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2008 Events
April 5-7, 2008
Spring Wild Foods Hike
Click here for more info
April 13-20, 2008
Rivercane Rendezvous
www.primitiveskills.org
May 9-11, 2008
The Lake Eden Arts Festival
www.theleaf.com
June 27-30, 2008
Firefly Gathering
www.fireflygathering.org
For all events at the Wildroots land contact us for details and directions by email
at wildroots@riseup.net
Contact us for details and directions
email us - wildroots riseup.net
PO Box 1485
Asheville, NC 28801
Website Designed by Acorn
Revolution
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Wildroots is a 30-acre radical homestead adjacent to
the Pisgah NF in Madison County, Western NC. (about 45 minutes from Asheville).
Our focus is on experiential learning and living, while practicing, developing
and sharing skills for rewilding and reconnection.
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The latest Tulip Poplar bark covered shelter at Wildroots - June 2007
NEW! MORE PHOTOS OF OUR 3 NEWEST BARK LODGES
Covering a wigwam with grass thatching in the "stone-age
village" at Rivercane Rendezvous - April 2007.
Built over 2006-2007, our first straw-clay
insulated cabin keeps its resident toasty in winter - Spring 2007.
Bringing a coal to life from a bow-drill friction fire - June
2007.
A fresh roadkill deer scavenged in Tennessee - June 2007.
Our first tulip
poplar bark-covered lodge...
ABOVE: Our newest structure: A Tulip Poplar bark covered lodge,
inspired by Steve Watts, who directed the construction of a similar
structure at the
Schiele Museum in Gastonia, NC.
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At Wildroots, we live off the grid, carry our water, and practice "earthskills",
or earth-based lifeways. Our interests include permaculture, gardening by the
moon, natural and primitive shelter building, hide tanning, herbal medicine,
nature crafts, and wild food foraging. These skills are rapidly falling into
disuse in our throwaway culture, but we see them as crucial to our future
survival, and we intend to help keep them alive. Some of these skills are as old
as the human species itself. The surest way to protect earth based lifeways, or
"earthskills", is to practice them, and pass them along as we move through this
alienated modern life. Just as we can propagate endangered native plants in the
ecosystems from which they have been displaced, or re-introduce wolves into
areas from which they have been extirpated, we can reclaim our species' lost
knowledge of living with the earth.
We hold events at the land from time to time, so keep an eye on our website, or
get on our mailing list to keep updated. We're looking for long-term collective
members, as well as shorter-term visitors interested in experiential learning.
Subscribe to our listserve to receive these seasonal updates automatically.
Click Here.
Wildroots Summer 2007 Update
Midsummer greetings!
A good deal of time has passed since our last update. Although we've been
wanting to share our experiences with the world around us, we've all been
mmoving farther away from spending time on computers, so often it just
doesn't get done. Some thought has been given to getting rid of our
website altogether since it's hard to keep it updated. If anyone would be
willing to help us with uploading pictures and calendar items every month
or so, please get in touch!
Last fall was one of abundance for us, with lots of canning, preserving
and drying happening. Along with Autumn olives, blackberries, apples,
persimmons, paw paws, elderberries, and deer meat, we were able to obtain
enough bear fat from taxidermists and local hunters to render 20 gallons
of bear grease for the year's food supply. We also picked up on our annual
deer hide connection from a local butcher, and salt-preserved dozens of
raw hides for community use and hide tanning workshops.
Our 4th Spring wild foods hike (there have been 8 altogether!) took place
in late May, with Frank Cook at the helm once again, leading us in our
botanical explorations on the Appalachian Trail. The rigorous section we
hiked was new to us and stunningly beautiful. We were a group of almost 30
this time, which was a comfortable size. Some folks kept a list of plants
we encountered, which we'll try to publish soon. We ate lots of wild
greens, and discovered many plants we haven't seen before on the sections
we've hiked, including Angelica and a tender, very edible asparagus-like
Smilax spcies known as carrion flower (it only stinks when it's in
flower!). This fall's hike will be scheduled later in the summer.
