Winter Reinvent?

Hello all,

Just thought I'd put the feelers out there: Anyone interested in a winter reinvent this year?

Hit me up via email, facebook or whatever means you prefer.

Peace

Max

Reinvent 2009 Picture Slideshow!

Warning: The above slideshow contains scenes of death. For a no death version, click here.

Back in the City

We left the woods and are in North Bay to head our separate ways soon. Pretty good round two, in my opinion. Photos, journals and all that jazz at some point in the next few weeks. Wooooo.

Update: Back to Loren Tomorrow

We left the lake briefly to visit the hospital after someone fainted and fell, hitting a rock on the way down. All is well and we're heading back tomorrow for more primitive skills development and general awesomeness.

Scouting Complete

Location Update: Loren Lake

Everyone is meeting tomorrow in North Bay and we're heading out Saturday morning.

Here is a map (click for large image):





And here is the link to the full interactive map (you might have to zoom several times).

Good times so far; looking forward to meeting the rest of the group and heading out! Woo woo!

Round 2 Is On. Soon!

Here is the plan, more or less:

1. Sat July 11 Sun July 12- A scouting party of Max and Nate (and anyone else interested - email me ASAP if you are) will head to the vicinity of Turtle Lake in search of a good location
2. On their return, they contact everyone else to let them know what's up
3. Everyone meets at Nate's place in North Bay where we will come together, discuss/obtain equipment if necessary
4. Everyone heads out to the location

Please email me ASAP if we haven't talked already and you want to take part: hobolyfe@gmail.com

Back Very Early from Attempt One. Mulligan!

After a low initial turnout followed by a personal situation that required urgent attention, Reinvent 2009 (South) folded very early (journal and pics soon). Calling a mulligan on this one. Looking forward to next attempt to North Ontario. Canadian Reinventers - and anyone else interested - message me!

Contact me by email hobolyfe@gmail.com or add me on Facebook (Maximus Happylove).

Peace

Max

Many Oaks

View Larger Map

Large Group Chat Update

Hello all,

Thanks to some good advice in the Facebook group, a chat will be available every day at http://www.tinychat.com/reinvent2009 . Everyone who replied was available Monday and Tuesday evenings approximately 5:30 - 7, so that is probably the best time to all join, though feel free to check it out whenever to see if people are around.



[Keep in mind that tinychat is not particularly private or secure]

Large Group Chat

Hello, all.

We got some great advice about having a large group chat so we can get to know each other, talk about details, and also just chat about whatever. To schedule the chat, please post times when you are/are not available so we can hopefully figure out a time when everyone is available.

Please post this info in the discussion thread below:http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=47541669775&topic=8413

If you haven't got facebook, please post your availability in a comment to this post and I will reflect your wishes in the larger scheduling chat.

For the chat, I think the best option is to make a tinychat chatroom when we're ready to go and post the url here. (tinychat.com). Please let us know if you have a problem with that site, or a better option.

Peace

Max

A Call Out

Hello, all.

Thank you for following along. As we get down to the last eight weeks or so before the experiment begins, expanding the community has become the primary aim. I'd like to reach out and ask our supporters, participants, well-wishers and other members of the community to take some time and help us out with some "marketing."

We'd be incredibly grateful if you'd share Reinvent with anyone you haven't already. Facebook is a great way to do this. There are also some posters available (links below) and if you could put some up in your school/workplace/community centre/wherever, that would be great.

Thank you again for your support in this endeavour

Max

Posters:
This one is great for schools.
This one is more generic, for work and other places.

Some Clarifications

First, no one has to commit to a four month trip, or to any particular duration. People may come and go to and from Many Oaks as they like. Come for a week, if you like, and learn how to make shelter and fire. Or stay. All very open and freewheeling. (though we wouldn't mind a heads-up if you plan to come for a particular period). Also, no money is involved, though the land in question is in a bit of a financial pickle and donations and/or new part-owners are welcome.

Second, the Skills and Knowledge section over there on the right side of the screen is by no means intended to be a complete manual on wild living and should not be taken that way. It is just a convenient way of organizing some posts into categories. Many other fine sites have a broad compendium of knowledge and those are the place to go to learn what you can by reading.

Urban Scout: Civilized Barriers to Rewilding

Urban Scout has written and posted an article called Civilized Barriers to Rewilding that really spells out a lot of the problems of the solo rewilder in the city.

I've thought about and had to deal with most of these, but never took the time to spell them out so clearly. Definitely worth a read. Have a look: [Link]

Hunting and Gathering Perspectives part 3

(L) wrote:

