My Three Top Insights I got from Doing The Wolverine Way Summit

I spent a lot of time interviewing these 29 guests for the Wolverine Way Summit on Nature Connection last fall, and every single conversation I had was literally amazing and powerful and deep.   I had all kinds of connections, insights and revelations with pretty much everyone, and I learned a ton every time I got on the phone with someone and they started sharing their experience and wisdom.

But there were some experiences that literally changed the way I saw the vision I have about making a greater difference in this quest to reconnect people to nature.

I won't go into it here, but I will just let you see for yourself what they are.

I am curious if anyone can actually guess which ones were the most powerful for me, if you listened to the interviews????    Can you actually guess???

Once you've seen this video, what do you think?   What were your big 'take-aways' from these interviews?

Would love to know, and in the meantime, I hope you are all well and enjoying the spring!

The Origin Story of the Earth Skills Correspondence Course

I made this video last fall and then uploaded it to YouTube, and then got really busy with my summit, so I didn't get a chance to share about it on this blog, so I thought I would post this for you all, just to let you check it out, and hear how we got started with it and all.   

My bottom line is all about helping people gain strong skills in a way that works with their lives.   And with things being the way they are these days, I know a lot of people don't have the time to travel to classes, or when they do take a class, they don't always know what to do afterwards to keep moving forward.   So, this program still can be a huge help.

I also did another video about getting through the resistance that comes up when we try to start working towards our goals, and then we get stuck, and before we know it, a week or a month goes by and we aren't on track again....    

I promise to keep working to make more videos and get their quality up, but in most cases, I just really don't want to take weeks trying to make them perfect and just keep moving forward myself.   Perfectionism is a huge problem for me personally, because I start to want to make everything so good, so that I won't have to worry if people will be critical or dislike what I have written or shared, and I think if it is perfect, it will protect me from their opinions.   But the bottom line is, there are always people out there who have different opinions, and there are always people who will disagree with me, so I had to just ask myself, "Am I going to let this stop me from doing what I want to do?"   

There is nothing that will protect me from critical people.   Or people who just think differently.   I mean, yes, some people can be really mean and say stuff that can come across as pretty hurtful, but I decided that I can't let that stop me.    I used to have people that made fun of me for being into nature and wilderness skills.   I mean, there were people who were merciless, seriously, and I laughed along with them, just because I didn't want to let them see that it bothered me.  But it did make me question myself at times.   I could also see how what I was doing at times could seem pretty weird or funny to others, also, and I could also see how my doing something different could be threatening to them as well.   But either way, I learned a lot about "Other People's Opinions."

However, when I was in the woods, and in a good, centered place, I felt completely different.   I realized that their opinions were just that.   They didn't have that power over me to stop me from doing what I love.   Or doing what I felt in my heart was the right thing to do.   So I just learned to let go of that fear that not everyone is going to love what I am all about.   And that's okay.

I still don't like how I look or sound on video, and I am super critical of myself, but I'm working on letting go of that, and also at the same time, trying to get better.   So, perhaps someday I will be able to look back at these old videos and laugh about it, and enjoy the 'old school' stuff and feel good about how far I have come.  We will see, I guess!

Anyway, I am not sure how this post went from being about the Origin of the ESCC to working through fear, or whatever, but anyway, enjoy the videos and let me know what you think!

The Beneficial Side Effects of Wilderness Survival Training

As modern human beings, we are raised in environments almost completely dominated by humans.   I am talking about the majority of people, raised in our cities and suburban environments.   Artificial light.   Machine made homes, clothing, vehicles, foods, entertainment and medicine surround us.  As this has been happening at an increasing rate for the last five or six generations, our distance from the earth, from nature, continues at an alarming rate.  Society seeks to protect us from wild animals, wild insects, wild weather and the uncontrolled forces that buffeted our lives prior to our civilization.  

