Wolf Journey
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Wolf Journey is available complimentarily online, though we suggest donating $1.00 per chapter or set of recordings you utilize, with checks payable to Wolf Camp, 1026 14th St. SW, Puyallup WA 98371. Books and other resources which you will need for successful completion of field exercises throughout Wolf Journey can be purchased through Granny's Country Store or by calling them at 406-287-3605 to order. You can work through Wolf Journey independently, but we recommend this book series as part of our Correspondence Course, Academic Year Class Series, In-Depth Apprenticeships and Summer Training Camps, but if you would like an instructor from your own area to guide you while studying these skills, we recommend clicking on PrimitiveSkillsLinks.Com to find an earth skills specialist near you who can personally review your field exercises and journaling work, which you can keep track of on your Student Transcripts. Other schools and outdoor instructors who would like to use this curriculum for their own programs are free to do so. We would appreciate donations, or having your students donate as described above. We also recommend considering the Kamana Naturalist Training Program through the Wilderness Awareness School which inspired Wolf Journey Part One. Kamana takes naturalist training to a deep level similar to what we guide Wolf Journey Part One students to do in Wolf Journey Volume VIII - Trail of the Earth Skills Educator, but Kamana also includes an overt metaphysical component that is wonderful for spiritual people. Please note that Kamana is a naturalist training program, as opposed to a full-scale earth skills curriculum, so you may be introduced to tracking, herbalism, and scouting, but it does not include the full professional tracking, ethnobotany, scout survival, primitive artisanry, hunter-gathering, or sustainable pioneer field exercises of Wolf Journey.

Overview of Wolf Journey

Now Available Online: Parts 1-3, Trails of the Naturalist, Tracker, and Herbalist; Transcript & Guide for Students Soon to be Posted: Policy Manual for Teachers; Trails of the Survival Scout, Honorable Hunter, Primitive Artisan, and Sustainable Pioneer Author & Music: Chrism (Chris Chisholm) Curriculum References: Nikki van Schyndel, Jon Young, Tom Brown, Jr., Society of Primitive Technology, Linda Quintana, Michael "Skeeter" Pilarski, Joel Hardin, Paul Nicalazzo, Tomas J. Elpel, and the late Cha-da-ska-dum Which-ta-lum Music & Art References: Nikki van Schyndel, Joanna Colbert, Craig Olsen, Chris "Huck" Anderson, Swil Kanim, Jack Gladstone, Dana Lyons, Ken Lonnquist, Soundings of the Planet, Leslie Lightfall • Click Here to Skip to the Index of Volume I - Trail of the Naturalist Mentor. • Click Here to Skip to the Index of Volume II - Trail of the Wildlife Tracker. • Click Here to Skip to the Index of Volume III - Trail of the Traditional Herbalist. • Remaining portions of Wolf Journey to be posted asap. • Click Here to Skip to our Index of Artowork, Stories & Songs • Click Here to Skip to the Handbook for Students & Teachers Index including transcript guide. • Click Here to Skip to the Instructions on How to Use Wolf Journey as a Correspondence Course. Wolf Journey is a comprehensive earth skills curriculum written by Chris Chisholm, and it includes inspirational artwork, stories and songs by Chris and his favorite environmental artists. This book series offers a way for modern people to feel comfortable rediscovering skills of the naturalist, tracker, herbalist, survival scout, stone age artisan, hunter-gatherer, and sustainable pioneer. Students learn experientially through Wolf Journey. Each chapter begins with captivating songs and stories from the authors' experience, as a way of introducing the chapter themes. All chapters contain four field exercises plus a summary exercise which guide students in the development of their earth skills, and each part of the series contains 4 chapters.

As students walk through the first two parts of the series, they move deeper and deeper into the skills of nature awareness, moving from general knowledge of the naturalist, into profound knowledge of the tracker. These skills of nature awareness are prerequisites for the next parts of the book series, where students consider the effects of harvesting plants and animals for herbalism, scouting, primitive living, survial and pioneering.