Hey Joe!,Just read a bit of the blog - can't figure out how to subscribe? Maybe i need to spend some more time poking around? In any case, I figured I'd jump in the discussion, its very interesting to me because it's something that I'd struggled with a great deal, before and after I knew there was anyone else that gave a shit. Initially, my number one goal was to suck up all the skills I could and head the fuck out of this crazy culture, hopefully taking some other like-minded folk with me, and living in a community well as remotely as possible, with limited connection to anything outside... I eventually began to see the value in having the village be an open community type setting, with others coming and going... whatever the case, i wanted out, because I know who I am is somehow better, more pure, and more real when I'm with the earth and away from the insanity of our society. I really idolized this concept in my head, and dreamed it becoming reality.. even know some folks who headed out and did an experimental 30 day trip together.As time went on, and I traveled more and more, I began to see that it wasn't only the suburban neighborhood of my youth that was being overrun by concrete and garbage. Seeing dams choke rivers, disease wipe entire tree species, barbed wire cutting through some of the wildest places in our country.. and that was before I left the states. We have it good... our wealth allows us to export massive quantities of garbage, and rape and pillage resources from poorer worlds, so that we can keep dog parks in cities and have pretty places to go and take pictures. You made mention in your note how fucked up it is that in our culture, we've convinced ourselves that the "individual's need supersedes the need of the tribe", and I couldn't agree more. I realized that in a large part, this is what I was doing ... for me personally, I wanted to get the fuck out, and it wasn't that I wanted to exclude anyone, it's just that I wanted to live in this way and needed it to happen - for me. I was really happy to put the tribe's needs in front of my own, as long as the tribe had the same ideals, morals, etc that I had - as far as I was concerned, whoever saw it differently could rot in a proverbial hell.But, I realized, I don't need to worry about the people who understand the intrinsic connection humans have to the earth - shit is pretty fucking dire. And to live in an idealistic sense, submersed in only the earth's rhythms, without tainting it with new culture bullshit, is a beautiful picture, and incredibly important I believe... but I can't shake the sense that time is running out. I have so much to learn - so fucking much to learn - and there's nothing I'd like to do more than say, fuck it, whoever wants to come, come, I'm out... but when it comes down to it, what is closest to my heart is dying in a very real way and I have to do everything in my power to be as effective as is possible. Put aside my own needs and desires and try to help things on a way bigger scale. It's a struggle every damn day, to hold a place living close with the earth and be completely surrounded by a toxic culture... knowing that when push comes to shove, I dont HAVE to be here... i have the privilege to choose not to. But I can't think of anything more important to be doing right now. If I were to live in a "wild" community, even if I were to have it be an open learning place, an example for others - the only people that will give a shit will be people who are open minded and privileged enough to be able to come and visit, check out of their world for a period of time, and hopefully be inspired enough to make some very real changes in their life. But again, this isn't the percent of the population that I think needs help and inspiration the most. At schools such as Tracker School, where people head for just a week or more at a time.. you won't reach every person. There will be people who leave and get back to their world and don't incorporate shit, forget what's important to them. Others won't. You plant these seeds, and the more volume you can get out... the better. Daily interactions with people who haven't had the privilage of finding their connection to the earth... to whom the even idea of having a connection is completely out of their scope of reality, because they're poisoned into only seeing the 9-5, shutting down, spackling the gaps with television and pop culture, because their reality is too fucking sad to deal with....Anyway, shit sucks, and who wants to be a part of it? How do you know these skills and this life exists, and not go out and live it? It's not that I believe that people shouldn't go out and live them - on the contrary, I think it's one of the most important things to do.. for me, I need to find a way to live them in this world, this culture, because I couldn't feel okay leaving it to choke and die and take everything I love with it. I have to try to plant seeds, have hope, and do everything I can in my tiny and insignifigant life to make shit different. It's not to say that the life I choose is for everyone... just a personal choice that I'm living with and dealing with and learning from.
I hope this all makes sense, things that are closest to my heart really tend to lead to me going off into a passionate rant that doesn't always follow the lines of logic. I also hope it doesn't sound too self righteous, because that's not where its coming from either... rather, it's me trying to put into words the turmoil i feel all the time. its a constant struggle in my mind, and it is really hard to deal with , to be impervious to new culture ideas and thought patterns while being surrounded by them. Anyway, I'd love to hear your thoughts.. I think it's a growth process for all of us, and having others to talk to helps facilitate that :) (L)-

Destroying Angel to (L):
(L) - thanks very much for your thoughtful input. I can't express how wonderful it is to be finally getting some feedback, whether or not people agree with me is beside the point. I honor you for doing what you feel needs to be done for the greater good. You've put your selfish desires aside and are suffering for the liberation of others, and that is commendable. Somewhere in me I can't help thinking, or at least hoping, that the creator and I have conspired before my birth to give me the outlandish dreams that I have and, further, that the pursuit of those dreams is the very best thing that I can do for my people. It might seem like selfish escapism, but if my dream of dreams is to live primitively and start a free school where others can come to live and learn and love (learn to live to love to live to learn to love to...) then there's no sticking around and working in a school, hospital, soup kitchen, or whatever that is going to help my people more than following my vision, in the words of TBJ, or following my bliss, if you prefer Campbell instead. I totally agree with the need for planting seeds, but on the wings of my unbridled dreams I will be the most effective tool for the dispersal of those seeds, not treading water in the sespool with the voluntarily handicapped. I know that sounds pretty offensive, but it's not meant to be. I am still one of the volunatariily handicapped of which I speak, so there truly is no condescension in what I say. I have accepted the role of slave for far too long, and it's time for the next act in this play, the one where I leap from the nest and pray that our mother has been telling me the truth all these long years, that there's a whole other world just waiting for us to explore. Flight is our birthright, and not to worry, there's plenty of work to do for our brothers and sisters back in the nest once we take flight. Just think.... who would feed all those baby birds if none were willing to turn there back on them and learn to fly for a time. Not to abandon them, but with every intention of returning with real sustenance, not just the lice we've gotten so used to picking from each other's backs.....



The following post is something that I wrote a while back that talks more of my idea about this conspiracy between me and the creator. I've been looking for the right time to post it, and (L) has shown me that now's the time.

Conspiring with the creator

just thought I'd throw this out there for you to get a better understanding of my perspective on life and why I never fall into the trap of "Well, I didn't ask to be born, god damn it!"-----------------------------------------------------------

I've gone so much further than so many that I know and even further than So and So, and so... this life still calls on me to go further. And so I sometimes get indignant about it, and one day I called out to my God and said, "Motherfucker, why will you not relent?! I do this, that, and at least half of the other thing, and still you'll give me no peace! Meanwhile my brothers go about their lives with little more than utter carelessness, sometimes even less, and yet you seem to have given them a Get-Out-of-Jail-Free card! I stop to give thanks for blessings that they're not even aware of receiving and still I am beset on all sides by a struggle which ever vies for the better of me, my body and soul wrought with relentless challenges, while they stumble around utterly unscathed! Why hast thou forsaken me?"And in the kindest, most loving, infinitely gentle voice imaginable the reply came...

