Stick Snowshoe Discovery and Sausage Roast

March 29, 11am till you go home

This has been an incredibly long cold winter, (the coldest in 35 years!); therefore making snowshoes at this time of year is still appropriate. The snow is deep in the bush, so knowing how to make a quick pair of snowshoes could be a life or death situation. We will discover this process, by putting our collective skills together to create functional snowshoes.

Its also fun to wear your own eclectic pair of snowshoes! You will go home with a pair of bush-worthy snowshoes.

Lunch will be sausages roasted over a fire.

Things to Bring:

• knife
• sausages
• buns
• condiments
• cheese

Please RSVP to rachelsbuckskins@hotmail.com

Spruce Beer Making

May 11

We will enjoy the fruits of our labor. Making syrup involves boiling down the sap 40 to 1.  So their is an intense boil off period. This can take anywhere between 8 and 24 hours.  We are experimenting on the small scale, so we can expect at least a days worth. The Spruce beer recipe is an ancient one, so we're looking forward to seeing how that turns out.

Things to bring:

• food and drink, and lots of it
• firewood
• mason jars, for finished product. 

Please RSVP to rachelsbuckskins@hotmail.com

pic from woodtrekker.blogspot.com

Spruce Tapping

April 13 11am till you go home

We are being hopeful that the sap will have started to run.  If not, the taps need to be made regardless. When the sap is running, spring is on its way, whew!! Sap is a source of great vitality and has been used many different ways.  We would like to explore syrup and beer.  Those who participate will also take turns checking and emptying the buckets over the course of the syrup season, which is about a month.

Things to Bring:

• knife
• twine
• empty 4L milk jugs or other large containers. 
• snack lunch
• warm clothes 

Please RSVP to rachelsbuckskins@hotmail.com

Edible and Medicinal Plant Study

June 29, 2014, 11am-3pm

Interested in learning about the plants in your bio-region, and what they can do for you? Then this plant study is for you. We will draw on our collective knowledge to learn about the flora, as well as spend time with the plants, allowing them to teach us a thing or two.

To Bring:
Books: field guides, botany, herbology
Paper and pen
Camera
Packed lunch
Water
Appropriate outdoor clothing

Please RSVP to rachelsbuckskins@hotmail.com

Camping

July 11-13 2014

If you enjoy camping in a group, than this trip is for you.  We are picking a place in BC on crown land, by lots of water, roughly a 3 hour drive from Canmore/Banff.  The goal is to have fun in the sun!!  Our primitive skills practice will come naturally. 

To Bring:
Bring what you need for camping.  Everyone is self-sufficient. We will do some co-ordinating with food including a collective supper closer to the date. Car pooling will also be arraigned closer to departure time. 

Please RSVP to rachelsbuckskins@hotmail.com

Annual Rendezvous 2014

August 15-17

The purpose of the annual rendezvous, aside from socializing, is to live as closely to nature as possible.  So much of our time will be spent learning and practicing ancient skills.  We will sustainably use the resources around us, so as a result, will be camping in a FLUZ (Forestry Land Use Zone). 

To Bring:
Ideally, we would just bring ourselves, with the intention of living 100% off the land, but our reality is that we still need modern inventions to aid in our daily living.  We also live in a very harsh climate, so it is impractical to live a hunter/gatherer lifestyle. So...
Bring anything you normally would for camping, with the intention of sleeping in your own shelter, and under natural coverings. As long as there is no fire ban at that time, cooking will be done over a fire, using natural methods.  We will pull the frying pan out if we have to though:)  We will collaborate on food closer to the date and carpooling can be arranged. 

Please RSVP to rachelsbuckskins@hotmail.com

pic from albertacommunityprofiles.com

Winter Shelter Construction and Chilli Lunch

January 18^th 2014 11am until you want to go home.

We are going to build a shelter and enjoy a chili lunch over a fire.

Depending on the weather that day, will dictate what type of shelter we will build.  The most likely scenario will be that we build a Quinsy. 

The location will be in a backyard in Waiporous, with a potential excursion to the surrounding forest. 

   An outhouse will be available for bathroom needs.

Things To Bring:

·      Warm Clothes: we will be outside all day

·      Cup/bowl/spoon

·      Food items:

o   Buns

o   Butter

o   Grated cheese

o   Hot chocolate

o   Anything you want to roast over a fire

Please RSVP to rachelsbuckskins@hotmail.com

Flint-Knapping Workshop

Location: Alpine Club, Canmore, Fire-Pit

Date: Oct. 17 - Every 1st and 3rd Thursday 7:30pm 

Long before tin and copper were combined, lithics defined most tools. Come and join Ancient Odyssey  as we flint-knapp stone arrow heads, spear points, and many other useful tools.  Casual, informative, hands on workshop will include multipule cultural and period styles.  

To Bring: 

• CSA approved safety glasses 

• N95 or better particle mask 

• Leather gloves or a square of leather to cover hand

To Bring (if possible):

• Flint or Chert

• Broken china

• Broken thick glass 

• Hammer stone 

• Antler tip (hand held size)

Edible and Medicinal Plant Walk with Canmore Community Gardens

Date: July 28, 10am to 1pm

Meet at Canmore Community Gardens and carpool to 

Many Springs Trail, Bow Valley Provincial Park

Many Springs Trail is a unique, biologically diverse, area with many rare plants.  We will identify and learn about the local flora, with an emphasis on edible and medicinal use.  Come and learn with us, using the abundant forest as our classroom.

