Our Story
The Origin Story:
Kiyachi is many years in the making, as Peter and his wife were raising their two very active boys outside through homeschooling and charter school programs. He began working with Alec on a concept that would help address the a growing gap in the educational process and child-rearing in the area of East Kern County. The ability to connect with nature has deep biological roots for humans and growing anthropological, educational, social science, and therapeutic work is providing scientific validation for programs that fall in the Nature Based Learning, sometimes also called Forest Schools, that is applicable to every human from infants to our elders in society. The pursuit of our PhD’s allowed us to connect with so many great educators and humans around the world that has amalgamated into a practical concept that lead to building relationships with the region’s historians, indigenous representatives, and farms, and land caretakers. Over the years, our paths crossed with Saya Novinger, and an ongoing friendship—often fueled by long conversations over coffee—helped shape a shared vision for a place where learning, making, and time on the land could come together. These conversations eventually grew into a multidisciplinary approach to creating with intention, in relationship with both the land and the people connected to it.
When we began looking for a name that could bring the land and school together, Saya proposed Kiyachi. The name carries meaning in several of the traditions and languages that have shaped our vision. In the local Nuwä language, kiya means “to laugh” or “to play”—an idea that speaks to the joy, curiosity, and sense of discovery at the heart of learning. The name also resonates with Saya’s Japanese heritage. In Japanese, ki can refer to a tree and is also associated with life force or vital energy. Ya evokes yama, or mountain, while chi can refer to knowledge or wisdom.
Together, these ideas—play, trees, life, mountains, knowledge, and wisdom—reflect many of the values we hope to cultivate at Kiyachi: learning through experience, developing a relationship with the natural world, honoring knowledge held by people and place, and creating a space where curiosity and connection can flourish.
Transparency
Kiyachi Nature School is a program of California Praxis Institute, 501c3 Non-Profit, we work in collaboration with Transformative Education Collective, a social good LLC and are located on TEC’s 22 acre farm in the Tehachapi Mountains. Educational Programming of Kiyachi Nature School is conducted under the non-profit, we consult and are supported with contract educators or employees of TEC who owns the farm, conducts organizational consulting, retreats, and product sales. We are located at the corner of Pigeon Springs Rd and Parkview Lane, the closest address is 17916 Pigeon Springs Rd. Tehachapi, Ca 93561.
Indigenous Influence and Guidance:
From the outset of Kiyachi, the goal was to root ourselves and practices with the land, the people, the culture, and the hope of keeping practices alive. This means teaching our student key Nuwä words and ethos of living with the mountains, trees, and the wisdom that provides.
Saya Novinger is our co-Director, Program Coordinator, and Wisdom Steward. She works to support and integrate key aspects of Nuwä wisdom, practices, and language into our curriculum while helping create meaningful programs and experiences that foster connection, learning, and cultural continuity.
Saya has a deep passion for ancient skills, traditional crafts, and learning through the hands. Her work at Kiyachi includes developing our Forest School and Ancient Skills programs, coordinating workshops in plant craft, cordage, flintknapping, acorn processing, fire-making, and other traditional skills, and creating opportunities for people to reconnect with the natural world through making and doing.
With a background in English, geology, education, marketing, and outdoor interpretation, Saya brings a multidisciplinary perspective to Kiyachi. She is particularly interested in the ways traditional knowledge, hands-on skills, storytelling, and time on the land can help people develop a deeper sense of connection—to themselves, to one another, and to the places they inhabit.
Dr. Peter Fulks is a lifetime learner and educator, he has worked cooperatively with tribal representatives from multiple nations on community education projects, infuses indigenous traditional ecological knowledge institutionally through curriculum and incorporates wholistic traditional viewpoints in his published research.
Dr. Alec Griffin is a studied Anthropologist who teaches about California Native Peoples, studies their practices, and our western impacts on ethnobotany, archeological implications, and cultural preservation.
Lucille Girardo-Hicks is our language and cultural advisor, she is the last fluent speaker of the Nuwä. She has a storied history and is deeply invested in Kiyachi’s mission.
Educational Practices:
We provide a blended approach to nature based learning, engaging cornerstone practices from our certifications under the Association of Nature Based Educators, California Clear Credentials, Next Generation Science Standards, and aligning ethical practices of diverse resource inclusion, such as indigenous practices, and alternative approaches to standardized education.