"Motherfucker, you asked for it."

"What?" I couldn't believe my ears.

"Yes, child. You dare to dream dreams that too many will never know, did not have the courage to choose. And I told you, before you were born, that you would come to doubt me. Don't you remember? Of course you don't, I told you that you wouldn't. I told you, while you begged me for the life that you now are living, that it wouldn't be as easy as you thought, to dream such beautiful dreams! But you wouldn't listen, and I love you for it. Ahhh, how you made me laugh with your brazen antics, thinking you'd swim through life as if it were the Dead Sea, eager to keep you afloat! You swore you'd never grow tired of it, secretly thinking that if by chance you did you'd simply lace your hands behind your head and float for a moment or four! And I insisted, 'Make no mistake, My Love, these dreams that you demand of me will demand much more of you.....' 'Yes, yes,' you interrupted, 'let's just get on with it, shall we? Lives are wasting! Hahaha!' And you laughed that especially contagious, beautifully irreverant, sublimely innocent, laughter (which, incidentally, I haven't heard from you for far too long) and we laughed and laughed together, rolling around the heavens, flooding the planets with our joyful tears while eons rolled by. And when our mirth receded in concert with the glaciers' retreat, you made me promise... really, you don't remember? You extracted a vow from me that no matter how hard it was for me, in all my all overly envied omnipotence, that I would wrap you in those special swaddling clothes, that shroud of unforeseeable circumstances, the one and only that would ensure the fruition of your most courageous, albeit, at times, seemingly masochistic, dreams. And now when I, rendered helpless by our pact, follow through as I swore I would, will you add to my torment by thinking that I have forgotten you? That I do not share in the suffering which I must unleash upon you? And do you think for one moment that you are the innocent victim of a sadistic plot that I have concocted as a consequence of my eternal boredom? It is you who have chosen to torment me! You have more choice than I, for you are free to do whatever you please and I am left filling in the blanks of your twisted Ad Libs life! I want nothing more for you than to see you fulfill the dreams that you made me believe in, such immaculate dreams that I, in all my glory, could never have conceived of, dreams that bring tears of rapture to my eyes even now when I think of them. And I swore to push you, to send cruel gale force winds toward you, and make the seas rise up in defiance of you if it were necessary to keep you on your path! And you should know, Child, that I add my tears, with a prayer and a kiss, to those storms whenever I am forced to send them crashing down upon you. Remember before you curse me, that it is you who have forced my hand. Know, too, that I love you without end, and I am forever grateful to you, for you have added to that which too many believe is untouchable and forever beyond them. Now go, and waste no more time thinking that you are some sort of helpless and abandoned pawn, a tiny ship tossed about by fickle fingered Fates. Only you have the freedom to be fickle. All the rest of Creation is bound by oaths made before words were even conceived, oaths made with boundless love for you and the faith that you would one day re-member us and free us from the unforgiving Forgetting Wind that now sweeps across the endless Plains of Time...."

+ Destroying Angel +

Hunting and Gathering Perspectives part 2

Destroying Angel wrote:

(D) - thank you very much for your excellent elucidation of some of your difficulties with TD (Teaching Drum). I’ve never been, but have thought much about attending. I hope to start the 1st FREE primitive-living and skills school, and part of the school will be a residential primitive camp, something like what I see at TD. I would love to talk more with you about how to make this a “success” if I could.One thing you wrote that I wonder about is’ “I believe that a practice that punishes someone for seeking to meet their human need of comfort and safety amplifies the potential for danger and imbalance among the students of the yearlong.” When is a person’s perceived “human need of comfort and safety” no longer acceptable. It seems to me that much of the present systemic collapse has a lot to do with anthropocentric self-entitlement and justification for useless plastic chachkas and snicker bars. Do you think the school and its students would be better served by being given total freedom? Don’t we engage in certain endeavors because we are aware that without the pressure from teachers, peers, or whatever, that we won’t do what we’ve determined we need to do?Having been to the tracker school a number of times it’s interesting to noe that you can’t really leave, as you’re in the middle of a freakin maze and your car is god knows where, but they do give you access to all the yummie candy bars you want for about 2 hours a day. And you get to retreat to the privacy of your own tent every night….and it’s only for a week or two. But I also wonder about the lasting “value” of what most take from that place. Many, I’m sure, return to pretty wasteful and sadly normal lives with little more than a cool story to tell their cool friends when they get back to their human comforts and safeties. And that is dangerous…Not meant as an attack - I agree with much of what you say, and don’t disagree, but wonder, about the rest.
Best wishes,
Joe
Friday, February 6, 2009