Please RSVP by e-mailing 

canmorecommunitygardening@gmail.com

What To Bring:

Water

Snack

Outdoor gear for hiking/elements

Plant identification field guides

Notebook and pencil

Camera

1st Annual Rendevous

Date: August 23-25, 2013


This is a summer rendezvous that will grow and develop over the years into a closely-knit community, woven with the art and practice of wilderness living.

This years rendezvous will be a group camping weekend, with informal workshops led by volunteers.  Saturday night will be a group cook-out followed by a 'give-away fire'.

Core Skills for workshops:

Food: edible and medicinal plant walks, fire cooking, hunting weapons, tracking.

Shelter: tool making (flint-knapping), material identification

Fire: fire-by-friction techniques

Water: purification techniques

Crafting: rope making, basketry


To Bring:

books on any or all of the core skills

give away items (hand crafted, garden produce, excess items, etc....)

everything you need to be self-sustaining in the bush (camping)

Please RSVP by e-mail rachelsbuckskins@hotmail.com

Edible and Medicinal Plant Walks

Dates: negotiable
Thursdays: 9:30am to 11:30am 

As the flora grows, we will study it.  There is much wisdom locked up in the natural world.  The more time spent, getting to know our surrounding vegetation, the more our health and vitality will benefit.

This is a study group that is passionate about the flora and fauna in our local surroundings.  We will meet regularly to study a variety of ecosystems, in a variety of places.  The focus is around learning the edible and medicinal qualities of the plants through using all of our senses. We will make medicine and cook wild food dishes together.

Bring any field guides you may have or any other relevant botanical works. Also bring a notebook in which to catalogue your findings.

Learning is augmented by doing it in collaboration with other people, so I look forward to spending time, and learning with everyone.

Dates and Times are under construction, so please comment or e-mail regarding a date and time that works for you.

License Free Fishing and Fishing Rod construction: July 13 6am to noon

Date: July 13
Time: 6am to noon

These ponds are stocked with rainbow trout. There are many picnic tables, and fires are permitted, as are dogs. Wide, paved pathways surround the ponds. This may be a busy place this weekend, so an early start will be beneficial.
If you would like to try your luck at fishing with your own pole, bring a green flexible stick, about your own height. Also bring some line and a hook.
We will take a look at rope making, but it will not be a reliable fishing line, so we are not going to count on it. We can also make a few hooks, and give those a try.
With any luck, we will catch a fish with our primitive fishing rod. Lets hope we can make some strong effective line!!
Bring food, water, sunscreen, sun hat, sun glasses, and fishing gear. All regulations are applied for this license free fishing weekend. Please take a look at the regulations http://www.albertaregulations.ca/fishingregs/

Spring Green Edibles: Identification and Tasting

If you own field guides or interesting books on botanicals, please bring them with you. This is a study, not an instructional, so we will be learning from everyone. If you would like to sample any of the greens, it is on your own accord, and identification must be certain.

Social

Date: 
Time: 

A home in Canmore has been offered as a gathering place.  This is a good opportunity for people to come and get to know each other better, while bringing their ideas about what they would like to do with the group.

We would like to do some experimenting with wild food, so if you have any recipes or even better, a wild food dish to bring along, please do so. There is a fire pit to do some cooking, so bring along a snack, or some bannock mix (we can add some wild greens). For a recipe see cook-out

Cook-out: Fire-building skills, stone cooking techniques

Date: April 20, 2013
Time: 11am to 3pm

We will attempt the following Cooking Techniques:
 
• Bannock making using a stick
 
• Water Boiling with hot rocks
 
• Egg Frying with flat stones 


You are more than welcome to try the food, but don’t rely on it for sustenance. Still bring a snack or lunch and water. We will make some conifer tea with the boiling water, so bring a mug and some utensils for sampling.
Pick something from the following list to bring:

• a dozen eggs 

• firewood – 2 or 3 bags 

• 1 jar of jam 

• 1 small jar of honey

• large old wooden bowl

• bottles of water

• roasting sticks 


The finished product, YUM!

Please e-mail me with the item of your choice, and I will let you know if we have it covered or not, and what the gaps are. 

Dress warm, it may still be cold or even snowy. Bring a few bucks for the campsite. 



Bannock Recipe 
Serves 3 or 4

2 1/2 cup flour
2 t             baking powder
1/2 t         salt
1 T            brown sugar
1/4 cup    butter or fat

Combine ingredients in a large ziploc bag.  
On trail, slowly at water 1 Tbsp at a time, kneading the dough inside the bag, until it reaches desired consistancy. Roll dough into a long tub, then wrap into a spiral around a long green roasting stick.  Cook till golden brown, add jam or honey, and enjoy!

