Bushcraft
Bushcraft
Bushcraft is a term for the outdoor skills and heritage skills that people have use for centuries. It's basic components are familiar enough. Fire making and shelter building are part of the skill set. So are foraging and water procurement. But the whole point of the bushcraft mindset is a little bit different from the typical mentality of wilderness survival.
In wilderness survival, you learn and practice skills that will keep you alive during an emergency in the wilderness.
But in bushcraft, you'll develop and use skills that aren't just helping you survive - they are helping you to thrive!
In short, bushcraft isn't just about avoiding death in the wilderness, it's about going into the wild to really live.
Bushcraft is the art of thriving in your native environment - the great outdoors.
In this exciting series of classes, you'll learn from the guy who wrote the book on bushcraft:
Monday - Learn to build long term wilderness shelters
Tuesday - Test your skills by learning to tie useful knots and the secrets of Flint & Steel fire making
Wednesday - Take a hike to study and collect edible, medicinal and useful plants
Thursday - Take your fire building skills to the next level with an all-day fire starting master class
Friday - Taste-test bush cooking techniques and gain the experience to do them yourself as you collaborate on a primitive cooked lunch and dinner
Plus so much more!
Get the pieces - one at a time - or get the whole thing!
Our December 2024 dates represent the 5-day Bushcraft Week, which can be taken in parts or (as we recommend) in its entirety. This week of class starts with the one day class Bushcraft Shelters (on Monday), where you’ll learn and build several different styles of bushcraft hut, as well as design and construct an effective camp layout. The next class is the Bushcraft 2-day format, immersing you fully in the realm of bushcraft. You'll stay over in a woodland shelter (or you can bring a tent), and you'll enjoy two days packed with hands-on skills. We’ll also be enjoying the campsite we developed on day one. Day four of Bushcraft Week is our Ultimate Fire Starting class. You’ll have picked up some great fire building skills on Tuesday, but this day will take you much farther down the fire making rabbit hole. Friday is the final day of class, a feast to celebrate your success. It’s the Primitive Cooking class. With the exception of Wednesday, each of the other four days can be taken as a stand alone class - but they provide the most immersive and powerful experience when combined as a set.
Dates: Bushcraft Week is December 2-6, 2024. The Bushcraft Shelters class will be Dec 2, the Bushcraft Crash Course will be Dec 3, the 2-day Bushcraft is Dec 3-4, the 3-day Bushcraft is Dec 2-4, Ultimate Fire Starting is Dec 5 and Primitive Cooking is Dec 6.
Course Times: Each day of class starts at 9 am with content ending around 5 pm for day classes. For those staying over on a multi-day class, there will typically be one evening lesson as well. The Friday class, Primitive Cooking will end around 6:30 pm after we have eaten our meal.
Course Location: Held at our home location near Hartwood, Virginia. Detailed driving directions are emailed after enrollment.
Required Equipment: Bring food and drinks for yourself for two days, appropriate clothing and wet weather gear for the expected weather, a knife (fixed blade preferred), a tarp for shelter (6x8 or 8x10 feet, or some similar size), 100 feet of cord, a sleeping bag and a pen to take notes.
Recommended Equipment: Bring a tent as a shelter back-up, if desired. Some seating is available at camp, but please bring a camp chair if you have one. Personal camping gear like sleeping pads, pillows, stoves, lights and other gear are welcomed and encouraged.