A year in the life of our immersion program31stMarch
An immersion program trains more than primitive or traditional skills. It serves more than educators or those rallying for a new culture. It's does not exist to help you master one craft or body of ideas. You aren't there to simply become a better communicator or freer thinker. Instead, the goal is more holistic. An immersion program is the first step on a deeper journey through the seasonal rounds.
The earth revolves around the sun. In some measure we all experience Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer. Unfortunately many of our lives fall into ruts that don't fully align with this fundamental reality. We eat foods out of season and live in houses with climate control. The long and short days are the true heartbeat of a village. When and how we find our food, shelter and clothing is inseparable to how we form and care for relationships. How you attune to the rhythms of the land, transforms how you tend to the rhythms of your family.
Often you only see training focused on skills or craft, compartmentalized for the sake of mastery. Others try to separate out philosophy, confusing knowledge and a well spun rant with actual hands in the dirt or cold on your breath. Many even use the seasons as a metaphor, yet not actual timing for life and livelihood. Academia comes in new disguises while the physical body and land remains under nourished.
Our abridged syllabus for TrackersTEAMS 2009-2010...
Fall: Hold fast out of doors. Collect chestnuts and acorns. Hunt the elk or deer. Make sausage and press apple cider. Celebrate with family.
Winter: Prepare and eat hearty meals. Push our edges to learn our true mettle. Stitch and spin clothes, fashion and art. Tell stories. Carve wood.
Spring: Gather new growth. Inspire one another. Ask new questions of the land. Follow its dictates on design and planting. Collect rain.
Summer: Live outside. Pick and dry berries. Play and work hard. Fish and kayak.
Remember, all the schools of craft and all these movements of thought are doing their best. This blog is not a critique. It is a celebration of their synthesis. They are a wonderful part of a whole. Each school, each writer and each philosophy. And make no mistake as to our aims. While we do our best, like everyone else out there, Trackers doesn't do it perfectly. We may do it in our own unique way. We may even do it remarkably. Yet what is most important, is we're here to simply walk with people in the right direction; with the seasons and all our hearts, our minds and bodies.
Taster Day: Try the immersion program for a day
April 5, 2009 is our next taster day for the immersion program. Meet Jason Craban, our new core instructo. Throw swords, make fire with no matches and play sneaking games in the wooded grassland with bows and foam arrows.
Learn more about our immersion Taster Days
RSVP for the day
