I was recently interviewed by Iain Haywood at ooh.com.  You can read the piece here.  In addition to some nice photos of Ernie Davis and David Bosum, I’m quoted on educational philosophy: “At its best, teaching should be invisible; a person who learns from a mediocre instructor will realize how talented their instructor is. The [...]

We get a lot of requests for work-study options for our programs, so we’re introducing one for summer, 2009. Duties include organic gardening, landscaping, cutting firewood and building an intimate relationship with the land. You’ll live in your own tent or a shelter you build. You’ll maintain an off-the-grid solar pv system, our composting system, [...]

On April 1st I’m giving a talk at the Goodwin Library in Farmington, NH, on preparedness, sustainability and using low-tech techniques to recession-proof your home and family. I’ll be discussing how to live gracefully without modern conveniences such as septic, running water, or electricity in the New England during all seasons.  Topics will range from [...]

Part 2 (of 2) of our Philosophy Of Bushcraft Video. Jack Mountain Bushcraft Journal – Episode 20. For a higher resolution version that combines parts 1 and 2, check it out at blip.tv.

Philosophy Of Bushcraft – Part 1. Jack Mountain Bushcraft Journal Episode 19. For a higher resolution version that combines part 1 and 2, go to our blip.tv channel.

Yesterday I received a dvd copy of a television show shot a year ago called I’ll Try Anything Once and featuring Touré and myself, with a guest appearance by Don Merchant.  I spent several days teaching Touré the skills of winter survival, culminating his 24-hour solo in the winter woods.  I hadn’t seen any footage [...]

I’ve been a fan of Bill Mason’s films and books for several decades.  He was a proponent of wood canvas canoes, canvas tents, and traditional skills of the bush.  I picked out a great quotation from his film Waterwalker the other night: You see things differently when you travel the way the native peoples did. [...]

Our semester course originally grew out of the desire to move past a skills-only paradigm to include the experience of living a simple outdoor life.  After ten years and 12 semester courses, I think we’ve been successful at introducing a new idea of outdoor education to the world that isn’t limited to just hard or [...]

If you haven’t seen it yet, check out the National Film Board Of Canada’s site.  They’ve put their archives online for free, so we’re able to watch a bunch of great films right on the web. To put this in perspective, about 15 years ago I heard about the film Cree Hunters Of Mistassini.  I [...]

I had the opportunity to do some reading and enjoy some spirited discussions on our recent trip to northern Quebec. One of the topics that kept coming up was the lack of decent terminology in english for the simple, outdoor lifestyle based on skill, simple tools and a relationship with the land and it’s resources. [...]

Over the weekend I learned that the article about our 2005 canoe trip on the Big Black River that Tom Haines wrote appeared in the book The Best Travel Writing 2006; True Stories From Around The World.  It originally ran in the travel section of The Boston Globe on June 12, 2005. You can get [...]

My friend and fellow bushcraft instructor David Cronenwett has a great new blog called A View From Aerie Mountain: Natural History, Bushcraft, Outdoor Survival, Grizzly Bears, Human Ecology, Montana And More.  David is an experienced instructor of outdoor living and has some keen insights into both outdoor life and people. His post titled Personas Among [...]

In the morning I’m heading north with a small group to Oujé-Bougoumou, Quebec, for 8 days of snowshoeing and winter living with my friend David Bosum.  I’m bringing a group with me to experience the Cree way of life and hospitality. I’ve taken several trips with David over the past decade, and all have been [...]

In addition to being the base for our programs, our Bushcraft And Sustainability Field School is also where we experiment with different technologies in order to achieve a simple, comfortable, rural life.  It’s a demonstration site, but not in the sense that we create alternative ways of doing things and then revert back to the [...]

Arctic explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson wrote that “adventure is a sign of incompetence.”  But if it isn’t for adventure, why do people do the things they do?  I’m with Stefansson on adventure.  It implies that you’re not prepared for what you face, which, in the case of living a life outdoors, should never be the case.  [...]

If you’re interested in keeping up with all the updates we put on the web, check out our FriendFeed page at: friendfeed.com/jmbushcraft It lists all the updates we make on the web, including this blog, photos, videos, Facebook updates, etc.  I’m going to put it on our site soon, but for the time being check [...]

We’re wrapping up week 1 of the Earth Skills Winter Program, and I’m getting all the gear assembled for our snowshoe trip next week.  We’ve had the coldest temperatures of the year so far, but it’s been a fun week anyway and we’ve covered a lot of ground.  Today I’m busy prepping and packing what [...]

The number of primitive skills and survival schools has swelled in the last few years, and while all schools are not created equal there are many opportunities to learn wilderness skills these days.  It’s important to be clear about what we do because it’s different than what’s available elsewhere.  Yes, we teach skills.  We’re among [...]

I got an email from Tim MacWelch of the Earth Connection School of Wilderness Survival And Ancient Skills in Virginia today.  They’re running a weekend primitive skills gathering this month, January 16-18.  From his email: Wolf Moon Camp – Primitive Skills Gathering – January 16-18 Earth Connection School of Wilderness Survival and Ancient Skills is [...]

