schedule

Course Schedule—2009

For a printable version of the class schedule that can downloaded, click on the schedule button:

	15‒17 May 2009 are the dates of Primitive Pottery. Constructing containers is a vital skill for aboriginal people. They are necessary for collecting various materials, storage, and cooking. Many types of vessels have been created by primitive people, each style made from different raw materials—fibers, bark, animal hide, stone, mineral particles, etc. Clay vessels are some of the most appreciated containers for their ability to be placed directly on coals (similar to a metal pot, a trait shared with very few other primitive containers in the world). They appeared in the eastern forests about 3000 years ago and consisted of relatively unrefined clay particles and, usually, some form of temper to provide resistance to thermal shock. Native people were intimately familiar with the clay resources and worked out methods of firing their clay to make efficient cooking vessels. This class will introduce the world of primitive pottery, basic terminology, tools, and firing. Small to medium size pots will be the goal of the class (the pots will be functional and can be used for cooking). The class will be taught by Arthur Haines. Class will be offered at the Delta Institute of Natural History in Bowdoin, ME (click here if you need directions). Class begins at 10:00 am on Friday and ends at 4:00 pm on Sunday. Because rain-free weather will be needed for the final day (when the pots are fired), additional days may be necessary (can be scheduled individually to meet students needs). If you are interested in enrolling for this class, please contact the Maine Primitive Skills School (207-623-7298) or visit http://www.primitiveskills.com/registration00.html.
	5‒7 June 2009 are the dates of a hands-on class called Late Spring Foraging (Note: This class is full and registrations are no longer being accepted.). This class is designed for those with an interest in self-sufficiency, human health, and a deeper relationship with plants. Foraging provides many avenues of connection with nature and fosters a greater appreciation of the many things that local landscapes can provide for us. It has become increasingly clear from many independent studies that diets rich in wild foods promote health and defend the body from many of the debilitating ailments that plague modern societies (e.g., obesity, diabetes, arthritis, coronary disease, periodontal disease). Students should expect to spend much of the weekend outside identifying, collecting, and preparing wild plants for food (so be prepared for weather and biting insects). Class will focus on late spring greens, flowers, and root vegetables found in forests and human-disturbed areas. Throughout the class, simple tools will be used and reference will be made to primitive and contemporary methods of processing plants. As well, wildcrafted medicine and utilitarian plants will be discussed to provide a more holistic understanding of how plants can positively affect our lives. Wild nutrition is both a link to the past and a gateway to a sustainable future. The class will be taught by Arthur Haines. Class will be offered at the Delta Institute of Natural History in Bowdoin, ME (click here if you need directions). Some locations will be visited off site so please be prepared to carpool short distances from the property. Class begins at 7:00 pm on Friday and ends at 12:00 pm on Sunday. If you are interested in enrolling for this class, please contact the Maine Primitive Skills School (207-623-7298) or visit http://www.primitiveskills.com/registration00.html.
SpiritWings	There will also be a single day Spring Foraging class offered at Spirit Wings in Bethel, ME, on 23 May 2009. It will provide a similar suite of skills and philosophies presented in the preceding class, but is offered in a single-day format for those with schedule constraints. If you are interested in enrolling for this outdoor class, please contact Kevin Pennell at 207-824-2204 or email info@spiritwingsbethel.com.
NYFA	29‒31 May 2009 are the dates of a Crataegus (hawthorn) intensive of central New York. This workshop, organized by the New York Flora Association, will be centered around the Ithaca area and participants will spend time both in the Bailey Hortorium at Cornell University and in the field studying the taxonomy and identification of the region's hawthorns. Anyone interested in learning more about this course or enrolling should contact David Werier (nakita@lightlink.com). More information is available available by downloading this small pdf file: Crataegus workshop.
	17‒19 July 2009 are the dates of an herbal medicine class called Healing with Plants (Note: This class is full and registrations are no longer being accepted.). Coping with and recovering from illness, injury, and debility has always been part of being human. And for these complaints, plants have served as the major source of medicine. This class will examine the use of wild plants for healing injury and supporting the body. Students will learn a suite of plants that grow in New England that can be used for many common ailments, such as colds, infections, gastrointestinal upset, headaches, dermatitis, insomnia, etc. Methods of collecting will be discussed, as well as directions for making infusions, decoctions, poultices, salves, tinctures, and smoking mixtures. Throughout the weekend, various stories and examples will be shared demonstrating how plant-based medicines have preserved life and influenced aboriginal and contemporary people. Healing with plants provides people and families with another avenue of self-sufficiency and furthers connection to the landscape. The class will be taught by Arthur Haines (who personally uses plants and lichens for all medicinal needs). Class will be offered at the Delta Institute of Natural History in Bowdoin, ME (click here if you need directions). Class begins at 7:00 pm on Friday and ends at 12:00 pm on Sunday. If you are interested in enrolling for this class, please contact the Maine Primitive Skills School (207-623-7298) or visit http://www.primitiveskills.com/registration00.html.