Now begin your journey by finding your secret place in Chapter One, where you will carry out your field exercises throughout the book series. Notice how you will begin to walk more and more intimately within the landscape each time you visit. Great joy, grief, boredom, peace, rush, and wisdom will come, and I encourage you to live these experiences fully.

As you can probably guess, your experience will be richest is you progress in order of Chapters One through Four before doing anything else. After that, it's fine to jump to whichever book you want to focus on, but again, first try to compete the chapters in order, since they build one atop the other, and if you don't your experience with a chapter might remain superficial.

Contents of Volume I - Trail of the Naturalist Mentor:

• Introduction to Volume I and its field exercises, music, stories and artwork.
• Chapter One - Your Secret Study Site: Find your secret study site and learn to journal as a naturalist.
• Chapter Two - Eight Great Hazards: Assess your fears, then determine real hazards in nature.
• Chapter Three - Sensory Awareness: Develop sensory awareness by practicing wide angle vision, expanded hearing, and other skills.
• Chapter Four - Sketching & Journaling: Learn to sketch as a naturalist, and journal a poisonous plant in your study site.
• Appendix for Volume I with index, transcripts, resources, etc. to be posted asap.

Tracking is my personal area of expertise, since this is what I studied most after being introduced to earth skills in the early 1990s. And I have found that in every area of outdoor study - herbalism, scouting, survival, primitive living, etc. - that "it all comes back to tracking." For instance, if you can find a perfect rock to use as a bowl, you don't have to spend a week making one that holds water. Think of anything: if you can find it, you save much time and some aggravation in learning to make it.

In order to track, you have to "know your place," learn the hazards, develop heightened senses, and be able to remember (record) findings accurately. That's why Volume I comes first in the series, followed by Volume II - Trail of the Tracker, since if you can track, you can do anything else with greater ease.

Contents of Volume II - Trail of the Wildlife Tracker:

• Introduction to Volume II and its field exercises, music, stories and artwork.
• Chapter 5 - Humans and the Hidden Wilderness: Track the wildlife in your own home and learn to track yourself.
• Chapter 6 - Shape Shifting: Learn to imitate the actions of animals in order to move invisibly through nature.
• Chapter 7 - Detective Mysteries: Study prints and sign of a mammal you want to journal in your study site.
• Chapter 8 - Bird Communications: Hear the waves of communication in your study site and journal a bird.
• Appendix for Volume II with index, transcripts, resources, etc. to be posted asap.

Now, a tracker won't be a great tracker until s/he becomes intimate with the plant world, and an herbalist wouldn't be the best of herbalists without understanding the role which the animal kingdom plays in plant life. I put Volume III - Trail of the Herbalist not only to delay a student's work with plants until s/he understands the effect that work will have on the animal world, but also to help trackers get to the next level, the level of the scout. Scouts are jacks of all trades - not only expert trackers - but also knowledgeable about healing methods.

So, while Volume III is designed to lay a foundation from which an herbalist can grow, it is also placed third in the series to prepare scouts for Part Four. For those who wish to become accomplished herbalists, it is also designed whereby the field exercises can be repeated over and over with species upon species of the plant kingdom, until a student can truly consider him or herself an herbalist.

Contents of Volume III - Trail of the Traditional Herbalist:

• Introduction to Volume III and its field exercises, music, stories and artwork.
• Chapter 9 - Caretaking Nature: Complete a native plant restoration project and journal a native plant.
• Chapter 10 - Wild Medicine to be posted asap: Journal an experience working with a medicinal plant to harvest, properly store, and propogate.
• Chapter 11 - Fire Alchemy to be posted asap: Receive an introduction to fire by friction, make fire using all-natural materials, and boil water for an exercise of health.
• Chapter 12 - Primitive Cooking to be posted asap: Harvest and prepare a wild edible plant using primitive cooking methods.
• Appendix for Volume III with index, transcripts, resources, etc. to be posted asap.

Now that a student has learned to slow down and truly feel the natural world from field exercises in Volume I, then discovered a world of wildlife all around and learned to move "invisibly" in nature through field exercises in Volume II, then finally stopped in Volume III to look outside of themselves in an effort to caretake "all our relations" through work with the plant world, s/he is ready to explore the life of a scout.

