Owl Kill

Last weekend while doing some cottontail hunting in the Champlain Valley I witnessed an amazing tracking scene. It was a perfect day for tracking, a hard crust of snow with about a half inch of powder on top. As we moved through the forest we stopped to check out the tracks of various animals taking advantage of the new found mobility the crust afforded. Story after story unfolding.

After moving through a densely wooded hillside we came across something of unusual. The first thing that caught my eye was the amount of disturbance, marks and push downs, and drags... and the lack of tracks. Then two tracks flared out at me...Owl....and just on the top of the inside toe on the right foot....is that hair....

It all became clear. The landing, the scuffle and kill...and the tracks to show the story. I have seen substrate carry over in tracks, but never hair...a story of hunting and feeding unfolded. And as each piece of the story came together and I asked questions far outside of my ability to answer. I realized once again, I love tracking.

Bow Building

Roots has been holding Bow building classes for a number of years now, and as I look towards the upcoming class and talk to those who are interested, I find myself thinking about all those who have already built one, some who have come back to build two, even three. They have taken the time out of their lives to sit with a single piece of wood, working it for days o as to leave with a beautiful, functional, and effective bow. There is no defining reason as to why people have come. There have been students that have hunted their whole lives, there have been students who have never hunted before, and a number of vegetarians who are looking to explore a new approach to meat in their diet, or are just looking for the dynamic mediation of building and shooting their own bow. No bow comes out the same, and it affects the individual as much as he or she does working the wood. Here are some pictures of previous students working hard and loving it.

Perception, Intuition, and Instinct

Last weekend we held the first Perception, Intuition, and Instinct course. I must say that I had a blast putting the class together and watching students learn and push their awareness skills. The first day of the course was a full battery of sensory exercises including vision acuity looking for hidden partners and objects in the forest, hearing tests which required you to dodge moving objects based on sound, scent identifying trees, tasting traces of alkaloids, salts, sugars, acids, and lipids in water, and transmuting touch into vision. We ended the day by hunting each other with blowguns, blindfolded, and using our senses to reach out. Sunday was filled with using awareness and visualization to learn and build new skills, more of the dart game but with hearing protection to up the stakes, and finished with some mind blowing intuition exercises that shocked the whole Roots staff when we witness a 100 percent student success rate in sensing someone while blindfolded!

Looking forward to running this course again and trying to plot more awareness courses for 2009...

New 2009 Schedule!

The 2009 schedule is now available! It is a full schedule, both with classes we have run before as well as some new classes, such as Perception, Intuition, and Instinct, Winter Survival, Instinctual Awareness and Self Defense, and Advanced Fire. Teen Classes! This fall began the first year of a long term teen program, and this summer we are excited to lead teen programs. Visit our website for more information.

Our upcoming class is Pathways to Awareness, December 13-14. This is a class we don't always get to teach, and it will be the first to happen in the newly erected yurt. It will be looking at old and new techniques for expanding and applying awareness. We will focus in on reaching and maintaining levels of consciousness that allow for the heightened sensory awareness our ancestors possessed. We will learn basic techniques for stilling the mind and apply them in a series of intense exercises designed to open new paths into ourselves and the forests around us. This class will be very hands on and touch on a great many subjects, increasing student's ability to move invisibly throughout the forest and to take in more of the complex and variable world around them. A practice approach to extrasensory awareness through practices that achieve results is the ultimate goal of the course.
Pathways to Awareness
Date: December 13-14 (2008)
Cost: $150-lunch included


The 2009 Schedule!

Enjoy and let us know what you are interested in, and as always, please help us spread the word...