(D) wrote:
When is a person’s perceived “human need of comfort and safety” no longer acceptable.
That’s an excellent question, and I don’t know how to answer it definitively.
I think that at the foundation of any of this type of experience is a profound ambivalence. On the one hand, an ordinary civilized person would not choose to go even on a weekend primitive skills seminar or camping trip if a part of them didn’t relish the challenge of stretching themselves. On the other hand, if they were truly totally comfortable in the woods, they’d already be living there. It’s a careful line to walk, one that varies according to the individual and one that can shift quickly.
I think about a swimming analogy. Different people have different relationships with water. Some have to be dragged to the water’s edge while others can’t live away from it.
With the right combination of challenge and encouragement, even someone afraid of the water might learn to swim. Even then, the details of their long-term learning and motivation will depend on the type of challenge and encouragement offered. Are they forced to swim by an oppressive authority? Then they’ll learn but hate it. Or do they start out being taught to enjoy just being in the water for short periods? Then they might grow to love it on their own. But that also runs the risk that they might not.
I think the Wilderness Guide Program is like dropping a beginning swimmer into the deep end of a pool. For some, it’s exactly the type of challenge they need. For others, it’s way too overwhelming and potentially traumatic, and they don’t make it. This approach is a natural selection of those who are already hard-core. It’s one-size-fits-all, and unsurprisingly there are numerous dropouts every year. Not stating that as a plus or minus, just an observation; some people would consider that a plus (think Marine Corps training).
How can you tell whether a beginner needs to be pushed or needs to be allowed to take their time? I don’t know. I imagine only experience could teach you.
But it is my opinion that a culture that allows a relatively relaxed exploration of that boundary — between water and land or between primitive and civilized — while still challenging people to explore that boundary, would yield less neurosis and more enjoyment, even though it might also select a group of individuals that are not as hard-core.
I guess it just depends on which direction you want to go.
If you talk to other Teaching Drum folks, some of them feel really good about their experience, so don’t take my word as the final answer. But, it didn’t work that well for me. And, I’ll bet you that even those folks had food addiction issues, which should tell you something.
But I also wonder about the lasting “value” of what most take from [the Tracker school].
Well, I think you have to look at goals. I think the Tracker School is about imparting its skills and philosophy to the broadest segment of the population possible while still retaining a sense of its core values. The Teaching Drum is quite different in its focus on small quantity and great depth. I imagine yours would be different from either but in any case I think it would be a good idea to define goals and objectives clearly. As I noted in my essay, I think Teaching Drum confuses me because the goal of the program is not entirely clear, and/or the goal and the actual outcomes do not always meet.
It’s hard to tell if you’re successful at something unless you have a goal to measure yourself by. Kinda left-brained, but true.
Anyway, these are fascinating and thoughtful questions. I wouldn’t mind hearing a little something about your experiences too.
Friday, February 6, 2009

Destroying Angel wrote:
(D),
Thanks for your timely response - like holy shit, that was fast! hahaha
The thing that I’ve run into strongly with the tracker school and every other primitive skills educator that extolls the virtues of “getting back to nature” is, why aren’t they living it? Why does even TD offer only a 1 year immersion? Why does TBJ or other teacher not create an environment, aka “village” , where the deeper lessons of community, extended family, the voices of nature, etc are facilitated? What example are they really setting for those of us who desire a life more like our ancestors lived? (Certainly not just like our ancestors lived, because that might take a long time to return to, if we even decided that was desirable or necessary, but somewhere between here and there.) It seems that all they’re providing an example of is how to run classes of very limited duration that create a good deal of conflict in a good deal of the participants. But if these teachers were the elders at the core of an ongoing tribal “experiment” wouldn’t we all then have a chance to be part of a badly needed, living, counter culture? I bet you’ll want to say that there IS a living counter culture, and you’re right, but it’s nowhere near as vibrant and tenacious as the dominant culture, and probably never will be, if our focus remains on individual growth and prosperity. It seems everyone just wants to find a way to integrate the skills into a personally meaningful and hopefully lucrative lifestyle, which is barely different than wanting to build a bigger skyscraper or some other equally noxious pursuit. What TBJ does teach is that no purpose is empowered unless it is a purpose beyond the self, which I agree with, but don’t see anyone living, except people who are just determined to feed the hungry masses, which mostly just keeps people alive long enough to earn and spend money. Don’t get me wrong, I think that purpose can and should include the self, but it must go beyond as well, and I’d go so far as to agree with the notion that self should and must come second to the tribe. We’re living with the aweful consequences of a culture that has somehow convinced itself that the individual’s need supercedes the need of the tribe. at those times when the two prove to be mutually exclusive.
I look forward to your insights,
Joe
Friday, February 6, 2009

(R) wrote:
To me, this is the critical jist of the matter:
You wrote: “The thing that I’ve run into strongly with the tracker school and every other primitive skills educator that extolls the virtues of “getting back to nature” is, why aren’t they living it? Why does even TD offer only a 1 year immersion? Why does TBJ or other teacher not create an environment, aka “village” , where the deeper lessons of community, extended family, the voices of nature, etc are facilitated? What example are they really setting for those of us who desire a life more like our ancestors lived?”
I heard it said once, that “what we practice is how we perform”. And I’ve noticed this at TD myself. No matter how strong the emphasis on practice there is, the situation created during the year long is artificial and the guides are not really living what they are attempting to guide others in. Tamarack and Chris and Lety are as honest and sincere a group of people as I’ve ever met, yet they live in houses and get the majority of their food from the money the school earns. They are not living an example before the seekers, they are putting seekers in an intense (and disorientating) artificial situation and then going out and teaching, encouraging and sometimes cajoling seekers to perform in that (still essentially) socially constructed environment. The seekers often get overwhelmed, and (quite naturally) feel victimized by the situation, so a struggle of wills inevitably results between the seekers and the guides. Then victim behavior is “flagged” and dismissed on the individual level, without acknowledging the overall relational dynamic which gives rise to it (just like happens in modern american civilization). It’s more of the same (of what we get in civilized life), and a whole lot of dysfuntion stems from it that then has to be moderated or compensated for. The food doesn’t come directly from Mother Earth, it comes from Mother Earth via town in the form of “food drops” dispensed and controlled by the guides. Then the guides (well fed and comfortable themselves) deney the situational appropriateness of the fact that hungry struggling seekers complain to them about food rather than take responsibility for their own lives in relation to Mother Earth.
Post-year-long, I’ve watched as former seekers attempt to set up similar situations for themselves after the year-long, including getting “food drops” from friends or whomever. I’ve also watched former seekers continually get down on themselves for “victim” psychology (a catch-22, if ever there was one) and continue on with huge internal struggles leading out of the yearlong experience.
I’ve come to the conclusion (since finishing my own year-long and two years of working at the school as volunteer staff) that what is needed is not any more schools or set-up situations. What is needed now is people who live and struggle and learn, and lead by example in the process of living and learning with those who follow their example (sharing all hardships and struggles equally, as would an old-way clan) and with no pretense toward establishing a school and/or being teachers (or “guides”). The folks at TD do make serious and well-intentioned efforts toward escaping these counterproductive and unhealthy dynamics, but still generate lots of intense psychological struggle and exhaustion, because the essential realities pointed out here (both in my post and in David’s article) are not fully acknowledged and dealt with.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Destroying Angel wrote:
Thanks (R), I agree entirely with your assessment of what is needed. I’ve been trying to find a group of like-hearted folks to embark on just such a journey. This search has been frustrating to say the least! Recently, however, I was fortunate to find a friend in Ontarion who’s planning a rewilding excursion called Reinvent09. You can find it in facebook groups and there’s a blog, too. http://reinvent09.blogspot.com/ Anyway, right now we’re planning on heading to a 550 acre parcel in far northern NY, called Many Oaks, in May 09. It’s a privately owned non-profit land trust that my friend Medicine Bear started years ago. I am part owner, and we would therefore not run into any issues with building structures on public lands and such. I would like few things better than to see this evolve into the first ever FREE tracking and skills school that would be modelled after the ideas mentioned in this email, i.e. a place where the skills are kept alive by living them, day in and day out. It would be a residential community where people would be free to come and go as they pleased, but would be kept pretty primitive while there. All details, of course, would be decided by consensus, i.e. true democracy.
I will include other emails on the Reinvent blog (look for the “Hunitng and Gathering Other Perspectives” label) that I’ve been trading with teachers and participants of other schools, as I feel these exchanges are very relevant to what we’re talking about here, and reiterating all would be real tedious!
Best wishes, and I pray to hear more from you,
Joe
Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Hunting and Gathering Perspectives PART 1

