I’ve been working on putting together a new site for the Jack Mountain Bushcraft School where we can keep up with what community members are up to. We encourage our students to publish their logbooks, photos, etc., but up to this point haven’t had an easy way to keep up with one another. This is [...]

Is this the year you’re going to pitch it all and go live in the forest? Leave the corporate rat race and the city life behind and head for the quiet of the bush? I hear from people regularly who want to quit their job, sell their house and go live in the woods for [...]

Highlights: January is named for the Roman god Janus, often portrayed with two faces; one looking back in contemplation, one looking forward in anticipation. It’s a month where I spend a lot of time in the office planning the details of the coming year, and also looking back at what worked and what needs to [...]

We ran our first School Of The Forest kids program this past Saturday during a bitter cold snap and with ten inches of fresh, powdery snow on the ground. The day was a mixture of bushcraft, nature lore and games, and even though we were constantly checking to make sure everyone was warm enough and [...]

Yesterday I was part of a conversation led by a man who runs a small academic program for homeschoolers. He was talking about the modern fascination with being able to measure learning when he mentioned that problem solving is not as important as problem finding. This got me thinking. Modern education puts a high value [...]

Self-Reliace Deficit Disorder (SRDD) – A disease.  Symptoms include having the inability to provide for any basic needs with materials from immediate surroundings, needing significant infrastructure to accomplish everyday tasks, and a generalized can’t-do attitude. I made up this term last week when writing about our upcoming kids program and people started talking about it, [...]

I’m not much of a television guy. Part of this is having two young kids, so when the tv is on there’s usually a dancing purple dinosaur or some other annoying cartoon character or puppet singing songs that make me temporarily envy the deaf. As a family we cut the cord a while ago and [...]

Highlights: After a busy season at the field school, returning home to the folk school is wonderful experience. Being surrounded by modern conveniences, electricity; I revel in it for a few days, then, like most modern people, I start to take it for granted. When something is everywhere, is it even possible to appreciate it? [...]

Nature has become wallpaper in outdoor education; a backdrop for human-focused activities. But it doesn’t need to be. When it’s only scenery, it’s not easy to get people to engage. From personal experience I know that the natural world is a different place to someone who is seeking food, raw materials for crafts, materials for [...]

We’re adding a new, monthly kids program starting in January.  It’s called The School Of The Forest, and is designed for kids ages 8 and older.  It will take place at the folk school in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, on Saturday per month.  The first date will be January 4th.  You can read more about it [...]

Humans are social animals. Put two of us together and we’ll talk and talk, even if there’s nothing useful to say. I believe a small part of this is human nature. We’re social animals, and verbal communication is a foundational principle of how we organize in groups. But I think the vast majority of this [...]

Highlights: Finished up our 24th semester course at the end of October, then presented on the role of nature in outdoor education at the Snow Walker’s Rendezvous in a short talk titled “Beyond Wallpaper.” Also taught two workshops. Have had a lot of office time planning new programs for 2014, including a monthly kids program [...]

Our 2014 calendar is live on our site. We’ve added a few new folk school programs including the School Of The Forest, a monthly kids program, and the New Hampshire self reliance workshop series, a monthly adult program for which we’ve partnered with a local non-profit. We’ve also taken our weeklong winter bushcraft and survival [...]

Early November is a great time to be in northern New England. Everyone I’ve ever asked agrees that it’s beautiful, but to me it also means that our fall Wilderness Bushcraft Semester course is complete, the bugs are gone until spring, and I get to spend some time at home. But that doesn’t mean I’ll [...]

There is a difference between knowing something for yourself versus having read it or heard it. That difference is characterized by experience and results, not faith and information. During the early weeks of the fall Wilderness Bushcraft Semester we do a lot of work with plants. As we traverse the landscape of Aroostook County, we [...]

Over the weekend we began our 24th semester course. We’ve got a big group, a new cooking pavilion, an expanded fleet of canoes (new 20′ Old Town XL Tripper) and a fresh coat of spar varnish on the paddles. There’s been talk of purchasing a giant neon sign in order for Moose Vegas (our student [...]

There are a few things we’re always looking for, so we’re putting together a wish list page asking people for donations. For most people these are junk, and we’d like to save them from the landfill and do something useful with them. If you’ve got them lying around and are planning a trip near Masardis, [...]

Highlights: No newsletter last month due to a busy schedule including 3 straight weeks of visiting inlaws. Had a great family course, as well as some solid family time in July. We had our first student at the field school from Peru – always amazed at the reach of the internet. We’ve also added two [...]

If you carry an axe, a sturdy sheath is a must. It protects both you and the axe. Many of the sheaths that come with new axes are flimsy and won’t hold up, so either make one or get one. Don Merchant at Pole And Paddle Canoe makes them out of thick leather. Don’t let [...]

I’ll be announcing some changes to our programs over the next few days, the first of which is the Wilderness Canoe Expedition Semester. I’ve been talking with alumni and thinking about how it is different from the the canoe instruction and experience during the Wilderness Bushcraft Semester. The main question I’ve been asking is if [...]