I am not stating this to be political.  It is a simple awareness of our natural history and our development, as a fact.   I am not saying it is right or wrong, either.  It is what it is, and human beings are in the process of deciding which of these things, these changes, are beneficial or detrimental to our lives.

At this time in our history and development, the gifts of wilderness survival, our hunter gatherer ancestors, enters the picture.   In these rapidly changing times, we are further from nature and the soil, the earth than ever before, and bringing people back into the wild provides something primal and powerful.

I have taught people wilderness skills for the last 26 years, and studied nature and native ways for over ten years prior to teaching, and I have seen what happens when students, either youth, child or adult, enter the natural world.   Learning to make fire without matches, using stones and sticks and natural fiber rope changes you inside.   Gathering the materials for a snug wild shelter and burrowing in for the night against the rain and cold, changes you.   Cooking food over a campfire and listening to the sounds of the night come alive around you, changes you.   Learning to identify plants, trees and animal tracks so intimately that they are like a part of your extended family, changes you.   This isn't anecdotal.  It is real, with lasting effects on our awareness, and our life skills.

So, this has been a long preamble to getting down to business.   In the study of nature, of tracks, of being a tracker, other things begin to happen beyond just knowing a few latin names or wild foods.   There are four things that I have seen happen.

One: Focus.   This is where you let all distractions slip away, and you begin to build your intent.   This happens when you study and observe tiny details of the coloring and shape of tree bark, of the very tips of the twigs, the scars and marks left when a leaf falls away from a bush or tree.   It occurs when you are focused on the quality and color of dark brown dust that is forming in the notch of your bow and drill fire making apparatus, as you determine if it is ready to form a burning ember.   You start learning about focus when you are alone in your shelter at night, and a shuffling noise outside wakes you out of a deep sleep, and you listen intently for the sounds of the small paws of a skunk.

Focus is a gift that comes as we allow ourselves to be absorbed by our surroundings, as it has meaning and depth, as we begin to live as our ancestors lived, close to the earth.   It gets 'real'.   But it is natural for us to relax and yet have our complete attention held by our awareness, as well as emotionally and intellectually stimulated at the same time.  Focus allows us to transcend our daily cluttered states of being and see what is important.  It is the beginning of the development of our intuitive selves.

Two: Clarity.   It comes as we spend more time in nature.   Our bodies begin to 'naturalize', and we adjust in myriad small ways to the rhythms of the wild.   Clarity is by it's nature subjective, so it is difficult to measure and determine degrees of clarity or it's development, but trust me, it is very true.   It occurs when the chaotic civilization clamor  and din begins to drift away and the sounds of nature help us get into a very deep, relaxed, almost meditative state.   It is in this state that we are deeply receptive and open in a way that is very, very difficult in our modern culture.  

Clarity is the gift that is about certainty.  It's about being sure of what you know, whether it's a feeling of the need to go to the river, or climb a tree, or build a canoe or make a gift for a friend.   Clarity is a true gift that is felt inside, and it leads to direct, powerful action.   Those actions can be internal or external, but it is a strong feeling of relief when we suddenly 'Get It' after searching for it for days, weeks or even months.  

You can't get clarity in a weekend workshop, however.  You actually have to spend time in nature, again and again, and relax, and clear your mind, and just stay in the moment.   It's something that is given when you put in the time.   It can't be rushed.  It can't be bought or sold, either.   It comes when you are ready.   And it's well worth the time you invest.

Three:  Unquenchable Inner Fire.    Why would living in the woods create an unstoppable inner force inside of us?   Well, it's very easy.   Living in the bush is simple yet complicated.  We have to solve lots of different problems on a daily basis to survive.  We have to figure out how to make a fish hook, or a dry warm bed, or how to make fire in the rain, or create snowshoes, or any number of difficult tasks.  And as we begin to solve those problems, it's pretty amazing how your inner world responds to those successes.   The further you go, the more awesome you begin to feel inside.   You begin to trust that no matter what problem is presented, you will be able to find a way to go over, around, under or through it.   And that's a great, awesome feeling that always stays with you.

