Last updated on 12/23/08

Welcome to our Courses and Events page

This page contains our Event Descriptions for our four new Primitive Skills gatherings; our One Day Course Descriptions; our Weekend and Weeklong Course Descriptions; and our 2009 Schedule of classes.  And if our schedule doesn't fit your schedule, most courses are available Monday through Friday as Custom Courses.

Earth Connection Schedule for 2009

January	February	March
Jan 10 Winter Wild Edibles - VA - $80 Jan 11 Primitive Cooking - VA - $80 Jan 16-18 Wolf Moon Camp - VA - $200 Jan 26-30 Ultimate Survival Week - VA - $500 Jan 31 Primitive Cooking - NC - $80	Feb 1 Land Navigation - NC - $80 Feb 7 Friction Fire Making - VA - $80 Feb 8 Friction Fire Materials ID - $80 Feb 20-22 VA Sports Show Feb 23-27 Primitive Skills Week - $500 Feb 28 Friction Fire Making - NC - $80	Mar 7-8 Wilderness Survival - $200 Mar 13-15 Primitive Skills - VA - $300 Mar 16-20 Fire Week - VA - $500 Mar 21-22 Wilderness Surv. - NC - $200
April	May	June
Apr 3-5 Spring Moon Camp - VA - $200 Apr 18 Spring Wild Edible Plants - VA - $80 Apr 19 Primitive Trapping - VA - $80 Apr 20-24 Ancestral Skills Week - VA - $500	May 16 Organic Gardening - VA - $80 May 17 Kids Class - Family Course May 18-22 Ultimate Surv. Week - $500	June 13-14 Prim. Tool Making - $200 June 22-26 Prim. Skills Week - $500
July	August	September
July 10-12 Thunder Moon Camp - VA - $200 July 18 Summer Wild Edible Plants - VA - $80 July 19 Nature Observation - VA - $80 July 19 Basketry - VA - $80 - Same day in VA July 27-31 Fire Week - VA - $500	Aug 8 Nature's Dangers - VA - $80 Aug 9 Friction Fire Making - VA - $80 Aug 10-14 Ancestral Skills Week - $500	Sept 12-13 Firepalooza - VA - $200 Sept 13 Sweatlodge - VA - $80 Sept 19 Primitive Cooking - VA - $80 Sept 20 Kids Class -  Family Course Sept 21-25 Ult. Surv. Week - $500
October	November	December
Oct 9-11 Hunter's Moon Camp - VA - $200 Oct 24 Fall Wild Edible Plants - VA - $80 Oct 25 Kids Class - VA -  See Family Course Oct 26-30 Primitive Skills Week - VA - $500	Nov 13-15 Primitive Skills - VA - $300 Nov 16-20 Ancestral Skills Week - $500	Dec 5-6 Hide Tanning - VA - $200 Dec 7-11 Fire Week - VA - $500 Dec 19 Basketry - VA - $80 Dec 20 Kids Class - Family Course

 

Event Descriptions

Earth Connection is very pleased to announce a series of primitive skills gatherings hosted by the Earth Connection Family of schools.  The events will be run at our Virginia camp near Fredericksburg, Va.  The events will happen each season and be closely tied to the traditional skills and activities of that time of year.  Wolf Moon Camp and Thunder Moon Camp will be for participants 18 and older only.  Spring Moon Camp and Hunter's Moon Camp will be for individuals and families of all ages.  Please join us as we celebrate our primitive skills community and the abundance of each season. 

These are 3 day events, Friday thru Sunday.  If you can only do Saturday - Sunday, we are offering a "2 day ticket" at $150.

WOLF MOON CAMP - Price $200 per person - Virginia Date is January 16-18 '09

The Wolf Moon is the season when our ancestors would draw close together as the hungry wolves howled around the edges of their camp.  Join us as we make use of this cold season with our theme of "Winter Skills and Crafts".  This event is for ages 18 and up.  Lessons currently being planned include Flint knapping, Pottery Making and Pottery Firing with special guest instructor Keith Grenoble - Braintanning and making things from buckskin with special guest instructor Natalie Bogwalker - Wilderness Self Defense with Earth Connection North Carolina - Winter wild edible plants with Hue Hueston - Friction Fire with the Bow Drill and Grass Coil Basketry from Tim MacWelch - Primitive Winter shelters, Coal burning wood bowls, String and fiber arts, Primitive jewelry and more.

