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.
Our Values
At its core, The Curious Raccoon Co is about helping people spend more time outside. We believe that spending more time outside makes people happier, kinder, and more likely to care about the finite world that sustains us. We also know that not everyone has had equal opportunity to be welcomed into outdoor spaces or to the information needed to do some things outside safely. We provide high quality, affordable, and accessible outdoor education programming for all ages in a variety of contexts in green spaces close to home.
Who's Behind The Curious Raccoon Co?
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 day outside 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.