We’ve received several calls regarding questions about food and meals on field school courses recently. Our goal is to have no surprises for people when they arrive, but there is a lot of information to digest and while we’re working to simplify it, it isn’t always the easiest to find. I’m posting this information to [...]

Learning something new demands more action than details. More often than not, excessive details and information get in the way more than they help during the initial steps. In my opinion, only the minimum amount of information that leads to a successful outcome should be provided the first time someone learns something new or completes [...]

Today we’re running the third of three wild food walks, and will be heading to a nearby wetland at the top of its drainage to harvest cattails and other wetland species. The walks have been a lot of fun, and we’re right in the thick of the foraging season. I’ve spent several afternoons with my [...]

During the June, 2013 Woodsman course we were at the river picking fiddleheads for supper when a yearling and mother moose walked into the field. We were quiet and still, and the wind was blowing toward us, so they kept coming right at us.

I’ve set the time and location for the first of our 3-part edible wild plant workshop series.  Session 1 (June 30) will run from 12-3 and will meet at 267 Camp School Road in Wolfeboro, NH. Plan to arrive between 11:30 and 12:00. We will be exploring the nearby woods and fields.  If your main [...]

On the last day of our Aroostook River trip during our recent Wilderness Canoe Expedition Course, we stopped to have lunch at the boat ramp near the North Maine Woods gate at Oxbow.  From here, the river makes a sharp right turn, and there’s a short class 2 rapid we call Oxbow Gate Rips.  Often [...]

Highlights: No newsletter last month because we were off the grid in the North Maine Woods.  We had a great 4-week canoe course in May, and I’m out of the woods with surprisingly few bug bites.  The month started with a stretch of hot and dry weather.  It was 85 degrees and there was a [...]

Last weekend was arguably the best weather you could request for the last weekend in April. Sunny, a slight breeze and warm, it was perfect for hitting the water and getting the winter cobwebs out of canoe muscles. We ran two, 1-day canoe programs at the folk school in NH and they both were fantastic. [...]

Highlights:  April was a busy month at the folk school in NH.  We ran a handful of private workshops and along the way found time to get out fishing for smelt and suckers.  It was a cold spring and we’re looking forward to the warmer weather.  Currently I’m getting gear ready for the canoe expedition; [...]

The general route for our spring canoe expedition is set.  We’ll spend the bulk of the month on the Aroostook drainage.  We’ll be doing a good deal of upriver work, both poling and lining, to visit a few of my favorite spots.   Our second trip in on the Allagash, where we’ll be poling up [...]

People put a lot of pressure on themselves to succeed, or to be really good at something right at the beginning. I, and anyone who has taught anything for any length of time, can tell you that learning doesn’t work that way.  You don’t start out being good at something.  It takes, blood, sweat and [...]

The number seven has been coming up a lot the last few days. First, I’ve had this blog for seven years. I started it in 2006. I had one before this, but it was hacked and most of the 140 posts were deleted. Second, I recently crossed the 700 posts threshold. This is post number [...]

What happens when a woman spends a weekend in the woods learning learning wilderness survival and bushcraft during a snowy Maine winter? Deirdre Fulton spent a weekend with us, and you can read her account of it in this article from the Portland Phoenix.  Read it here. I wasn’t learning how to outlast the zombie [...]

On Wednesday, February 27th we’re running a short course on winter bushcraft for kids (ages 6-12) and parents in Wolfeboro, NH.  The tuition is $25 per family, which can include 2 adults and multiple kids. I’m planning on running the program from 1:30-4:00 pm. We’ll be focusing on lighting fires, snowshoe use and making bindings, [...]

Over the past few months I’ve seen numerous blogs offering tips and tricks on bushcraft and survival. But tips and tricks will never take the place of practiced fundamentals; learning the correct technique, then doing it until it is second nature. The seemingly inexhaustible human desire for shortcuts keeps the search alive, but don’t be [...]

During the bitter cold of our winter snowshoe expedition this year, several members of our group were eating over 5000 calories a day in order to keep their internal furnaces stoked. It got me thinking about making an expedition cake that was calorie-dense and nutrient-rich that I could make in advance of winter trips to [...]

The deep snows of mid-February are covering the landscape (and the canoe trailer), and for the past few days the wind has been howling down the lake with enough force to sculpt the snow and make it feel very cold. With no more winter trips planned for this year, my thoughts are turning to spring [...]

As of February 14th, our 2013-2014 yearlong bushcraft immersion program and the fall wilderness bushcraft semester are both full.  Although it grows a bit every year, this is the earliest we’ve ever filled; more than 6-months in advance!  We will still accept applications for the waiting list in case their are cancellations.  If you’re thinking [...]

Well, it happened again. I received an email from a friend about someone who has copied some of my stuff. Over the years, people have copied my text, photos (which is why every photo I post now has a watermark), and even my anecdotes. More than twenty-five times. I’ve always taken the high road, emailing [...]