International Rewilding Discussion Forum

there is quite a bit of anti buddhist sentiment on this site and i am curious as to where it comes from. any ideas?

so i had another good day, a bbq at my place with some good friends, put in another wiki page. and this morning went out early to harvest a juniper tree in order to season it and make some bow staves. about an hour from moab there are some juniperus deppeana's that make good bows. i saw a great specimen, tall, straight and big enough for 4 or 5 staves. i couldn't chop it down. i started wondering how old this tree is. no clue, but way older than i am. this thing may have been a sapling when some natives collected a nearby cousin.
i've made one bow so far. ONE! i didn't think i was ready yet to take this tree and probably ruin 4 out of 5 staves.  now i kinda regret leaving and kinda feel good that i left it. some friends at the bbq understood this dilemma, some just stared.
anyone else ever feel things similar, put the cart in front of the horse?

Gratitude will make you brave.

so its been a bit since i've been over. i've been climbing and "rewilding" i guess. and i just feel plain good. not always happy, rarley bored and hardly ever tired. not sure what it is.
i finished my first bow and made some pine pitch. but heres where things get great...
i've been talking to my brother a lot. he was an addict and died 2 1/2 years ago. whenever i've thought about him i'd be pummelled with a volatile mix of sadness, anger and guilt. resentment to my family members would also kick in. for awhile i wouldn't speak to my mother due to her alcoholism. i did my best to remove myself from not just my family but from the fact that i was at one time an older brother.
for whatever reason, most of this has changed. maybe its the ginger/wolfberry tea i've been making. or the active meditation of tillering a bow. or the bobcat that lives near my favorite climbing route.
i sent my mom some sage/lavender truffles i made, going to visit her in a week. when i talk with cody, my little brother, i laugh as much as cry and no longer get mad.
i just don't know what happened. this whole rewilding thing is very new to me and extremely healing. i really need to say thanks to urban scout and this entire community for being so welcoming and supportive.
urban, i am so glad you invited me here.

i don't know how to start it off... i like to connect with people and offer stuff.
i live in moab, utah. a gorgeous spot in the desert of southern utah. moab has some of the best rockclimbing on the planet, native ruins and petroglyphs abound, veins of chert, 12,000 foot mountains (nothing compared to snowflowers locale), a few rivers and heaps of wildlife. not a bad spot.
anyone is invited. just email or pm me. this site is fun but if we're all into the same shouldn't we be connecting sooner or later??

feral visions, july 28 - aug 4. southern sierra nevadas

deer leg in the field guide. anyone know how to process the sinew into workable strands??

     i'm pretty conditioned. there are habits, expectations, stereotypes and comfort levels within me that i had very little control over. ignorance and irresponsibility allowed them to flourish within me and all that does is make it easier for these conditionings to propagate elsewhere. i harbor infectious diseases upon which societies build civilizations. i've been tamed and tricked. i doubt this can be reversed but the awareness of these conditionings forces me to become accountable, responsible, for them because my ignorance has diminished for a moment.
    in order to truly rewild i'd need to remove all civilized conditions, expectations of self and others, stereotypical/oppressive thinking and privilege. once all those are gone i'd need to step naked into the wild with whatever innate skills i may possess and not just survive but thrive.
    i don't think i can do this. of the conditions i'm aware of the must be a thousand i'll never look at.
    so i have another idea. i see myself going feral for periods of time. like your housecat that vanishes for a week and comes back with evidence of fighting. from then on there is a dead chipmunk, mouse or lizard on your doormat. your cat telling you something, "i'm your pet, and sometimes i like being just that, but i don't need you. i can leave and enjoy that too.  remember that."


going feral, at this point in my life, seems not only more feasible but more necessary. leave for a time, eat roadkill elk, snared bunnies, sour dock and chokecherry. sleep underr a juniper and use the prickly pear for sunscreen. then comeback. either because weariness and thirst has bested me or because i can't wait to explain how i tracked that cougar, found its treed kill and took my share.

going feral is the best i can do right now. not all my friends are primitives, very few are. the ones i love most may never spin cordage or pull a bowstring. sharing my life with them drives me. walking thru hollywood with my high school buddy gets me all giddy with overstimulus.

i like coming back with stuff to share. with a sunburn and the odor of animal. i like coming back to ignorance too. to deliberately forget that there is wildness still in me and give in to the conditionings. smile with them for awhile but always leave the lizard on the doormat.

i don't know, i should go dancing or something

myspace.com/feralize
a quick slideshow on prepping a cottontail in your kitchen. way easier than i thought