Everyone will have loads of fun with Volume IV - Trail of the Ancient Scout, but only those with unquestioned morals should specialize in this area. Advanced scouts can move in and out of situations completely unnoticed, can learn everything about the nature of people around them, and uses those skills to help all his or her relations without any self-serving wish. I know - it sounds idealistic to say the least - but that's the goal of the scout. So, enjoy these fun exericises in Volume IV, then move on unless you are ready to repeat the exercises over and over in service of the earth and humanity.

Contents of Volume IV - Trail of the Survival Scout:

You may have noticed that "survival" is a main theme in Volume IV. It is, because a scout must endure all hardship, by learning to enjoy it, before being of any use to his or her people. Again, a scout is a jack-of-all-trades, so when an herbal specialist is present to tend to the health needs of his or her people, the scout fades into another area of service; when an expert artisan is present to craft goods that the people need, the scout lays down his or her tools and fades into that background; when the best hunter is present, the scout fades away from tracking the wildlife and focuses back where he or she is needed.

But a scout does need to know how to hunt when no one else specializes in that; s/he does need to know how to craft goods from plant materials and animal carcasses, etc. So, not only should those who wish to specialize in skills of the scout repeat the field exercises in Book Four as well as the first three books, but s/he should continue on into the following books in order to gain those critical skills.

I place Volume V - Trail of the Stone Age Artisan next, in a stratigic location. I had to put it before Skills of the Hunter-Gatherer because I don't want anyone to go out there and hunt, then not know how to honor an animal once it's been harvested. So this book aims to utilize the animal parts which are wasted in our consumer society, and turn those building blocks into crafts needed for primitive living. By the time you are done with Part Five, you can begin to hunt with the confidence that you will never waste any animal life - nor plant life - again.

Contents of Volume V - Trail of the Ancient Artisan:

• Introduction to Volume V to be posted asap with its field exercises, music, stories and artwork.
• Chapter 17 - Hides & Hairs to be posted asap: Get an animal hide from a local ranch or taxidermy in order to make raw hide and make a variety of crafts.
• Chapter 18 - Skeletons & Viscera to be posted asap: Get animal insides from a local butcher in order to make tools, gut cordage, and other craftwork from them.
• Chapter 19 - Tanning & Clothing to be posted asap: Get another animal hide and learn to "tan" it naturally into a pair of moccosins or other clothing item.
• Chapter 20 - Knapping & Playing to be posted asap: Gather a variety of minerals in order to make a set of knives, and celebrate your progress through Wolf Journey with some earth skills games.
• Appendix for Volume V with index, transcripts, resources, etc. to be posted asap.

But of course, these skills of the stone age artisan cannot be gained without first learning the resources in one's place as Volume I guides you to do. Nor can these skills be gained without first learning to track - in order to find the raw materials you need, and in order to hunt down animals which are key to surviving and thriving - as Volume II guides you to learn. These stone age skills also cannot be gained without knowing all the plant resources available to you - in particular, the trees, and it takes all of Volume III and Volume IV to do that.

You may have noticed that Part Four guides you to utilize the gifts of the trees in order to build the most critical of tools like cordage, shelter, etc. Part Four is also critical for the stone age artisan because in order to successfully hunt and gather resources, it takes an ability to navigate over large distances and therefore survive any condition to reach those resources. For example, an outcrop of prized obsidian stone may be a hundred miles away, or a run of salmon might come up once a year into a distant inland lake once every autumn, or a land-locked tribe might need to trek to the ocean for salt and other goods found there.

And again, we can't go out there and hunt, then not know how to honor an animal once it's been harvested, which is why Part Five taught you to honor the animals by utilizing all their parts, and turning those building blocks into crafts needed for primitive living. After all this previous preparation, you are ready to honorably harvest animals from the wild, leading you into Volume VI of Wolf Journey.

Contents of Volume VI - Trail of the Honorable Hunter:

• Introduction to Volume VI to be posted asap with its field exercises, music, stories and artwork.