Joe Krein wrote at 7:50pm on January 28th, 2009 am very intrigued by the idea of rewilding - wondering why it's so hard to get people to try it at least.... im part owner of a 550 acre parcel in northern ny where we could begin a community of rewilders - this is my dream, but for lack of others willing to go down that road together the property may wind up being sold right out from under me...would love to hear your thoughts, suggestions, even laughter would be an improvement to the vacuous nothing in non-response that im used to.

best wishes,Joe
hope4thepride@gmail.com

(Anonymous) wrote at 12:56pm on January 29th, 2009
I am not too familiar with the term rewilding aside from wildlife conservation, though as far as wiki pedia tells it there is a movement to overcome human domestication. For all intents and purposes I am not convinced by the modern world's claim to have brought humans anywhere but to a rapidly darkening future. The belief that science will save us in unfounded and historically inaccurate. This leaves me with a drive to make different choices than the average American. However, trying to run this school in the modern world without the use of modern tools would be nigh impossible and not serve the needs of my students. For example, this conversation here. It is very hard for me to damn this culture being so immersed in it.Ultimately, I am unconvinced that humans will en mass decide to move back to the land, nor could the land support it with such a population density. This leaves me with the feeling that there are more productive roles I can play in this world than falling off the map


You wrote 21 hours ago
Hey (anonymous), thanks for responding to my post about rewilding. Like to address a couple of your points... you said, "However, trying to run this school in the modern world without the use of modern tools would be nigh impossible and not serve the needs of my students. For example, this conversation here. It is very hard for me to damn this culture being so immersed in it." I don't want to damn this culture either, but it seems if we're to get back on course we're going to have to leave a thing or two behind. Doesn't mean no more internet or modern communications, but we probably can't all have everything we've gotten so used to...you went on, "Ultimately, I am unconvinced that humans will en mass decide to move back to the land, nor could the land support it with such a population density." This remains a peculiar notion to me. How is it that the earth is able to sustain our present number of people that are utilizing mostly unproductive, and often counterproductive, methods, yet if we switched to a more productive and sustainable lifestyle there'd have to be massive human die off? I've heard this notion many times, but I'm having trouble with the logic....And you concluded, "This leaves me with the feeling that there are more productive roles I can play in this world than falling off the map" This is the real point which I guess I failed to make. I don't intend to, nor do I suggest anyone else should "fall off the map". I imagine something more like a big bold star on the map that says. "Hey! We're over here!" I'm really just continuing an old struggle here, wondering why there are so few, if any, communities of trackers that are living the skills day in and day out, and further, helping others to do the same. It seems to me that the reason our ancestors were able to develop their skills and awareness to such high levels is because they were living them 24/7. What does that leave for the rare individuals in our society that even care enough to seek out this precious wisdom before it is lost? Maybe they'll be able to learn some wonderful things well enough to pass them on, but ultimately they'll only be receptacles of knowledge that they'll probably take to the grave with them before finding someone else that has the time and desire to learn what they know, if they even have the time and desire to teach it. Which still says nothing about furthering the wisdom, expanding on it, and keeping it ALIVE. Is there any alternative for those who wish to keep it alive than to live it? And is there a way to truly live it part time, a couple weeks out of the year?Please trust that I am not seeking conflict. You are doing awesome work and I am inspired by your example and humbled to call you friend. Just feelin pretty alone, still, and wondering if I'll ever have my people around me for more than the occasional awesome week(end)....blessed be,Joe


