Skills and Projects that bring us closer to our ancestors and the land.
These skills are part of our shared heritage as humans. It is our goal to empower and enliven our students through teaching traditional living skills. We see a genuine excitement in students as they work towards their first friction fire coal, spend their first night in a survival shelter, or finish weaving their first birch bark basket.
The classes below can be a one off workshop or a series the builds a group of students in a variety of skills. Reach out for info and scheduling below.
Example Workshops
Fire Skills
Take hold of an ancient skill, one our that predates our species, and delve into the realm of fire. From one match structures to the art of fire by friction, let us teach you how to start the backyard fire pit or keep yourself alive when the chips are down.
If paired with carving and enough time students can make their own bowdrill kits to take hone and continue working on their fire by friction skills.
Survival Shelters
Using sticks, leaves, planning and sweat, learn to make a shelter you can survive a new England storm in. This class can also cover the art of tarp shelters and classy minimalist camping. Best as an all day class.
Stealth, Awareness and Leadership
A personal passion of ours, we believe awareness and, to a lessor extent, stealth are key factors in keeping ourselves safe in this world. Through a fun first approach, we explore the ideas of natural camouflage, human tracking, stealthy movement, team work and leadership. Students often exit these experiences wide eyed and grinning. We give them the opportunity to live their wildest manhunt dreams. For the best experience, we recommend multiple instructors and a full day of skills with a late night stealth game to capstone their skills.
Carving skills
Whether its learning the basics through carving a digging and throwing stick or an advanced project like a long bow, we are ready to take your students through a safe, positive and engaging experience with knives. We teach all sorts of projects not limited to spatulas, spoons, tongs, fishing spears, throwing sticks, spear throwers, etc. Reach out with your project ideas!
Diagonal Plaited Baskets
One of the cutest and most accessible forms of basketry. Leave this workshop with a healthy understanding of a new material (either birch bark or willow bark), a new container to keep your bits and bobs in and, most importantly, a new skill!
Ages 16 and up.
Bark Kettles+Rock Boiling
Part of our survival skills lineup, learn to make a bark kettle suitable for purifying water when you most need it. Best if paired with fire skills to practice rock boiling with students new kettles.
Knife Hafting and Leather Sheaths
Learn to burn in a knife blade and shape the handle. Then sew yourself a sloyd style leather sheath.
Ages 16 and up.
Coal Burned Spoons
A lovely introduction to wood craft for younger audiences or a fantastic tool for survivalists. Coal burning a spoon or a bowl is a highly useful and versatile crafting technique.
Gourd Bowls
A beautiful project suitable for those of all levels. Easily completed in a half day workshop.
Book Binding
Learn to make a beautiful journal using art quality paper, linen thread and waxed canvas covers. We teach using the Coptic Stitch method.
Ages 16 and up.
Fiber, Cordage, and twining
From clothing to baskets to sails and rigging, fiber has been a essential for our species. In these workshops we can teach you how to harvest wild fibers from the land, how to twist them into cordage and how to make that cordage into baskets. This is a highly customizable workshop and depends on the needs of your students what we teach.
We recommend ages 14 and up for twined basketry.