Over the last year, one of us at wildroots has left to pursue different
paths, and one of us has become a part time resident. Three new folks have
moved to the land and are putting the finishinng touches on two new poplar
bark covered living structures, which brings us to 4 bark lodges. To get
this bark, we have established contacts with local loggers and friends in
the area who are clearing trees, and they've allowed us to come to their
work site to peel the bark. This bark offers an excellent rain shedding
material for roofs and walls of these structures, which are constructed
with saplings and poles from the land, and lashed with rawhide.
Another exciting change has been our friend's purchase of 60 acres of land
across the road from wildroots. About 1/2 acre of that land is a rich
bottomland pasture on which we have all created a cooperative garden. The
summer beds are exploding with food now, and we are watching winter squash
and potatoes set their flowers and fruits for a continuing harvest into
the fall. Amazingly, we have managed to keep this garden watered by hand,
hauling buckets from the adjacent creek 20 feet away. After 4 years of
hauling water 500 feet uphill to the terrace gardens at Wildroots, this is
a piece of blackberry cobbler!
We've had many visitors for varying amounts of time, some old friends and
some new. Several graduates from the Teaching Drum Outdoor School's
year-long "wilderness guide" immersion program (www.teachingdrum.org) have
stayed with us as well, bringing rich experiences and vision along with
them.
We encourage guests and potential longer-term visitors to get in touch
with us. New folks bring a diversity of energy and personality to our
community. Guests should be fairly independent and capable of taking care
of themselves, and should have some camping experience. Living without
modern conveniences (power, plumbing, etc) can be challenging, but also
rewarding, so guests should prepare themselves mentally for that. One
thought we've had is that we would really benefit from a diversity of ages
in our community, so we're particularly encouraging families with children
and elders to visit.
We've got lots of ideas and visions for group projects in upcoming months,
including some building and crafts, garden, trail and driveway
maintenance, and some wild and garden food processing. Berry season is
just upon us, bringing with it the prospect of full bellies and
preservation projects. We plan to spend a lot of our time staying cool in
the creek, enjoying the transition from summer to fall and all the
abundance that comes along with it.
Wildroots Autumn '05 Update
Autumn equinox
Once again, the summer turns slowly into autumn… The leaves are starting to fall
and the Sourwood and Sumacs offer us a taste of the reddish wine color that will
soon be joined by yellows and browns to paint our landscape. While the
transition is beautiful, it is also a reminder to think of things that need to
be done in preparation for colder months that lie ahead, such as food storage
and preservation and establishing warm dwellings. As other bioregions experience
the wrath of hurricane season, we are experiencing the driest couple of months
of the year. This seems to work out well, allowing us one last chance to partake
in more physical activities before winter when we'll be spending most of our
energy just trying to stay warm.
The dry weather is also convenient for all sorts of autumn activities like
cutting firewood, gathering and processing feral apples, persimmons, Autumn
Olives, (our favorite late-season fruit), and we plan to soon reap the harvest
of the abundant supply of fresh deer hides from the local butchers and
taxidermists. It is also perfect weather for 2 of us who have been working on
our sleeping shelters. One of us is now getting the roof on (!) and the other is
preparing for slip-straw insulation.
You may have noticed we never put out a summer update. This is mostly because we
were so consumed by the Feral Visions gathering that we didn’t get a chance.
Several great projects happened this summer at our land, including building a
Tulip poplar bark-covered structure, which we are now spending a lot of time in.
We’re still working on it, making some adjustments for winter so we can keep
hanging out there comfortably. We’re hosting a “Primitive Building Work Party”
in October, where we’ll put up 2 bark walls, process and add some deerhide
panels to one wall, and create food storage areas. Read more about it in the
calendar below.
