Tamara Wilder
Tamara has been learning, researching, experminenting with and teaching ancient living skills since 1989.
She currently offers
hands-on
Ancient Living Skills
Overview Programs
for schools and groups
&
Topical Workshops
for adults
all around Northern California
These classes vary depending on the interest and age level of the group but usually include quite a focus on hands-on activity and are very well received by both the teachers, youth and adults alike.
Tamara originally began sharing skills with others as an assistant teacher for the Santa Cruz Mountians Natural History Assn (SCMNHA) Old Ways Seminar Series in Felton beginning in 1989, the Rabbitstick Rendezvous Skills Gathering in Rexburg, ID beginning in 1989 and the MAPOM California Indian Living Skills Seminar Series at Pt. Reyes National Seashore beginning in 1990.
Through regular participation in the growing number of skills gatherings, she was fortunate to learn from, share with and co-teach with numerous skilled practitioners, anthropologists, archaeologists, professors, enthusiasts, inventors, and re-enactors who are now part of her extended community of colleagues, friends and co-workers.
She has dedicated her life to exploring and sharing the “pandemic” & “universal” ancient technologies that have formed the basis for everything that we now utilize in our daily lives. This “tree of technology” has roots which reach back over a million years, but which are still forming the structure that supports the lives of humans all around the world. The arts of shaping stone tools, twisting fibers in to string, processing the skins of animals into rawhide & leather, making tools out of bones, shells, antler, wood, etc… and throwing sticks through the air are all essential technical skills that were figured out by our ancestors so that they could survive and thrive. If they had not figured them out, then we would not be here today.
Her main focus through the years has been to figure out how to effectively teach “the basics” of tool-making, fire-making and string-making to youth and adults alike. These skills which form a strong foundation in further exploration of ancient technologies are essential but often not easy to figure out and getting some supportive instruction in the beginning can be quite helpful.
See scheduled classes for present schedule.
Current locales for Workshops and Programs include:
Acorn Gathering near Santa Barbara, CA
Between the Rivers Gathering near Spokane, WA
California School of Herbal Studies in Forestville, CA
Camp Bohemia in Occidental, CA
Echoes In Time Gathering near Corvallis, OR
Fall Gather in Laytonville, CA
Heartwood Mountain Sanctuary near Garberville, CA
Northern California Women's Herbal Symposium
in Laytonville, CANot-So-Simple Living Fair in Boonville, CA
Occidental Arts & Ecology Center in Occidental, CA
Saskatoon Circle Gathering near Carlton, WA
Sharpening Stone Gathering near Grant’s Pass, OR
Sonoma Horticultural Nursery in Sebastopol, CA
Spirit Weavers Gathering in Cave Junction, OR
UC Berkeley Botanical Gardens in Berkeley, CA
West County Herb Company in Occidental, CA
Winter Count Gathering near Pheonix, AZ
She regularly demonstrates many of these skills at a variety of fairs and for groups, schools, museums and "living pre-history" events, which often includes replicating artifacts and/or making displays so that the public can better understand the processes by which they were produced as well as have the opportunity to handle and touch a particular item.
Current Demonstration & Display locations include:
Oregon Country Fair in Veneta, OR
Grace Hudson Museum & Sun House in Ukiah, CA
Fibershed Wool & Fine Fiber Symposium in Pt Reyes Station, CA
Steven Edholm
SKILLCULT.COM
Steven has been learning, researching, experminenting with and teaching ancient living skills since 1987.
His most recent writings, videos and information on a plethora of projects and topics can be found at Skillcult.com
He originally started assisting Margaret Mathewson and teaching for the Santa Cruz Mountians Natural History Assn (SCMNHA) Old Ways Seminar Series in Felton, CA, the Rabbitstick Rendezvous Skills Gathering in Rexburg, ID in 1989 and the MAPOM California Indian Living Skills Seminar Series at Pt. Reyes National Seashore in 1990 and continued to teach workshops for a number of years.
A collection of his older writings can be found at the Turkeysong blog and the Paleotechnics Blog.
JIM RIGGS
Mentors, friends & colleagues who have shared countless bits of information around camp are many,
but the one that stands out as having had a tremendous amount of impact is all around skills icon,
Jim Riggs, who passed away in August of 2017.
Proud to be a luddite, there is very little on the internet about Jim but his daughter Kolle has started
a project called the Jim Riggs Room at his home in Eastern Oregon.
Please visit the Jim Riggs archive and reading room on patreon,
learn more and donate to help her honor her dad’s legacy.
Also visit the Jim Riggs Memories page on Facebook where stories, pictures and memories are being shared.
PUBLICATONS
Buckskin: The Ancient Art of Braintanning (1997)
Paleotechnics Handbooks
-CALIFORNIA BAY LAUREL Handbook
-SHARPENING TOOLS Handbook
-SO YOU HAVE A DEAD ANIMAL? Handbook
-USING THE WHOLE ANIMAL Handbook
-SUSTAINABLE HARVEST Handbook
-PEPPERONCINI, PIMENTOS AND HOT SAUCE Handbook
Chapters on a variety of topics in the books:
Primitive Technology I: Earth Skills &
Primitive Technology II: Ancestral Skills
Chapter on "Whole Shoot Willow Basketry" (1994).
in WOODSMOKE: Collected Writings on Ancient Living Skills
PATREON PAGE:
Handbooks, Books & Articles
Subscribe and receive access to online articles, digital & paper publications and much more!
BLOG:
Paleotechnics Blog - LEARN, FIND, MAKE
paleotechnics.wordpress.com
MEDIA:
Online Journal KNOW
”Learn to Burn” article
9/25/12
Ukiah Daily Journal
”Ancient Skills for Modern Times” article
9/17/2009
Featured in the show Modern Marvels: Leather on the History Channel - 2006
San Francisco Chronicle
”Getting Back to Basics” article
2/12/2004
Past Workshop & Presentation hosts include:
Ancient Arts & Technologies in Alsea, OR
Breitenbush Herbal Conference in Dexter, OR
Buckeye Gathering near Paradise, CA
California Academy of Sciences Junior Academy Program in San Francisco, CA
The Caning Shop in Berkeley, CA
Coyote Hills Regional Park in Fremont, CA
Devil's Gulch Ranch in Nicasio, CA
Hill of the Hawk Ranch in Big Sur, CA
MAPOM Seminar Series at Pt. Reyes National Seashore
(in cooperation with College of Marin)Mendocino Art Center in Mendocino, CA
New College of California in Santa Rosa, CA
Polcum Springs in Laytonville, CA
Pt Reyes National Seashore Assn (PRNSA) in Pt Reyes, CA
Rabbitstick in Rexburg, ID
Solar Living Institute in Hopland, CA
Weston A. Price Foundation "Wise Traditions" Conference in Santa Clara, CA
Past Demonstration & Display Locations include:
Maidu Interpretive Center in Roseville, CA
California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, CA
Marin Museum of the American Indian in Novato, CA
Oakland Museum in Oakland, CA
Suislaw & Willamette National Forests in Eugene, OR