Course Information

Primitive Skills Week

Five day course.

9 am on Monday until 4 pm Friday

Course tuition $629

The Primitive Skills Week is a combination of our 3 day Primitive Skills course, our one day Friction Fire Making course and one day of Wild Edible Plants specific to that season. For those who cannot make it to the whole week, there is the option to take just the Primitive Skills portion or the Fire Making portion, or the Wild Edible Plants portion of the week. The Primitive Skills section teaches valuable wilderness survival skills using the stone age technologies that were common to of all of our ancestors. Students will learn how to build a leaf hut shelter, without tools or cord; how to collect and prepare tinder and kindling; how to do friction fire making with the bow drill; primitive tool making; primitive water gathering and purification; four primitive traps unique to this course; how to make a rabbit hunting stick; and the skinning, cleaning and cooking small game (typically squirrel). Primitive fishing, Edible plants, primitive cooking, food preservation and storage, wicker basketry from vines, plant and tree bark string, and burning out wooden bowls and spoons will also be covered. This course is designed to provide skills for living primitively in the wilderness; and this course is a student and staff favorite. The one day Friction Fire section will focus on the Bow Drill and Hand Drill methods of friction fire making and how to easily start a fire. Fire safety, tinder, fire wood selection, and setting up a primitive fireplace will be covered in addition to some of the history and physics of friction fire making. Proper construction and use of the fire making equipment will be emphasized during the course. Students will construct fire making sets which will be theirs to keep from a variety of materials provided by us. Our one day Friction Fire Making course teaches the Hand Drill friction fire making method because it is the easiest fire kit to make, and this method had the widest use through prehistory and world cultures. The Bow Drill is also taught in this course because it is the easiest method for beginners to make friction fire. The Seasonal Edible Plant section will focus on the different plants and plant uses of each season. These are one day classes. Each course is a guided walk through different habitats, identifying, collecting and frequent sampling wild plant foods, and pointing out harmful plants to avoid. Each course will cover approximately 40 plants, shrubs and trees, depending on the season. We will cover proper identification and use of these plants, whether plants are native or introduced, when and where to safely collect plants and conservation techniques. Each student gets an Earth Connection plant handout with full color photos and written plant information.

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