Doing Stuff
8th March Posted by Tony Deis on Mar 08, 2010 in Team & Collaborative Skills The first wilderness school I ever attended was a lot of lecture and fantastic information. I went home spinning over what skills to work on first. I kept spinning because talking at someone is a world of different from doing stuff. The second wilderness school I went to was lots of sound bites about community. Students were told they had to get past their grief over the state of world before they were truly ready to grasp these munificent teachings. Hippie stuff.* I was fooled twice and shame on me. It's not up to a school to teach us. Sometimes we need to jump with both feet into the cold water of doing. So today, get outside. Follow a raccoon trail not because you're going to be a smarter "tracker" but because you're being pulled along by the wild of the animal. Make a fire to sit by, not to master the skill but to feel the warmth. In many parts of the country, stinging nettle is just popping up. Concoct a stir-fry tonight and invite friends to join you. Let's get rid of all this stigmatism about being a "master" or a "student.” Let's look at Nature as seasonal rounds of caretaking and harvest as we sew ourselves into the land, as we find community, as we collaborate and thrive! *This particular wilderness school has since changed for the much, much better. They definitely do stuff now. Upcoming events... Free Taster Day March 21 Come do stuff with us. We take you to the Trackers Homestead where we do many of the skills you find in our full-time TrackersTEAMS programs. Featured options...
Spring Term: Permaculture & Plants Begins March 28
Of Permaculture and Plants, Of Spring
29th January Posted by Tony Deis on Jan 29, 2010 in Team & Collaborative Skills What we do is powered by the seasons. How we live can be more than a pandering philosophy, it can follow the ebb and flow of life around us. Saying we value the seasonal rounds is different then truly getting our hands dirty in the Earth while planting a garden. It's not the same as harvesting to feed your family with stinging nettles. It cannot match the explosive and ecstatic chaos of birds nesting in the Spring. Better to have a April rainstorm place you in the cycle of life and rebirth than to have a teacher tell you what to feel. Being drenched and the smell of wet Earth is so much more interesting. Enough of theory in permaculture or traditional wisdom. Start feeding, clothing and sheltering your family now, while cultivating a village that makes all those vital needs truly sustainable. Upcoming Terms and Courses... Spring Term for TrackersTEAMS Immersion Permaculture, wild edible plants and tracking by the secret language of the birds. Plus, the complete Spring syllabus is now available for you to upload. Jungle Marine Scouts Immersion In Costa Rica, sailing, building boats, training jungle survival and performing vital permaculture installations with local people. I'm wrong and so are you
11th August Posted by Tony Deis on Aug 11, 2009 in Team & Collaborative Skills One of my favorite mottos is, "All models are wrong and some are useful". In my younger years as a student of wilderness schools, that attitude made me a bear for any teacher who asserted the infallibility of their learning model. Though the belief that trite philosophical hoops can fix all our woes permeates our culture, I take special umbrage when it comes to personal connection to the natural world. As useful models become indiscriminate dogma, they overwhelm the interesting discourse that actually leads to real learning. I must admit to delicious joy in my rants of how even benign leaders can consolidate power and unnecessarily complicate village relationships that are as old and innate as being human. In my own days as a survival school student I had to many sincere questions smacked down by self appointed gurus. Ironically, I'm glad they did. In the resulting disillusionment no one was ever able to hit me with their magic bullet. In my opinion, genius learning is easy and any overly complex methodology simply holds it back. There's no replacement for living epic experiences with your land and village through the seasons. This may be another wrong model but its certainly a useful "way" for me. Still, do me a favor. Don't discount those "authorities" I seem to deride. Do place great value in their brilliant contributions. Being wary enough to hold your own opinions doesn't mean these experienced individuals don't have something great to offer. I know for an absolute fact many of them deserve our respect and intermittent attention. When the revered nature icon reveals his or her sure fire system for rebuilding your village, it pays to listen; just hold onto to your own creative genius on those sloppy days the Kool-Aid gets passed around. Its even harder for these charismatic savants to transition to a real village in lieu of a flock. The nature of their brilliance stems from their conviction in it. Inundated with yes-men and vilifying detractors (such as me), they need rescuing from the bull of "one right way" just as much as we all do. But once we carry each other through such rites of passage, we get to remind one another that the individual philosophies we offer may be wrong but they're still very useful as we make our lives in the new village. TEAMS Calendar... New! Part-time immersion program 1 weekend a month. Take terms together or on their own.
Fall Term Outdoor & Wilderness Survival Weekends
Full-time immersion program 3 days a week. Take terms together or on their own.
