PRIMITIVE PURSUITS 2012 SUMMER CAMPS

Primitive Pursuits, of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County, is an environmental education and nature awareness program focusing on experiential ecology, primitive skills, and a natural model of community building. LOCATIONS 4H Acres - 418 Lower Creek Rd. Ithaca NY Wildcrafting Camps, Scout Camps, Primitive Camps, Hunter-Gatherer Camps Finger Lakes National Forest - 7 miles west of Trumansburg NY at "Teeter Pond" Wilderness Weeks Ellis Hollow Community Center - 111 Genung Rd, Ithaca Outpost Camps Meeting @ CCE - 615 willow Ave. Ithaca N.Y & exploring unique natural areas outside Ithaca Trailblazers

Program Information

Ages: to

Ages: to

Day Camps

WildCrafting @ 4H Acres Harvesting and crafting the raw materials of the late spring and mid-summer landscapes are the focus of these two weeks. You’ll keep your hands and creative minds busy transforming wood, plants, feathers, and bones with water, fire, steel and stone. In gratitude for the unique natural resources each week has to offer we’ll eat roots and drink teas that nourish our inner nature. You will take home the treasures you’ve made and found, along with the stories that live inside them. Base Camp @ 4H Acres Ready for an epic adventure? Welcome to base camp. This is our foundational primer for survival and fun. Have you ever carved wood? Made a fire without matches? Or built a waterproof shelter entirely out of sticks and leaves? These and other essential wilderness skills will be our focus this week. We’ll cook on open fires, harvest wild edibles, make rope out of plant fibers, and play our favorite games. You’ve heard the stories – now come live the adventure! Trailblazers @ Cornell Cooperative Extension; limited to ages 8 - 12 **Additional $20 for transportation Go on the road with Primitive Pursuits! Meet downtown at Cooperative Extension, jump into a van and head out to a different wilderness area each day. We’ll explore wild places all around Ithaca that you never knew existed, while continuing to practice our routines of gathering water, shelter, fire and food in all kinds of terrain! Please note that this is for 8 – 12 year olds and includes a transportation fee. Register early to reserve your space – the van fills up fast. Hunter Gatherer @ 4H Acres “For three million years we were hunter gatherers, and it was through that way of life that a brain so adaptable and so creative eventually emerged. Today we stand with the brains of hunter gatherers in our heads, looking out on a modern world…” Richard Leakey Summon the sleeping human within! Reawaken your ancestral self while using the tools of the eldest hunters: atl-atl, rabbit stick and bow. Explore plant cultivation by harvesting from the field and forests with ancient tools made by your hands. This week we will be joined by special guests who have mastered some of these ancient arts. Participants may complete a special project under the guidance of a craftsperson. Wilderness Week @ Finger Lakes National Forest Travel with us into the wilderness of the Finger Lakes National Forest. Celebrate the peak of summer feasting on cattails, following beaver trails, and telling tall tales around the fire. Navigating the blueberry thickets and wide-ranging landscapes of this public land will be a special focus. Going beyond “survival”, this will be a time to learn about caring for our forest while caring for ourselves. Scout Camp @ 4H Acres Traveling light, finding your edges, coming to your senses, and moving invisibly through the landscape are skills that belong to the ancient scouts. In these two weeks we will hone our own skills of self-reliance through challenges and awareness routines. You’ll hear stories of stealth and mystery and then begin crafting and telling your own stories from real life adventures. Outpost Camp @ Ellis Hollow Community Center We are excited to return to Ellis Hollow Community Center this summer to offer two full weeks of nature connection and survival skills. Explore the unique natural beauty of the Ellis Hollow Creek valley with us while practicing the art of fun! From awareness routines and shelter building challenges to making fires and foraging wild food there will be boundless potential for learning the ropes. For the last two years, this has been the first camp to fill up, so register early! Primitive Camp @ 4H Acres Fire by friction, shaping tools and digging roots – this is your chance to find out what it would take to replace your gear in a survival situation. This week your group will travel to uncharted territory and create a primitive camp from raw materials. Try your hand at using stone tools, build a rain proof shelter and making your own primitive tool kit from the forest around you. Our focus will be on the four basic survival priorities: shelter, water, fire, and pizza!

Ages: 6 to 12

Schedule: Day camp programs run from 9am - 3pm with staff supervision from 8:30am - 3:30pm for your added convenience. New for 2012: Epic Adventure Day! Extend each day from 8am - 4:30pm for an additional $25 per child. Note: Epic day is only an option for camps at the 4-H Acres location. Wildcrafting I: June 25 – 29 Wildcrafting II: August 13 - 17 Base Camp: July 2 - 6 Trailblazers I: July 2 – 6 Trailblazers II: July 30 – August 3 Trailblazers III: August 20 - 24 Hunter Gatherer I: July 9 – 13 Hunter Gatherer II: August 27 - 31 Wilderness Camp I: July 9 – 13 Wilderness Camp II: July 23 – 27 (with overnight option) Wilderness Camp III: August 13 - 17 Scout Camp I: July 16 – 20 Scout Camp II: August 6 – 10 Outpost Camp I: July 23 – 27 (with overnight option) Outpost Camp II: August 6 - 10 Primitive Camp I: July 30 – August 3 Primitive Camp II: August 20 - 24

