Paleo Xacto Knife

We were lucky enough to have local flintknapper and musician Doug Dahl come out to teach our homeschool group his "Paleo Xacto" knife. Students learned how to use stone spokeshaves and hand held drills to make a slick hafting system for small stone blades and flakes. Doug is a long-time instructor at primitive skills gatherings, and he can be found telling stories and instigating music around many a fire, along with passing on his infectious enthusiasm for ancient skills and artifacts.

~Neal

Doug instructing the group

Some of Doug's work

Using a stone spokeshave

The debarked handle, and antler for compression bead

Using a stone drill

The drilled bead

Finished Xacto

And another

Finished tool, with two others in the works

The students with their new blades

Flood Tracking

In Boulder County, we have had an incredible natural event, floods unlike anything we have experienced in the area. The destruction is mind-blowing, and many places I know well are permanently changed by the waters. We have been thinking about all of the people affected by the deluge, and our hearts go out to them. It is a beautiful thing to see community come together in challenging times.

For a tracker, the floods brought in a unexpected element: mud, silt and sand everywhere! In our area, clear tracks are limited to small areas, but suddenly tracks are everywhere. I encourage anyone in the Boulder area to look up from the chaos for a moment, and look at the signs of life everywhere. In downtown Boulder, I saw raccoon tracks everywhere there was mud. (In Behavior of North American Mammals, by Elbroch and Rinehart, they state that suburban and urban raccoon population densities can reach 120-250 animals per square mile. Up until now I found that hard to believe.) At our Primitive Camp, we came across bear tracks and perfect woodrats. While scouting out a hunting location, I saw bear, coyote, wild turkey, raccoon and deer. Some of my favorites are toad and salamander tracks that appeared in the moist conditions. I wish there were more pictures, but I am a little camera-challenged, so they did not all come out. Enjoy some of the pictures, and good luck to everyone on the raod to recovery.

~Neal

Beautiful bear hind foot.

Bear trail.

Check out the claw marks!

Woodrat

Close up of woodrat hind foot.

TOADS! My current favorite tracks.

Crazy toad activity.

Willow Basket: A visual how-to

This Summer I made several Willow Baskets. Willow is one of my favorite materials to work with for basketry. I took pictures of each step in the process. The willow I used for this basket is from a basketry friend who gathered the willow in California and Utah. One of the most challenging aspects of making willow baskets in dry Colorado is having a large enough body of water to soak the willing in before and during weaving. Since I don't have a pond, I found that a large stock tank works pretty well. Last Winter I found an amazing place to gather willow in Colorado and I look forward to working with Colorado Willow for my next basket.

Enjoy the photos. 

~Gelsey

Starting the base

The first weavers

Constantly soaking!

Adding the spokes into the base

Bringing up the sides

In this basket, I added an "open twined" section

Completed basket

Animal Processing Article

Wendy Petty, our wonderful Foraging Class instructor, attended the Animal Processing class in June. Here is an article she wrote about her experience:

http://zesterdaily.com/cooking/animal-processing-taps-deep-human-emotion/

Enjoy!

Foraging class on the Radio

Our Hands-on Foraging class and wonderful foraging teacher Wendy were featured on KGNU, our local community radio station. It is a short segment that starts around 24 minutes into the show.

http://www.kgnu.org/morningmag/7/31/2013

Weaving a cattail mat

Prepping milkweed pods for stuffing

Milkweed pods

Stuffed milkweed pods

Trout steamed in cattail mat

Summer Camp

Summer camps have started. Enough said. Enjoy the pictures.

Throwing a dart with an atlatl

Tomahawk throwing

Evening fire, Youth Overnight

Rainbow over camp

Counselors get ready, Scout Day Camp

Training Pekiti Tirsia Kali at Scout Camp

Gathering for a game

Magpie has the flag!

SPLASH

Wolf hiding from Fleabane

Hiding in the grass

Earth Camo, Scout Camp

Everybody's after Cricket

Heading out on a tracking expedition, Skills I

Checking out some spider sign, Skills I

A red-tail visiting camp

Bolas, Skills I

Cooling off

Preparing for Atlatl, Skills I

Retrieving darts, Skills I