This morning we’re starting week 2 of the 9-week Wilderness Guide Training Semester. This week we’ll continue with our deep dive into self-reliant living in the forest with more useful plants and campfire cooking skills. We’ll also be adding our first shelter of the course, where students will spend four consecutive nights before moving on […]
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Recorded at the beginning of week 2 of the spring 2021 semester, we discuss the value of a tangible approach to education as contrasted with an abstract approach. Also we discuss a variety of current events and the genuine surprise felt at making it to 100 episodes. PHOTO: Building a hoop house shelter. Show Notes: […]
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Big picture riff on why making things from the land matters, and how using materials that other people don’t value is useful in the long run […]
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It’s been ten years since I took this photo. The kid is now in middle school. The basket has been retired and sits in a corner of the guide shack holding fishing gear. Of all the photos I’ve ever taken, it remains in my top ten. And a reminder that life happens fast. Continue Reading...
Shot this on a northern Maine lake at the end of the fall semester. It’s a campsite on a big lake that we revere for epic sunrises. It took a while for the sun to burn through the fog, giving us the mist effect. Continue Reading...
It’s still August but the nights are getting cool. When the night air is cooler than the river water we get dramatic morning mists. I shot this on the morning of August 23, 2019, as the sun was just peeking over Squapan Ridge and the river valley was full of mist. I stood there for […] Continue Reading...
When made well, a grass mattress is portable luxury. Unlike thin sleeping pads, grass mattresses can easily be made to rival a modern mattress in thickness and comfort. They can also easily be transported, unlike bough beds. And they can be made from a variety of materials including grass, weeds, cattails, reeds, and more. They […] Continue Reading...
Smudge pots are a way of life at the field school in June and July. Take a metal coffee can, punch a few holes in it, attach a piece of chain to the rim and keep a small, smoky fire going. The smoke keeps the bugs at bay. It’s getting harder to find a metal […] Continue Reading...
This morning we’re starting week 2 of the 9-week Wilderness Guide Training Semester. This week we’ll continue with our deep dive into self-reliant living in the forest with more useful plants and campfire cooking skills. We’ll also be adding our first shelter of the course, where students will spend four consecutive nights before moving on […] Continue Reading...
We’re getting closer to the end of our first Friluftsliv Forest Program in southern Vermont. It’s been a great experience, and we’re already getting signups for this year’s session. This got me thinking about the differences between a long-term residential program like our nine-week guide training and bushcraft semesters at Jack Mountain and the once-a-month […] Continue Reading...
Congratulations are in order for Maine’s newest registered guide, John Nindl. John just passed his test after working hard to master the material. He is also a Wilderness Bushcraft Semester graduate from the fall of 2020. Well done, sir. Continue Reading...
Yesterday we began our 51st long-term program, the Wilderness Guide Training Semester, and the first field school program of 2021. After a winter filled with Covid-related challenges, it’s feels fantastic to be back out on the land and working with people. We’ve got a long way to go and a lot of material and miles […] Continue Reading...
We’ve just added a 3-day introduction to fly fishing course at the field school May 28-30. It will be guided by Paul Sveum, Master Maine Guide. Tuition is $450. Details are here. Gear, Casting, Fishing, Fly Tying Participants will arrive Thursday evening and we’ll start Friday morning at 8. We’ll learn the art of casting […] Continue Reading...
Congratulations are in order for Paul Sveum, who recently upgraded his Maine Guide license to master. In order to do so he had to document 10 years or work guiding, with a minimum number of hours each year. Maine first licensed guides in 1897. In those early years, you had to have a game warden […] Continue Reading...
This episode features our first returning guest. Mike Clough from the Southern Vermont Natural History Museum is back to talk about the newest edition to the museum’s educational animals. There are now live Virginia Opposum’s at the museum, and they’re part of a pilot program for the state of Vermont, exploring the possibilities of museums […] Continue Reading...
As of yesterday both of our family bushcraft weeks this summer are full. It’s great to be able to provide an outdoor experience that families can take part in together, and due to the current pandemic we’re limiting the course to four families per week. If you’d like to sign up for the waiting list […] Continue Reading...
Recorded at the beginning of week 2 of the spring 2021 semester, we discuss the value of a tangible approach to education as contrasted with an abstract approach. Also we discuss a variety of current events and the genuine surprise felt at making it to 100 episodes. PHOTO: Building a hoop house shelter. Show Notes: […] Continue Reading...
Welcome back to the JMB Podcast. After a winter break, we’re back at the field school and beginning the spring 2021 Wilderness Guide Training semester today. For episode 99, we discuss what we did over the winter, which includes catching Covid 19, working to get healthy, working with birds at a museum, and a few […] Continue Reading...
For episode 98 of the JMB podcast, we discuss the process of developing wilderness instructors and guides. We outline the following steps to the process: Take a course and get the Journeyman certification Take a medical class, first aid or wilderness first responder Take and pass the test to become a Registered Maine Guide Go […] Continue Reading...
It’s near the end of the fall semester, so we invited some of the current Wilderness Bushcraft Semester students into the Guide Shack so you could hear directly from them about their thoughts about the course. Listen in as they describe their experience and answer a few questions about it. PHOTO: Spring semester students at […] Continue Reading...
We offer several different types of programs, and in this episode of the podcast we describe and define what they are and who they’re for. Two weeks to go in the fall, 2020 Wilderness Bushcraft Semester. PHOTO: Big breakfast in camp. Show Notes: JMB Podcast Episode 96 | Differentiating Professional Training Programs Kid-Friendly? Kid friendly, […] Continue Reading...
Big picture riff on why making things from the land matters, and how using materials that other people don’t value is useful in the long run. Continue Reading...
This minidocumentary walks through the 2020-2021 Friluftsliv Forest Program students’ experience as they prepare for, and participate in their “halfway point” culminating exercise. Students on the FFP take part in a winter overnight, with only a fire and shelter they’ve built to stay warm. This experience shows the students how far they’ve come over the […] Continue Reading...
A short video about the Solo experience that students on our long term wilderness living experiences take part in. Video taken at a remote lake in the north Maine woods over the course of three days. Continue Reading...
In this short video, we walk through our newly built group shelter. We’ve been consistently having nights below freezing, so having a warm space for people to dry off and defrost their bones is a big bonus for our students. Just based on the general shape and color of the structure, we’ve started referring to […] Continue Reading...
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We’re a bushcraft, guide training and wilderness expedition school founded in 1999. We help people become more self-reliant and connected to the natural world using traditional skills and a few simple tools. This is our media hub, consisting of our blog, podcasts and videos.
