A Culture That Needs to Exist4thFebruary
What is the purpose of Trackers? To be ambassadors for a culture that does not exist… yet. What culture? I'm seriously talking about autonomous families of hunter-gatherers and horticulturists tending to the Willamette Valley, the region, the continent and to the planet. It worked well and was sustainable enough for hundreds of thousands of years.
Does that mean stick huts and stone points? No, from our perspective people can misinterpret what defines a hunter-gatherer or horticulturist family. Someone very wise once told me, "It's about relationships." It's family (said with an Italian accent)! More than simply Uncle Bob or Auntie Peggy. Beyond the very important Grandma Deis or Grandpa Rinella. It's them and much more. I track a fox and I see details of its life as intimate as the people I relate to by blood. I make matchless fire from a cedar and its sustains the life of my wife, my children and all my relations.
This is not nature worship, this simply respect for what feeds, clothes and cares for us. In all the talk of green jobs and sustainability we often neglect how the nature of our relationships eventually defines how we care for all life around us. Not simply today or next year, but in a cultural legacy we create by attention to powerful family bonds.
And how do we do that? Ha! That's what Trackers is trying to figure out simply by existing. Not with what eventually proves to be convoluted dictums, methods, movements or philosophies. That's the same old trap of neglecting family at the expense of a career, mission and especially progress. No, it's by cultivating and tending to both the quality and quantity of time spent with all your relations. All your family. All your land. It's letting love and respect grow from simple moments into grand arcs of life, history and tradition.
Featured Programs…
Wilderness Immersion: Spring Term Become an ambassador for a culture that needs to exist. This term focuses on permaculture and regenerative design. Along with tracking, nature awareness and studies in the lore and use of wild and medicinal plants.
Program Calendar...
Knot Tying & Ropework Evenings Feb 17-18
Healing Teas: Trees of Life Feb 28, 2010
Paleolithic Primer: Primitive Tech Series Mar 27-28
Edible Wild: Spring Greens Mar 28, 2010
Wilderness First Responder April 10-19, 2010
5 Weekends Skin on Frame Kayak Building Begins April 10
Wilderness Survival Basics May 8-9, Oct 2-3 or Nov 6-7
11 days Skin on Frame Kayak Building May 14-24, 2010
Wilderness Survival Weekend Overnight May 28-30
Primitive Pottery Apprenticeship Begins June 6
3 Months Oregon Coast Permaculture Immersion June 14-Aug 27
Paleolithic Primer: Primitive Tech Series July 10-11