Fall Term Wilderness Survival & Bushcraft
4 seasons Permaculture Design Certification 1 day a week from January to October Request for advice... I might write a book! I would love feedback about what people come to this blog or read this newsletter for as I want it reflect to community I serve. Any thoughts (reply to this newsletter)? Remaking our world
8th July Posted by Tony Deis on Jul 08, 2009 in Team & Collaborative Skills The kids camp for this week is called Welcome to Middle Earth for 4-10 year olds. Its pretty easy to guess what goes on there: a quest for the ring, donning elvin cloaks and fighting with swords. The actual results are what's really fantastic. In this camp, kids don't need to be "managed" or told where to go and what to be. In this camp they shape the story and that story reshapes them; demonstrating the fine line between our vision of the world and the actual life we lead. Culture is a conversation, the stage and setting for our daily life. If the story of a culture is mundane, then each moment is about just getting by. If the tale is epic, with incredible aims and goals, with characters mighty and bold, then so shall our lives become. This morning there are 10 kids in a self defense workshop taught by "Arwen" (our very own Molly Strand). Her question posed to the group: How do they defend themselves against the orc armies waiting for them in Oaks Bottom? They're elbowing pads, enthusiastically yelling "No!" and learning flying jump kicks (the latter not being the best self defense move, yet fun regardless). Some may say, "Sure, role playing is great for kids but adult life needs to be practical." I ask all of us (including myself) to reevaluate this assumption. Why do we need to be so literal in our lives? What advantage does it actually give us? Who really needs Mondays? Maybe we could all use a little more live action theater in our day to day. Not pomp and circumstance, not more rules, but passion for living story. A mythology that not only crafts a quest for the days to come, but the ensuing years and even (yes its possible) centuries. Clarity of vision where one day maybe Cascadia (the Pacific Northwest) is its own version of Middle Earth.
Make our own 10th century german shoes Yes, they look like Dungeons and Dragons garb. And yes, they're probably the most comfortable and durable pairs of shoes you will ever wear.
Teaser for upcoming TrackersTEAMS Immersion program...
Winter 2009 3 month seasonal program
Each program can be enrolled in individually to make a 3 month program or together as a 6-month, 9-month or 12-month program. Contact Tony to learn more
Fall 2010 Master degree program through Prescott College
Inquiries only to Trackers up until September 1, 2009. Contact Tony to learn more.
Dignity
3rd June Posted by Tony Deis on Jun 03, 2009 in Team & Collaborative Skills This is not meant to make critique an individual. This blog is meant as a call to action to better care for one another. I have changed the names to protect even the non-innocent. An email Trackers recently received... Hey, Do you do anything particular to help folks connect with their spiritual awareness and responsibilities in nature and in community. Or is it only about skills and having a good time till the next beer or so it would seem from some of your video's (free beer with a hair cut)? Thanks, John Doe First off, I'm not opposed to constructive feedback. If I was offended by every critic or unclear inquiry then I would've stopped trying to make creative change years ago. I expect that they were referring to this video. Obviously they did not choose to read this blog. It seems that every time you finish an epic adventure in life there's always some bureaucrat around to talk to you about the red tape you missed. Barring a lack of sense of humor, which seems to be prevalent in us "save the world" types, this nitpicking stems from a lot of assumptions and no real desire to learn more. The email appears to completely ignore the links around the video...
About Us, About You
Again, I am not frustrated. As my wife Molly pointed out, this email could just as well been a really sincere question, someone hoping to learn more. It simply ignored one of my favorite quotes from the Dune series of books... When strangers meet, great allowances should be made for differences of custom and training. -Lady Jessica, Bene Gesserit My response to "John Doe" was very cordial, sincerely asking for more specifics while also pointing them to the links above. What this email serves to illustrate is not a problem with any one person but a challenge indicative to our culture as a whole. The query was limited to one sentence with vague statements. Then a second sentence which isolates a single video out of our greater story, removing the context of a greater ecology. It does not allow us to be diverse or complex. It interprets everything you see on the internet as an absolute as opposed to allowing diverse emotions and care with human beings behind them. I believe the individual that sent this email was not purposely trying to bring discourse to the lowest common denominator. I believe they were genuinely trying to do good. I'm more concerned about results: a lack of courting and care to truly learn more. The assumption can be made that since Trackers is a "business", that its always our responsibility to do the courting; even in the face of escalating belligerence. But I propose something different. Wherever you work, is how your family makes its livelihood. The more we directly sew and tie this into our joy and bliss of life, the less we parse what we "do for a living" away from how we "care for the land and family." When a person engages Trackers, they engage my family and even my land. And its a great family: one of irreverent humor and imperfections, grand adventure and quiet summer evenings of wild foods and BBQ. Its beautiful landscape: one of epic features, talking trees and excellent wild apples. For the people who don't like the realness of the life we lead combined with the excellence of what we offer, we're not good fits for them. For those that appreciate our "George Carlin" sense of humor, we may just be the right match. I would love to see the same for every person, family and community out there. One where we don't step into the tar pit of appeasing each critic, the masses or even the boss. Growing up, my dad was a working man on the railroad. He suffered all kinds of indignities and abuse in how he "won bread" for his family. Though he did it because he had no other choice, his bent back affected me deeply and I will never let that happen to my children. I will even pull by father from the hole our culture has dug for him (he's our goto guy at Trackers nowadays). Holding these boundaries of "right livelihood" for those we care about is vital. Though it will not happen by belittling a single email sender. Again, I don't post this as a critique back to "John Doe". I post this as a call to action. We need not suffer abuse to feed our communities. We can constantly explore more real relationships. These guidelines of discourse allow me to be complex, transparent and honest. In fact, whenever I make this nicely yet ardently clear to a breathless or eager critic, they often turn around and say, "Oh, I didn't realize I was doing that. I'm sorry." The quality of conversation then shifts to something that can inspire real change. We begin to ask one another real questions. Ones that show a genuine regard and interest to learn more about one another. The key is to not wait. To not suffer the abuse the and stew in your own indignities. To not call the person you are giving feedback to "bad" but simply inform them of what may work better for all of us. I believe that is what everyone really wants, simply to be appreciated and not attacked. Hopefully, that answers the question above, because its all I got for today.
Class roll...
|
|
