Skills ClassesSelf-Sufficiency, Homesteading, and Ancestral Skills Join us once a month and learn essential skills for wilderness living and homesteading.
Keep your eye out for these upcoming workshops in 2023: Animal Tracking 101 - Saturday, January 14. $50 Knot tying: Top 10 Essential Knots for the outdoors and the homestead. Sat Feb 11. $30 - $45 Knife Sharpening, Knife Safety, and Spoon Carving. Saturday, March 11. $50 April: Fire By Friction: learn to start your campfire without matches. $75 Bird Language. $40 Plant Walk: Make medicine from the land. $40 Making Arrowheads: Flintknapping Basics September 15, 10am-12:30) $30 - $50 sliding scale.
Ever wanted to make an arrowhead? In this hands-on class, we will teach the basics of flintknapping, locating materials, and safety. Then let you get to work putting the principles into action on your own piece of obsidian. You can take home whatever you make. *Bandaids will be available. Bring a pair of work-gloves, sunglasses/safety glasses, lunch and water. We will have a limited number of flintknapping starter kits available for $20 for those who want to take home a kit. Hide Tanning: Sheepskins October 6-7 - two days, Sat/Sun 9am-5pm Sat, 9am - 5pm Sun. $100-$150 Sliding Scale Excellent leather and furs can be tanned entirely without harmful chemicals - the Old Way. Join us in this class to learn how. You will learn the process hands-on and get to take home your own sheepskin at the end. A hand-tanned sheepskin is a versatile item, from blanket, cushion, or rug, to baby changing station/napping area or vest. Warning: One of the key ingredients in natural tanning is elbow grease (your own work), and while it doesn't require extreme strength, it does require moderate effort and a commitment to follow through on the process. (That's why we've allowed two full days. If we finish early, we can go home early.). Bring lunch, water, snacks, a knife and 1-dozen eggs. Fire by Friction: Bowdrill and Handrill Class, Basic and Advanced. December 15, 10am-1pm, $30 - $60 sliding scale Let's welcome the Winter this December by warming the hearth. Long ago, as the nights grew longer and colder, before lighter or matches existed, our ancestors could gather sticks, shape them with stone, and start a fire. In this class, we will demonstrate a number of alternatives to the lighter and matches, including hand-drill, bowdrill, flint and steel, and others. Then cover safety, good materials, natural tinder, and fire structure (e.g. self-feeding, tipi, etc), and teach advanced techniques such as "floating hands." You will carve your own bowdrill kit or hand-drill kit to take home. Bring lunch, water, and a non-serrated, locking knife for carving your fire kit. |
Our Skills Classes cover some of the basic and advanced survival skills that were once common knowledge to our ancestors on all continents.
Ages: Teens and Adults for the classes listed above. Contact us to find out about kids programs that cover the same or similar topics.
Ages: Teens and Adults for the classes listed above. Contact us to find out about kids programs that cover the same or similar topics.