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Learn about knife safety, basic carving methods, and the ancient method of using hot coals to hollow out the 'bowl' portion of the spoon.

MEET YOUR LEAD INSTRUCTOR- ANTHONY VICENTE

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Embrace the holiday spirit as you make your own traditional holiday wreath at our Education Campus. Use fresh evergreen boughs and other natural materials to create a one-of-a-kind wreath to complement your holiday decor.

Please bring pruning shears (if you have a pair), work gloves, and  ornamental additions. Class fee includes boughs, wire, ribbon and instruction.

This program is intended for individuals ages 13 and above. Participants aged 13-15 must be accompanied by an adult.

Meet Your Instructor

Tirzah-Jo Tucci loves Lime Hollow. After working many years at Summer Camp , she couldn’t stay away. She continued to support Lime Hollow by sending her kids to Lime Hollow programs. We’ve gotten the pleasure of watching them climb through our camp offerings. Tirzah returns every year to do our wreath making class. With her patience and creativity, you’re sure to walk away with a master piece.

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Learn to harness the magic of fire! Fire is a powerful tool. It calls us to gather around it in community, it provides heat for cooking and for warming our bodies, and it can be used to ward off the peskiest of mosquitos. This class will explore many elements of fire including:

• Where to find and how to harvesting natural materials regardless of weather conditions

• Single match fires using no artificial fuels

• Friction Fire methods including ferro rods

• The best fire structures to use in specific circumstances i.e. cooking vs social situations

• Proper ways to extinguish your fire when you are finished and more!

MEET YOUR INSTRUCTOR

James Michael Ciesluk

James Michael Ciesluk is an educator and naturalist who is passionate about teaching others the art of tracking in nature and ancestral living skills. James Michael spends his time inspiring and teaching students to build stone tools, make fire by friction, track animals, and build shelters of all kinds. 

Previously he led adult intensive classes in survival, tracking, and youth programs at Earth Native Wilderness School outside of Austin, TX. He studied wilderness skills and nature education full time at Alderleaf Wilderness College in Western Washington where he completed the school’s Wilderness Certification Program and the Alderleaf Instructor Apprenticeship. He attended Wilderness Awareness School’s Immersion program in Duvall, Washington where he further honed his naturalist, nature mentoring, wilderness skills, and volunteered as a team lead for Conservation Northwest Citizen Science Project. James Michael is certified Level III in Wildlife Track and Sign Identification and Level II in Wildlife Trailing through CyberTracker Conservation International, an international standard for evaluating the field skills of Wildlife Trackers, and is a wilderness first responder certified. 

When he’s not sauntering around in the woods with students, James Michael enjoys following animal trails through the woods and honing his bushcrafting skills.

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For hundreds of thousands of years, fire has molded and shaped us into the humans we are today, and It did this through the food we cooked. In every living human’s ancestry, someone cooked with fire. Join your ancestors and learn to harness a campfire by grilling on open flames, using cast iron, aluminum foil to create delicious food such as stew, grilling vegetables, and ash cakes. The next time you go camping not only will you impress others with your cooking skills, but it will also give you the confidence to know that no matter what the situation is, your palate won’t suffer!

In this class you will be learning:

• How to build fire structures

• Learn to cook meats and vegetables

• Cook with coals and open flame!

• Build utensils to cook with!

• Forage for wild edibles

• Make dessert

• Learn to utilize different parts and stages of the fire

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Join us this weekend to learn how to make a wooden cup called a Kuksa. This utensil was created by the Sami people of Scandinavia and was traditionally hung from the belt and now, you can often see it adorned by the folks in the outdoor community. This cup is a wonderful item to have for hiking, sipping coffee in the morning, or as a gift for someone special. 

In this class you will:

• Learn knife use and safety

• How to use a hook knife

• Knife sharpening techniques

• Wood selection

• And go home with a Kuksa of your very own!

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Join us for a weekend workshop where we will take the whole hide of a deer and turn it into buckskin. Tanned buckskin is a type of leather that is soft, pliable, and water resistant which can be turned into so many other useful tools. Our ancestors learned to use this material to make footwear, clothing, and containers. 

In this class you will learn to:

• How to properly store deer skins for future use

• What tools are necessary and their use

• The process for cleaning a hide

MEET YOUR INSTRUCTOR

James Michael Ciesluk

James Michael Ciesluk is an educator and naturalist who is passionate about teaching others the art of tracking in nature and ancestral living skills. James Michael spends his time inspiring and teaching students to build stone tools, make fire by friction, track animals, and build shelters of all kinds. 

Previously he led adult intensive classes in survival, tracking, and youth programs at Earth Native Wilderness School outside of Austin, TX. He studied wilderness skills and nature education full time at Alderleaf Wilderness College in Western Washington where he completed the school’s Wilderness Certification Program and the Alderleaf Instructor Apprenticeship. He attended Wilderness Awareness School’s Immersion program in Duvall, Washington where he further honed his naturalist, nature mentoring, wilderness skills, and volunteered as a team lead for Conservation Northwest Citizen Science Project. James Michael is certified Level III in Wildlife Track and Sign Identification and Level II in Wildlife Trailing through CyberTracker Conservation International, an international standard for evaluating the field skills of Wildlife Trackers, and is a wilderness first responder certified. 

When he’s not sauntering around in the woods with students, James Michael enjoys following animal trails through the woods and honing his bushcrafting skills.

REGISTRATION COMING

Humanity is faced with the reality that while we have grown so much technologically things can and will fail. People are exploring nature in record numbers, climate change is causing record breaking temperatures, storms, and droughts! The question is then, what do we do when the systems we put in place fail? The answer is we need to go back to the basics. The world today hasn’t stopped throwing challenges our way and our basic needs for survival have not changed. Now more than ever, it is important to understand how to provide for yourself and your loved ones through self reliance skills. Don’t wait until the last minute and prepare yourself for the worst scenarios nature can offer. 

Join us at Lime Hollow for a weekend where you will learn:

• Preparation and prevention

• Shelter building

• Hunting and foraging

• Hydration

• Sanitation

• Knife skills

• Fire

• And so much more!