(Anonymous) wrote10 hours ago
Joe,You make some good points. First off, I do want to damn this culture, I just can't without being a hypocrite. Just so you know where I am coming from. In my experience of primitive living which is weeks here and there and months of living and working in the forest but not full abo, it is pretty much full time.I found great difficulty moving between the cultures, forest culture-the rythms, customs and necessities of the natural world, and the modern world. This is nothing new, but worth noting, because moving seamlessly between the two is something I am working on but still have to get better at. Really I guess I am working on holding my own rhythm no matter where I am.I like your point about the die offs, however, if you look at the population densities (which are estimates) of prehistory, even the highest and considered wildest estimates are still far far below the current human population densities and that was with a very healthy and intact ecosystem. If you think that primitive living is more efficient at supporting massive population than modern industrial farming you have got some research to do...I fear deeply a possibility of a day when the truck suddenly stop running and everyone who owns a gun goes out to the woods to get food for their starving family. It would be a massive holocaust of animals...and the land could not support it. The fact of the matter is that we are all living in America, rich and fat with "healthy" ecosystems around us because other landscapes in far away countries are being raped and pillaged. The fact that we even have time for this discussion or to study skills that are not imminent to our immediate survival is a sign of the wealth and luxury that underlies our culture. Not to just rant, but the point for me is that I don't teach people just for the future or the past, but for their now. For the quality and experience of life that working the skills and living with the earth gives. Because of that I completely understand your desire to "live it" and the best times of my life have most certainly been working the skills and being with the earth.Everyone needs to decide for themselves what living it means. For me right now it includes way more time in front of the CPU than I like, but I am living it and pushing a new wall of skills, and finding new discomforts to seek understanding from.Finally, people don't know how to live together anymore, at least not without being knocked around a bit by the Earth, and also, people are scared shitless to leave the modern world. How many people can really imagine the idea that they could starve to death if they did not kill something with a weapon they made? Not too many...I think that you should keep the hope up, and keep talking to people. If you are serious about it you might try and start something up that would let more people know about you and what you want to do...like going to some advanced tracker school classes, primitive skills gathering, or something like that...Look forward to hearing more.I am also not seeking conflict, nor do I feel any, this is a worthy discussion and I like your questions.

Coconut Cordage Madness

So I made some cordage last night out of the fibres off a coconut husk. Yeah, I know, coconuts aren't exactly native to Ontario, but you gotta play the cards you're dealt. I kind of rushed through it but it turned out OK in the end.

There are a lot of good videos available on cordage making. I used a method I learned in the book Ultimate guide to wilderness living by John and Geri McPherson. I'd like to add something from there that doesn't really come out in the videos I've seen. If you're dealing with shorter fibres, fold it over in a 2:1 ratio (so 2/3 of the bundle to the left and 1/3 to the right) and proceed as usual. When the short side starts to run out, substitute in the next bundle and continue. This allows you to make cordage that is as long as you want, regardless of the length of your fibres.

Standard First Aid, CPR C

Just finished the standard first aid and CPR "C" course. Just thought you'd all like to know.

New Presentation Slide

[click to enlarge]

Quinzhee 2.0: Snow Coffin

I lived in a quinzhee for about three weeks last winter and it was pretty excellent. To build it, however, required a lot of work.

I recently discovered Peter Wiinholt's (unfortunately named) snow coffin, which you can make as long as your land has both snow and trees. Rather than make a big pile and hollow it out as in a quinzhee, you dig out a horseshoe shape a bit longer than you are and wider, too. Use the dug out snow to form walls following the horseshoe curve. The round end is where your head goes. You can build up your bedding while it's open. You then build up the roof with branches, sticks, boughs, etc, then cover with snow when it's relatively well impenetrable.

Peter lists the following benefits over the standard quinzhee:

• A good snow coffin could be made in one to two hours
• The entire snow coffin can be made while standing outside of it. At no point do you have to crawl inside it to work. Also, a smaller mass of snow has to be moved to complete the construction.
• Properly made, the snow coffin cannot possibly collapse, meaning that it is a more dependable and safe structure.

Here's a link to the full description of the method and result: [Link]

Photos of possible new location

Hey gang, here are some photos of the land in uppermost NY - known as Many Oaks, it's a diverse 550 acre parcel with mixed hardwood forests, river frontage on Indian River (seriously), vast cattail swamps, seemingly endless meadows... it may not be as remote as the other possible location - there is a driveable road bordering the land and it's about 1/2 hour to the nearest small town. You can occasionally hear evidence that humans still inhabit the earth, as there are homes scattered around the surrounding territory. It is, however, very rural and un-developed. Being 550 acres, I think it affords us a wonderful opportunity to create a sustainable community that could potentially live on for many generations to come. I'd be much more excited about creating something that will live on and provide an example to the world of the possibility of living happily, comfortably, in a beautiful thriving primitive community than to just have a really amazing 4 month experiment that radically and beautifully transformed our perceptions and memories but otherwise ended.... we'd also be in a better position to maintain a sustainable, craft based, education based or other small income-providing lifestyle (there are invariably going to be some expenses - as Max said, we are new at this)

Hillary in borderlands of cattail swamp

Indian River

Endless Meadow (keeps going way further than you can see in photo)

Pete in borderlands of cattail swamps

Small pond near wigwam

Pete n Hillary outside wigwam, happy as can be (note - there's no cable in the wigwam, hahaha)

Possible Location Update

First, a welcome to the site's newest author, Destroying Angel. A great first post, with surely many more to come.

As he mentioned, he's got a lot of experience with the skills needed to live life outside the boundaries of civilization and is willing to share them, but as he so sagely noted, "Nature will be our real teacher, I'll just help you live long enough to hear what she's got to say to you."

Additionally, he is part owner of a parcel of wild land in upstate New York (very upstate - just about 25km south of the Canada/US border). There are a number of benefits over using crown land, including a reduction of legal risk, continuity of the primitive living community over time, and allowing people to come and go as they please knowing they will be able to find us again. (Pictures of the area will be posted here soon!)

As always, we'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on the matter, either here in the comments or in the new facebook group.

