ranch, Muir Woods and Muir Beach Events, Urban School in San Francisco, California, Credo Waldorf High School in Rohnert Park, California, Friends of the Petaluma River Camps, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, other groups, families, and individuals.
Last updated March 6, 2026.
• Ages: 5–18 years old
The OSIN DNC Programs are described as designed to reconnect participants with Nature and to offer the opportunity to forge lasting personal relationships with all aspects of the Natural World in a healthy, fun, and regenerative way. The programs are described as a Deep Nature Connection and transformational journey, with core routines of awareness, tracking, and bird language, hands-on skills and crafts, and activities that are described as playful and safe while also challenging adults and children and stretching comfort zones. Program descriptions state a focus on competence and awareness building around safety and hazards in nature, confidence building experiences, deepened communication skills, teamwork and collaboration, inner strength and self worth, and awareness of natural cycles such as seasonal changes, decomposition, phases of the moon, and weather. “Dirt Time” is described as unstructured play in the structured container of the 8 Shields Mentoring Model, often referred to as the “Invisible school,” and the programs are described as firmly rooted in the 8 Shields mentoring culture. Bird Language is described as an ancient skill that all ancestors used to help them survive and thrive for thousands of years, and birds are described as the “newsfeed” of the ecosystem.
Peter “Flicker” Bergen is the OSIN Camp Director. His experience includes helping at Tom Brown Jr.'s classes in New Jersey; interning with Frank and Karen Sherwood, head instructors at The Tracker School; designing and implementing the School Overnight Program at Audubon Canyon Ranch, Bolinas Lagoon Preserve's nature program for school children; helping at Victor Wooten's Bass/Nature Camp in Nashville, Tennessee; attending an Art of Mentoring weekend sponsored by Wilderness Youth Project and Jon Young; participating in the IONA 9 month training and the 9 month Regenerative Design and Nature Awareness Training; and working with the 8 Shields Community in different capacities including Native Eyes, Bird Language, Art of Mentoring, Riekes Center, Youth Programs, and as mentor/“uncle” with RDNA adult programs. Between the years 1960 to 1967, Peter “Flicker” Bergen spent approximately 30 weekends per year on his Uncle Charles and Aunt Mildred's farm in Watchung, New Jersey.
Out Side In Nature programs are connected with or have been done for Tara Firma, Wild Harvest Kids at Middletown/Avalon Springs, Audubon Canyon Ranch at Martin Griffin Preserve (Overnight Program, Advanced Docent Training, Mono Basin Bird Chautauqua), Clem Miller Ed Center at Point Reyes National Seashore, Point Reyes Field Seminars, Slide Ranch, Muir Woods and Muir Beach Events, Urban School in San Francisco, California, Credo Waldorf High School in Rohnert Park, California, Friends of the Petaluma River Camps, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, other groups, families, and individuals.
Last updated March 6, 2026.