Photos of some of our Permaculture Projects and more

Central veggie garden - crop rotation system

Chicken "moat" around the central gardens to help with slug/bug control and many other stacked functions

Steve adding to the compost system

McCoy Creek with a hedge nettle flower in the foreground

Aquaculture pond with aquatic edible plants and bluegill fish

entryway sign

Food forest coming along

garden beds, compost system, and rainwater catchment off the chicken coop

Small greenhouse for veggie starts

Habitat restoration project by the entry sign

Harvesting strawberries from the hugelkultur bed

Inside view of the outdoor classroom

Outdoor classroom with salmonberry in foreground

Rainwater catchment on chicken coop

Root cellar almost completed

New woodshed also built from locust and cedar shakes

Learn more about our permaculture plan on our campus webpage: http://www.wildernesscollege.com/alderleaf-campus-and-facilities.html

Check out the upcoming Permaculture Design Course at Alderleaf: http://www.wildernesscollege.com/permaculture-summer-semester.html

Wilderness Survival Intensive

Last week, students joined us for 5 days of intensive wilderness survival training and learning.  The 5 days included the skills of shelter building, primitive cooking, primitive hunting and trapping, stone tools, bird language, primitive cooking and much more.

Students work together to seal a trout in clay in preparation for cooking on the coals.  Their hands tell the story.

Here students Eric and Mary Lee work together to burn out a wooden bowl.  Next, it will be used to purify water for drinking.  They use straws made of horsetail, a common wetland plant at Alderleaf.

Here you can see what the process looks like within the bowl.  As air is blow on the coals, the spread and burn, and eat their way down through the wood.  The trick is to control them to move in such a way as to create a nice bowl, and not burn through the side of this stump.

We look forward to seeing the survival intensive students return for more classes in the future.

Watch for more updates from Alderleaf soon!

Alderleaf Summer Courses

Now that our amazing Alderleaf Wilderness Certification Program has come to a close and we look forward to starting another year school in the fall, it might seem that things have slowed down here at Alderleaf.  This is not so, however, as we continue to teach a variety of short courses throughout the summertime.

We are excited about next week's Wilderness Survival Skills Intensive.  This 5 day course is an excellent introduction to many of the core skills of wilderness survival, including primitive fire skills, shelter building, wildlife tracking, stone tools, nature awareness and much more.  Check out more details and register here: http://www.wildernesscollege.com/wilderness-survival-skills.html

This course was included in an article in the Everett Herald last summer: http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20110910/NEWS01/709109937

Alderleaf Campus itself is showing the abundance of summer, with a variety of wild berries coming into season including salmonberry, thimbleberry, black-cap raspberry and others.  The rich mixture of greens are at there most impressive now.  The foliage houses many nesting birds. They can be seen busily flying to and fro, seeking insects and berries to stuff into the mouths of their eager chicks.

The ponds are rippling with all kinds of life-forms, including the tadpoles of several amphibians, colorful fish and a diversity of invertebrate creatures.

 

Summer is one of the most beautiful times of the year to visit and take classes at Alderleaf.  Come check us out and join us for some courses!

Progress Continues on Tracks & Sign of Reptiles and Amphibians

Our progress continues on the new tracking book, Tracks & Sign of Reptiles and Amphibians. Alderleaf instructors Jason Knight and myself (Filip Tkaczyk) continue to travel throughout the country gathering data on reptiles and amphibians.

The last 2 trips I took for the book included a trip to California and a trip throughout the Southwest (which included the states of NV, AZ, UT and NM). The trip before that was a trip to Florida.

Our knowledge base continues to grow and we look forward to the completion of this project. Here are some highlights from the 2 recent trips.

A Desert Banded Gecko (Coleonyx variegatus) from the Mojave desert in California.

And here are the tracks of the same gecko species.

 

A very large red diamond rattlesnake (Crotalus ruber) from coastal southern California.

Here is a sand-adapted lizard species called the Mojave Fringe-toed lizard (Uma scoparia).

And here is a hind foot from a fringe-toed lizard.  Notice the enlarged scales on the toes that act like "snow shoes" for running on loose sand.

Here is a spikey-looking Blainville's horned lizard (Phrynosoma blainvillii).

Here are a few highlights from the research trip to Florida.

A young eastern coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum flagellum).  The large eyes demonstrate the dominant sense of this active hunter.

This is a beautiful and harmless scarlet kingsnake (Lampropeltis elapsoides), which displays an excellent color mimicry of the highly venomous eastern coral snake (Micrurus fulvius fulvius).

Here are the fragmented remains of an American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis).  These are the parts of the skull, lower mandible, and skin.

 

Look for more updates from the Alderleaf Blog soon!

Slideshow of the 2011-2012 Wilderness Certification Program!

The Alderleaf Wilderness Certification Program just held its annual graduation ceremony on May 26, 2012. It was an amazing year filled with much learning, adventure, and accomplishment. Check out photos from their program in this video slideshow. Congratulations again to all of the graduates!

Spring Activities at Alderleaf

The past few weeks have been very busy and exciting for the Alderleaf Wilderness Certification Program students. Here are some recent highlights from different class days...