-Max

Opening thoughts

Hey everyone! Thanks for checking out the blog. I offer my greetings and prayers of thanksgiving to all that have made this dream possible. Max asked if I'd write from time to time since I've got a good deal of survival/tracking training as well as personal experience. I'm honored to do this and hope that it proves useful in some way.
I have long been praying to find others who'd be willing to embark on a journey like Reinvent09. Since finally joining facebook several months ago I've been trying to reach out to folks that are part of wilderness immersion programs, tracking schools, anarchist groups, etc. I hoped that I would find/create a group of like-hearted individuals that yearn, as I do, to reconnect with our ancestral selves, to know what it feels like to answer only to our truest needs and our simplest primitive desires, to set aside all the distractions and conflicting adjectives that cloud our minds and perceptions, thereby enabling us to hear the song of creation. This song alone can liberate us from the bonds of our tired, tomb-like cocoons, into the splendor of our authentic selves and the uniquely perfect dance of freedom that is both our heritage and our birthright!
I've been making lots of wondeful new friends in my journey, many of whom share a similar vision. There has been no one, however, that is willing to entertain the notion of really living this vision. Don't get me wrong, there's an army of awesome individuals out there doing really great and inspiring work, and they're devoting their lives to it. It's just that everyone seems (i.e. I may be wrong) content to try and change the system from within. To run schools and programs that take people out of their normal realm of thinking and acting, to empower them with some self-reliance skills and arm them with some ancient ancestral wisdom.... only then to send them back to their normal lives of competition and consumerism. I understand that lives are changed in the process, and a person's level of competitiveness and consumerism is lessened by these experiences, and that's all very good and important stuff. I'm just not convinced that it's going to save us from the storm that's brewing on the horizon.
I often look at it like this... few people would disagree that we, as a species, have strayed at least a little from the path of being good stewards of this planet and all its inhabitants. Few would disagree that that is the path we were once on and ultimately should get back on. So when someone's hiking in the woods and they stop and realize that they've gotten all caught up in their thoughts and failed to notice that they're no longer on the trail to wherever they were going, what options do they have? Assuming they still want to get where they were going, they can either back track to the point where they stepped off the trail, or they can change course and try to intercept their trail somewhere near where they would have been had they remained on course. Well I personally don't see anything wrong with backtracking, going back to how we used to live when were were not yet a blight on this beautiful planet. Most people are so caught up in the web of progress, however, that this idea is utterly abhorrent to them. That would be a total admission of guilt or stupidity or something else that they're equally unwilling to come to terms with in themselves. Fine, so let's take the other option and strike off into the untamed wilderness that lies between the here and there, and we'll bring with us what we need or otherwise feel we absolutely can't live without, and we'll see if we can't someday make our way back to that yellow brick road. Sounds good to me, however most people are nearly as reluctanct to pursue this option for the simple fact that you can't take as much shit with you when you're bushwacking as you can when you're on a trail..... "What do you mean, I can't take my blow dryer and my crystal martini glasses?! Fuck it then! Fire up the bulldozers and we'll make a new path to the promised land! And while you're at it, fire up the blenders, too. Might as well have a drink while we're improving upon nature's perfection, right?"
Well, it's usually agood time for me to get off my soap-box once the expletives start flying around. I don't know any of you and don't want to piss in yer shoes on our first date, hahahaha.

Best wishes,

Destroying Angel

A More Different Poster

[Link to PDF]

Improved Poster

About 36.4% better than the first round

[Link to PDF Download]

The Machine Stops

The Machine Stops (1909), by E.M. Forster [Link to Full Text]

I read the story in high school, but it reads differently now.

'The Machine stops.'
'What do you say?'
'The Machine is stopping, I know it, I know the signs.'

Possible Location Update

It looks pretty good on the federal govt's topo maps:

(47° 1' 11.53", -79° 58' 17.55")

[Link to interactive topo map]

First Poster

Well, it's not perfect but it'll do for now.



[Click here to download PDF poster]

Update: Much improved poster here: [Link]

How to Poop

We're doing it wrong:

http://naturesplatform.com/health_benefits.html

+47° 1' 11.53", -79° 58' 17.55"

Possible Location:


View Larger Map


General Use Crown Land, about 2/3 of the way (~16km) from Temagami to Lake Temagami near Spawning Lake. Looks like the route from Hwy 11 to the spot is passable by foot. Other bodies of water include McLaren Lake and Hardwood Lake and the unnamed rivers that connect them.

Economic Terror

Schneier posted a great quote from a novel:

Part of the debtor mentality is a constant, frantically suppressed undercurrent of terror. We have one of the highest debt-to-income ratios in the world, and apparently most of us are two paychecks from the street. Those in power -- governments, employers -- exploit this, to great effect. Frightened people are obedient -- not just physically, but intellectually and emotionally. If your employer tells you to work overtime, and you know that refusing could jeopardize everything you have, then not only do you work the overtime, but you convince yourself that you're doing it voluntarily, out of loyalty to the company; because the alternative is to acknowledge that you are living in terror. Before you know it, you've persuaded yourself that you have a profound emotional attachment to some vast multinational corporation: you've indentured not just your working hours, but your entire thought process. The only people who are capable of either unfettered action or unfettered thought are those who -- either because they're heroically brave, or because they're insane, or because they know themselves to be safe -- are free from fear.

Nailed it. Time to move beyond civilization, if you ask me.

Simple Medicine

From the Hesperian Foundation

Where There is No Doctor

Where There is No Dentist

Traditional Native American Dwellings

According to Wikipedia, anyway:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Traditional_Native_American_dwellings

Presentation Background Slide

[click to enlarge]

More Edible Plants

These videos are fantastic. To me, watching the fellow interact with the plants provides much more information than photos in guidebooks. Plus, mildly entertaining.