Sign up now with our Main Application Form
 

SPRING MOON CAMP - Price $200 for individuals, family prices as listed below -
Virginia Date is April 3-5 '09

The Spring Moon is the season when our ancestors would enjoy the return of warmth, plant life and fish.  This event's theme is "Plants, Fishing and Water".  This event is family friendly and all ages are welcome.  Lessons currently being planned include Primitive fishing with a special guest instructor, Spring Wild Edible plants with Hue, Fire with Tim, Water purification with Hue, Kids classes with Hardee Merritt, Modern Survival and Organic gardening with Tim, Herbal Medicine class with a special guest instructor + much more. 
Individuals are $200 each. $50 per kid 5 & over.  Age 4 and under are free!

Sign up now with our Family Application Form if you are bringing the kids.  Use our Main Application Form for individual adults.
 

THUNDER MOON CAMP - Price $200 per person - Virginia Date is July 10-12 '09

The Thunder Moon is the season of storms.  It is also known as Buck Moon, the season when Bucks are growing their velvet covered antlers in preparation of Fall.  This event's theme is "Camp Skills and Preparation for the Hunt".  This event is for ages 18 and up.  Lessons currently being planned include Survival Shelters with Tim, Primitive Cooking with Hue, Wilderness Self Defense with Earth Connection North Carolina, Summer Wild Edibles with Hue, Home Brewing ale and wine, Fire with Tim, Tracking with Hue, Modern Survival with Tim, Gourds with Jamey + much more.

Sign up now with our Main Application Form
 

HUNTER'S MOON CAMP - Price $200 for individuals, family prices as listed below -
Virginia Date is October 9-11 '09

The Hunter's Moon is the time of Hunting and Trapping.  This is our theme for this all ages friendly event.  Lessons currently being planned include Bow and arrow making and shooting with a special guest instructor; Atl-atl, Sling and Bola with Tim, Hide Tanning with Tim, Jerky and Food pres with Hue, Trapping with Hue, Fall Wild Edibles with Hue, Fire with Tim, Kids classes with Hardee, Deer Butchering with Tim and Hue, + much more.  We can't wait!  Individuals are $200 each.  $50 per kid 5 & over.  Age 4 and under are free!

Sign up now with our Family Application Form if you are bringing the kids.  Use our Main Application Form for individual adults.

One Day Course Descriptions

FRICTION FIRE MAKING - Price $80 - Virginia Dates are Feb 7 '09 and Aug 9 '09

EC North Carolina Date Feb 28 '09

Also available Monday-Friday as a Custom Course in Virginia

This course 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.

BASKETRY - Price $80 - Virginia Dates are Dec 6, 2008 - July 19 '09

Also available Monday-Friday as a Custom Course in Virginia

Our Basketry course covers several styles of traditional basketry from around the world.  The course includes information on basket material selection, harvesting techniques and seasons, how to make wicker basketry from vines, how to make coil basketry from grasses and twigs, and how to make bark baskets from sheets of bark.  Materials will be provided by us, and supplemented by materials that we show how to gather during the course.  Each student will go home with several primitive baskets of different styles, that they have made. 

A well constructed fire can dry your clothes; increase your core temperature, cook your food, purify your water, and light your way.  This course will cover skills including fire safety, proper fire materials, fire lay construction, and many methods of starting and maintaining fires, with modern and primitive techniques.  This class will run from 2:30 pm � 5:30pm at Earth Connection North Carolina near Raleigh.

