Join us to learn about and connect with nature. Help to restore biodiversity, regenerate the land, and in doing so, improve your wellbeing and engagement with the natural world.

Learn With Us

From planting trees to understanding how ecosystems exist within work. Discover how their networks support so many of the systems we take for granted, how nature immersion can bring calm and peace into your life, and all things dendrology, find what speaks to you and get involved. 

ESG Corporate Sustainability

• Team building days/weekends with compelling guest speakers;

• Opportunities for meaningful hands-on work which benefits society and the environment;

• Workshops and tours that are moving and immersive, we help bring the participant closer to nature through genuine connection and education;

• Activities are tailored to group size, these days are for both old and young, fierce and tame, we ensure that there is an activity to suit everyone;

• It's a perfect team building day for coworkers to get to know each other outside of the office, get some fresh air and help to make a difference!

Public/Community Workshops 

• Virtual events, day, week and summer school courses and workshops on a diverse range of topics including woodland ecology, rewilding, conservation, natural history and mythology

• Delivered on or off-site by Hometree staff

• They are supported by professional ecologists, silviculturists, conservationists and experts in their field.

• Specialised workshops that engage participants across the life course from third level students, to young professionals, retirees or those looking to explore career options

Schools and Third Level

• Educational days, workshops and green camps to engage students at primary and secondary and levels.

• We offer a solution for the many schools that lack access to wild areas where students can engage fully with nature.

• Learn how to experience and contribute to the world.

• Learn skills that will benefit all participants using practical education and training, empowering participants with the knowledge and skills to take action to improve biodiversity.

• Our immersive learning experiences give students the necessary understanding and skills to tackle the world's most pressing issues.

Your organisation or group can select a specialised workshop or a general overview incorporating all of the topics below:

Hometree Approach

We focus on interactive and experiential education to develop practical skills and strategic thinking required to face 21st-century challenges. Hometree designs and delivers holistic, evidence-based and immersive learning programs transforming education. 

How we learn matters as much as what we know - we recognise the importance of integrating scientific knowledge with traditional knowledge,  indigenous wisdom, diverse voices, and experiential learning. All our educational programmes are designed to foster curiosity and new lenses with which to view old problems. We create meaningful learning opportunities that enable action.

We hope that your engagement with Hometree will help nourish and inspire a deep and meaningful connection to the living world and understand how to live and thrive in harmony with nature. We look forward to welcoming you. 

Why Nature Connection?

Realities of the modern world limit the amount of time students and employees spend in the outdoors. 

Time spent in nature can be incredibly therapeutic and healing. Direct experiences of nature can enhance our sense of wellbeing and benefit our physical and mental health. We feel more connected and care more for the environment. 

Nature experiences can be educational, joyful, and inspiring, especially in today’s busy and urbanising world. Environmental education aims to bring people closer to nature and thus contribute to restoring the health of the environment and human well-being, including physical and mental health. 

At Hometree, we actively encourage and support greater diversity and inclusion of minority groups in our environmental education programmes. We are especially interested in connecting communities with their nearby, local and accessible nature in urban and rural settings, which builds on The National Planning Framework reference to greater access to green spaces.

Education content will be coordinated and delivered by Ray O’Foghlu, Matthew Smith, Saul Mosbecher, Easkey Britton and Jason Mc Cormack. 

Ray O’Foghlu

Ray O’Foghlu holds a level nine Postgrad Diploma in environmental science, specialising in forestry and water quality. He has ten years of experience in the NGO sector working for An Taisce, Ireland's National Trust, and leading education programmes including Green Schools, Clean Coasts and most recently Learning about Forests (LEAF).

Mitch Corbett

Mitch is a co-founder of Hometree. In 2013 Mitch also co-founded a regenerative agriculture farm and was the head gardener at the Cliffs of Moher Yoga centre. Mitch has been a part of Hometree since the very beginning. When he’s not out planting, harvesting, building or fixing things he reaches out to get people interested and involved in our tree planting days. Mitch strives year- round to ignite a tree planting fire in those who are interested. During the tree planting days, Mitch is out there planting as many trees as possible.

Matthew Smith

Matthew Smith loves the simplicity and ease of creating habitats for smaller animals and has a deep interest in rewilding and regeneration. He has a foundation degree in natural science, Studied with Richard Perkins and Recently completed a Course with the University of Cumbria with professor Jem Bendall in Critical Leadership. 

Grace Wells

Grace Wells has volunteered and worked with Hometree since 2018, she is an award-winning eco-poet and environmental writer, deeply committed to Hometree’s ethos of expanding the culture of nature, and bringing nature back to the heart of human culture. She facilitates spaces of well-being, resilience and creativity. Nature, spirit-of-place and environmental restoration are the key themes of her writing. She has published three books of poetry with Dedalus Press, most recently ‘The Church of the Love of the World’.

Information

A recent national study on nature connection found that “if you have a deep connection with a particular place, it is more likely that you might feel moved to do something if it is under threat.” 

The study evidenced that a sense of connectedness to nature was enhanced by participating in community-based environmental education and citizen science initiatives.

By deepening connection to our natural world in an engaged, active or immersive way through direct learning experiences, Hometree, enhances awareness, empathy, environmental concern, and supports sustainable actions. 

Hometree aims to support the Government's legal requirements under the UN Convention on Biological  Diversity (CBD) to restore and conserve biodiversity in Ireland at a local and national scale.

Hometree’s work responds to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 15 - ‘Life on Earth.’ We encourage people to act locally and think globally.

Hometree’s educational programmes build on emerging research in Ireland - and align with the goals of Healthy Ireland, the national framework for action to improve the health and wellbeing of the people of Ireland. In line with recommendations from EPA-HSE funded research, Hometree supports the co-creation of community-based environmental education initiatives that highlight different ways of engaging with nature responsibly, locally and in different environments.