We’re introducing a new format for the fall, 2009 Earth Skills Semester Program.  We’re breaking the course up into two blocks of four weeks each, with a week off in the middle.  And instead of working five days a week, we’ll be working six days a week.  With the practical exam at the end of [...]

We went out on a family tracking walk yesterday.  The snow was perfect and there were all sorts of tracks for my son to investigate.  It’s fun being outside with him and seeing the landscape through his eyes.  One of the neat things we can learn from children is the idea of vu-ja-de.  It’s the [...]

There’s a lot of information about bushcraft on the web, but much of it is focused around equipment and celebrities, not knowledge and experience.  If you’re just getting started, here are seven things to keep in mind. 1.  It’s not about the gear.  We did alright for 99% of human history without all the latest [...]

My friend David Cronenwett is the co-owner of the Wilderness Arts Institute in Montana, an experienced bushcraft instructor and a professional naturalist.  He sent me this essay he wrote about a winter survival exercise that became a wilderness survival episode last winter in Montana’s Bob Marshall Wilderness.  It’s a good read and there are lessons [...]

In preparing for our programs I always tell people to bring enough sleeping bag.  If you know you can get 8 or ten hours of warm, comfortable sleep at night most situations are tolerable.  My good friend and semester course alumnus, Sean Fagan, recently sent me a note about his experience with us in northern [...]

Our 2009 calendar is complete and you can view it here.  I’m putting it all on Google Calendar, and have it embedded at the bottom of the page.  We’ve got a bunch of new programs, including a week of making pack baskets, bows and canoe paddles along with staying in a nearby resort.  We’ve also [...]

I just finished reading Tom Jamrog’s blog post reviewing the Snow Walkers Rendezvous in November.  He’s got several videos in the post, including the tour of the tents and part one of Allan Brown’s torching of a canvas tent.  It’s definitely worth the read.  If it’s difficult for you to get to Vermont in November, [...]

I’ve got the updated details on the 2009 yearlong (7 months to be specific) immersion program online. The price has come way down and there is a discount for bringing your own canoe.  We’re accepting applications until April 1st and will only take ten people.  Full details are available at jackmtn.com/esyear.html.

We put up a blog for the participants of our semester programs last spring, and a big part of a spring logbook was recently posted. So if you want to find out more of what goes on in our programs, you can check it out at The Bushcraft Experience.

Below is the 21-point curriculum for our spring, 2009 Bushcraft Canoe Expedition Semester. Wilderness Survival – Basic, intermediate and advanced survival. Fire – Fire making with and without modern tools. Shelter Construction – Building for survival, short-term and long-term stays. Water – Acquisition And Purification. Navigation – Barehand (using no modern tools), map and compass. [...]

We’re redesigning our spring semester for 2009. The new format will be a 6-week program with most of the time spent traveling through the bush of northern Maine. There are 5 phases to the program, each of which can be taken as an individual course. Phase 1: Weeklong bushcraft and guide training immersion course. Phase [...]

We use steel axes and knives on a daily basis in our programs, and I’ve been asked several times how this meshes with the primitive skills movement.  My answer has two parts.  First, I believe that in order to progress to the skill level where a tool such as an axe or knife is no [...]

The major updates to our site are done, and everything seems to be working.  If you come across a problem, please let us know.

Many of our web pages are out of date.  Our menus are out of date.  Our calendar is in need of an upgrade.  All of this is coming in the next two weeks.  I’ve been working with new menu software and am almost ready to go live.  So if you’ve been frustrated by our website [...]

December 16-20 is the annual Maine Wilderness Guides Organization winter guide training course, and I’ll be working with Kevin Slater of Mahoosuc Guide Service again this year to put it on. It’s a great opportunity for those who are new to winter living and guiding to get some experience in the bush and learn about [...]

We’re got two new programs for ESSP alumni coming in 2009. The first is a practicum, where people gather at our Bushcraft And Sustainability Field School for a week (or two) to get back in touch with the bush life. It’s an opportunity to spend some unstructured time working on subjects of interest, prepare for [...]

I love to research and travel on the old canoe routes that were the highways before the vast northern forests of Maine had a single logging road.  A few years ago I picked up a copy of a book called “The Indian Canoe Routes Of Maine” by David S. Cook, which described many of these [...]

We’re adding a new member to our team – The University Of Maine at Presque Isle.  We’ll be actively collaborating with UMPI beginning in 2009 and are excited about the opportunities this presents.  It’s a great opportunity for college students seeking to include buscraft as part of their studies.  More at the UMPI Recreation and [...]

I had a great time at the Snow Walkers’ Rendezvous in Vermont, both meeting up with old friends and making some new ones. My workshop on using an axe and lighting wet-weather fires was well attended, and the food was outstanding as it always is at the Hulbert Outdoor Center. I also attended an informative [...]

A question I get asked on a regular basis, and one I wish would just go away, is what I think about the TV survival shows.  Usually, the person asking likes one show and doesn’t like another, and is willing to support their hero to no end.  Having spent the last few years with no [...]