	7‒9 August 2009 are the dates of a primitive skills class called Stone-tool bow drill. Friction fire technology has existed for many millennia and is found throughout the world in varying forms (e.g., bow drill, hand drill, strap drill, pump drill, fire saw). One of the most reliable of these methods is the bow drill, which uses a small bow and hand socket to spin a dowel of wood on a stationary board. Bow drills were used by many societies in northern climates. They were sometimes also used by people of smaller stature in societies where other methods may have prevailed because of the effectiveness of this tool (such as in the desert southwest). An increasing number of people have had the opportunity to build bow drills using metal blades and store-purchased cords. This class will allow students to take another step forward in their proficiency of this method by harvesting materials from the landscape and constructing a functional bow drill using only stone tools. A significant portion of the class will be dedicated to various materials that can be used as the string for the bow (this is one of the crux portions of creating a bow drill without the aid of modern tools). Graduates of this class will have a much deeper understanding of this friction fire technique and will make strides toward possessing the complete skill (i.e., no longer needing to rely on manufactured goods for constructing bow drills). A vital prerequisite for the class is experience using the bow drill. The class will be taught by Arthur Haines. Class will be offered at the Delta Institute of Natural History in Bowdoin, ME (click here if you need directions). Class begins at 7:00 pm on Friday and ends at 12:00 pm on Sunday. If you are interested in enrolling for this class, please contact the Maine Primitive Skills School (207-623-7298) or visit http://www.primitiveskills.com/registration00.html.
	15 August 2009 is the date of a field class called Foraging for Edible Mushrooms. Mushrooms are extremely important to our survival as they are a critical link in nutrient cycling and form a beneficial symbiosis with most of our forest trees. They are valued throughout the world for food and medicine, especially in Europe and Asia, where they often form a core part of traditional diet and healing. Here in the in the United States, interest in fungi is often tempered by extreme caution. Unfortunately, this prevents people from gaining hands-on knowledge of these organisms. Edible mushrooms are very nutritious, often being high in protein (including essential amino acids), rich in linoleic acid (an essential fatty acid), and containing many important vitamins, including thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, biotin, and vitamin C. Further, fungi contain many healthful polysaccharides (a type of carbohydrate), shown to be highly beneficial to the immune system. Similar to wild plants, it is known that most wild mushrooms are more nutritious than cultivated ones. Join Michaeline Mulvey, a local mushroom forager, for an introduction to edible fungi. Participants will spend the day roaming the midcoast Maine forests and studying freshly collected specimens. Details of identification will be a major focus of the class. Michaeline will also share her knowledge of ecology so students can learn where to find edible mushrooms (i.e., what habitats to search in). The class will culminate with a mushroom meal prepared from the day's efforts. Class will be offered at the Delta Institute of Natural History in Bowdoin, ME (click here if you need directions). Class begins at 10:00 am and concludes at 4:00 pm and will cost $90.00 (enrollment will be limited to 12 students).. If you are interested in enrolling for this class, please contact the Maine Primitive Skills School (207-623-7298) or visit http://www.primitiveskills.com/registration00.html.
