Skills for the New Earth-Connected Generation: Our Sustainability and Wilderness Apprenticeship

So, you can see the direction our country, our world is heading, and the writing is on the wall. On the rocks. On concrete buildings and tall trees.

No matter which way you slice it, the bubble, as we have come to know the modern world, is beginning to burst. Or pop. Sure, it is a lot of small and medium pops that so far we have been able to weather and handle, but it's getting worse. Slowly, creeping, steadily advancing on us, we know

that it's time to pay the piper. Our debt to the animal world, the Earth Mother, to our future generations, is coming due.

You don't want to use the Ostrich Technique and pretend it isn't coming. On the other hand, building a bunker doesn't feel right either.

What you need, really, are Skills.

Experience.

Learning things that will last, that will have value no matter what the future holds. Things that can feed us, feed our families, our souls.

Skills can sustain us, and remove fear.

Skills let us breathe, to relax and feel good about our lives, our direction, our purpose and path.

Skills last forever, and can be passed down to our friends and family and community.

What to do. What to do.......

Hey! I have an idea!

Join the Hawk Circle Wilderness and Sustainability Apprenticeship. It is a powerful blend of old ways, modern skills and knowledge you can use right now to reconnect

with nature, your deeper self, and grow.

Apprentices learn about gardening, composting, harvesting foods and preserving them. They learn to make baskets and buckskin, take part in workshops and youth trainings. They learn the art of traditional timberframing, as well as practical skills of stacking firewood, basic carpentry skills, cooking and much more.

Apprentices make a four to five month commitment, and provide their own food for the duration of the program.

They participate for five days a week, sometimes part time, sometimes full time, trading their sweat equity for real experience and skills that change how they see the world forever.

The farmhouse is heated by a wood stove, and the shared commercial kitchen allows for fabulous meals, communal gatherings and potlucks. The barn is ready for all kinds of projects both building and native skills. The natural surroundings are perfect for this kind of retreat and intensive, undistracted learning.

We only need five people for the fall and winter, so if you would like to be considered, please contact Ricardo or Trista at 607-264-3910 or HawkCircleOffice@gmail.com.

We'd be happy to see if this program would be a good fit for you.

Remember: Skills Trump Fear. They are the antidote to catharsis, to just going along with the herd, and they are the key to freedom.

Skills you can choose from to learn while in the Apprenticeship:

Tanning Deerskins using Braintanning

Fire by Friction, without matches

Natural Fiber Rope and

String

Bark Baskets and Containers

Basic Stone Tools

Knife Sharpening and Care

Useful Knots for the wilderness

Cutting, Splitting and Stacking Firewood

Bread Baking and Herbal Butters

Campfire Cooking Skills

Wilderness Shelter Building

Traditional Timber Framing Cabins and Barns

Bow Making

Deer Hunting Skills

Organic Gardening

Harvesting, Identifying & Preparing Wild Foods

Tree and Plant Identification

Community Living Skills

Winter Snow Shelters and Survival Strategies

Earth Philosophy and Personal Ceremony

Animal Tracking and Nature Awareness

Working with Youth teaching Native skills and crafts

Raising Cabins and Barns

Okay, there are probably a ton of other skills I am forgetting to list here, but these are the first ones that come to mind that past apprentices have wanted to focus on, so here ya go! If you want to learn some other skills not on this list but that are listed on our website, give us a call and we will see if it can work out!

The Fall Semester at Hawk Circle: September 5th-October 30, 2010

Have you ever shot a real bow and arrow? Gathered your dinner from a mountain meadow or grove of trees? Do you know how to skin and prepare good meat from a hunt? Can you make a warm shelter to spend a cold night in the woods?

These are some of the skills offered in the Fall Semester at Hawk Circle.

It's not just skills, though. It is about wandering, connecting, and exploring yourself as you connect to the natural world.

Time changes at Hawk Circle. You can read for hours in the sun or grass, then be inspired to make indian curries for

dinner with your fellow students. You can make your own buckskin, or an ash splint packbasket that you will have for generations. You can sleep under a star filled sky so clear that it takes your breath away.

