Snow is on the ground here in Connecticut and the animals are leaving their stories plain for us to see if we know how to read the language of tracks. I will be leading this class with Two Coyotes Wilderness School. Come learn to read Nature’s newspaper.
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June 9th and 10th this year I will be hosting the 3rd annual Cattail Gathering in Litchfield CT. It’s a wonderful gathering of people taking workshops in many different Nature related skills like wildlife tracking, wild edible plants, yoga, basket making and many others. If you are interested in this kind of thing, and if you read my blog you must be, than take a look at the website for more information.
Basketry is an art form with many variations. One form found in many parts of the world for hundreds and maybe thousands of years is coiled basketry. In this country (the U.S.) the most recognized form would be the pine needle baskets made by Native American groups in the Southeast and possibly elsewhere. Many materials have been used in the past and today.
In this video I demonstrate how to make a simple and expedient coiled basket out of dead grass and string. This will be a three part video so I can show all aspects of the process. Many other suitable materials could be used in the same way. This is one of the few basket weaving techniques that could be applied as a survival skill because it is immediate with no need for soaking or lengthy processing of materials (willow shoot weaving would be another).
If you enjoy this video please subscribe to my Youtube channel to be sure to see the next two installments in the coiled basket series.
Fire by friction is a defining skill of wilderness survival and primitive living. Here is the first in a series of videos to help people learning the bow drill method. Future videos and articles will cover the construction, from scratch, of a friction fire set and the ultimate skill of harvesting all materials from the landscape using stone tools also gathered on the spot. Thanks for watching.