FRICTION FIRE MATERIALS IDENTIFICATION - Price $80 - VA Date Feb 8 '09

Also available Monday-Friday as a Custom Course in Virginia

This course will focus on the skills that we consider the most important in the art of friction fire.  These skills are plant and tree identification and proper material selection.  We will study plant and tree families to learn general characteristics and then focus on the unique attributes of individual species.  For example... did you ever try to use Hemlock pine for drills and fire boards?  Did you use the trunk wood from a tree, or the branch wood?  There is a surprising difference between the different parts of the same tree.  That's the kind of advice we will be packing into this one day long class.  Students will go through field and forest, identifying, harvesting and then using suitable woods and plant materials to construct fire making sets during the class.  Beginning Fire Makers are welcome too.  We will be demonstrating the assembly and proper use of fire kit materials and then using the kits during the course. 

WILDERNESS SELF DEFENSE - Price $80 - VA 2009 Date temporarily postponed

SWEATLODGE - Price $80 - Virginia Date is Sept 13 '09

Join us for Hue's new class for 2009, our one day Sweatlodge course.  Sweating for health has existed throughout the world for thousands of years and has been used for various physical and mental purposes; examples include the Finnish Sauna, the Russian Banya (sauna), the American Indian Sweat lodge Ceremony, the Islamic Hammam, the Japanese Mushi-Buro or Sentō, and the African Sifutu.  Sweat lodges generally involve high temperatures and, sometimes, high humidity generated by throwing water on hot stones.  The potential health benefits of regular participation in sweat are reported to include anti-infectious, anti-cancerous, detoxification, healthier skin, and mental relaxation.  In this class students will learn how to construct and use a sweat lodge.  This is a non-religious sweat lodge.  No religious philosophy will be discussed or presented.  Requirements: shorts, T-shirt optional (Men), cotton sundress or shorts/T-shirt (women) and towel.  Participants must declare medical conditions before entering the lodge; i.e. asthma, diabetes, arthritis and persons with blood pressure problems or cardiac conditions.  Participants should only eat a light lunch before participating in the sweat and should drink adequate fluids before and after the lodge.

November 15,  2008� Primitive Wilderness Survival Strategies
Like the Modern Survival Strategies course, this class covers crucial skills to ensure your safety and well-being in any survival situation.  But in this class, we use Primitive Skills as our ultimate back up plan. Topics include: Priorities of Survival, leaf hut shelter construction, friction fire with the Bow Drill, primitive cooking, using fire to make wooden dishes, making string from bark and using stone age tools.  This course will run from 10am -5pm at Earth Connection North Carolina near Raleigh.

Modern Wilderness Survival Strategies
Do you know what constitutes a survival situation and how to properly navigate it? In this course we go over both modern and primitive skills necessary in any survival situation. Topics of instruction include: priorities of survival, survival kit construction, fire strategies, modern water purification, signaling for help and building tarp shelters.  This class will run from 10am � 5pm at Earth Connection North Carolina near Raleigh.

TRACKS AND SIGN - Price $80 - Virginia 2009 Date temporarily postponed

Also available Monday-Friday as a Custom Course in Virginia

Our Tracks and Sign class is the special project of instructor "Hue" Hueston.  Learn the beginning "steps" for the ancient art tracking.  Clear foot print identification; animal scat and sign identification; and animal behavior will be taught just for starters.  This is a great class for anyone interested in seeing the great outdoors through the eyes of a tracker.
 

PRIMITIVE TRAPPING - Price $80 - Virginia Date is April 19 '09

Also available Monday-Friday as a Custom Course in Virginia

Earth Connection�s Primitive Trapping class will teach you how to put your hard earned tracking skills to task by constructing simple traps to secure wild animals for food. Trapping is probably the most efficient way to gather food in a survival situation as they conserve your energy and hunt for you while you rest or work on other survival tasks.  Students will learn the basic principles behind traps and how to construct them focusing on the more familiar (and using less cordage) deadfalls and snares including the figure-four, Paiute deadfall, wire snare, and their variations. In addition, more complicated trapping methods using kinetic engines (and much more cordage) will be demonstrated including many variations of the toggle stick and spring pole traps.  We will cover sign tracking as it applies to trap location, baiting and trap camouflage. We will also look into simple fish traps to add more variety to your primitive diet. This class harms NO animals and all local trapping laws are adhered to.

