Hello everyone,
This is the week that Sam and I hit the road! For almost two years, we have been putting in a plan to move up to Taos, New Mexico to set up our second and full-time clinic, new home, and brand new campus with an expanded clinical, apothecary, and austere programs.
A huge amount of work goes into a move like this, and I have spent a lot of time over the last spring organizing provisions. I really enjoy doing this, and it helps me to feel more prepared in the face of any unexpected event. We’ve spent the last 5 months in transition, living with our 4 big dogs in an RV – at first completely off-grid. Sam and I joke that some days it feels like we’re humans living in a big dog house and not the other way around!
Going into an area that has fewer resources and greater food instability has been on my mind a lot as I have been working on assembling a full one-year pantry of shelf-stable food staples and goods that will be much harder to find and afford in our new setting. We have been restocking and refilling the herbal tinctures that are essential to our home (and school) pharmacy and first aid kits, making sure we have abundant medical supplies and thinking quite a bit about personal security on the road and elsewhere.
The HOME course has also been on my mind frequently. This is a 13-day intensive scheduled next August on our new campus. We are mapping plans to create student camping areas, recharge zones, a field kitchen, and many other things to make students comfortable while they learn wilderness medicine and post-disaster skills in an amazing, pristine setting yet only 10 minutes from the Taos Central Plaza. It’s one of the most ambitious courses we have created yet, and I can hardly wait. Sam and I talk about it all the time … discussing how we want it to play out for students, the certifications they will go home with – WFR, CPR/AED certifications, extensive austere medicine training certifications, and so on. We want our students to be able to approach a disaster or medical situation with confidence.
While the HOME course is next August, we know it takes a lot of preparation. Students have prerequisites to complete in order to take the course … all of which are either in process or coming up this fall. The early bird tuition for this is ending in about 5 weeks on August 15th. If you know that you want one of the available 30 spots for this course, here is all of the information about what you can expect from this intensive, tuition, location, and so forth.
Sam and I are very excited about this next chapter of our lives as we load everything up tomorrow to begin our journey to New Mexico. As always, I am so grateful to our students who have made this school possible through your engagement and support.
See you very soon on the other side!
Much love, Suchil and Sam
This Year’s Herbal First Aid Kits
The HOME course – everything you need to know