Guiding Framework
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Nature is essential to learning
Collaboration and cooperation is humanizing and vital
Creativity is a vital human trait that should be nourished and encouraged
Care for others, the Earth, and Curiosity are vital for human development
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1. Nature is Essential to Learning
The natural world is not simply the setting for learning—it is a teacher, a source of inquiry, and a place to practice what we learn. Meaningful, direct experiences in nature deepen understanding of ourselves, our communities, and the systems that sustain life.2. Curiosity Leads to Discovery
Learning begins with wondering. We encourage observation, questioning, experimentation, exploration, and the freedom to follow unexpected discoveries. Learners of every age should have opportunities to investigate rather than simply receive answers.3. Learning Happens Through Experience
We learn deeply by doing. Hands-on work, play, experimentation, movement, making, growing, building, cooking, exploring, and practicing real skills connect knowledge to lived experience. This aligns especially well with nature-based education’s emphasis on direct experience, learner choice, inquiry, and process over predetermined products.4. Collaboration and Cooperation are Humanizing and Vital
People learn with and from one another. Cooperation, conversation, shared work, mentorship, storytelling, and intergenerational learning strengthen both the individual and the community. We value contribution over competition and recognize that everyone can be both learner and teacher.5. Creativity is a Vital Human Trait
Creativity is fundamental to problem-solving, resilience, expression, innovation, and joy. Art, craft, imagination, building, experimentation, and creative risk-taking deserve to be nourished throughout life rather than treated as activities reserved for childhood.6. Place, Culture, and Community Matter
Learning becomes meaningful when it is connected to where we are. We seek to understand the ecology, seasons, plants, wildlife, people, histories, traditional knowledge, agriculture, and cultural relationships that shape our region. This closely reflects ANBE’s emphasis on place-based education that honors land, local ecosystems, Indigenous cultures, and diverse human communities.7. Care Creates Responsibility
Care for ourselves, one another, our communities, and the Earth is fundamental to human development. Knowledge should deepen relationship, and relationship should inspire stewardship. Empathy, gratitude, respect, responsibility, and reciprocity are therefore practiced—not merely taught. This parallels ANBE’s emphasis on ecological identity and responsibility for caring for both people and the natural world. -
Develop a meaningful relationship with nature through regular, direct experiences with the natural world.
Practice careful observation by noticing patterns, changes, relationships, and details in natural and human systems.
Cultivate curiosity and inquiry by asking questions, investigating possibilities, experimenting, and learning through discovery.
Build practical skills and self-reliance through authentic experiences such as growing, making, building, cooking, navigating, crafting, repairing, and caring for land.
Develop ecological literacy by exploring relationships among soil, water, plants, wildlife, climate, people, agriculture, and larger ecosystems.
Practice creativity and resourcefulness by imagining possibilities, working with available materials, solving problems, and creating original responses to challenges.
Build confidence through appropriate challenge and risk by developing the judgment to recognize hazards, evaluate choices, attempt difficult tasks, and learn from both success and failure.
Practice collaboration and community building through communication, cooperation, shared responsibility, mentorship, and collective problem-solving.
Develop empathy, respect, and care for oneself, other people, living things, and the places we inhabit.
Strengthen a sense of place by learning about local landscapes, seasons, species, food systems, history, culture, and the people and traditions connected to them.
Honor multiple ways of knowing by engaging respectfully with scientific knowledge, lived experience, traditional ecological knowledge, Indigenous knowledge and practices when appropriately shared, arts, craft, storytelling, and observation.
Practice stewardship and reciprocity by understanding that participation in a community and ecosystem carries responsibilities as well as benefits.
Carry learning into everyday life by developing knowledge, skills, relationships, confidence, and curiosity that continue beyond a single class, workshop, or visit.
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Saya Novinger
Dr. Alec Griffin
Dr. Peter Fulks
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Kiyachi Nature School’s curriculum is rooted in a nature-based, experiential approach that connects learning to place, community, creativity, and the natural world. Guided by seven core principles—nature as essential to learning; curiosity as the foundation of discovery; learning through experience; collaboration and cooperation; creativity; connection to place, culture, and community; and care as the foundation of responsibility—our programs are designed to serve learners across the lifespan. Drawing from the principles of the Association for Nature-Based Education, our curriculum emphasizes direct experiences in nature, learner inquiry and choice, appropriate challenge and risk, place-based learning, ecological identity, and educators who facilitate discovery rather than simply deliver information.
Each course, workshop, and youth experience is developed around 13 shared learning objectives that translate these principles into practice. Programs create opportunities to strengthen nature connection, observation, curiosity, practical skills, ecological literacy, creativity, confidence, collaboration, empathy, sense of place, multiple ways of knowing, stewardship, and the ability to carry learning into everyday life. Curriculum is intentionally hands-on and connected to authentic experiences—from natural history, agriculture, and land stewardship to heritage crafts, food, outdoor skills, and creative exploration. Whether the learner is a child discovering an ecosystem for the first time or an adult developing a traditional skill, the goal remains the same: meaningful experiences that build knowledge, capability, connection, and a lasting sense of responsibility to people and place.
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Program integrity at Kiyachi Nature School is maintained through a shared commitment to professional accountability, current practice, and continuous reflection. Instructors are expected to maintain appropriate certifications, credentials, and specialized training when required for the courses they teach, while curriculum is regularly reviewed against current research, professional standards, safety practices, and emerging knowledge. We use democratic consensus and collaborative decision-making to ensure that instructors, learners, and community perspectives can meaningfully inform program development, while an emergent curriculum allows learning experiences to respond to participants, seasons, place, and discoveries that arise through experience. Through a research-in-practice praxis—the ongoing cycle of learning, action, reflection, evaluation, and refinement—we strive to ensure that our teaching remains relevant, responsible, evidence-informed, and consistent with the principles and mission of Kiyachi Nature School.