LAND NAVIGATION - Price $80 - Virginia Dates are TBD

EC North Carolina Date Feb 1 '09

You'll never be lost again with navigation expert Rick "Hue" Hueston at the helm.  Hue spent a lot of his venerable 20 year military career learning, using and then teaching land navigation.  Now you can learn the skills of map and compass orienteering.  Navigating cross-country from point A to point B takes more than walking the distance and in the primitive is sometime more art than science. This class provides the basic skills required to navigate cross-country day and night using modern (sorry no GPS) and primitive techniques of direction finding, and how to use these skills in the field for day hikes or long-range outings. The class includes basic navigation principles (maps, compasses, declination, the forms of navigation, and route planning, day and night land navigation techniques), as well as advanced instruction in the skills of intersection and resection (triangulation), hand-drawn maps and using terrain features like "road signs." We will provide a compass for the class, but you can bring your own provided it is a well-crafted one. We recommend basic compasses from Silva/Brunton and Suunto.

NATURE OBSERVATION - Price $80 - Virginia Date is July 19 '09

Also available Monday-Friday as a Custom Course in Virginia

See the forest and field as never before.  Learn about the big and little worlds around you.  Our non-mystical, reality based Nature Observation class will sharpen your senses and show you the little things that we miss in the great outdoors.  The skills taught in this class are the foundation for all nature studies and primitive skills classes that we offer. The class includes nature observation through heightened senses, self awareness/observation, methods of immersing oneself in nature, natural movement techniques, camouflage and blending, understanding animal senses, animal/plant transition zones, pattern association and life long learning exercises. Not only will we provide instruction on improving observational skills, but also as an essential part of this class we will practice making field notes and basic sketches in a field notebook. Our goal is to help our students immerse themselves fully in nature to help them fully understand the interconnectedness of natural.

NATURE'S DANGERS - Price $80 - Virginia Date is August 8 '09

Our Nature�s Dangers class is like a mini how to survive anything class. We face a multitude of dangers every minute of our life, but recognizing and avoiding them takes education and, sometimes, active mitigation.  Earth Connection students by practicing primitive and wilderness skills activities in nature�s wild areas voluntarily face higher dangers than the normal mundane person. This class highlights the dangers/risks found in nature and how to mitigate through Risk Management (the human activity which integrates recognition of risk, risk assessment, developing strategies to manage it, and mitigation of risk using managerial resources).  The class covers a variety of risks from poisonous plants, insects and animals, contaminated water, animal attacks, knife/axe/machete safety, wildlife diseases, surviving extremes (hypo/hyper-thermia), fire behavior, and much more. Although not a first aid class, it will provide information that may save your life.
 

Also available Monday-Friday as a Custom Course in Virginia

Our Seasonal Wild Edible Plant courses 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.  Wild edible snacks are a part of each course.  

ORGANIC GARDENING - Price $80 - Virginia Date is May 16 '09

Also available Monday-Friday as a Custom Course in Virginia during the spring and summer months

Our Organic Gardening course will show you the ins and outs of certified organic gardening for the home gardener.  Whether you have a farm, backyard or just a sunny patio or balcony, you can grow your own food in the safest way available.  Learn about location, soils, soil amendments, composting, animal free gardening (no blood, crap or ground up bones in your soils), tools, garden beds, container gardening, irrigation, seed selection, growing your own seedlings, transplanting, garden plans, crop rotation, pest control, seed saving and much more!!! Each student gets an Earth Connection gardening handout with full color photos and written plant information.  If you care about the food you are eating and want to grow your own, then this class is for you.  

