April Primitive Skills Courses in Athens, GA: Seeking input!

[Tha Wookie]

Hello everyone!

Carl Lindberg, Catherine Stinson (www.catherinestinson.com), and I are planning for round 2 of "primitive skills" courses, which we call "Ancient Wilderness Skills Workshops".

These workshops are presented by Athens-Clark County's award-winning Leisure Services Derpartment, and are held at Sandy Creek Park in Athens, GA. I am helping design and conduct the courses, and I would like to guage your interest and hear ideas.

We already have a good idea of what we will be teaching. Given my own bias for LD backpacking, most of what we learn and how we teach will cater to backpacking skills that can be used on the trail.

We will expand on topics covered in the first classes (which sold out and we have a waiting list for the next), such as bow drill, eastern temperate forest wild edlibles, water gathering/filtering, and primitive shelter construction/destruction. Also, for a potential two-day (including campout) program, we have discussed adding cordage (making rope out of natural materials), basketmaking, bone tools, cooking, and some other topics, all out of natural materials (except we will use camping pots for cooking in this level).

I was wondering who was interested in coming (I can add you to the list). I should add that the price will be higher than the first pilot course. This will allow us to better prepare and have high-quality materials, such as the elk skin we used for bow drill cordage. It will also allow us to devote a full weekend to it. The price range we are considering for a one-day course is $25-$50 and the Saturday-Sunday course is $50 -$90 per person (including meals). Even at the higher range you can see that it is lower than what most similar courses are, since we are doing this to spread the knowledge. Please give me your input on this.

Also, if anyone is planning on coming that is also planning a thru-hike, let me know, so I can incorporate that into the plans. Your Journey is very special, and we would like to consider that if any '06ers are planning on attending.

Any thoughts?


Thanks,

Nate

[JimSproul]

Hi Nate -

Very interesting. I am working on a very similar project in North Texas.

Maybe we have some things to share.

Pop me an email and we will talk

Thanks

Jim Sproul

[email protected]

[dharmabum86]

Sounds awesome. I would love to come. However, is the first course required before you can attend this one and if so when will you be offering the first set of courses again. Oh yeah, I'm a SOBO this year too !!! Thanks for the info. Will Island Mama be instructing as well. I really enjoyed your photo exhibit and am looking forward to hearing more from both of you.

BTW, I saw you guys at SoRuck but I couldn't stay the night Saturday.

OJ

[Tha Wookie]

Sounds awesome. I would love to come. However, is the first course required before you can attend this one and if so when will you be offering the first set of courses again. Oh yeah, I'm a SOBO this year too !!! Thanks for the info. Will Island Mama be instructing as well. I really enjoyed your photo exhibit and am looking forward to hearing more from both of you.

BTW, I saw you guys at SoRuck but I couldn't stay the night Saturday.

OJ

Well, that is an excellent question. We will either two separate classes (levels 1 & 2), or we will include all students and take each topic further. It really depends on the response. Having four classes will take four of our weekends, and it will be tough to do that with Carl, who is a professional musician (saturdays are big; www.grogus.net) . I'm saying that because we would want to have 2 of each level. But I reckon that we may only have one level 2, since there was a limited number of students in that course. So maybe that would work, to have one level 2 and two level 1's. Excellent thought, thanx.

In turn I will ask you, should our entry level courses be one day or overnight? In nearly every feedback form from our last classes, everyone wanted more time to learn. One complication is that they close the park at 5 or 6pm. Maybe we could move it over to the Roots farm?

Now that I'm thinking of it, maybe we should add another level 2 for the folks who want to "double up" in the Spring. Ahh.... so many considerations....

Yes, Island Mama will be there as well.

Thanks for mention about the photo exhibit. Did you know I am selling prints of those pieces, starting at $35? www.thawookie.com (end self-plug ). But don't feel obliged, I know the mental prep for a hike, and it does not involve accumulting "stuff"

Next time you see us, say hello!