Classes Offered
Basic Primitive Skills
Survival Weekend
Learn the basics of survival in the wild: shelter, water, fire, and food. Build a debris shelter, find water and treat it for drinking and cooking, make and maintain a primitive fire, gather and process seasonal wild food, cook on your fire, and learn about primitive trapping.
Timing: anytime
Length: 2 full days and 1 night, can be adjusted to include 1 more night
Introduction to Primitive Skills
For thousands of years our ancestors lived without electricity, petroleum, or even steel tools. How did they do it? Survey the basic possessions and skills needed by a hunter/gatherer to survive, specifically in the Southeastern U.S. Explore the wide variety of natural resources utilized by the people of this area and their many uses. What are the qualities of different plants, species of woods, types of stone, parts of animals, and how do these qualities make them useful for certain tasks? This class is part cram course, part show and tell with opportunities to try your hand at some of the following primitive skills: atlatls (spear throwers), blowguns, pump drills, stone axes, bow drill fire making, etc.
Length: half or full day (flexible depth)
Introduction to the Art of Fire
The importance of fire to human comfort can hardly be overstated. It provides us with warmth, light, safety, allows us to cook our food, purify our water, turn our clay into ceramics, waterproof our animal skins, harden our spear shafts, and dry our meat. Learn the basics of fire making: “one match” fires, finding and selecting good materials, the flint and steel method, fire in wet conditions, using fire as a tool, and get an introduction to friction fire.
Length: full day
Intermediate Fire Making
This class focuses on the bow-drill method of making friction fire. Students will be instructed on how to make their own five part fire set, how to find and then select the best materials, and correct bow-drill technique and form.
Length: full day
Shelter
Build a survival shelter.
Length: half-day