• Chapter 21 - Butchering to be posted asap: Get a sheep or other animal to butcher, learn to preserve its meat, and honor it by repeating crafts from Part Five.
• Chapter 22 - Fishing to be posted asap: Make primitive fishing gear, and honor harvested fish by letting none go to waste.
• Chapter 23 - Trapping to be posted asap: Make non-lethal dead-falls and snares using all-natural materials.
• Chapter 24 - Hunting to be posted asap: Make a self-bow and arrow, practice modern archery at a local range, get your hunting education certificate, and honor horvested animals by letting none go to waste.
• Appendix for Volume VI with index, transcripts, resources, etc. to be posted asap.

After completing Volume VI, through your experience outdoors and with the help of mass information which you easily accessed through today's technology, you really do know nature to the point that you would have by age 14 if you had grown up in pre-agricultural times. But we live in the modern world, where the very existence of humans threatens the environmental health of the planet. We were the cause of the mass extinction of mega-fauna 10,000 years ago due to the perfection we attained while hunter-gatherers.

Now, we have been causing the extinction of myriad creatures great and small - possibly including ourselves - through mass development over the past couple centuries, to mass industrialization now which is catastrophically warming the planet. But not to fear: the field of "permaculture" has a solution. This theory and lifestyle of appropriate living is explained in Part Seven, but I want to pass on here a message from the most recent "star" in the evironmental movement - Richard Louv - who wrote Last Child in the Woods. At a speech he gave in Seattle in May, 2007 which I attended he pointed out that:

The youth of today are a new generation. We're no longer dealing with cynical Generation Xers who are children of hippies who kept telling everyone that they "already tried changing the world" and it didn't work. And it didn't: the military-industrial complex, as President Eisenhower warned us, became even more powerful, waged more wars, and polluted at great rates. But now, due to climate change, even these powers are making changes, because we are now mandated by the environment to create a new world, and it is the youth of today, the new generation, who will build it.

Now that you have gained the best kind of foundation for understanding the natural world, it is you who can best go out and cultivate the environment in a way that benefits nature as well as humans. I can't emphasize that enough: those who don't know nature to the profundity you now do are taking huge risks, no matter how good their intentions may be, when making environmental policy. Volume VII of Wolf Journey is a guide to help you step back into the world in a way which makes your footprints on the earth as balanced as possible.

Contents of Volume VII - Trail of the Sustainable Pioneer:

• Introduction to Volume VII to be posted asap with its field exercises, music, stories and artwork.
• Chapter 25 - Philosphy & Activism to be posted asap: Research the theory of permaculture, make a design for the landscape around you, and begin to participate in community activism.
• Chapter 26 - Farming & Forestry to be posted asap: Research appropriate farming and forestry practices, and cultivate gardens in your windows and outdoors.
• Chapter 27 - Appropriate Technologies to be posted asap: Research energy technologies to plan for the best home heating, cooling, and transportation methods which are appropriate in your area.
• Chapter 28 - Community Economics to be posted asap: Research the most efficient economic interaction you can have with your community, such as bringing food from your farm to market.
• Appendix for Volume VII with index, transcripts, resources, etc. to be posted asap.

Volume VIII of Wolf Journey is our Handbook for Earth Skills Students, Environmental Teachers and Outdoor Program Leaders. It aims to help you succeed with your studies, and it is also our policy manual for guiding outdoor educational programs. It is my goal that the new earth skills field catch up to the professionalism attained over the past couple decades in its related outdoor and environmental fields. We must catch up before anyone gets seriously injured, and in order for our work to be accepted by mainstream society - the place we most need to effect outside of ourselves. Wherever you are on your journey, may you do your best, and have the best of fortune.

Contents of Volume VIII - Trail of the Earth Skills Educator:

• Introduction to Volume VIII - Trail of the Earth Skills Educator
• Journaling Cover Page
• Wildlife Recording Form
• Student Transcripts
• Glossary & Resources
• Taxonometric Classification
• Outings Guide
• Teaching Guide
• Outdoor Leader Program Policies
• More TBA

Happy Trails! - Chrism

Using Wolf Journey as a Correspondence Course. Simple as 1-2-3!