Summer gave us lots of wild fruits like usual, including (in order of their
ripening) black raspberries, thimbleberries, blackberries, elderberries and
blueberries, which we processed by drying as well as mead-making and
syrup. Since roadkill is sparse in the summer months, we ate up our frozen
stores from our freezer. Our herbalist/botanist friend Frank Cook led a
botanical exploration of the Wildroots land for the third time, during which 13
new genera were recorded. We are compiling much ethnobotanical information about
the plants here, and will make this list public sometime this winter. We’ll also
use it again in a public plant walk on the land, probably in the spring. You can
read about Frank’s other upcoming events on his page on our web site:
www.wildroots.org/frankcook.
The Feral Visions gathering went better than we could have hoped. Dozens of
workshops and discussions happened, relating to the skills and experiences of
rewilding ourselves and our communities. Some of the workshops included
primitive weapon making, wool felting, fermentation, Tulip Poplar bark basket
making, and hide tanning. Discussions included such diverse topics as
anti-breeding and radical parenting. Over a hundred people showed up, and
pitched in to make it a real community event by helping set-up, cook, do
security shifts, and clean up. Thanks to all of you who came and contributed
your energy and inspiration! Next year’s gathering will be held in the
Southwest. Keep checking the Feral Visions web page for details (www.greenanarchy.org/feralvisions),
and if you want to join an email update list on future gatherings and related
events, write a blank email to
subscribe-bandgnet@lists.riseup.net.
Mid-Spring Update
May 6, 2005
Once again, spring is in full swing across the continent...wherever you
are, take a moment to focus on all the rebirthing going on around you: The
trees are budding and leafing out...the peepers and songbirds are
returning or re-emerging...the butterflies and hummingbirds are floating
and zooming around...baby deer are stumbling to their feet...and
wildflowers of every color are unfolding under forest canopies, in grassy
meadows, and on sterile suburban lawns. Trout lilies, day lilies,
cleavers, chickweed, curly dock, violets, pokeweed, nettles and toothwort
are just a handful of wild greens we've been eating lately. Here in
southern appalachia, the ramps (native wild onion greens) are finally
popping through the leaf mulch, as they are in all the other eastern
woodland places where they grow (like up in the north woods, where they're
called Wild Leeks.)
Some of us are halfway into our 2 week primitive living "immersion". The 4 of
us are joined by 10-12 more folks, which should make for an interesting
learning and living experience.
Thanks for all your correspondence. We've gotten all kinds of fun stories
and advice requests from various folks we've met in our travels and even
some we've never met. We'd love to here from friends and strangers who are
also blown away by experiencing the real world directly this spring! Keep it
comin'!
Check out our friend Sandy Katz's (aka Sandorkraut), upcoming
"Fermentation Fervor" workshops and demos schedule:
http://www.wildfermentation.com/upcomingworkshops.htm
The main reason for this email is to announce that Wildroots has switched
to a new email account, so please try to start corresponding with us at
that address:
wildroots@riseup.net
Everything else is still the same, although watch for a new P.O. Box in
the near future.
See ya at Feral Visions this summer, July 27-August 3!
www.greenanarchy.org/feralvisions
Spring 2005 Update
March 12, 2005
Early spring greetings from southern Appalachia!
Spring is hinting at its arrival as we return home after winter adventures in
warmer lands. The rhododendrons are showing their first buds, chickweed and
toothwort have begun springing back from their wintery dormancy, and the
leaves of the persistent multiflora rose are emerging.
We all had a full and warm winter. After a couple months beside our woodstove
at Wildroots, two of us took a trip to florida, where we camped on an island
in Tampa Bay and feasted on foraged whelk (a giant sea snail), and sea
catfish (which didn’t taste the least bit muddy!) One of us spent the winter
in Arizona where, amongst other things, much time was taken up gathering
feral olives, and curing them so they taste savory and oily, rather than
mouth-puckeringly disgusting, as they do fresh off the tree.