Insight, healing, rejuvenation and finding one's path are what this program is all about. It will change you in a good way. You will find strength, knowledge, direction and friendship.

Autumn is my favorite season, and the colors of the leaves, the frost, the fresh berries and foods are all amazing. I love giving someone their first taste of cattails, or wild game cooked over the fire. I like sitting out in the pre dawn on someone's first bow hunt, waiting to see what comes along, while we are invisible.

You can build a shelter with sticks, leaves and bark. You

can draw sketches of plants, or carve a bow and arrow. You can learn to timberframe cabins and homes using sustainable methods our ancestors used for hundreds of years, too. You can spend time in the garden, harvesting the remains of the summer crops and planting new seeds for the spring.

Later, as the season winds down, we sit around the woodstove, working on our projects, playing guitar or drums, and share our stories along with sweet birch or pine needle tea. "Will it snow tonight?" someone will ask. "If it gets cold enough!" I will answer, and we go to sleep wondering what the morning will bring.

Eventually, we find our spots on the mountain where we will go to seek our vision, our inner path and truth and purpose. Here we sit for day, or several, some without food, asking for guidance and direction. We support each other in our

seeking and inner journey, under the guidance of our mentors and staff. "It's hard" I say, "but it's worth it."

There is a light that begins to shine in a person's eyes when

they uncover their truth and discover their own path. It is a shine that comes from within and it let's part of their spirit out into the world, seeing things in new ways, with hope and trust and brightness.

If you need a little inner light, or the taste of autumn olive jam on fresh baked bread, come spend a season here at Hawk Circle. We'd love to have you around our campfire.

Living without Fear: Swine Flu and the Natural Person's Strategy

Well, if the stock market and economic reports haven't got you down, the worry about the up and coming 'pandemic' of swine flu should send you over the edge, right?

Wrong.

Because you are smart and you know you need to put everything in perspective before you get crazy.

The fact is, normal flu virus/illness kills over 36,000 people every year in the United States. That's a lot of people, most of them with pre-existing medical issues such as impaired immune systems, diabetes, premature birth or elderly decline. The idea that we should panic over one or two or even three deaths doesn't add up. At least, not yet. H1N1 is probably going to be here to stay for a little while, but we don't have to panic.

Death is part of life, and my heart goes out to everyone who has died, and to their families who live on beyond them. It doesn't matter if someone dies of swine flu or cancer or a car accident, I can empathize with the loss and grief that all of us feel when there is a loss to our circle of family, friends and community.

Perspective doesn't mean we don't care, but we can't cower in our basements and hide either. We have to find a way to live, and be smart and reduce our risk. Like in a wilderness situation, we always want to be safe, and not do crazy things that are unnecessary, so it is great to stay informed as things progress.

So, what can you do to stay healthy? We know that viruses and bacterias are around us daily, constantly, and our bodies keep us alive and functioning naturally. We just need to keep this system working in optimal condition! Here are a few ideas:

One: Take off your shoes and socks and walk barefoot on the lawn. Studies have shown that getting your feet in contact with the earth directly has a powerful effect of boosting your immune system by many percentage points, as the ground stimulates your nerves in your feet, which are connected to all the other nerves in your system. Get out there when there is dew on the ground, and move slowly so you don't hurt yourself if your feet are tender.

Two: Gather some dandelion greens and make a salad. Dandelions, chickory and other 'bitter greens' are often the first plants up in the spring, and they are loaded with all kinds of vitamins and nutrients that act as a tonic to our bodies immune, digestive and circulatory systems. It is kind of like a 'flush' to the system, as well as a stimulant through it's bitterness to our livers, gall bladders, pancreas and other internal organs. It is a good idea to make sure you get a few leaves in your mouth and to chew them slowly, to achieve the full benefit, as an important part of the stimulation of your internal organs comes from messages that your body recieves as you chew and taste your food. If you smother them in sugary or intensely spiced dressings, you will be missing out! (Note: Only gather and eat plants that are in areas that aren't sprayed for poisons, or other chemical or pollutants, and avoid gathering on roadsides where plants can concentrate the exhaust and other chemicals. Be sure you can positively identify every single leaf of the plants you are gathering and make sure there are no other species of plant hiding in the foliage!)