Step 1: Complete Your First Journey Entry as described above, for which you will need to Decide On Your Goals as described above, and consider the Resources You Will Need also described above, and continue to Your First Field Exercise - Exploring Potential Study Sites and start to keep track of your progress on your Student Transcripts. If you feel you would like an interview to get yourself started, or a scheduled phone discussion at any time in the future to keep yourself on track, feel free. You may also schedule later discussions right here in the Wolf Camp office. Interviews, scheduled discussions, and email correspondences are designed to set goals for studying, answer questions you have about Wolf Journey, and to assess how to best continue. Phone (and later if requested, in-person office) interviews cost $1 per minute, although to ensure that you feel you are paying for services you find worthwhile, no payment will be required unless and until you request ruther correspondence. Chris prefers that initially, you email him directly and let him know 1) at what point you are with your studies, 2) your phone number and the best times to call you, and 3) if you think you will prefer future discussions or feedback via a. email, b. phone, c. in-office discussions, and/or d. participation in our fall-spring class series, summer training camps, or cooperative intensive programs, and 4) be sure to always have a new sheet of paper and working pen/paper available to take notes. Later in your studies, email correspondence will be billed at the same rate, based on the time it takes to read and respond to your questions, but again, to ensure that you feel you are paying for services you find worthwhile, no payment will be required unless and until you request ruther correspondence. In other words, when you receive a service, you don't have to pay for it unless you request another service later, so every time you want another phone interview, in-office discussion, or email correspondence, be sure to either send a check or have Chris keep your credit card on file, though he won't ever run it until you say so when requesting additional correspondence. Chris will keep track of time and send you an email after each phone interview, in-office discussion, or requested email response with the minutes/dollar cost, and again, you can pay that when requesting your next correspondence service. So again, your first email to Chris and effectively, your first phone interview is complimentary. Please prepare a binder with paper to be used exclusively for note-taking during your conversations with me, and to hold hand-outs, field exercise journal entry form copies from Wolf Journey, and the end-of-chapter summary feedback papers I send you.

Step 2: After each CHAPTER you complete, including its Celebration Summary field exercise, Email Chris all the journal entries you completed along with your original Earth Skills Self-Assessment that you completed without looking up any answers, plus your filled-out Student Transcripts. Alternatively, you can deliver this entire package printed out via a self-addressed, return-postage-paid envelop to our mailing address, and include a $65 check for this feedback service. Chris will write you feedback on your work, and include recommendations for continued study. If emailing and Chris doesn't yet have your credit card on file, then either call him at 425-248-0253 with that card number, or send your $65 check to the home office address just given. Response time will be less than a week on the fall, winter and spring, but may be as much as a month in the summer. Alternatively, you can wait until you finish each book of 4 chapters and send $195 for a little savings. I encourage you to email or call me at any time of day or evening; please do not miss precious days waiting for me to explain something you need to know – ask me so I can help you progress right away. Correspondence students should ask for help whenever they are feeling frustrated, elated or distant from their study site or instructor. Call when you need to talk, and if for some reason I cannot, leave a message on my voice mail. I check it regularly, and less frequently my email. However, remember that phone conversations, in-office discussions, and email correspondence about Wolf Journey or related life issues, all cost $1 per minute of my time, although again, to ensure that you feel you are paying for services you find worthwhile, no payment will be required unless and until you request ruther correspondence. Remember, always be sure to have a new sheet of paper and working pen/paper available to take notes. So in other words, as described above, when you receive a service, you don't have to pay for it unless you request another service later, so every time you want another phone conversation, in-office discussion, or email correspondence, be sure to either send a check or have Chris keep your credit card on file, though he won't ever run it until you say so when requesting additional correspondence. Chris will keep track of time and send you an email after each phone conversation, in-office discussion, or requested email response with the minutes/dollar cost, and again, you can pay that when requesting your next correspondence service.

Step 3: Finish all the books of Wolf Journey, and consider going deeper into the knowledge as described in the Wolf Journey Handbook for Earth Skills Students, Environmental Teachers and Outdoor Program Leaders. Upon ultimate completion of 7 Wolf Journey books, there is a complimentary Rite of Passage graduation ceremony that may take a variety of forms, based on your needs.