Primitive skills workshop

I am back! In case you did not notice I have been missing for a few months. Life gets busy sometimes and you cannot always get done what you want but a few things have changed around here and I have a little more time in my day to get things done. The biggest change is that my husband is now on the daylight shift at work. I find it crazy how much more I can get done with him at work during the day and home in the evening. I am thoroughly enjoying it. 

Now to the topic of my post today. Last weekend my husband Doug, a friend of my husband's whose name is Bob, my daughter Caitlyn and I all went to a Primitive skills workshop at our state park. We had a great time. It was nice making new friends and learning how to do things in a survival situation. 

Caitlyn and I making our spindle

learning

The hardest thing we learned was how to make a spindle, hand hold and fire board to use with a bow drill to start a fire. 
                                  

Doug's spindle, hand hold and fire board. Mine was not picture worthy.

No matter how hard I tried I just could not get a fire started so I guess I learned that if I am ever lost then I will probably be dieing from hypothermia, lol. Like Pat (instructor) said now we need to practice so I plan on practicing and perfecting my bow drill skills and hope to be the first to start a fire next year. We also learned how to coal burn, that was fun. 
                           

Spoon made from coal burning

What you do is you take a piece of wood, the size is dependent on whether you are wanting to make something small like a spoon or something big like a bowl to collect water, Pat even said if you had months you could even make a canoe. We did not have that much time so we did not attempt that. After you select the piece of wood and have it cut down to size you take a coal out of your fire and put it where you want to make an indention in what you are making and then just blow on the coal moving it around a little, after the coal goes out you just get another until you have the desired depth and size you need. It was fun. The only part I did not enjoy was sleeping in the tent on the ground. We brought an air mattress but were unable to blow it up so I ended up sleeping in the car. I really enjoyed this workshop though and I plan on attending it next year. They have lots of great workshops at the park and we will be attending an Edible Wild Plants workshop at the beginning of next month. I would suggest that everyone check and see if their state park offers these kinds of learning experiences. 

Have a blessed day!!

~April 

This post shared at the Homestead Barn Hop