PRIMITIVE COOKING - Price $80 - Virginia Dates are Jan 11 '09 and Sept 19 '09

EC North Carolina Date Jan 31 '09

Join us for our very ab-original cooking class; often imitated, but never duplicated!  Our Primitive Cooking course will teach the food preparation skills of our ancestors as we use traditional cooking skills to create a feast for the mind and belly.  Cooking techniques will be taught and during the course students will construct and use a stone fireplace with reflector, a stone oven and a steam pit.  Other cooking methods to be covered are rock frying, coal baking, rock boiling in wooden bowls and a deer hide, clay baking and an Algonquin style green wood grill "Barbecue".  Eating utensils, cooking containers and other subjects will be covered. A lunch, snacks and a dinner will also be part of this course.  The menu for this course uses some modern ingredients and some traditional ones; and will include many kinds of meat prepared in different ways.

Weekend and Week-long Course Descriptions

FIREPALOOZA - Price $200 - Virginia Dates are Dec 6-7, 2008 - Sept 12-13 '09
EC North Carolina Dates TBD

The two day long Fire Palooza course has been designed to further enhance a student’s friction fire making techniques and understanding of advanced variations of construction and technique.  Fire making methods include the Bow Drill, the Hand Drill, and other friction fire making methods such as the Pump Drill, the Fire Saw, the Fire Plow, and the Arctic Mouth Drill.  Advanced subjects will include plant and tree identification and use; the use of wet and difficult materials; Bow Drill cordage construction; the use of stone age tools more.  Students will also have the opportunity to make and use a Pump Drill, Fire Saw, Fire Plow and an Arctic Mouth Drill.  This course is also designed to show many of the primitive uses of fire and explain the importance of fire in many different cultures and time periods.  Fire lore, legends and stories from all over the world will also be an important part of this course.  We recommend that students have completed our one day Fire Making course and be proficient in the skills presented there, or have comparable skills, to be eligible for Fire Palooza.  But come on anyway if you want to! 

HIDE TANNING - Price $200 - Virginia Date is December 5-6 '09

The Hide Tanning course for 2009 has no rain date.  If the weather causes the course to move to another date and a student cannot make it to the rain date, they may transfer their tuition to another course or receive a refund.
 

PRIMITIVE TOOLMAKING - Price $200 - Virginia Date is June 13-14 '09

In our Primitive Tool Making course, students will learn to make a wide variety of tools of stone, wood, bone and antler.  This course will cover the percussion flaking and pressure flaking foundations of flint knapping (stone tool production) and some of the stone tools that will be produced are knives, scrapers, pecked hammers and projectile points.  Wood working skills will be covered in order to produce digging sticks, a variety of vices, mallets and wedges.  Fresh deer legs will be worked with stone blades to yield sinew, hide glue materials, bone projectile points, fish hooks and punches.  Antler will also be used to make composite pressure flakers, chisels and more.  Cordage; making and using hide glue and pitch glue; and using fire as a tool will also be covered.  All materials will be provided by us.  Each student will have the opportunity to make their own primitive tool kit which they can keep and even use during future courses.

FIRE WEEK - Price $500 - Virginia Dates March 16-20 '09; July 27-31 '09 and Dec 7-11 '09

Back by popular demand, we are pleased to bring you Fire Week.  Those of you who have been with us since we were located in Warrenton, Virginia will remember this classic course which includes all of the fire making curriculum from all of our classes.  This course contains all of the subjects listed in our Fire Course descriptions. 

PRIMITIVE SKILLS - Price $300 - Virginia Dates are Nov 14-16, 2008; March 13-15 '09 and
Nov 13-15 '09    Also available Monday-Friday as a Custom Course in Virginia

The Primitive Skills course 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.

This course is a 5 day immersion in the Primitive Skills world, living much like our ancestors have lived before us.  Get ready to see if you can leave the modern world behind!

Students will learn how to build a leaf hut shelter, without tools or cord.  We will spend an entire day learning and practicing our vital fire making skills including the ways to collect and prepare tinder and kindling; and how to do friction fire making with the bow drill and hand drill.  We will primitive tool making; primitive water gathering and purification; four primitive traps; how to make a rabbit hunting stick; and the skinning, cleaning and cooking small game (typically squirrel).  Primitive fishing, 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.  Finally, an entire day will be devoted to Wild Edible Plants, the food source that can't run away.