[Link]

Update: Here's his website: http://www.eattheweeds.com/

Update 2: Here's an ongoing, dynamic edible plant document [Link]. I took most of what's there from this fellow's videos, but will be updating it from other sources as I continue to study.

Edible Plant Information

The US Army is, well, the US Army. But, on the positive side, they've got some decent materials on edible plants:

• Edible and Medicinal Plants
• Poisonous Plants

I have also been keeping a bit of a personal list of local ones, which I've put in PDF format:

• Edible Wild Plants

Ontario Crown Land

According to the regulations found here, we can camp anywhere on most crown land for 21 days at a stretch before moving to another location. Another location is defined as somewhere not less than 100m away. So, we may have to shuffle 100m every three weeks.

Crown Lands
In Ontario, travel for recreational purposes on Crown landsand waters is generally free and unrestricted. Generally, camping is allowed free on Crown lands up to 21 days at one site (to qualify as a separate site which can be occupied for an additional 21 days, a second camp site must be at least 100 metres from the first location by that camper) or unless otherwise posted under the Public Lands Act. However, some Crown lands may have restricted-travel zones for forest fire prevention, officially closed forest-access roads or specific areas posted with signs to prohibit all or certain kinds of uses or travel. Some Crown lands may also be posted against hunting and possession of firearms to protect forest workers or other resource users. Contact the local MNR office for the area in which you wish to hunt for further information.

Ontario MNR Hunting Regulation

Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources Hunting Regulations Summary 2008-2009: Web Page or PDF

Q & A: The Big Six

Update: A Few Clarifications

(Note that this page is dynamic and updated from time to time)

What?
A four month experimental journey in sustainable living.

Who?
All kinds of people. When people think of living outdoors, they think of people with mental illness or alcoholism or just incredibly bad luck. When a group of not-at-risk individuals voluntarily opts out of modern housing for an extended period, people may take notice. We hope to reframe the idea of living without modern buildings away from a hard luck circumstance to a celebration of life.

Where?
Strongly leaning towards a place called Many Oaks in upstate New York.

Here are some of our generally favoured traits and decision criteria:

• out of range of car noise and city lights
• legal risk minimized
• variety of ecosystems, esp. must include water

When?
Some period within May through August 2009. This allows for the participation of university students who are off. It is also the warmer season and will allow us to learn and live in relative safety (compared to, say, January).

Why?
Each morning, I wake up and greet the sun. Each morning, I look at the state of the world and my heart breaks anew. Reinvent 2009 is an experiment in finding new ways - perhaps old ways - for human beings to behave towards each other and the broader community of life.

How?

This is a biggie and we've got a lot to learn.
Land: How much? Unclear… need more research. It would ideally have a river, plenty of trees and all kinds of life.
People: A number of people who are interested in exploring this idea more. Perhaps ten to twenty. Maybe more?
Skills: Firemaking, wild plant knowledge, hunting, tracking, fishing, trapping, shelter building, music, poetry, dance.To make up for my lack of skill in some of those fields, I will:

• practice more of the skills I have only theoretical knowledge of
• compromise and bring some artefacts of civilization to make up for any gaps that would present an unnecessary risk to the participants
• possibility: spend time with the original people of this place to learn from them how to live here

Materials:
Warm hat, coat, boots and blanket for each person
Tarps and cord
Musical Instruments - mandatory!
knives, axes
firestarting tools
fishing line and hooks
some food in an emergency cache - this is our first time, after all
lots more - plans still under development, of course - Please join the discussion!

Welcome to Reinvent 2009

Background

After a year of voluntary houselessness and having graduated from university, I went on a solo trip into the woods, intending a month-long stay, hoping the fish or the trees would teach me something I couldn't find on the Internet or in a book. I was only there for four days, but I didn't leave because I was hungry. I didn't leave because I was cold. I didn't leave because of the bugs. I left because I was losing my mind with loneliness. That spot was incredibly beautiful and generous, offering up snake, frog, rabbit, fish, raspberries and more. Without anyone to share it with, though, my time there was reduced to an experiment in self-abuse. The fish and trees had held their tongues.

I returned to the city feeling defeated and confused. I started writing a novel about the experience while latently also trying to figure out what to do next. The answer came from an unlikely place, derived from a conversation with my friend's father. He asked me, as I've been asked countless times, where I saw myself in five years. I demurred, using my usual metaphor of the leaf floating on the river. "That's all well and good," he said, "but think about it for a sec. Five years from now, what world do you want to live in?"
"Well, I realize I'm not smart enough to know quite what that would look like," I said, "but I think I can pretty concretely say it's a world where people participate in the community of life rather than killing it and selling it for money, a place where a Blackberry is something you eat and high fructose corn syrup isn't. Where it would be unthinkable to horde while your neighbour suffers."
"Well?" he asked.
"Well what?"
"So build it."
I almost said "We can't" but caught myself. Of course we can.

Summary

For some period within May through August 2009, a group of people will travel to undeveloped land and live there. Four months - no TV, no internet, no high fructose corn syrup. Just each other and the land.

Through our actions we can communicate an often-neglected alternative story about homo sapiens - one in which we're not the villain, a story that is very difficult to tell in words.

This is an amazing time to be alive. We're bumping up against the very real limits of the planet to endure the civilization we've built and our generation has the opportunity to reimagine and reinvent for the first time in ten thousand years what it means to be human.

Mission Statement

• Learn and Share - to let go of preconceived notions and discover truly sustainable living and culture, and to share our findings with the world
• Provide an Example - to demonstrate a credible alternative way of life that does not require destructive practices
  

Contact Information

We would be delighted if you would join the discussion by leaving a comment on the relevant post.

If you'd like to contact me personally, email me at hobolyfe@gmail.com.