Most people probably think they couldn’t survive if they were stranded in the forest without even their smart phone. But, lately, more and more amateur survivalists are getting in touch with their primitive sides by heading into the wilderness to master native skills. Perhaps inspired by Cults’ single
“Go Outside," the rush outdoors includes everything from bow hunting to mushroom foraging. In this case, no
designer tents are involved.
Primitive Skills Classes: Having already dabbled in
urban foraging, city dwellers are continuing to escape the confines of their packed and stacked abodes to learn the skills that
country folk have mastered for centuries. Attendees of Trackers’
Nine-Month Wilderness Survival and Primitive Skills spend their weekends immersed in hide tanning, basket weaving, and flint knapping. Meanwhile, at
The Midwest Native Skills Institute, young people learn the “primitive approach” to obtaining the basics of survival: water, food, fire and shelter. Far from subsisting on nuts and berries, attendees are typically fed with gusto, particularly after completing the unit on
Ojibwa bird traps. And, in the South, North Carolina’s
Earth School is staffed with survivalists who teach stone tools, fiber technology and animal tracking. Venison, anyone?
Forest Kindergartens: Hippies used to send their children to Montessori schools, but with a move toward
free-range parenting, some especially bohemian types are letting their kids run wild—literally.
The Waldorf School of Saratoga Springs offers the
Forest Kindergarten program where, aside from performing
eurythmy, children spend up to three hours of the day outside, “regardless of the weather.” More than 300 acres of state parkland known as the
Hemlock Trail Area serves as the classroom. Naturally,
Portland’s forest kindergarten version is called
Mother Earth School, where children “learn to gather wood for fire, compost, make herbal teas and medicines, and build shelters in the forest.” After mastering that curriculum, first grade should be a cakewalk for these kids.
The Wild Within: The Travel Channel's newest woodsman heartthrob is former
Outside magazine
writer Steven Rinella, who takes viewers on global survival adventures in his series
The Wild Within. His goal for the show is to persuade viewers that discovering their inner hunter-gatherer “will make [their] lives more
vibrant and alive." On the show, Rinella dispatches and skins a buffalo. That’s good for him, because he eats only meat that he has personally killed, emphasizing that hunted game is both
organic and free-range. Fishing and hunting aren’t Rinella’s only natural pursuits, though, as he often relates his own family adventures, as evidenced in this romantic
account of meeting his wife that he wrote for
Glamour.