It's true that the opposite feelings do occur in the wild too.  Depression at our failures, our struggles and our frustration are always with us as we work to figure it all out.   But experiencing our low states makes our successes all that much more sweet when we get that breakthrough.   We learn that it's all part of the process, and we don't have to fight those inner battles so hard or seriously.  Yes, they have their place at times, but we don't need to stay in them or listen to those pesky inner voices with the same volume if we want to solve the problem at hand.  

It's okay to have low times.  It's great to have high feelings too.   But through all this problem solving, we learn to be actual friends with ourselves.  We can enjoy and laugh at the way we learn, make mistakes and then celebrate the win.  

And since it happens almost ten times a day, that's a lot of wins.   It adds up.   It's a good thing.  

Four:  Pattern Recognition.   This might not seem like much at first, but it's really, really major when you think about it.  

In our modern world, apps are designed so we don't have to think.   Our appliances are all 'smart'.  Our cars and our modern tools are throw away models that we can't fix ourselves.   Everything is already 'set up' so we just have to paint between the lines, right?     Our schooling is figured out for us, by people supposedly smarter than us.   Our highways are designed by people smarter than us.  Our health care, our insurance, our government, our bank statements, our Facebook newsfeed, well, everything is all figured out.   We don't need much in the way of awareness to navigate this system, and it's designed for minimal personal input.   We just have to follow the herd and do what everyone else is doing.

Well, in nature, there are no lines, but if there were, they would be drawn by distant tree lines, or the arc of a curving river sand bar.   It's not predetermined where you will spend the night, or even if you will actually survive the night!   We can't just go to sleep and trust the system to take care of us.

Well, you can do that, if you like.   But you might end up dead with a raven pecking at your eyeballs.


Survival training wakes us up.  It makes us take a good long look at the natural world and pay attention, because our next step is close to a rattler, or a napping grizzly.    It makes us pay attention to the sky, because the weather that's coming can't be adjusted by turning up the thermostat.  

This is a crazy gift, when you think about.  Being awake is an amazing feeling.   It feels magical and powerful.   It lets you begin to see patterns in the water, the trees, the flow of sand or snow drifting in the wind, or the way the plants respond to rain.    Once you begin to see patterns in animal tracks, or the clouds, or the lines in your skin, you start to see them everywhere.

Yes, you start to see and recognize patterns not just the woods but in the city and your relationships.  You will see it in the media, or on websites.  You will see it in your inner dialogue, and your emotional triggers.   You will see it in your written words, or your daily habits and actions.

Being able to see these patterns allows you to understand them, if you choose.   When you take on those tasks, you start to see a much bigger pattern that lets you transcend the Matrix, so to speak.   You start to see the world differently than those who are stuck in their slumber, deep in the ruts of civilization.

I have to say that it doesn't make your life perfect if you have these experiences, and you will still have almost all of the same problems that everyone else has too, awake or asleep.   But you will have access to tools that let you overcome many of them so you aren't stuck in the same way.   You have a chance to slip out and be truly free of the pull of the herd.  

This allows you to live life differently.   You see the world differently, too.  And the way others see and experience you is also different.  They won't know what it is, but they will feel your freedom.  You will exude a different vibration, and one that feels really good.   Yes, some people will be afraid of that feeling, and stay asleep, which is fine.    There is no judgement about the life each person chooses to live.   But honestly, I have to admit it:  Being even slightly more free feels really, really, really good.

Come to the wilderness.  The water's fine!   We need you out here.  

I promise, it will be worth the leap ten times over in how you learn to navigate not just the forest but the rest of your life.

Earth Skills Correspondence Course 2.0: Changes, Enhancements and Connections

It's been a busy year for me since my last post, and it hasn't been easy, let me tell you!   I spent most of the year timber framing some amazing structures for both Hawk Circle as well as for clients, which took a lot of my time.  Each frame takes many weeks to design, order the beams and wood, then measure, cut and raise it to make the structure that will support a house or cabin or barn.   We cut it with mostly all hand tools, using saws, heirloom chisels, rawhide mallets, drills and drawknives.   We even carve our own pegs by hand.