Variations: add cinnamon and raisins and/or crasins and nuts
                     add thyme, rosemary and sage (or any desired combination of savory herbs)

Skep Making - Ancient Beekeeping

Date: March 23, 2013
Time: 11am to 3pm

Beekeeping is an ancient practice. We humans have been robbing bees since the dawn of time. Honeybees are amazing beings that work tirelessly for the benefit of all living things. We truly owe our quality of life to the tribe Apini. Honey (the unpasteurized kind from local bees) has, in recent years, been an elixir of mine, so I have a deep appreciation for the honeybee. 

My thinking is that it is in our best interest to bee-friend the honeybee, and learn to support these wonderful creatures in their endeavor to support life. These are honorable beings, and deserve our utmost respect. Beekeeping is an integral part of wilderness living. Not only do they provide one of the most nutritious, healing, and tasty foods in existence, they pollinate your garden while they are at it. There are many schools of thought when it comes to beekeeping, but of course Ancient Odyssey, is going to practice the oldest method, which comes in the form of Skeps. 


A Skep is basically an upside-down basket, in which the bees are left alone to do their thing. This traditional method of beekeeping produces far less honey, but much more wax, and does not stress the bees by forcing comb structure and introducing chemicals. It is however, much more difficult to harvest the honey. Skeps are not commonly used today, as they have fallen by the wayside in replacement of Moveable Frame Beehives, which are the commercial version (so to speak). They are expensive, but easier to use with greater production. The other option for a sustainable, friendly to the bees, easy and potentially free (if using scraps) to construct is a Top Bar Hive. Maybe we will build one of these next year.


The goal of this meetup is to build at least one functional skep. I plan to bring a bushel of tall grasses, which should be enough materials to build at least one. To be on the safe side, if anyone can bring 2 handfuls of tall grasses, it would ensure we have enough materials, and may even have enough to build a couple more. The weft, I plan to harvest on sight. Hope for a sunny day, because we will use spruce roots for this. 



Skep in progress

Materials:
Warp=long straw or grasses 

Weft=spruce roots

Outer coating=cow dung, clay – this can be applied later.

Tools: 1-2” section of cow thigh bone (marrow gone),
bone awl.

Homework: 
I am a beginner when it comes to beekeeping, and there is A LOT to know. There is an informative series on u-tube called Heathland Beekeeping. Check it out and be sure to watch the video on skep making. It is titled ‘skep making’ and will give you a really good idea of what we are going to do. Remember, this is just one way to bee-keep. There are many more ways. The more information we can all bring, the better our collective learning will be, and that is after all, our purpose here at Ancient Odyssey. 


Winter Survival Skills 2

Date: Feb 23, 2012
Time: 11am to 3pm

We intend to practice 3 simple traps; a ground snare, a spring snare, and a figure 4 deadfall. If one is without snare wire, knowing how to make rope from your surrounding vegetation is crucial. We will take a look at at least one species that is suitable for this purpose, and will make some short rope in order to portray the consept of rope making.
Plant study: each month we will take a look at one species of flora. Their are many winter medicines out there, so we would like to take a look at a very plentiful and useful one, the cottonwood and/or balsam poplar buds. Note: this is a study, so please come with at least one tidbit of information to share on this topic.
Homework: we are all students here so please do some research on at least one of the topics that we will be covering. Come with something to teach everyone.
Come self reliant and prepared for the elements.

Winter Survival Skills 1

Date: January 26, 2013
Time: 11am to 3pm

We were planning on hibernating this January, but then the weather broke, and encouraged us to want to play outside again.
We will look at a variety of winter survival skills, including, tool stone identification, winter food, bow stave collection, atlatl making, and building a wigwam. We may or may not get to everything, but we will be returning to this location a few times. This is so that we can get to know an area, know its geology, ecology, flora, and fauna, study the astrology, weather patterns, take care of it, and encourage it to flourish. As we study it, we will learn how the land wants to be taken care of, and in turn it will take care of us.
Come self-sufficient, and prepared for the elements.

Edible and Medicinal Plant Walk

Date: August 19, 2012
Time: 9:30 am

Lets collaborate our knowledge regarding the edible and medicinal qualities of the plants. The flora is budding, blossoming, fruiting, sending shoots and roots, and going to seed, simultaneously, right before our eyes. Lets go and enjoy and learn from it together. It is said that Mount Yamnuska is spectacular for wildflowers.
It is possible that the mosquitos could be busily buzzing away, so having a bug net in your pocket may save some swatting. If you have a guide book on the flora, it would be nice to have it along as a reference. Please bring some food and water for yourself, along with sun/rain protection and good footwear. See you on the trail!!

Pictograph and Nature Identification Hike

Date: April 21, 2012
Time: 10am to 3pm

Hi everyone!! 
We are going to hike along an Ancient Canyon, while exploring and identifying useful flora and fauna for nomadic survival. This Canyon is known for its ancient pictographs (Red ocher drawings painted by the native people who inhabited this area for thousands of years). Come walk where they walked and discover the plants and tools they used. It will be a phenomenal location for enjoying some ancient history.

This Canyon does have a creek flowing through it, that we will be walking along, and is most likely wet and muddy, so wear the appropriate footwear. Come prepared for snow and sun, with a lunch and enough water for the day.