Hunter-Gatherer Skills

In order to learn the intricacies of the local terrain and the origins of technology, for homesteading purposes and a general understanding of the immediate environment, it is important to become familiar with the spatial and temporal dimensions of the lay of the land. Folk and life ways, settlement configurations, geology, plants, animals and weather patterns will give us the ability to hone in our observation and develop creative hand and eye coordination.

The ancients were highly skilled at reading the landscape and knew, intimately, where to locate the materials and tools to meet their basic necessities. The majority of the skills in our hunter-gatherer courses are conducted with materials culled only from the local environment. Some skills and equipment used are modern imitations of ancient tools. They are included for comparative analysis.

During our courses we put many of these techniques into practice in order that we develop a keen hands-on knowledge and understanding of the ways of the ancients that are still relevant today. For those of us that practice the art of Permaculture, these skills are the basis from which we develop our sensibilities and foundational understanding of our Permaculture work.

We offer a 3-day introductory practicum and an 8-day field course.

If you are interested in hosting a hunter-gatherer course, or attending a scheduled class, contact Wayne Weiseman at The Permaculture Project.

Please see the following PDF for a complete outline of hunter-gatherer skills.

Check out this link: http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2010/07/unesco-sets-up-international-traditional-knowledge-database.html