In February, we packed into the van and headed to Winter Count, a primitive
skills gathering in Arizona, which we were able to attend by doing work
trade in the kitchen. Our experiences there were very full both skill-wise
and socially. We met up with a bunch of feral friends and made many new
ones. We attended all sorts of workshops, including wicker pack basket
making, antler handle knife hafting, wet scrape hide tanning, rubber tire
sandal making, and cattail visor making. It was interesting to see what
people are doing with primitive skills in the west, as it seems that more
people out there are actually living primitive lifestyles, rather
than treating primitive skills as a hobby.
One exciting project that came out of our experiences was the founding of a
new publication, “Uncivilized, a journal of feral living.” The editorial
circle will be made up of folks scattered around the continent. The first
issue will be put out of the southern Appalachians. We are currently looking
for submissions. If you are interested in writing something, contact
feral@riseup.net
to find out what subjects the collective is currently hoping to see covered.
After winter count we went down to a ghost town in southern Arizona that a
friend of ours caretakes. There we set up a primitive camp by a lake with
some folks that we met at the gathering. We spent our days hiking, tanning
hides, and teaching, learning, and playing with each other and the 2 feral
children that were part of our tribe there, and our nights singing,
feasting, and sweating in a hand-built sauna. We made a birthday coffee cake
in a dutch oven filled with an enormity of tasty and
nutritious foraged barrel cactus seeds. We ended our ghost town adventure with
a night with the tribe in a cave in the breathtakingly beautiful Sycamore
canyon.
Our road trip back to Wildroots was memorable, thanks to the fact that we were
not in a rush, (unlike usual). We went backpacking in the gorgeous and
mysterious Guadalupe Mountains of west texas. Anxious to be out of the car
we rocketed up the mountains, tasting a serious case of vertigo, as we
looked down on the almost 3,000 foot canyon that we climbed above, with
save-laden rock spires all around. In Fort Worth, Texas, one of us noticed a
few pecans half-buried in the mud in front of the house where we were
staying, which prompted us to look up, and realize that the entire
neighborhood was filled with pecan trees. We gathered a large sack-full
before making our way out of dreaded Texas.
Now we are home and looking forward to the cleansing greens and crisp sunny
days of spring.
Subscribe to our listserve to receive these seasonal updates automatically.
Click Here.
Autumn 2004 Update
November 1, 2004
The autumn season finds much of the community of life preparing to enter
dormancy. In the hardwood forest of Southern Appalachia, greens turn to vivid
reds, yellows and oranges. The leaves of trees and shrubs fall quietly to the
earth, providing a thick layer of mulch to nurture the seeds that lie naked on
the ground, protecting them from hungry critters and birds so they might sprout
in the spring.
We humans sometimes experience melancholy at this time, as so much vitality
recedes from above the ground, and sinks deep into the subterranean world of
roots, corms, and rhizomes. We slow down, and become conscious of our internal
energy, as we enter the time of reflection and introspection.
Earthskills…
In October we spent a week at the Falling Leaves earthskills rendezvous just a
couple hours away from Wildroots. Some among us fashioned Seminole-style
moccasins, made a bow-drill fire kit, and crafted Atlatls (primitive spear
throwers), and weaved a Cherokee-style rivercane basket. Assorted friends and
fellow-work exchangers dyed locally spun wool with plant dyes, carved bows,
tanned deer hides, and shaped and fired wild clay pots. One of us co-facilitated
a wild foods cookery project with kids and adults using acorns, wild meat, feral
apples, and some not-so-wild fresh, handmade corn hominy. Between trading at the
barter blanket, staying up late playing, dancing, and listening to homemade
music, attending workshops, and putting in work-exchange hours, we were busy.
Check out www.earthskills.net
for details on the spring gathering, Rivercane Rendezvous.
Deerskins to Buckskins…
Before winter descends, we're planning one last learning opportunity at
Wildroots: A Deer hide tanning workshop, from November 11-15. The upcoming
workshop will take participants through the multi-step process of making
buckskin out of deer skin, using the wet-scrape method. The person teaching
learned hide tanning at Teaching Drum outdoor school. The workshop will offer a
work-trade opportunity, but otherwise we will ask $100 to compensate the
instructor, who is raising money to attend the year-long program at Teaching
Drum next year. Contact Wildroots for details: wildrootsnc@ziplip.com.
