Building confidence, connection, and creativity through outdoor survival skills and outdoor education.
Now Booking For 2024
Building confidence, connection, and creativity through outdoor survival skills and outdoor education.
About The Curious Raccoon Co
Our Philosophy
The Curious Raccoon Co believes that everything is better outside. However, we also know that there are barriers to folks feeling prepared to be outside. Our mission is to make it easy for people to access the skills and knowledge they need to have fun and be safe outdoors.
Who Are We?
The Curious Raccoon Co was founded by Valerie Freemantle. Both of her parents immigrated to Canada as children and she grew up in the Greater Toronto Area. She fell in love with being outdoors while tagging along to her best friend's Girl Guide camp. As a mixed race individual and member of the queer community, she knows that that there are real barriers for some folks to learn the skills they need to feel safe and welcome in the outdoors. She wants to change that, one fire building lesson at a time.
Valerie is a OCT certified teacher. She completed her undergraduate at Guelph in Environmental Science and her Masters at Queens in Geography. She has been working in outdoor education for almost a decade.