Roots Adult Programs

September Event

Instinctual Awareness and Self Defense

Winter Scout
more

These courses answer the questions of survival basics such as how to find or produce shelter, water, fire, and food, lost proofing, basic stone tools, basics of tracking and awareness. These skills provide a solid structure on which many of our other courses rest. Or, how to survive if you are out in the woods with nothing.

Wilderness Self Reliance   2 days, Survival Basics for beginners, hunters, hikers, both modern and primitive.

Core Skills 6 days, Primitive Survival Skills, in depth, hands on, intensive. Shelter, water, fire, food, navigation, tracking, edible and medicinal plants, primitive hunting and trapping, cordage, stone tools, and more.

Wilderness Survival Immersion   4 day intro, one weekend a month for nine months, four day survival trip, In depth primitive survival skills built and refined over nine months and put to the test for four days and nights with just the clothes on your back.

Winter Survival 2 days, A basic primer to protecting and caring fo yourself during the difficult conditions the northern winters can manifest.

Edit link:

These courses answer the question: How did people meet their material needs before modern industry? How do I make what I need to live over a long term, based on what my landscape has to offer?

Ancient Living Skills  4 days, A primitive skills buffet. Material processes for bone, antler, horn, rawhide willow pack baskets, drop spindle and advanced fibers, birch bark plaiting, soap stone carving and more.

Celts, Adzes, Axes, Chisels 4 days, Ancient Technology of pecking and grinding to produce functional wood working tools, labor intensive, highly fulfilling.

Bow Building 4 days, Build your own self bow that will last a life time while learning the fundamental principals of bow making and its dynamics.

Arrow Making 2 days, Learn the art of producing functional primitive arrows from natural materials of bone, wood, sinew, pitch, and feathers.

Flint Knapping 3 days, Making sharp stone tools, percussion, pressure, and indirect percussion flaking, stages of the bi-face, tools, material selection, focused on making functional stone saws, scrapers, knives, and tools as well as projectile points. 

Hide Tanning 3 days, Turn a raw deer hide into beautiful and functional buckskin for clothing and projects. Also looks into making and using rawhide, sinew, hide glue, bone, and more.

Origins Nine months, one course a month ending with a week long stone age living trip. This course combines several of our courses within a long term program with the goal of preparing for a week in the wilderness with no metal, plastic, paper, or glass.

Edit link:

The science and art of reading the landscape in order to learn about wildlife, their habits, and their stories.

Tracking and Awareness 2 days, A great introductory course in tracking and nature awareness. Focused study of clear print identification, gait interpretation, aging, sign tracking, trailing, and more.

Winter Tracking Intensive 2 days, Taking advantage of tracking in the snow to further our understanding of track and gait interpretation, landscape tracking, skull identification, foot morphology and more.

Advanced Tracking and Awareness 2 days, A more in depth look at trailing, small mammal identification, bird, reptile, amphibian, and insect tracks, advanced gait interpretation. Awesome awareness exercises.

Edit link:

Creating beautiful and functional vessels, clothing, and cord through gathering, processing, and weaving natural materials.

Fibers from a Wild Landscape 2 days, This class focuses on the beauty and utility of learning how to process fibers from plants and animals. 

Willow Basketry 2 days, Learn to identify and use willow to weave elegant and sturdy baskets.  Deepen your knowledge of this classic weaving species.

Birch Bark Plaiting 2 days, Learn the plaiting technique of weaving and create beautiful baskets from the bark of the birch tree.

Twined Basketry 2 days, Learn to use this technique and you open a huge variety of weaving materials available in the natural world and can create everything from tiny woven baskets to large sturdy ones.

Felting 2 days,  This class goes into the process of felting, an incredibly accessible means of making fabric from wool.  During the class you will choose to start one of many project options that you will design and complete.

Edit link:

Learn to protect yourself and those you love, test your limits, and gain a new understanding of self reliance and team work.

Awareness and Self Defense 2 days, Self defense by Ben Goodrich of New England Ninjutsu mixed with exercises in situational awareness and threat detection.

Ancient Scout 6 days, Self defense, covert movement, camouflage, navigation, team dynamics, movement, and planning, situational awareness, recon and observation, counter-tracking, and much more.

Winter Scout 6 days, Scout but as applied in winter, survival, tracking and counter, restraint escape, winter camouflage, planning and tactical thinking.

Advanced Scout 6 days, The next level of training, focused, critical, skill building.

Edit link:

Roots Rendezvous 4 days, A primitive and traditional skills gathering for all ages featuring instructors from Roots, local naturalists and traditional skills instructors, and primitive skills instructors from around the country.

Open House 1 day, A free event in which prospective students came come out and get a feel for the school and old students can come and see whats new and work on skills in an open setting.

Edit link:

Origins 2015

We have just put up the dates for the Origins program 2015!  This is a ten month program where students make their own bows and arrows, stones axes and knives, felted clothing, woven food containers, harvest and preserve wild foods and much more. The program builds to a week long trip into the forest to put the skills to the test and live with all of the tools you have created throughout the program. For more information visit the Origins Page.

Core Skills

 Come out for our week long course in primitive wilderness skills. Learn to build survival shelters, collect and purify water, make friction fire, gather wild edibles, primitive hunting and trapping, tracking, cordage, stone tools, and much more. The forest will become alive and inviting as you develop the skills and gain the knowledge required to keep your needs met.

Volunteer and Internship

Internships and volunteer opportunities are available for students who would like to revist classes  and give back to the school, or to earn credit for our courses and be a part of the school for several months on end.

Custom Classes

Create your own courses from one on one training at our facilities to group classes offsite. Build the course to your needs and goals.

Schools and Universities

Roots School has worked with colleges, universities, nature centers, and other established organizations to bring in quality outside instruction to their students and participants.

 
00:00