Wednesday eve we all met for a couple of hours at Peter Yencken's shop to begin the bow making process.  Peter is a crack up!  

Immediately he made sure we all knew that asking questions was irrelevant to making bows.  He explained that all of us already know how to make bows, really, and that he just needed to get out of the way.  He also said that if we were to ask a question, we needed to come to him with an answer as well, and then the two of us could compare the merits of our answers. Oh, and that his answer would cost us $10.  

He then went on to show us the tools we would be using, and how we would be using them.  (And commented on each one as to their effectiveness … most being 'worthless.') The funniest part is that Peter is sincere in (almost) everything he says.  He really does have a tremendous wealth of knowledge and experience in wilderness skills.

Peter had pre-cut hickory boards into rough outlines of the bows.  It was up to us to do the rest of the shaping process.  (And 'tillering', or so Google tells me that will be next.)  We took a couple of hours to take down the sides, make them straight and smooth, and round the edges of the back of the bow.  (A bow has a belly and a back!  Who knew? Not me.  

One thing you, dear reader, will discover is that I know slightly more than nothing when it comes to wilderness skills.  And the more I'm introduced to at the Wilderness Awareness School, the less I realize I know.  Sigh. It's a life journey I suppose.)

At first I was quite cautious, not wanting to do something 'wrong.'  Fortunately, most everyone else didn't know what they were doing either, so it didn't take long for me to feel at least as capable as the rest of the novices. Soon I was shaving off large swaths of wood, and sighting the straightness of the bow like a pro.  (Or so it seemed in my mind.)  Can't wait to see how it turns out!

I am so excited to be making a bow!  I loved archery as a kid.  The last time I shot a bow was at summer camp in 1977.  Believe it or not, I shot an arrow into the bulls-eye zone, and then hit the back of that arrow with my next shot!  I swear it happened!  I don't have any hopes that a similar thing will happen this week though.

Zen mind is is easier for kids than us adults. (Check out Zen in the Art of Archery, by Eugun Herrigel sometime)

This year has been incredible so far, and it just keeps getting better!

Drop by here again soon.  I'll tell you how the bow-making and first day of shooting (in 29 years) went, and I'll continue to share with you stories from the rest of my year as a student of wilderness skills.

February 6, 2006 12:50 - Bow making day 2

Thursday we really dug into our bow making.  Shaping more, then using a file to create a 'knock' in the top of the bow's upper limb for the bow string to secure around.  We learned a slightly different reverse-wrap variant for the string. Such and such … so many different steps, and when I was in the middle of each one – just as soon as I felt remotely competent, Peter Yencken would start explaining the next step.  
 
The instructor is pretty intense.  Intense in a 'you think you're here to learn how to build bows, but really you're here to learn about yourself' kind of way.  If we ever had a question, we needed to be ready to proffer our answer as well. That way, we would be just comparing the merits of answers with Peter, instead of relying on him to have the only answer.  I like that idea, it is empowering.  However, bringing a question to Peter often goes deeper.  In my case, when we discovered that my answer was a perfectly fine one, somehow things turned to my not trusting myself.  And the terrible thing is that if that wasn't true then I wouldn't have had issues with it … but instead, the more we headed in that direction, the more uncomfortable I got.  Not in a 'Stop being obnoxious' kind of uncomfortable, more of a 'Stop before you uncover something' kind.
 
Yes, 2 hours into the day and I was crying.  Well, just the man-ly tearing of eyes and reddish face.  Not the girly sobbing stuff.  Anyway, who knew that building a bow could be so emotional!
 
I took a little break and then came back just when we were stopping for lunch.  Lunch was salmon chowder – the salmon was caught fresh in Alaska by the proprietors of the workshop's site!  Oh man, if you ever get the chance to go to a wilderness skills class, I hope you are blessed with some outrageous faire like this.  And I hear tomorrow will be better!
 
After lunch I got back to the grind, shaping the bow further and stringing it up to check it's shape. Not much scarier then pulling a bow back to 30+ pounds when it is one that your own hands have made … at least, that was the case for me!  I expected the bow to split in half .. but fortunately it didn't.
 
Can't wait to finish up tomorrow and go shooting!