I decided to learn timber framing about seven or eight years ago, because I wanted to have really nice, beautiful and strong cabins for my students and staff to live in while they learn wilderness skills, and to do it in a way that was traditional and would last for decades.   I started to build them for other clients when people started asking, and when the economy changed around 2008, too, and we didn't have as many wilderness students for our programs.   It was a way that kept Hawk Circle going, and it was good, honest work that dealt with wood, carving, traditional skills and involved a certain level of artistry and beauty.

Anyway, after doing this for the past several years to pay the bills, and working very hard to make this happen, I found that I was getting depressed a bit.  Even with a lot of jobs and projects, and long days working in the cold, we still couldn't quite get ahead enough for me to be able to get time to write.  Or to do some of the wilderness education projects that are very important to me.   I began to struggle at times, personally, because my heart's desire felt buried under a mountain of work, which, while still amazing and wonderful, was not letting me figure out how to get out from under that long list of stuff that needed to be done.

At the same time as this had been going on, we decided that Hawk Circle needed to begin to reclaim the farm here, so we could grow and raise our own food.   We needed to clear pasture area for our five sheep, and prune back our old heirloom apple trees, and open up the land where the brush and scrub had taken over.  This allowed us to see into the land a bit more, and to have animals that our students can interact with on a daily basis and build a relationship to the land that is a little different than just nature skills, but still vitally important and wonderful.   This is a great, ongoing venture and it is really wonderful to see our place transform every season, and enjoy great food, but it also contributed to that feeling of my own work getting moved further and further down the list.   Ugh.  

It is hard to be in a small community and be unhappy.  I felt like an ogre, you know, like Shrek, just wanting to be left to my own in my swamp and to get away from the busyness and the endless projects, and to work on my own things.   (I did hide this well, for the most part, and I did try to live 'in the moment' and not worry about it.  But my staff knew that I was struggling at times, and it was hard for me/us both.)    I was pretty happy while I was working, and getting into it, and I like to stay positive, but it is tough when you don't see a way out of a maze of your own making.

Then I started to hear about how out of touch today's kids are, and adults too, and I knew I had to do something more.  Something radical.  Something of a leap.   I had to make a bigger impact than just the same old same old here in the mountains at Hawk Circle.    I decided to put together a list of people I could interview about the importance of Nature Connection, and I called it The Wolverine Way.  

It wasn't easy.  I will admit it:   It scared me to ask some of these people for an interview.   What if they said no?  What if they thought it was stupid?   What if I did an interview and I screwed it up?   I have never done anything like this, so my learning curve was steep and I felt I was on very shaky ground a lot of the time I was doing it.   I think some of my nervousness showed on my interviews, even though I tried to relax, but I got through it.   I did it, somehow, and I learned a ton doing it, too.  

I had to put it all together and then launch it, and it went out on December 30th, 2013.   It is just about wrapped up now, but the interviews are replaying for a while online, so you can still get access to them all if you want to check them out.  

