The Dirt On Earthskills Rendezvous
Spent the last week of April attending the earthskills rendezvous. These folks actually do two gatherings, the Spring gathering is known as the Rivercane Rendezvous and the Fall gathering is the Falling Leafs Rendezvous. Information for both events can be found at Earthskills Rendezvous.com.
The 25th Rivercane anniversary attracted about 250 participants making this years gathering the largest in the the organizations history. From what I could gather the Earthskills events were on shaky ground for a few years. There had even been discussions in recent years on weather or not they would continue. With the large turnout this year and the return of some legendary characters there was an unmistakable positive vibe from everyone who had been involved over the years.
Snow Bear introducing founder Darry Wood
The days usually started around 8am with breakfast and a morning circle around 9am. News about classes and workshops as well as general info is announced. Workshops start after the morning circle followed by a lunch break followed by afternoon workshops and dinner. On average there were about 15 workshops happing on any given day. The pace of the workshops and other events picks up towards the end of the week. Having to choose just two workshops was always a difficult . I was there for the skills and workshops and was fairly methodological about what I did each day. Other people took a more laid back approach and just wandered around the different classes.
There were dawn bird language workshops, edible plant walks, impromptu cordage lessons, group laughing sessions and all manor of interesting random happenings. Anyone who did not want to work on a specific skill or who was undecided on which workshop to take could freely wonder around the and observe any of the classes.
\Workshops lasted half a day so there was plenty of time to really work a skill. Part of the flint knapping class is walking around scavenging for knappable rock, in the poplar basket workshop you'll start by chopping down a popular tree. Since classes are not held on the land year round you get to participate in mindful harvesting if you ask.
One afternoon on I stumbled upon a discussion with Eustace Conway – the subject of the book The Last American Man. I took some video of the discussion and will be posting an entire article based on this one workshop.
Nancy Basket's workshop
Nancy Baskets workshops were a blast and full of native America history and stories. She had a lot of interesting and amusing stories to include talks about the Native American experience during the 60’s. Nancy Basket knew, for example, many of the folks involved with the 1969 occupation of Alcatraz.
If I was not making baskets I was most likely in the flint knapping camp. Keith Grenoble brought along several pounds of rock, billets, and pressure flakers which were made available to anyone who wanted to practice making stone tools. He also lead occasional hikes for knappable rock.
Aside from the traditional earth skills there were also a lot of what I would call homesteading workshops. Instruction in things like blacksmithing, milking a goat and making goat cheese, timber framing, etc.
goat hanging our around the fire pit