Here one of the students practiced the skill of making baskets out of pine needles. Each student had their own particular approach, so the baskets were completed in a variety of shapes and sizes.



Here are just a few examples of completed baskets.

On another class day, students learned more about Permaculture practices. Students got out on the farm to enjoy the sun and apply some of what they have learned.




Here Certification Program students Shaun and Jared work together to help create plant cuttings for raspberry plants, so that more plants can be grown and spread around the farm.


Spring is showing its lovely face everywhere you look around at Alderleaf. Flowers are bursting, frogs are chorusing and the sun is shinning!




Yesterday, students worked on trying out several primitive cooking methods which included steam pit cooking, clay baking on coals and cooking in a clay oven. Some students also created utensils to eat their cooked food with.



Here student Gianna blows on a coal to encourage it to burn out a cavity for her wooden spoon.




Student Carrie carefully seals the clay on the outside of a trout, that will soon be laid into the hot coals of the fire. This form of primitive cooking cooks food very evenly, and seals in the moisture. The trout came out cooked to perfection!




Here student Alex closes the door to the clay oven, to help trap in the heat in preparation for some primitive baking.

The students had an excellent time learning how to use these different methods of cooking and at the end of the day, they got to enjoy the fruits of their labor by having a primitively cooked feast! The food was delicious, included a variety of vegatables, salmon and some cornish game hens. and did not even require any spices, as it was cooked to perfection.

Next week the students are heading out into the field to take their Track & Sign Evaluations. Wish them luck!

Tracks & Sign of Reptiles & Amphibians!

Alderleaf instructors, Fil and Jason, have just begun work on an exciting field guide project about the tracks & sign of reptiles and amphibians!

The book project is aiming to break new ground by determining ways to differentiate the footprints and other evidence left behind by many species of herps. Fil and Jason are making trips (in between teaching classes) out to each region of the country to gather data over the next two years. The goal is to add new knowledge to the field of wildlife tracking to aid trackers and biologists.

Here's a few photos from Jason's recent research trip to Texas:

This is a green anole (Anolis carolinensis) we found:

Here's a photo of the track made by its front foot:

And here's a photo of the actual front foot (notice the uniquely-shaped expanded toe pads):

Here's the track made by the hind foot:

And the actual hind foot:

Here's a cricket frog (Acris crepitans) we came across:

These are the tracks left by the cricket frog (the front toe tips are not expanded, unlike most other genera of very small frogs):

This is a keeled earless lizard (Hobrookia propinqua) we spotted in the field:

The keeled earless lizard left this scat:

Here's a texas tortoise (Gopherus berlandieri) we came across in the field. It was feeding.

Here's a close-up of the hairy cat's ear plant the tortoise was eating:

Stay tuned for more updates in the future!

Interested in learning wildlife tracking skills? Check out Alderleaf's Wildlife Tracking Apprenticeship.

Advanced Fire Making at the Wilderness Certification Program

Instructor Steve Nicolini led Wilderness Certification Program students through the next step on their journey through learning primitive fire-making methods. Class was started by demonstrating the amazing wet-wood fire. This entails pouring a bucket of water on the firewood before it is lit!



Here Alderleaf intern Gordon shows students how to light a fire after five gallons of water have been poured on the wood! Notice all the water running down the stones that surround the fire pit.

This method is an excellent skill to have mastered if you plan to start a fire during one of the down pours that can occur during winter in the temperate rainforests of the Pacific Northwest. The key is in the structure and materials used.

Students also got to refine their skills of bow-drill and got a chance to work on the hand drill fire making method. This method takes patience and perseverance at first, but was and is still used by indigenous people in many different parts of the world.

Check in on our blog again soon!

Willow Baskets

The Alderleaf Wilderness Certification Program spent 2 days working on learning the art of making functional willow baskets. Before the winter trip, students also used willow to make primitive snowshoes.



Student, Ben, demonstrates how the process works. With a little patience and some elbow grease, students end up with a practical container made completely of natural materials.



Here another Alderleaf Wilderness Certification Program student, Carlsen, shows us his completed willow basket. He even included a handle! Through doing this activity, some students like Carlsen realize they have real knack for making baskets.

Now with completed baskets, students can go out and collect mushrooms, berries and other wild edibles!

Snow and The Winter Trip

Alderleaf Wilderness College had an unexpected snowfall during the week of January 16th. Over the course of several days, a total of between 1.5 and 2 feet of snow accumulated, an unusually high amount for this elevation!

Wilderness Certification Program students worked on learning the construction and use of primitive traps and snares for wilderness survival.



Here, instructor Steve Nicolini is assisted by students Jeremy and Lucas in setting up a weighted snare for demonstration.



An example of a Figure-4 deadfall trap set by Alderleaf Wilderness College student Jamie.

The next week was the much anticipated Winter Field Trip to the North Cascades. The week was filled with adventure, and winter-time survival focused lessons including snow shelter construction, snow tracking, winter survival skills, winter foraging and more.



Here is a view of some of the snow shelters constructed by the Certification Program students. The shelters included quinzee and snow-trench type shelters.



Here student Patrick shows us how to have fun in the snow.

The trip was amazing, and we were grateful for all of the snow, sunshine and learning!