ULTIMATE SURVIVAL WEEK - Price $500 - Virginia Dates are Jan 26-30 '09;
May 18-22 '09 and Sept 21-25 '09

This is a brilliant 5 day combination of our Primitive Skills and Wilderness Survival classes.  If you're not ready for the outdoors after this one, you weren't paying attention in class!  Our information packed class will cover modern wilderness survival skills with primitive skills as the ultimate back up plan.  You may not have any modern survival supplies in an emergency, but you've always got sticks and stones....

The curriculum includes The Priorities of Survival; how not to get lost in the first place; how to signal for rescue; what to put in survival kits; building and camping out in one of the many tarp shelters to be covered; collecting and purifying water with several modern methods; and the basics of making and utilizing fire including flint & steel, batteries, magnifying lens, waterproofing matches and tinder.  Food gathering instruction will include collecting and preparing nutritious edible plants, four different traps unique to this course and survival fishing. How to sharpen a knife with a stone, knots and string making will also be covered.  Students will also 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; how to make a rabbit hunting stick; and the skinning, cleaning and cooking small game (typically squirrel).  Primitive fishing, 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.

WILDERNESS SURVIVAL- Price $200 - Virginia Date is Mar 7-8 '09

EC North Carolina Date March 21-22 '09

Also available Monday-Friday as a Custom Course in Virginia

Our Wilderness Survival course is a 2 day course designed to instruct students in a wide variety of year-round life saving wilderness survival skills using the latest modern gear and the best historic outdoor skills.  Students of this course will learn the priorities of survival, how not to get lost in the first place, how to signal for rescue, and what to put in survival kits.  Skills will include building and camping out in one of the many tarp shelters to be covered; collecting and purifying water with several modern methods; and the basics of making and utilizing fire including flint & steel, batteries, magnifying lens, waterproofing matches and tinder.  Food gathering instruction will include collecting and preparing nutritious edible plants, four different traps unique to this course and survival fishing. How to sharpen a knife with a stone, knots and string making will also be covered.  We recommend this course for all outdoor persons.

ANCESTRAL SKILLS WEEK - Price $500 - Virginia Dates are April 20-24 '09;
August 10-14 '09 and Nov 16-20 '09

Join us for our new 5 day combination of our favorite Hide Tanning, Basketry and Primitive Tool Making classes. 

In our Hide Tanning section, we teach the ancient skill of tanning animal skins with animal brains under both modern and primitive conditions.  The tanning method used in our courses is the dry scrape brain tan method.  Hides tanned in this natural way are beautiful looking; and pleasant to smell, touch and wear.  This course will cover all of the tanning steps that transform a fresh, raw deer skin into finished brain tanned leather. These steps include fleshing, drying, scraping, braining, stretching, and smoking. Uses for the hides, brain extraction with stone tools and storing untanned skins and brains will also be demonstrated.  Students will have the opportunity to work a hide through all of the tanning stages and go home with the hide that they have tanned.  All tools, materials and a hide will be provided by us.

In our Primitive Tool Making section, students will learn to make a wide variety of tools of stone, wood, bone and antler.  This course will cover the percussion flaking and pressure flaking foundations of flint knapping (stone tool production) and some of the stone tools that will be produced are knives, scrapers, pecked hammers and projectile points.  Wood working skills will be covered in order to produce digging sticks, a variety of vices, mallets and wedges.  Fresh deer legs will be worked with stone blades to yield sinew, hide glue materials, bone projectile points, fish hooks and punches.  Antler will also be used to make composite pressure flakers, chisels and more.  Cordage; making and using hide glue and pitch glue; and using fire as a tool will also be covered.  

Our Basketry course section covers several styles of traditional basketry from around the world.  The course includes information on basket material selection, harvesting techniques and seasons, how to make wicker basketry from vines, how to make coil basketry from grasses and twigs, and how to make bark baskets from sheets of bark.  Materials will be provided by us, and supplemented by materials that we show how to gather during the course.  Each student will go home with several primitive baskets of different styles, that they have made.