I have to say, one thing I love about myself is that I am committed to feeling my emotions and letting my them flow.  The joyous and the sad.  I've a long way to go to really be an emotionally honest person ... but at the end of the day (when I'm safe at home and in my bed) it's a good path to follow.  (Hmm, re-reading that last paragraph makes it seem like I'm something other than a tough mountain man.  :-) Yes, it's true.  Mountain man I am, but not a tough one.  …Gotta problem wid it?)

February 8, 2006 17:18 - Bow Making Day 3: Shooting!

For some reason my emotions were running high (or low, actually).  The combination of doing something new, in a group of people, feeling a bit overwhelmed by the growing list of instructions, and having a time limit on completion (if I wanted to be able to shoot it today) … well, I got to feeling funky.  I realized something was up when I was completely frustrated over my bow string's knot slipping.  Almost in tears … over a string!  OK, time for a break.  
 
Really, I don't usually get so whiney over stuff.  I think. I could ask my wife, but I'm sure I'd get only the truth and that isn't always what I want to hear.  Not sure what is up today, but I'm determined to get this bow finished so I can shoot at targets today.  
 
We watched a section of a movie called "Instinctive Shooting" by G. Fred Asbell. He purports to teach the 'best' method for shooting.  It does feel odd to hold a bow at an angle, and to shoot with slightly bent knees, but I can see the value of it when stalking in the woods.  Imagine trying to stalk a deer, and then suddenly standing straight up and pulling the bow with body all in a line, sighting down the bow - just like back in elementary school.  Yea, I'm sure the deer wouldn't notice anything out of the ordinary.  Just some William Tell out shooting apples.  Go look up Fred Asbell and check out his method.  It seems much more suited for killing things.  (Oh, did I say that?  How crass.)
 
Speaking of killing things, today's lunch stew was called Predator and Prey (contained  deer, moose and black bear!).  All of it was caught by our incredible hosts.  They could probably make more money by selling these incredible meals, and throwing in a free bow making workshop just to give the guests something to do between each course.  I love food!
 
I finished making my bow! The belly needs to be shaved a bit more (just like mine .. not that I have hair on it, but that it could stand to be a bit thinner).  When I pull it to extension the bow string seems to be at about 40 pounds, and I can't really do that without my arms quaking.
 
So I shot a few arrows with it!  Whoa, I am in serious need of some 'air time'!  Every shot went about 8 inches high and to the right.  I thought about just aiming 8 inches low and to the left .. but that wouldn't really help me in the long run, right?
 
Now I really want to learn about hunting … bow hunting to be precise.  I've never hunted anything (unless you call reel fishing 'hunting'). But now that I have a bow in my hands, and one made from my hands, I feel a primal urge to reach the next rite of passage: to ask the universe to provide a deer for me to take using primitive hunting tools.  What a powerful experience that will be!  The only thing in the animal kingdom that I've killed intentionally have been flies and ants.  In recent years, I take the flies outside, but ants I squish (after first saying a prayer to each one).  If I was still a vegetarian (been 7 years now since) I might feel differently. However, I eat meat but haven't been willing to peer into the depths of what it really means to take a life. This would certainly put me face to face with that process.  When that comes to pass, I'll tell you about it.  I have a lot of training to do before then!

February 24, 2006 21:57 - California Tracking ain't the half of it!

Oh my!  Sorry for the long delay since my last entry.  I'm finally back and I don't know where to begin.  In the last 2 weeks I've trailed a huge bobcat in the deep East Bay CA, assisted building a straw bale lodge at an amazing 'learning oasis' in S. CA, tracked and trailed with Mark Elbroch and Mike Kresky, studied mammal and bird skulls, made dinners for 30 people, played on the beaches of Santa Cruz, listened to stories from Jon Young around the fire, assisted building a cold frame for a new permaculture education farm, tracked wild pigs in the POST land reserve just outside Butano State Park, built primitive snares, volunteered with a wilderness preschool, and plaited a berry basket!  What did you do?  :-)

This is one of the great advantages of attending a school like Wilderness Awareness School: I am compelled to be involved with much more than I normally would.  (A HUGE thank you to my wife Matty, with whom I would not be able to do much of any of these things.  Thanks so much for taking care of our two children while I was away!!)

I've gotta head bedward, tomorrow we'll be learning more about animal forms.  Last time we did that I was incredibly sore.  You've gotta try the salamander form to really understand!  I'll see if I can get a photo of Will doing the salamander .. his lanky body is built for it.  Talk to you soon.