As hunting season begins, we start contacting taxidermists and butchers for
hides, and already we've received 50 fresh deer hides from a local butcher, many
of which we freeze at our neighbor's house for later use. We have fleshed many
hides in great efforts that sometimes last into the night, a group of a few of
us compiling buckets of fat and scrapings, happy in contradiction as a car
blasts light and music onto our efforts. We have also managed to scrape and tan
some hides while dealing with the general inundation.
An increase in roadkill also provides us with abundant meat and hides, as
animals begin a feeding frenzy, often wandering far and wide to find enough food
to store energy for winter, and to nourish a pregnancy.
Feral foraging…
A few days after returning from the rendezvous, we set out for yet another 3-day
Wild Foods walk on the Appalachian Trail. We went with with several folks from
Asheville, and botanist/herbalist Frank Cook. We started with a wild plant walk
around the land, revisiting plants on the Wildroots plant inventory we drafted
last fall with Frank, and adding new ones. We also compiled a list of edible or
medicinal plants and mushrooms we encountered while on the hike, including
white, shaggy Bearded Tooth mushrooms, hickory nuts, and a rare Appalachian Osha
relative also known in the mountains as “Boar Root” (probably referring to the
word for a male bear!). A m�ange of wild mushrooms and a wild green called
sochan and a feral autumn olive, apple and acorn “compote” topped off the hike
on the last night.
Harvest time…
Harvest time applies not only to the horticulturalist, but also to the forager.
Cold-hardy green leafy wild plants like watercress, nettles, dock, chickweed,
and toothwort embark on a second run of growth. Acorns, Chestnuts, Beech nuts,
Black Walnuts, Pecans and Hickories fall from the trees by the bucket full.
Feral autumn olives bushes on the nearby National Forest (planted by the Forest
Service) give us endless gallons of sweet, tart lycopene-rich fruit, which we
turn into wine, fruit leather, chutney, and jam. Feral apples and pears planted
by homesteaders a century ago, ripen and fall to earth. Persimmons soften and
turn purple, as we scamper to find them on the ground before the raccoons.
Feral Visions…
A couple of us are currently traveling around the Midwest on a slideshow tour
entitled “Feral Visions: Breaking free from the tentacles of Civilization, and
realizing our wildest dreams.” The presentation uses slide images to illustrate
a critique of Civilization, and to show examples of people de-civilizing through
rewilding and radical homesteading. So far, we've stopped in 7 places -- mostly
large midwestern cities. In each place, interesting post-slideshow discussions
have taken the edge off of being in these metropolises, where humans have
dominated the landscape so completely. Check our website for our itinerary:
www.wildroots.org Not coincidentally, Feral Visions was also the name given to
the last green anarchist gathering out in Oregon this past summer. Next summer,
folks in the Southeast will be hosting Feral Visions in August 2005. Contact
feralvisions@greenanarchy.org to get involved with planning and setup for this
3rd convergence of the Black and Green network.
Next Spring at Wildroots should be full and busy. We have plans for another wild
foods hike, more hide and pelt tanning workshops, tulip poplar bark harvesting,
and a 3-week primitive living immersion experience in the National Forest
adjacent to Wildroots. Contact us if this sounds like something you'd want to
participate in.
As always, we're looking for long-term collective members, especially folks who
have experience with cooperative, primitive living and/or radical homesteading.
We're also open to visitors and short-term residents (who don't mind winter
camping in the mountains!). Our schedule is very full for the next few months,
so if you are wanting to come visit, please contact us well ahead of time.
Subscribe to our listserve to receive these seasonal updates automatically.
Click Here.
Directory of Intentional Communities (book)
Creating a Life Together By Diana Christian (book)
Intentional Communities website: www.ic.org
wildroots(a)riseup.net
P.O. Box 1485
Asheville, NC 28801Website by
Acorn Revolution
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Winter 2007 Update