Here is a list of the Speakers on my Summit:  John Griffith, of the California Conservation Corps.   Eugene Schwartz of Millennial Child.   Charles Saylan, of the Ocean Conservation Society.   Laura Zerra of the Discovery Channel's Naked and Afraid survival reality show.   Tom Brown, Jr. author and director of the Tracker School.   Joe Lau, former Tracker School Head Instructor and founder of the Phyre Dojo.   Susun Weed, master herbalist and author.   Kristen Schulte, of the Yellowstone Youth Conservation Corps.   Mike Douglas, of the Maine Primitive Skills School.   Richard Cleveland, of the Earth School, North Carolina.   Cristina Eisenberg, author of The Carnivore Way, and wildlife researcher.   Kiva Rose, herbalist and publisher of the Plant Healers Magazine.   Rees Maxwell and Matthew Bradley, of the Whole Earth Nature School in Eugene, Oregon.   Randall Lewis Eaton, author of Hunting as a Rite of Passage.   Tom Brown III, of the Primitive Arts Collective.   Derrick Jensen, eco-activist and author of Deep Green Resistance.   Doug Peacock, veteran, naturalist and author of In the Shadow of the Sabertooth.   Cheryl Charles, author and director of the Children and Nature Network.   Tony Deis, director and founder of the Trackers Earth program in Oregon and California.   Victor Wooten, director of Wooten's Woods Camps and acclaimed 5 Time Grammy Winning recording artist.   Erik Hoffner of the Orion Network.   Ruth Ann Colby Martin, midwife and former Tracker School Instructor.   Lisa Bonney Berry, former Tracker School Caretaker and instructor in the 4 Elements Earth Education program in Northern California.   Wendolyn Bird, director and founder of Tender Tracks Trails and Tales program in the Bay Area of California.   Tom Elpel, author of Botany in a Day and director of the Green University in Pony, Montana.  Craig Blacklock, acclaimed nature and landscape photographer in the Great Lakes region.   Brandt Morgan, co-author of the Tom Brown Field Guide Series and leader of Sacred Journeys.   And Sean Rowe, musician and songwriter as well as a wild foods forager and survival skills instructor.

However, all this work is just Phase One of my plan.   Phase Two is coming up!   As soon as the summit is complete, I will be putting the next phase out there, and I hope you will consider being part of it.   I will post more about it in my next blog post, so stay tuned!   And check out the interviews if you want, too.  I am getting a lot of people who are saying that they are enjoying them and finding them inspiring and helpful.   So, that's a good thing!

More to come, and it's nice to be back!

Answering Your Earth Skills Student Questions

Every so often, I will get questions by email that pertain to the Earth Skills Correspondence Course, and as I answer them, I think to myself 'I bet other students have questions similar to these, too.'    So I thought I would share them so they are available to all of you out there who are into wilderness skills. Feel free to send me your own questions and I will answer them here when I get a chance.

From EW, from the Rochester, NY area (Now relocated to North Carolina):

Question 1:  Weather - I'm having a heck of a time learning clouds - do you have any learning devices that help? I feel I'm just going by rote memory- read the book, look at the sky, and then try to memorize both for later reference - days pass and I'm looking at the sky unable to remember is that a 'this cloud' or a 'that cloud'?! Any thoughts on what to learn first and how?

Okay, this is a good question.  It reminds me a lot of people first learning about trees, and how at first, they all look the same, so it is overwhelming.   However, the key is to divide and conquer.  (Just like learning your trees!)   You want to start with the easy ones, the big ones, and learn those first.   For example, Cirrus clouds are easy.  They are wispy, thin clouds that are high in the atmosphere, made up mostly of ice crystals.  They are also called Mare's Tails, because they look like the long tail hairs of horses.   They appear at the uppermost edges of a new weather front, and often bring a change of weather.  

Barry Keegan prepares a fire for our primitive pottery class, under
a sky of Mare's Tails (Cirrus clouds).  Autumn, 2007

Read about them in your weather resources, or look them up on Wikipedia, or Google them for different images, and then look for them every chance you get.   As you get familiar with Cirrus clouds, you will start seeing them all of the time.   And that will get you going.  Next you can add Cumulous clouds, which are big, white, fluffy, cotton candy type clouds that aren't all that high in the atmosphere. Start researching and checking out pictures and you will see them everywhere too...

Classic Cirrus clouds, or Mare's Tails, over the
Hawk Circle Barn last summer...

A bone harpoon with fluffy Cumulous
clouds in the background.

The basic idea is to start small, and ask yourself questions like, how high up is that cloud or cloud system?   What direction is it coming from?   How fast is it moving?   Does it look like it contains a lot of moisture?   Is there light penetrating or illuminating it from within, or is it dark and thick?   (Usually the darker a cloud, the more dense and moisture filled it is.)