PS Can you identify who made the structures in this picture? Hint: they are over a river, under an overpass.

February 28, 2006 21:34 - Of Cats and Cactus

Sorry folks, I couldn't get Will to slow down enough to get a good pic of his Salamander form. However, I am at least as sore as the last time we focused on animal forms, if that's any consolation.

Here's a short** rambling about our trip down to CA for tracking, et al. We left Duvall, WA on a Tuesday and drove down as far as the Rogue River in southern Oregon before we stopped to camp for the night. I once went on a 10 day rafting trip down the Rogue. My girlfriend was a guide and let me take the 'reigns' of her raft one afternoon -- for the 8 seconds it took me to get the raft almost wrapped around a rock in the river. She swiftly shoved me aside and took control, narrowly avoiding grave peril. Unfortunately for her she wasn't quite able to knock me overboard in the process. (That didn't happen for another 5 years.)

The following day we drove down to Sunol Regional Wilderness <Click here for map> , just East of Pleasanton CA, and spent the night and next day there. As soon as we piled out of the vans, I could smell the sweet scent of Bay in the air. Not SF Bay, but bay leaves! California Bay, also known as Mountain Laurel, (Umbellularia californica). This shrub grows all around this area, along with Live Oaks (Quercus virginiana), Yerba Santa (Eriodictyon californicum), oh gosh, and several other trees with impressive sounding latin names.

The next day we went on an incredible hike. The way up Flag Hill was great, and the view from the top was fantastic, but it was the way back down that was noteworthy: we saw Lynx rufus! Got quite close as well. (My pix didn't turn out as well as Jonathan's, so I'll post his in a day or two.) When we first saw the bobcat, I was impressed with how large it was. Peterson's Guide to Mammals has this wee little picture that makes it look like a cute house cat. Kamana students, grab your Peterson's and check out Plate 8 and you'll see what I mean.) It was sitting by a tree, and when it had enough of us looking at it, it sauntered off up the hill. We followed it, but soon lost it over the rise. When we got to the top we found many quail pecking about, and had thought that signified that the bobcat didn't go anywhere near them ... we were wrong! The cat must have moved within 30 feet of the quail, but the birds either knew the intent of the cat was elsewhere, or weren't aware of the cat at all. After poking around a few areas, we found the bobcat had entered an unused campground and was sitting next to someone's hole, hoping for dinner to pop out. Unfortunately for the cat, we came along and turned his/her private dinner into a public affair. (I wish I had paid more attention to the tracks so that I could possibly identify its sex.) I again expected the cat to move away quickly when it saw us, but it stayed for a minute longer, and then slowly moved on. It walked behind an open sided barn-type structure. Jonathan and Theo went to one side, and the rest of us to the other. When we peeked around the far corner we saw that it was again poised, looking for food at another rodent site, and again we ended up disturbing it. A moment later it walked on, and around the corner where Jonathan and Theo were waiting. The bobcat coolly walked within 10 feet of them! Even then it didn't run, just walked on, probably hoping we would stop hounding it while it was looking for dinner. I was and still am amazed by the grace and ease at which this animal moved through it's day! No hurry at all, just a lazy afternoon stroll. Hmm, kinda like the pace our party had!

Ack, this is getting far too long! I am still transitioning from a storyteller to a blogger. Storytelling doesn't seem to work well in a blog .. too much text. I'll try to bonsai my stories in the future.

I do need to tell you one more bit to tie in the photo: after we decided to let the hungry bobcat get dinner, we walked past the huge Prickly Pear Cactus you see in the photo. I've never seen them so big that I could stand under them! It was a forest of prickly pear! I took a leaf/pad that was fresh looking but had recently fallen to the ground, and brought it back to camp to cook. I tried to burn off the spines but they were way too thick, so I deftly carved them out. (I just dug the last little one out of my thumb earlier today.) I set it next to the fire and rotated it periodically. Well, it was a romantic notion for sure, but not entirely pleasant to eat. It tasted like a mucousy honeydew melon, but not as sweet. Still, might be OK with lemon squeezed over it.

OK, I've tortured you enough with stories ... for now.

**(I really did think this was going to be short! Note: if I ever write "here's a long story" ... just close your browser, nothing is worth that many words!)

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