I finally broke down and started my business for teaching rewilding. We offer a free skill-share every Sunday (Rewild Camp) and will be starting up Saturday workshops that will cost a little cash and are developing some longer term programs to start next year. We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization operating as a subsidiary of Mythmedia. Check out more at www.rewildportland.com and join our mailing list to hear about when/where Rewild Camp is going on each week, and also info about our upcoming workshops.
Thursday September 9th in Bend, OR. I will be speaking about tending the wild and rewilding at the Real Food and Sustainability Conference, opening for Lierre Keith and later sitting on a panel. Check out the website here:
Wednesday September 15th, Portland OR. I’ll be doing a book reading at Reading Frenzy. ” Urban Scout will read from his book, teach a few rewilding tricks (like fire-by-friction, natural cordage, coiling baskets and mind-blowing sensory expansion), and wrap things up with a Q&A.”
This week I made a bone awl for my friend Leslie who lives in North Carolina. I also worked on sharpening my knives but I can’t seem to get a super sharp edge no matter how many times I run the knife along the sharpener, nor the angle that I hold the knife. I don’t understand why I can’t get these effing knives sharp. It would make sense if the knives themselves couldn’t hold an edge because of shitty forging, but I’ve tried even my best knives. Why can’t I get it right?!?
The internet feels rather lonely for a philosophical rewilder at the moment. The redirection of rewilding heavy hitters Jason Godesky and Willem Larsen into personal rewilding projects has seen a huge wealth of philosophy and the marketing of rewilding diminish. Rewild.info sits rather inactive even after switching back to its older, more familiar face. While in real life I see Willem everyday and have rewild camp every Sunday… I have to say life online feels rather lonely.
Scout, and others who are identifying “community” as a key missing component in our collective journey toward rewilding, I ask you: how can we (rewild-minded folks) live INSIDE the system now, and in satisfying numbers, and create the community we need to, if not live outside the system for legit fear of getting murdered en masse, offer support to one another on a day-to-day level? I’m talking about intentional community. I’m not talking about a final cultural solution - I’m talking about a solid step in the right direction; toward community.
Anyone? Why are we not living in community now? Are we addicted to isolation?
In the past couple of weeks I killed my first mammals. One, a rat I trapped without watching die, which felt strange and distant. For a deeper understanding of killing, I killed a rabbit at a rabbit slaughtering and butchering class this last week. I’ve often written about how I don’t see a difference in the killing of plants or animals. That both deserve equal respect. However, killing these mammals both changed and solidified my emotional experience and logical interpretation of killing.
I missed a week of my Weekly Laundry list due to Echoes in Time and other busy things in my schedule, such as my training with the Portland Fruit Tree Project. You heard right, I signed up for their Harvest Leader position this year, which means I get to meet new people, learn a ton of stuff about trees, get free fruit, and help out those in need. Pretty awesome!
My mullet started to get out of hand, and I felt that the time had come to cut it off. As my hair dresser (yes, I enjoy the experience of other people cutting my hair) cut it she jokingly asked me if I wanted to save a bit of it for magic or something. I remembered that I’ve wanted to make a paintbrush for making Rewild Camp name tags for some time now, and so I said “YES!”
This week at Echoes in Time my friend David and I led a workshop on bark-tanning. I also played an amazing game of WAYK Chinook Jargon. Aside from the classes I spent most of the time sleeping off a severe hangover in my tent. A hangover due to to drinking too much whiskey one night early in the week with my ex-girlfriend Emily: Tracker of Plants (the artist formerly known as Penny Scout), in an attempt to reconcile the bad blood between us. Phew! What a week.
This week I had to work a lot so I missed out on a lot of chances to work on my list. My soaking pool turned into a mosquito incubation chamber and we had to temporarily dismantle it. Oh man, did it think stink underneath the tarp! Rotting grass smells terrible. I also felt pretty sick after working all week, so I justified watching season 2 of Dexter, and made some hide glue. I also forgot how much I know about flint-knapping as I decided to impart what I do know to some of my peeps at rewild camp.
I struggle with alcoholism. I sometimes have the urge to get completely fucked up drunk. At one time in my life I smoked more than half a pack of cigarettes a day. I sometimes binge on television shows and don’t leave the house for days, just watching entire seasons without so much as stepping out of my bedroom to take a piss or even eat a meal. I do this also with video games. I check my facebook way too much, even when I know I probably don’t have any reason to. Okay, so I’ll admit it. I have an addiction to certain aspects of civilization.
I’ve volunteered at Echoes in Time for about 5 years now and this year I’ve decided to teach a few classes. I will do some awareness type games, a “Where Are Your Keys” Chinuk Wawa class, American Sign Language Animal Tracking class, bow-drill, and maybe some other stuff I can’t remember. Echoes presents one of the most cost effective ways of learning these skills and provides a place for social networking to make rewilding friends such as myself!
When: July 19-23, 2010
Where: Willamette Mission State Park just north of Salem, Oregon
Week Cost: $128/adult $68/children 6-13
Contact: www.echoes-in-time.com
A few years ago a local filmmaker made this short about echoes. I have a cameo!
I’ve taken a few basket classes now, and of all the twining basketry books I think the two pictured above have the best information for newbies; great pictures and illustrations. So many books on basketry read like mathematic equations; lots and lots of strange vocabulary with no accompanying photographs or drawings. Even so, I think I may have a WAYK “technique: dictionary addiction” but with field guides and how-to manuals. I looked in the book once, instead of looking at a previously made basket, and it fucked me up.
Inevitably those-who-rewild will find themselves attacked as hypocrites by those who don’t understand rewilding: “If you hate civilization so much, why don’t you go live in the woods?” “You hate technology, but there you sit waiting for people to comment on your latest facebook status update.” “You want to live like a hunter-gatherer but you buy all your food at the grocery store!” “You talk shit on mainstream media, but you watch television!” And on, and on and on.
This week I decided to go back to the basics of Urban Scout, remind myself why and where I came from and do some performance art! So I camo’d up, grabbed my trusty bow-drill and headed out to the Last Thursday event on Alberta Street.
Rats have invaded our compost bin. They have chewed holes through the plastic and have a network of tunnels that now spread beyond the compost. I don’t really mind much. It seems that the Squirrel likes the rat hole, because while it can’t fit through it entirely, it can pull out scraps or eat the bugs attracted to the pile. The cat used to catch lots of mice before the rats moved in, and rats have a strength too great for most domestic cats. At times the rat, the squirrel and the cat have all hung out in the backyard together like they all decided to have an accord of neutrality. It looks so cute to see them all sitting there curiously looking at each other!
Head up to the Washington Park archery range today for rewild camp. Bring bows, arrows, knives and some food to throw on the grill! Noon-5pm 2010/08/22
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