Happy spring, folks ~

There is still space in this year’s Buckeye Gathering!  In our eighth spring of gathering, Buckeye shares Ancestral Skills in the Sierra foothills of California in an all-ages, village style community.  We meet for a week to practice arts such as friction fire, fiber crafting, basketry, pottery, hide tanning, tracking, tool making, wild harvesting and more.  Think traditional for the modern age; songs echoing from the creekside to the central fire; welcoming, empowering, and simply fun.  Over 600 folks will gather from April 30 ~ May 6 for classes taught by a diverse range of instructors.  This year we are excited to add a more intimate opportunity, a second week of intensive ‘Pathways’ from May 10 ~ 16.  The model is based on a fellow Primitive Skills gathering, Slickrock (which also has spaces open this May in Utah).

For several years we have sold out within a few days, however this year there are still tickets available for both weeks, as of the beginning of April.  We are also still taking work trade applications.

Pathways is a bright new venture for us; after years of consideration and visioning, we have done our best to design a solid route to reconnect with the root skills of our human legacy.  So we invited a small field of top notch teachers, representing a high degree of mastery and innovation.  This is a rare opportunity, ripe with possibility for all involved.  Being new, enrollment is not yet full, and we would especially like to reach out to any extended communities to find folks who want to dive deeper and see what synergy is born from such a strong field of instructors.  During the gathering you can choose one of their intensives:  Stone Age Tools, Weaving of the World, Pomo Basketry, Friction Fire, Braintan Buckskin, Animal Processing, Bioregional Plant Medicine, Felting, Bow making, Blacksmithing, Tracking, and Tule Boatmaking.  The teachers represented are lifers, dedicated to their paths, and to have them in one village setting is very exciting for us.  

Pathways is the culmination of much rumination and vision about the wisest way to grow as a gathering and as a community.  At this point, we have space for about 60 more folks in Pathways.  Is this for you?  Please help us by spreading the word to individuals and organizations who might be interested.  For years, many friends and allies have offered to promote Buckeye; and we have usually said ‘thanks, but not needed’.  Now, in our inaugural year of a new venture, we are asking for help.  To help circulate Pathways, you can share this letter or our Facebook page.

In a rapidly changing physical and social climate that calls for collective unity, community resilience, and reclaiming our heritage of adaptability, this is our way of offering a reconnection to indigenous-based living skills.  Pathways is shaping up to be exactly what we do best: an elegant mix of the old and the new for one very fun week.

New: Two ways to attend for discounted rates

1. Become an instructor ‘helper’ for your Pathway here

2.  Apply for Financial Aid here

Thank you, friends!

Our best, the Buckeye crew