3 month program in the Winter22ndJuly
Leading up to official announcement for our 3 month option for our immersion program (August 1), we're releasing the details for the Water Village (Winter Session). Exploring the ancient history and lore of travel from the arctic and all across the seven seas your team first builds a 24 foot traditional skin on frame whaling boat called an umiak. During this you study marine navigation by ancient and modern methods, throw in a little sailing primer and then make your own traditional skin on frame sea kayak. This kayak is a boat built to your body, in the water you're part fish (or seal, whichever you prefer). We also cover wildlife ecology and tracking with survival in the rain, water, ice and snow. How do you build a lodge to take you through the days of cold and dark. And winter becomes the time for refining craft. We make our own outdoor garb that's not only functional for the pacific Northwest but in true Trackers style its also fashionable as though we stepped from 1000 years of ice. Finally, we retrain how our own bodies move through Taoist martial arts such as Tai chi and Qigong. Winter is the the time to forget and remember ourselves again.
Winter Session: The Water Village
Boat building apprenticeship includes...
• Step into the seafaring story and history of indigenous people
• Study and apply principles of traditional boat design
• Take a sailing primer
• Build a team umiak
• Train marine navigation: both ancient and modern methods
• Make your own kayak to fit your own body
• Make your own paddle
• Learn the safety principles for you kayak, including wet exits, rescues and definitely rolls
Winter and snow survival and tracking includes...
• Stay comfortable in winter weather, appreciate the winter landscape
• Build snow shelters
• Craft DIY clothing/functional fashion for winter rain and snow
• Trap invasive species for the winter
• Immerse yourself in awareness of winter ecology and tracking
• Make your own handcrafted traditional shoes and snow shoes (snow shoes optional project)
• Train intensive ecology mapping skills
Harvesting activities include...
• Go fishing with your team, gut and eat fish
• Harvest and preservation of wild roots and tubers
• Make fun beverages of fermentation
• Learn to identify wild winter plants
• Practice responsible harvesting and propagation, including healthy winter pruning
• Do a traditional and homestead butchering (options for those who opt out) with traditional sausage and meat preservatio
• 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 and landscape painting (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
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
Taoist martial arts
• Pratice Tai chi and Qigong• Condition cold and extreme weather for all levels, feel warm in the cold (we meet you where you're at)
• Train strength conditioning for all levels (we meet you where you are at)
Plus take a Wilderness First Responder as an option
