Living Primitively

Hi folks

I find it hard to find time to do any writing whatsoever when back home. Right now I’m in the city for 2 weeks, so I might as well spend some time summing up what’s happened since the last post.

After the course, I went straight to the city for a week to visit the kids, like I am now. Since then I’ve spent a lot of time hunting moose, though unsuccessfully. I’ve been hunting sometimes alone, but most of the time with a very experienced guy, who has shot in excess of 150 moose.

All I have shot during this time is a duck and a couple of thrushes, so needless to say I’m not on a wild diet at all. The school I work at, preserving skins that I have either gotten from hunters or ordered from somewhere else and making my stuff from scratch takes so much time that I don’t get around procuring much food. I know though, that it’s something I have to start focusing on.

Thomas and some other primitives have been visiting me, they are setting up a wilderness living course in the area of the school I’m working this January. A link you have here.

I have also set up 2 courses next spring and it is very likely that I set up a tanning course in not so long. If you wonder what the difference between my courses and Thomas’ ones are, I’m more focused on the skills alone, while he is focused on the wholistic, society thing.

Btw. Finally my reindeer sleeping bag is finally coming along, skins are being tanned. I’m not going for a super soft, ultra sexy tan, so I think I’ll be done quite quickly when I’m back.

Not been taking a lot of photos lately, the batteries don’t last long in the cold, so some of these photos are rather old. The left one is from a misty morning. Look at all those spiderwebs. The ones to the right are of drying berries on a hide and drying trout in the lodge.

First of all, thank you all of you who has donated! I feel like I have neglected my responsibility towards you. My only excuse is that I’ve been very busy. Like here, picking sour cherries for my mother… hehe

In fact it’s been so long since last time I updated that I can’t remember everything that has happened. So I’ll just spend a little time summing things up.

Boring stuff first: I’ve been one short trip to the city and am back now for almost a week. I have other things I rather should have done, but nice to see the kids.

In August I arranged a 5 day trip with the students of the school I work part time at. We went 3 of the days eating nothing but berries and fish we caught. Not everybody was equally happy with that arrangement, but I think all went out of it with a new appreciation of food.

After that I put a lot of work into hunting caribou. This was my first season and I shot only one, but it gave me a lot of experience that I’ll need next year. The gun is required btw. No bowhunting is allowed in Norway unfortunately. The skin was simply unfolded on the poles in the lavvo to dry. The meat that wasn’t eaten fresh, was hung on strings to dry.

Lately the spawning trout is hitting the rivers with full force. Not coincidentally, Patrick McGlinchey from Backwoods Survival School and I ran the Veidemann course last week. I’ll make an in depth post about that soon.

Some scenery pictures:

Sorry, no money on the phone card. Can’t update every day without it.

PS! I’ll try to do a proper update in a few days.

Quite bad weather again today. I have mostly been scraping a moose hide and reading.
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Tested bird cherry for food today. Saw how to process it on a Ray Mears show. Not impressed with the taste. Can’t see myself eating this except in a pinch. I may try to dry a few of these cakes to see how they are then.