Ancestral Skills
& Rewilding
Coming Home
The Wild in the original feral community we have always been part of. We continued to survive by vritue of the abundance of the Earth and the wisdom of our ancestors to live in reciprocity with the land. Colonialism, patriarchy and industrialisation (relatively recent events in our long history) has made humankind uprooted, a displaced animal. Being at home is the intimate belonging to the earth you live on/with. We are all native to the Earth – be belong with her – and can find our deep home in the connectedness with the Earthmother and all her children. This finding of our own wild nature is the essence of Rewilding.
By learning how our early ancestors lived, we explore and (re)discover inner and outer Wilderness – an authentic and untamed intelligence & state of being. Ancient & native survival/life skills are eco-regional, deeply animistic and creative in nature, and connect us directly with the old ways. They are: Fire making and cooking on fire; building shelter; basketry; making shordage, spinning and weaving from animal and plant fiber; natural dye and making clothing; working with earth – pottery and harvesting pigments; wild foods and medicine – working with wild plants and fungi; horticulture – planting, growing and saving seeds; sensual animism; hunting and connecting to death; ceremonies for cycles of life and earth; wild parenting; wildlife tracking & understanding; befriending the dark; non-violent communication & tribe living; decolonization; woodworking and making tools from stone, wood and bone; working with skin; mythology & storytelling; building instruments and making music; ancestral movement.
Through rewilding we learn to care for ourselves, our families and community, and to tend the land in a direct and pragmatic way. Thus we take back our self-determination and substinance and learn to truly carry responsibility. The span of our comfort, dexterity and ease grows. Resilience in the midst of great changes/challenges and movement free from modern consumerism. Ancestral skills also remind us of the beauty and power of our ingenuity/resourcefulness and working with our own hands. The material world is no longer empty and lifeless- we learn to harvest locally, intimately and honorably. Thus creation becomes an encounter – with plants, elements, places and other animals.
Ancestrall skills are ancient, yet in it’s practice we are firmly rooted in the present (moment). At the same time we are redefining our future: creating a future of the Living Earth. By practicing cyclical living and other rewilding skills we re-member our animal being, our origin, and thus our wild home.
Wild Geese
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting –
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
– Mary Oliver
Take a Workshop
Een aantal keer per jaar organiseer ik Wilde Skillshare dagen, waarbij we in een groep met elkaar en met gast docenten oude vaardigeden leren en de omgeving leren kennen. We komen een dagdeel of een weekend lang samen en verzamelen een deel van het voedsel, koken we op het vuur, slapen in de natuur en delen met elkaar. Of we leren vuur maken, weven of potten bakken, dit werk verbindt!
Blank
2023
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Ancestral Skill Share
Zaterdag 7 Januari (volle Maan) vanaf 13.00 ORKZ
Zaterdag 1 april – Liminoid Collective, wildplukwandeling + market ORKZ
Mei
September
OktoberWildplukwandeling
Zaterdag 18 maart 11.00 ORKZ (+ koken op vuur, stekjes- & zadenruil)
Zaterdag 22 april 12.00 ORKZ
Mei, bloei
Juni, midzomer
Augustus, oogst
September, oogst
Oktober, oogstNachtwandeling
3x Augustus + Vleermuizensafari (Nacht van de Vleermuis), Appelbergen, Glimmen en Stadspark Groningen
SeptemberWeefcirkel 1-daagse | Cursus bandweven
Donderdag 4 mei 11.00 Uteringskamp, Elp
Oktober
NovemberWeefcirkel 5-daagse | Cursus Wilde Wol
September – November
2022
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Weefcirkel 1-daagse | Cursus bandwevenDinsdag 8 November (volle Maan) 13.00 ORKZZondag 20 November 13.00 ORKZNachtwandeling
9 Oktober, Appelbergen23 November, Appelbergen8 December, AppelbergenAncestral Skill Share
20 Juni, Helpman Groningen, Kruidenwandeling21 Juli, ORKZAardewerk bakken in open vuur – twee daagse skill share20 Augustus, ORKZAardewerk bakken in open vuur – twee daagse skill share