	9‒10 October 2009 are the dates of a class called Medicinal Mushrooms of Maine. With increasing frequency we find ourselves seeking healthy self-care alternatives in order to achieve and maintain optimum health amid our daily stresses and aging bodies. We also seek complements or alternatives to western allopathic medicine for optimum health maintenance or during those times when our health is compromised. We have benefited from the generations of traditional healers around the world who have utilized mushrooms for their healing potential. Now mainstream science is beginning to catch up to the potential for mushrooms as healing agents. Medicinal mushrooms hold benefits for us all and we need not wait through the lengthy FDA approval for an expensive drug form of mushrooms extract to come on the market in order to reap these benefits. Maine and New England are home to many of the most well regarded medicinal mushrooms. Most of the better known and researched medicinal mushrooms work to modulate our immune systems. Their actions stimulate the production of immune factors that function to identify and destroy invasive organisms and malignant cells. This same immune stimulation increases our ability to fight tumors and other cancers by strengthening those immune system factors present in our body to eliminate cancerous cells. Come join us for a slide-supported lecture on the Medicinal Mushrooms of Maine on Friday evening. On Saturday we will spend a day-long workshop of more in depth learning that will include: learning to identify the more common medicinal mushrooms available in our woods; where to find them; their habitat and pattern of growth; the research supporting their usefulness as healing agents; and methods of collection, preservation, preparation and use. The class will be taught by Greg Marley, who has been collecting, studying, growing and cooking with mushrooms for more than 35 years. He has taught numerous courses in mushroom identification and ecology as well as consulting in cases of mushroom poisoning. He is sole proprietor of Mushrooms for Health; a company providing healing connections between people and mushrooms. His book, Mushrooms for Health: Medicinal Secrets of Northeastern Fungi will be available through Down East Books in the Fall of 2009. Class will be offered at the Delta Institute of Natural History in Bowdoin, ME (click here if you need directions). Enrollment for Friday and Saturday is separate (i.e., students can enroll for one or the other or both). Lecture begins at 7:00 pm on Friday and costs $15.00. The Saturday foray (an all day event) begins at 9:00 am and costs $100.00 (enrollment will be limited to 12 students). If you are interested in participating in this class, please contact the Maine Primitive Skills School (207-623-7298) or visit http://www.primitiveskills.com/registration00.html.
	16‒18 October 2009 are the dates of a primitive skills class called Earth Living 1. This class is designed to provide students with exposure to some of the core primitive technologies that were used by aboriginal people for daily living. The class will introduce many vital ancestral living skills, such as simple stone blade manufacture, cordage making, fire building, primitive cooking, shelter construction, primitive hunting tools, traps, and nature observation (with an emphasis on tracking). Participants should expect to leave this class with an understanding of some of the important skills possessed by those who live with a close connection to the landscape. Further, this class is often a pre-requisite for more advanced classes offered at the Maine Primitive Skills School. It is interesting to note that many people with an interest in archeology (amateur or professional) have found that attending primitive skills workshops and seminars have gained a better understanding of the materials and tools used by aboriginal people, which in turn has assisted their research projects. This class is open to students of all abilities. Class will be offered at the Delta Institute of Natural History in Bowdoin, ME (click here if you need directions). Class begins at 7:00 pm on Friday and ends at 12:00 pm on Sunday. If you are interested in enrolling for this class, please contact the Maine Primitive Skills School (207-623-7298) or visit http://www.primitiveskills.com/registration00.html.
	7 November 2009 is the date of a foraging class entitled Gathering and Preparing Acorns for Food. The fruit of the oak tree has been used as a important staple by aboriginal people across North America. The people of each region had their preferred species and detailed methods of collecting, storing, and processing the acorns for use in different types of dishes. Given their nutritional profile and ability to be stored for long periods, acorns make a wonderful wild food that can enjoyed throughout the year. Further, New England is blessed with a number of oak species that produce large acorns. This class will teach students how to properly gather acorns in order to avoid those in poor condition and demonstrate different methods of preparing them for food (primitive and contemporary methods will be demonstrated). Discussion during the day will include some life history strategies of the oaks that are relevant to foragers and some important myths found in wild food literature. Fresh baked acorn-flour bread will be enjoyed at the end of the class. Class will be held at Garden in the Woods, Framingham, MA, and will run from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm. It will include a short drive to a local forest for gathering (please be prepared to car pool). The instructor is Arthur Haines. If you are interested in enrolling for this class, please contact the Education Department at the New England Wild Flower Society by calling 508-877-7630 extension 3303), emailing registrar@newenglandWILD.org or visiting http://www.newenglandwild.org/learn.
	21 November 2009 is the date of an Introduction to Plant Systematics course. On this date, the fourth of five modules will be offered. Module 4 will examine advanced tricolpate families often referred to as Euasterids (e.g., Lamiaceae, Plantaginaceae, Campanulaceae, Asteraceae). Lecture will use text and images that describe both critical characters for family level identification and representative genera in New England. The course will focus on modern taxonomy and family arrangements, as set forth in Judd et al. (Plant Systematics: A Phylogenetic Approach) and later publications. The class will meet at 1:00 to 4:00 pm at Garden in the Woods, Framingham, MA. If you are interested in enrolling for this class, please contact the Education Department at the New England Wild Flower Society by calling 508-877-7630 extension 3303), emailing registrar@newenglandWILD.org or visiting http://www.newenglandwild.org/learn.

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