Where should I go?

Communities of Rewilding Rewild Camps, Events & Meet-ups
#1

Hello,

I want to develop some rewilding skills this summer, but I don’t know where to go to do it. I’ve been considering Teaching Drum, but that costs a significant amount of money that would come out of a not-very-large amount that I have (as a poor college student). Also, it seems there should be some way to learn primitive skills without having to pay. What exactly goes on at a Rewild Camp? Is it more of a get-together for rewilders, or is there a good amount of teaching that happens? And how long do they last? - it seems to me that I couldn’t really learn the skills I want to learn in a few days. Are there other ways of learning these skills, ways that I haven’t seen mentioned on the forums yet? (I admit it, I don’t read everything there is here - there’s a lot.)

So I suppose my question is basically, Where do you think is the best place for me to learn stuff this summer? Also, so that it’s not just about me, this thread can serve as a place for other people to ask advice who are as unsure as I am.

#2

I tend to suggest just getting yourself out in the woods/prairie/desert/wherever as much as you can. Do some short camping trips every weekend or two. Learn a new plant and some of its uses, likes, and dislikes at least once a week. Maybe do the same with an animal. Make some stuff, whether or not it’s primitive. Cook food (maybe wild?) over a small fire. Sing some songs, play games with friends.

You don’t need to go to any special place, just need to go out there with the intention to live more wild. The sky is not the limit, only imagination.

#3

I’ve got a couple responses to this.

Firstly I’d like to that there are no schools that teach rewilding. The example you used, The Teaching Drum, teaching primitive skills. Mostly primitive tool-making. Rewilding is not a euphemism for Primitive Skills, Permaculture, Survival, Getting-Back-To-Nature, Ecovillage, etc. etc. What makes rewilding unique is that it goes beyond most modern conceptions of hunter-gatherer land management routine and social structure.

The only program that I think that you could call a rewilding school (and actually, it makes rewilding look rather behind) is Martin Prechtels, “Bolad’s Kitchen.” You won’t learn how to make a bow-drill, but you’ll learn how and why a bow-drill would even matter. It’s the context, not the skills.

If you’re interested in supplementing your rewilding with primitive skills or permaculture, than I’d suggest just following your heart. If Teaching Drum captures your heart, go with it. You’ll learn what you needed to. I wouldn’t reccomend the school personally, or any school really, but if you’re heart is telling you to go, than you need to go and find out why. Maybe you’ll have a great experience, or maybe you won’t. Either way… You will have followed your heart to the right spot. I wouldn’t try to decide logically which primitive skills/permaculture school to attend (if that’s the path you want to take) but rather go with the one that captures your heart.

Of course, I’m partial to the rewilding camps. That’s because it’s about meeting friends and building a community of learning instead of paying money to a stranger to teach you skills. The rewild camp is whatever you make it. It can look like just hanging out and getting a feel for new friends, or it can look like an action packed skill exchange. Even if you decide to go to a school, as Tom Brown Jr. always says, “I can’t give you the passion,” meaning, it’s really up to you to teach yourself. You can learn the basics of primitive skills by going to a primitive skills gathering or a school, but the subtleties and refinement come from your own passion and a school cannot give you that. If you don’t have the passion to go out and try these skills now, without school, it’s not going to matter after you’ve taken the classes.

This again, is why I like the rewild camp because it’s about building passion through relationships. I hate doing rewilding stuff alone. I can’t stand it. I rarely go to gather plants or into the woods really without a friend. So while a camp may just look like “friends hanging out” there is an invisible element happening there that is more important than attending a lecture on how to build a debris hut. Who needs a lecture when you’ve got a friend to go build one with. How awful would it be to get to Teaching Drum and realize that you don’t get along with any of the students there?

All you need is passion (for direction) and friends (for assistance). Let nature be the teacher. At least than you know you’re not falling prey to anyone else’s agenda.

#4

Thanks for that advice. As you seem to have figured out, I meant primitive skills, not rewilding. I like to think that I do have the rewilding spirit, as evidenced by among other things my decision to join this board.

Now, going out into the wild on my own is all well and good, but there are a lot of things that I just can’t teach myself, because I’d have to read about them first, and there doesn’t seem to be a lot written about this in books. Besides which, it seems to me that learning from a person who’s right there, and has done the stuff, and can interact with me, would be much easier than trying to figure stuff out on my own.

It makes sense that I don’t really need a school but rather just a person. Where do you think I could find someone who could actually go on a camping trip or something like that with me and teach me things I want to learn? I can learn some things from my family - my dad likes to hunt (we’re going to go for groundhogs this spring) and my grandfather is about one degree more civilized than a mountain man - but there are some things they can’t teach me either, especially (but not only) how to use edible and medicinal plants. I have a field guide on edible plants, but I don’t think I can get out of that what I could out of learning from a person. And, it would be great to make a new friend (or several), especially of a rewilding persuasion.

My geographical area, if that can help you, is Cincinnati. Is there anyone here, or does anyone know of someone or a group, in that area who can help me learn these things? (It’s also possible that I might do a bit of traveling this summer, and someone who can teach me would make a good destination to add to an as yet fairly shapeless itinerary.)

#5

Not perfect, but these might help:



I’ve been foraging edible and medicinal plants for years, but only really got good at it in the last few. A lot of times, those guides just don’t help. Something about the pictures on the page just don’t stick, but for some reason the pictures in a video do (go figure). Nothing beats real experience, of course. I suggest watching these peoples’ videos as a start, then poking around peoples yards for awhile. I spent a lot of time this year making lawn salads. :slight_smile:

Oh and a big thing people always need to be told: don’t worry about learning every plant. I’m considered the foraging expert among my group of friends, and I tell them regularly that if they just point to a random plant in the woods, there’s maybe one out of five chance I’ll know what it is, and even then only in familiar woods and fields. Just learn a handful of plants that are easy to forage in your area. Lawn “weeds” seem to be the best start.

#6

I’ll be sure to check those videos. I’ve already seen one from EatTheWeeds. He seems to know what he’s doing.

However, it seems to me that living in the wilderness is one area of knowledge where experience is by far the best teacher. Anyone know of people or groups out there that I can learn from personally and experientially?

#7

i don’t know if this helps or not, but i have to agree with dan and urban scout on this. but the first thing i would do, is find out if whatever is left of an ecosystem around cincinatti is the place that you feel connected to, or could build a connection with. if not, i would get out of there, and get to the place you do feel you could be connected with. and then, get out there and start eating plants. with a friend preferably. or look for groups like Native Plant Society’s, or something of the sort. they’re great resources for learning what’s growing where you live. building a fire is the easy part, knowing the plants is the hard part.