**Roots 2009 Adult Class Schedule**

Pathways to
Awareness, 2008 December 13-14 $150

Winter Tracking January 24-25 $200

Perception, Intuition,
and Instinct January 31-Feb. 1 $200

Ancient Living Skills February 7-10 $500

Winter Survival February 14-16 $350

Bow Class March 7-10 $450

Flint Knapping March 11-13 $200

Arrows March 14-15 $200

Primitive Weapons April 18-19 $200

Tracking
& Awareness May 9-10 $200

Primitive Fishing May 16-17 $200

Roots Core Skills l May 24-30 $650

Spring Fling June 13-14 $20/day

Instinctual Awareness
and & Self Defense June 20-21 $200

Basketry June 27-28 $150

Felting July 11-12 $150

Roots Core Skills l July 12-18 $650

Ancient Scout August 9-15 $650

Tracking
& Awareness September 10-11 $200

Advanced Tracking
& Awareness September 12-13 $200

Flint Knapping September 19-20 $200

Flint Knapping II September 21-22 $200

Rendezvous September 25-27 TBA

Hide Tanning October 3-5 $400

Basketry October 24-25 $150

Advanced Fire November 14-15 $200

Pathways to
*Awareness December 12-13 $200



*_Roots 2009 Teen Class Schedule_*


*Tracking and Awareness *April 25-26

*Wilderness Survival *July 26-August 1

*Scout *August 18-22

ROOTS Rendezvous Ride Share

Need a ride? Have one to offer?

Use our blog and reply to this post with a comment if you want to share a ride.

ROOTS Rendezvous

Yeah ROOTS Rendezvous!
OCTOBER 24, Friday 4 PM - Sunday 26 4 PM

Celebrate primitive skills and get a taste of what we teach at ROOTS.

Workshops and demonstrations for the whole family:
Fire by friction
Primitive weapons
Hide tanning
Edible, medicinal & utilitarian plant use
Wildlife tracking
Shelter
Water purification
Flint knapping
Fireside cooking
Natural fibers
Stalking & movement
Awareness

& Guests from our community including
Ninjutsu with Ben Goodrich
Birding with Amy Butler
Ecological communities with Dan Farrell
Primitive physical conditioning with Abdul Mujib of North Country Kettle Bells
Edible plant walks with Annie Mcleary and George Lisi of Wisdom of the Herbs School
Mushrooms with Alan LePage
Medicinal plants with Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism

Doe Camp

This past June I got to participate at Doe Camp, up in the Northeast Kingdon. This event is sponsored by the Vermont Outdoor Guide Association and Vermont Outdoors Woman, and the summer/fall programs draw more than 100 women of all ages who want to learn fire skills, archery (including the very talented and lovely Christina Bean), marksmanship, tie a fly, forage for wild edibles, and wilderness survival among other outdoor pursuits. I was there for the weekend to instruct on fire/bow drill, cordage, as well as tracking and awareness. Friday for me began with teaching fire skills. Despite the drizzle, there were seven women there and ready to learn fire, one even brought a previously made kit and questions. Even better. Then, to my excitement and surprise, after carving their kits, six of the women busted out coals, and the one who brought her kit got some answers and probably more questions. Dang. It was apparent that the group's attitude was casual, attentive, and really excited about the idea of producing a coal. And it is this, despite the drizzle, their attitude that lent so much to their success. It was a great class to be a part of. The next day was cordage. Note the large heap of elm bark I am emerging from. It was a most beautiful day, warm with a gentle breeze, there in the Northeast Kingdom. We covered a number of wraps and styles, and began a small weaving project. Here is a student about to begin the three-ply wrap reverse wrap. Sunday morning was Tracking and Awareness. Given that was the title, it diverged into a few hours focusing on awareness of ourselves, out surrounding environment, and that interplay. Of our relation to and awareness of our land-base. This was through exercises with our senses and opening them up, questions, and moving slow. In the end it rightly finished up with Moose tracks walking up a muddy corridor.

You can view VOGA's website at http://www.voga.org/vermont_outdoors_woman.htm

I also would like to make a point to mention the skilled tailor, serious hunter, and lovely lady Wendy Butler of Trailfeathers. She provides hunting clothes designed for women. As it is said in her website; "The Trailfeathers' line of clothing is designed to fit a woman's body and to provide her with superior comfort across a full range of activities—from sitting in a tree stand to climbing a windy ridge, and even answering the call of nature." That call of nature? inspiration via her mom for those chilly mornings, her pants come with an extended crotch zipper so that "women no longer need to hang it all out to relieve themselves." Brilliant!
You can check this out at: http://www.trailfeathers.com/