Fees: Day Camps - $250-$350 (self-determined sliding scale) Trailblazers - Add $20 for transportation fee Overnights - Add $65 for camping fee, Thursday to Friday of camp week. Epic Adventure Day – Add $25 per child per week

Program Location:
4H Acres

Advance Day Camps

Outdoor living skills

Advanced Day Camps are open to returning youth aged 10 – 14 and new teens aged 13 – 14, and are located at 4-H Acres. Bow Camp @ 4H Acres Carve your own bow and arrow out of raw wood, harvested with your own hands. This is a workshop for a few dedicated young crafters, with the bulk of each day spent working your stave under the guidance of seasoned bowyers. You’ll carefully harvest a sapling and tiller it into a bows. You’ll twist cordage, cut and straighten arrow shafts, and fletch them with real feathers and natural glue. Our goal is for each participant to go home with their own primitive archery set. In between carving, we’ll also practice basic shooting and hunting techniques. Advanced Wildcrafting @ 4H Acres If you’re ready to try your hands at some advanced crafts, this is your week. Working animal hides, flint knapping, clay baking and making herbal salves are just some examples of what you might choose. Past participants have made moccasins, clay beads and fine bark baskets stitched with handmade cord. Foraging and advanced cooking projects will also be on the menu. Come explore your woodland home, eat your wild veggies and make some relics to be proud of. Advanced Base Camp @ 4H Acres Want to feel at home in the woods and get a taste of wilderness living? Advanced Base Camp is the place. We’ll help refine your knife carving practice and teach you how to make rope – the quick way. We’re going to experiment with advanced camp construction. So, we’ll bust out the tool buckets, learn how to process wood safely and practice lashing and framing. Then we’ll fire up our cob oven for some advanced chocolate chip cookies, and when we’re all fueled up we’ll take your favorite camp games to the next level of fun. Jedi Camp @ 4H Acres Intense intuition, a focused mind, and challenging one’s physical endurance are the traditions of the Jedi. The elementals of nature will guide us as we balance across the stream of our consciousness, blindfolded at times – but always on point. We’ll warm up each day with some physical and mental awareness routines, then we’ll hit the Jedi training course before continuing on our days of epic challenges and unforgettable journeys down the Jedi’s path. Yes, we’re talking serious fun. Forest Sports @ 4H Acres Experience the thrill of the Games. Travel the world, sharing one of the great passions of people living closely with the land – sports! From ancient games like stick ball and stone-age Bocce, to modern twists on capture the flag and Go-tag you will play hard, and live in the spirit of camaraderie. While off the field we’ll craft our game equipment and carve talismans to show our team spirit. These two weeks of outdoor gaming promise to be unrivaled fun for returning campers. Advanced Scout @ 4H Acres Hone your skills of self-reliance and invisibility. This week we’ll return to our awareness routines, reading more deeply into the landscape, blending in, and practicing survival skills on the move. In preparation for an optional nighttime adventure we’ll also explore advanced navigation and fire tending techniques. Along the coyote trails we follow, we will become the eyes and ears of the forest, playing the game that never ends. Come along and add a few more stories to your list. Advanced Primitive @ 4H Acres Journey to our new primitive outpost camp for an advanced immersion in wilderness living. While helping prepare our village for an overnight campout, we’ll be harvesting meals from the wild, and making tools to help us survive – stone blades, water containers, fire kits and more. There will be times for sweating, times for cooling off and many mysteries to explore as we continue our pursuit of the elusive primitive pizza! Forest Archer @ 4H Acres Bring Your Own Bow – or choose from our collection and join us for a week of timeless wandering as we practice stalking and taking aim at our woodland quarries. You’ll visit the secret flint-knapping pit to learn the ancient art of making arrowheads from obsidian and chert, and you’ll have the opportunity to make your own arrows, complete with bone or stone tips that you’ve made. This week is for aspiring archers who have made their own bows as well as those seeking a glimpse into our human heritage.

Ages: 10 to 14

Schedule: Day camp programs run from 9am - 3pm with staff supervision from 8:30am - 3:30pm for your added convenience. New for 2012: Epic Adventure Day! Extend each day from 8am - 4:30pm for an additional $25 per child. Note: Epic day is only an option for camps at the 4-H Acres location. Primitive Bow Camp: June 25 - 29 Advanced Wildcrafting I: July 25 – 29 Advanced Wildcrafting II: August 13 – 17 Advanced Base Camp: July 2 – 6 Jedi Camp: July 9 - 13 Forest Sports Week I: July 16 – 20 Forest Sports Week II: August 27 - 31 Advanced Scout: August 6 – 10 (with overnight option) Advanced Primitive: August 20 – 24 (with overnight option) Forest Archer: July 30 – August 3

Fees: Day Camps - $250-$350 (self-determined sliding scale) Trailblazers - Add $20 for transportation fee Overnights - Add $65 for camping fee, Thursday to Friday of camp week. Epic Adventure Day – Add $25 per child per week