Our 3 month program in Fall14thJuly
We have some more tidbits about our Fall rollout our 3 month seasonal program (full launch in January 2010).
Students now have the opportunity to take 3 months, 6 months, 9 months or 1 full year. The goal is to offer flexibility to people such as working professionals, parents and more; encouraging even more diversity in the village. Similar to a martial arts class, the sessions are structured so varying degrees of experience enhance the collaborative learning environment.
As always, class time is Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. With one 3-day overnight a month and one week overnight a season. The teaser below is for the Fall session. Next week we'll talk about the Winter Session: The Water Village (aka, build a lot of boats).
Fall Session: The Wind Village September 2009-December 2009
In the Wind Village we focus on team skills, naturalist studies, the basics of survival, the bounty of the harvest and the arts of stealth and invisibility.
Tracking, ecology and naturalist studies include...
• Track animal and human tracks and sign with finely tuned hyper sensory awareness
• Learn intensive systems awareness and mapping
• Train navigation with map and compass, land, sun and stars
• Track and trail over challenging terrain
• Develop familiarity of geology, weather and other earth sciences
• Study local birds and their language, mapping the forest and animal movement by bird song
• Finely tune your hyper sensory awareness
Teams skills include...
• Work with iterative development processes
• Develop clarity and eloquence in communication with a focus on function, not being "right or wrong"
• Learn agreement processes that are efficient, timely and functional, not long winded, boring or dramatic
• Experience the power of the "15 minute meeting"
• Structure collaborative teams that get work done well, quickly and competently
• Write a simple business plan
Survival, primitive skills and bushcraft apprenticeship include...
• Make a handmade bow and arrow set with leather quiver
• Learn basic to advanced survival shelters. Make them, sleep in them.
• Flintknap obsidian arrowheads and knives and work with other stone tools
• Train intensive fire methods: by friction and for all weather conditions
• Cover basic basket making and other wildcrafting arts
• Look awesome in the woods, work on other textile and leather work as DIY and post civ fashion with repurposed fabric
• Refine various methods of water treatment
• Cover outdoor and primitive camp logistics
• Learn basic wild edible plants
• Get the basics of primitive trapping methods
• Helping local organic urban farmers reduce invasive nutria populations, run a legal urban trapline by bike (we will eat nutria)
Art and theater skills include...
• Build team rapport with theater and improv training (all experience levels apply, we walk folks through any fears of public performance)
• Develop your creative skills through training professional level wildlife illustration (all experience levels apply, we walk folks through any fears of art)
• Make traditional and DIY musical instruments. Jam with your friend (all experience levels apply, we walk folks through any fears of jamming)
Harvesting activities include...
• Go fishing with your team, gut and eat fish
• Learn and stock your own larder by canning, drying, pickling and other preservation methods
• Sojourn on urban fruit harvests during the "season"
• Make wine or cider and practice other methods of fermentation
• Learn to identify and harvest fall edible and medicinal plants
• Practice responsible harvesting and propagation
• Do a traditional and homestead butchering (options for those who opt out) with traditional sausage and meat preservation
Stealth skills, martial arts and conditioning includes...
• Cross train intensively by bike, path and boat
• Cover natural and shadow camouflage
• Train wilderness and urban techniques of silent and flow movement for invisibility to see more wildlife
• Experience the "hall of mirrors"
• Train animal forms, movement and martial art for healthy and efficient forest travel
• Develop your "spidey" sense
• Communicate by body language and non-verbal signals with wildlife to lower disturbance in any setting
• Train with martial arts play
• Throw swords with your team
Please Note As we already have many of our 9 month applications starting for fall, we'll likely only hold space for four to six applicants for the 3 month option this September. Priority is also given to currently accepted 9 month applicants who may see 3 or 6 months as a better fit for them.
