The last week has been busy around here.  We built our new cook shack (with the roof still to be completed), ran a full Summer Survival Weekend Course, and ran a private 2-day survival workshop.  Today will be the first day I’ve had a chance to write (and take a deep breath and sit still [...]

Over the years I’ve used a wide variety of lanterns and lights in camp. For winter trips I’ve just used candles to light up the inside of the wall tent. On solo or non-guided trips I carry a small headlamp to read with, but for guided trips I like to have a lantern of some [...]

I told the people in our sustainability workshop yesterday that I’d post a link to an article on lasagna gardening so they could have a reference for what we did. It’s from Mother Earth News and located here.

The first in our series of sustainability workshops took place yesterday, and despite strong thunderstorms that caused us to start a little late it was a great success. We built a raised lasagna garden bed on a section of ground where the limited amount of soil was compacted, and talked about a few related skills [...]

I do a lot of reading and came across something on how old-time farm internships worked in the book “The New Organic Grower” by Elliot Coleman, on page 5; “The student received room and board but was expected to pay the farmer a monthly fee for the first three months. After three months, if the [...]

This Sunday marks the first in our series of workshops on sustainability. We’ll be building a lasagna garden bed, which is an effective way to turn a section of lawn into a food production zone in less than an hour. We’ll meet at 2pm and put together a lasagna bed or two, then plant them [...]

We completed the Earth Skills Summer Program, and it was a great success. We covered a lot of material, had a lot of fun, and only had to endure one knife cut which took place the first day. Like all extended courses, there were low points, like the bow that broke during floor tillering and [...]

It’s been a busy two weeks with the Earth Skills Summer Program.  We’ve focused intensively on bushcraft and nature studies, and this morning we’re doing a segment on wood canvas canoe building.  We’ll examine the process, look at molds and how they’re built, then pull a hull that’s been planked off of a mold and [...]