Living with the Ancients Primitive Technology and Ancient Living Skills

Learn about Buckskin Sewing.

Coil basketry utilizing natural materials provided by the local landscape is found thoughout the world.  In the north country one may find a basket born of willow, cattail, sweet grass, or pine needles, and near the equator the jippi jappa palm leaf may create its form.  Coil upon coil, the standard, or single element base bundle foundation is woven together by the spiraling stitch of a string. In the end the continuous coiling will provide you with a lovely basket, or with enough stitches a broad brimmed hat, or tool for winnowing your grain.

Experience the magic of wet felting and turn raw wool into a warm and beautiful hat! Get your hands on some natural dyed wool and combine the colors to craft your own unique garment, perhaps a fedora or a wizard style, and take home a thick and durable lid to protect your precious dome during the colder seasons.

Generate some good vibrations! Make your very own frame drum, and drum stick. Learn how to safely cut your own raw hide cord and drum head from a whitetail deer skin, and stretch it tight over a wooden frame. Then construct a mallet from a hardwood stick, string and leather. Combine the two together and play some music! Take home a beautiful instrument and a few songs to share with your tribe.

Bring a raw deer hide through a series of stages: fleshing, wet scraping, bucking, fat liquoring, softening and smoking, to tan the softest and most durable of natural leathers, the supple and strong buckskin. Learn all the gifts of the deer in the form of nourishment, bone for tools, sinew for strong thread, and hide for glue and clothing.

Imagine a world prior to textiles, manmade fabrics and poly-fibers. Imagine a world with no more plastic garments, and no more plastic pollution going into the ocean!

When using a bow with no sights to fire an arrow at your target, throwing sticks, rocks, or spears to catch game, the process of instinctive shooting is the same.

For over 14,000 years humans have utilized the stick bow for gathering food and protecting their people.

From Scandinavia to North America, Birch tree bark has been used for thousands of years to accelerate fire making, fabricate birch tar, and for building the most beautiful of baskets.

Delicious Gourmet Food prepared round the fire! Learn old methods of water purification and food preservation, make stone soup, a clay bake and ash cakes.