This clip features our buddy Tom Laskowsky of the Midwest Native Skills Institute, and addresses some of the issues encountered when using primitive skills in a modern world.

The Art of Self-Reliance

Backtracks came from the notion of pairing primitive technology with modern survival skills. Today that union is beginning to be called "bushcraft." At our skills events - Winter Count and Rabbitstick, we are focusing more and more on the use of the outdoors as a survival resource. We also look at how the insights and attitudes one gains from a structured survival experience might empower people in the event of a real disaster.

Our new Homespun track, that is now a part of our primitive skills schedule, has evolved from the expanding interest of participants in skills that allow everyone freedom and independence. Learning skills that might allow a life free of the grid has the potential for all of us to examine where we are and how we can improve our relationship to technology in general.