Three: Stay Positive. Your attitude is huge in this. It is a known fact that people who are happy, lighthearted and positive have much stronger, healthier immune systems than those who are depressed, negative and fearful. Put a note on your refrigerator or make a drawing that you can put on your steering wheel that reminds you to be positive each time you see it. Maybe put something on your computer or a leather thong around your wrist... Smile as much as you can. Take negative thoughts and turn them around until they are positive. Give other people compliments and give your self a few when you look in the mirror once in a while, too.

Four: Wear Clothes that Help You Feel Good. This is self explanatory, but don't be afraid to show a little color, and be bold! Get your mind and your families' or friends' minds off of fear and worry and let them focus on you and your crazy hat or whatever!

Five: Pomegranates, Cranberries and Blueberries. All of these foods are amazing super foods, that can help you stay healthy and support your bodies attempt to be as strong as it can be. Make pomegranate juice popsicles for your kids, or blueberry smoothies, or cranberry teas... You can even nibble on dried cranberries or blueberries, too. They are delicious and amazing and even a handful will make a difference in your life and the lives of your family and friends.... Share them with your co-workers, too! We all need to stay healthy!

Six: Take a Walk Outside. There is nothing that helps our bodies stay healthy than good, vigorous movement, or a relaxing stroll in nature. It helps the mind stay positive, it feels great, and awakens our senses of smelling that fresh spring air, all of those growing plants and listening to the blasts of birdsong. You don't have to go far to get the benefits, either, and it helps to put everything in perspective, too. Enjoy the sky, the stars, the moon, the sun, the trees, the perfect beauty and symmetry in a leaf, a stone, a feather, in life itself...

Seven: Meditate on Perfect Health and Strength. Find a spot where you won't be disturbed, and take fifteen minutes to run through a guided meditation. Imagine yourself relaxed, in your favorite natural place, with perfect health, getting stronger with every breath you take. Take the time to thank your body for doing so much work for us, for carrying us throughout our day, doing so many tasks, and taking whatever we dish out and trying it's best to fulfull our needs. Sometimes your body will talk to you, and tell you to eat a specific type of food, or to get more sleep. Sometimes your body will let you know things that will help it become better and healthier. Listen carefully to those indications and remember to be thankful and appreciative for all it does. Our bodies are beautiful and amazing and we need to give ourselves some real, outright love, because sometimes, we are the only ones who will! (That is modified from a quote the John Stokes, director of the Tracking Project, likes to share about how one of his native elders loved to tell everyone who would listen. I love it!)

If you have any other suggestions of how we can stay healthy and positive for ourselves and our families, please add them to the post, with a comment or two, especially if you find that these are helpful!

Late Additions: Have a joke of the day and send it to your friends/family. Tell a funny story to someone. Have a game night each week and connect with your family. Make a point to say something positive to each person you see tomorrow. Make a healthy meal and take it on a picnic to someplace you have never gone before....

More to come, people! Stay healthy and positive!

Sean Rowe: The Troubadour Scout of Hawk Circle... with new music, too!

Check out this article in the current issue of Metroland in the Capitol District, featuring our own Sean Rowe, about his experiences with music and wilderness, with much training from here at Hawk Circle.... Way to go, Sean! Can't wait to hear the album and sample some of those mushrooms, too.

(You can get a copy of the CD Magic here.)

Sean did an extended survival stay here in the fall of 2007, and worked hard at his fire skills, foraging skills, plant identification, shelter skills and so many more skills of awareness, tracking and survival... He also blew us away with his music and depth, and just overall presence and strength.

Check out the post and I will try to get the audio file that Luke Gaillard did with Sean after his trek, so you can listen and hear it all for yourself! More to come, people!