Weather is something that you can learn but it helps to do some journaling and see what happens after you start seeing different clouds.   It is a practice in awareness, and it will aid your skills of tracking, survival and every other skill, because the details of the weather are part of every skill, and the weather changes all the time.   But start slow and take your time with each aspect of understanding.

Cumulous clouds over the
Tablelands at Gros Morne
National Park, Newfoundland

Special Note:   Many times, your sky will have two or three different types of clouds at the same time, in different atmospheric levels, moving in different directions.  So be aware that you might be seeing a number of things going on, and don't get too confused or frustrated about it.   Just go with the flow!

Question 2:  This question was inspired by a post on one of your blogs - snow on a debris shelter in the winter - if you're confident in the shelters strength (good ribbing and ridge pole - lots of leaf matter, etc) -should the snow that falls on the shelter stay or be removed??

Musician and Wilderness Guy Sean Rowe digs through the snow
 to get to his shelter during a snow storm...

If you have a good shelter, with a strong ridge pole, and you know you have good, sturdy sticks as part of your shelter, then having snow covering it will be extra insulation (snow is an excellent insulator) and make your shelter very warm.   Snow will cut out the little leaks and places where the wind pulls warmth from you.   Snow will actually form a shell around it as it grows and thickens, and it will be warm, quiet and snug.   Even two or three feet of snow should still be fine on your shelter.  

One concern would be wet snow, which is very heavy and you could always take some of the snow off if you notice your ribbing or ridgepole getting pushed down or in.

The big concern with adding snow over your shelter is making sure you have some air holes and air flow in your shelter so you don't suffocate.   You need to make sure your door opening has some space to let air in and out...   Be sure to check it if you start getting some snow falling heavy that your doorway air hole is clear and open.

Does this make sense?   Also, if you live in an area with lots of wet snow and freezing rain, the snow might keep your shelter from drying out when the weather gets warmer, so in that case, you might want to scrape off most of it as the weather changes.

Remember that your shelter should be built with strong sticks and brush, a good ridgepole that doesn't flex or has Y-stick supports under it, and about three feet thickness of leaves, ferns, grasses, pine needles or other natural material to insulate it from the elements.   Built properly, you wouldn't even know it snowed outside if you were inside when the storm started...

Stay warm and dry and hope this answered your question.


Question 3:  On cordage - do you have a good resource about the various plants used for cordage and when is a good time, better time and bad time to collect the plant material? Tree bark - good in the fall, okay in the summer? What about nettles? Or cattail leaves? It would be nice if the resource also noted what materials might be good for what projects- cattail (from what I've read) in not as strong as tree bark - How to process each plant would be great too! Too much to ask for from one book?!

Milkweed stalks found by the roadside,
mid February, 2012

This is a great question and I don't think there is a definitive answer to this one.   There are a lot of guides that list wild edibles and when they are best collected for use by season, and I think Tom Brown has a guide to utilitarian plants in the back of his "Living with the Earth" field guide, but I am not sure if they will tell you what season to gather and all that.   In many cases, it is something you have to learn about in your particular area, as you go.   Maybe there are other resources that some readers of this blog or the students in the course can recommend.   Anyone?

Dried milkweed stalks
ready for storage!

I have on my list of books to write these very subjects so all I can say is that they are in the works, and I will try to complete them as I can, and until then, try to learn which plants and trees have cordage fibers in your current location, and if you get those to me, I can tell you how and when to gather and process them for the particular project that you have in mind.   I also did a blog post last winter about gathering materials, which might help a little.

Soft, silky milkweed fibers,
ready for twisting...

And yes, cattail is definitely not as strong as most tree barks or even other plant fibers!   But woven, they are nicely tough if they are treated well, so they are a wonderful source of good, warm fibers!   Makes good mats, bedding and shelter thatching (the leaves, that is).   Good luck and thanks for asking these great questions!