The Primitive Naturalist

Wigwams, Longhouses & Primitive Shelter Replicas at your location

 

Contact me with your needs, and we can settle on the size, type and materials choices for your project, dates for starting and completion, cost and other details. Once I have enough information, I will generate an estimate. Let me know if you can supply staff help and/or some materials. I like to visit the proposed building site, check out the location and conditions there, and make recommendations before the final agreement happens. Then I will come on the starting date, begin the project, fine tune the schedule with you, and get it done by the end date, and within the cost estimate!

 

We can discuss staff involvement in the construction process, child involvement, and using the construction process as an educational tool for your program. It can be a special day when a camp program group or school group gets to visit the building site, handle some of the materials and ask questions of the actual builder(s).

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Staff Training

 

Both younger and more experienced staff members benefit greatly from having a specialist in primitive technology, living history and outdoor education bring a special program. I will lead them through activities designed to improve their knowledge of the subject, their hands-on practical skills, and their ability to interpret these topics for school groups, campers and other visitors of all ages.  Staff will come away with organized lesson plans they can immediately put into use. They will know which materials to use, how to get them, how to best explain the activities and how to discuss the greater lessons and applications of the skills for the students and visitors.

 

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Skills Workshops

 

Choose a topic from the list of workshops found in the offerings menu, or contact me to design a custom topic! Check out the classes listed on the calendar page, or have a private workshop for yourself or your group. Have it at your location, at a public venue, or at my homestead. Prices vary with the subject, materials fee, distance of my travel, length of the workshop and size of the group.

 

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Crafts, Books and Products

 

Visit my online store and browse through the carved wooden utensils, baskets, fiber art projects, books about primitive skills and even natural materials ready for you to use in your own projects. If you get an idea for something you don't see listed, ask me about it; I love designing and making new items. I can make many things that don't generally get listed in the store. Custom items are priced by the time they take to make and the cost of materials, and not by an inflated, self-important “art” price.

 

Some items can be made only seasonally, such as bark berry baskets. Some materials are hard to get, making the craft offerings one of a kind, especially unique pieces of wood from which to carve utensils. But just ask for what you are interested in and I will try to find what we'd need. I am a pretty good scout/hunter-gatherer!