June news and class schedule

The June Primitive Skills 101 workshop went very well. The weather was perfect and everyone was successful with making/starting fire with the bow drill. I've never had a class before with 100% success rate.....

Speaking of friction fire, the yuccas are losing their flowers now. This is the best time to harvest the flower stalk, the yucca flower stalk is the best spindle material that I have tried. Look for very straight ones, it should be true and round and roll like a dowell. Any wobble in the spindle will result in a much harder attempt at fire making. Once harvested, it will take a month or more to dry for use.

I found out that the Cucumber tree ( native to the Alleghany Highlands ) makes a very good fireboard. To date that makes 16 native trees to that I have been successful with in friction fire....

The next Primitive Skills 101 workshop will be October 21, 2017 at the Scheier Natural area in Fluvanna County.  Also, I can always bring my workshop to you with a  minimum of 6 attendees......This month I attended the SOLO Wilderness First Aid class taught by Matt Rosefsky, I wholeheartedly encourage  anyone who plays in the outdoors to take this workshop.....Enclosed are pics of the last debris shelter. BTW, I will be trying this one out this winter. It still needs a little more debris to make it functional down to 10 degrees but it is basically finished except the door. 

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