We’re about halfway through the initial Friluftsliv Forest Program at our campus in southern Vermont, and it’s been going really well. Students are building the skills and systems they’ll need for our two-week canoe expedition in July. Next session they’ll be participating in their “frozen 24”  exercise, where they use their knowledge of fire and shelter to spend a winter night with fire as their only heat source. They’re excited about it, and I’m confident they can do it based on seeing how far they’ve come over the last five sessions. I’m really glad to see the experience work for the students and to see the course itself come to fruition. So, in light of all of that, we’re opening up registration for the 2021/2022 session beginning in September ’21.

Register

If you don’t know about the FFP, here are a few details. You can find more information on the course page here

1. One weekend a month.

This format isn’t anything groundbreaking. Students will come to the SOTF campus for a weekend, and get face to face instruction, and the opportunity to use the skills they learn during their time with us.

2. Online/Distance learning

One weekend a month isn’t enough to cover all the topics we’d get to on a nine-week semester, however, paired with at-home instruction through our social network, we can cover a lot of the academic work while we aren’t together, then devote the weekends to learning the hard skills, like axe use, safe carving skills, etc.

3. Culminating experience

This aspect is what will set our time together on the program apart from other long term programs. Having the opportunity to put the skill set, and gear you’ve made into practice on a trip in the field is where those skills become your own. This course will end with a trip up to northern Maine to the JMB field school, and time out on a remote river, living with the systems you’ll learn in our time with us.

If you have questions about the program, get in touch with me, or check out the course site here.