Custom Courses & Wilderness TripsTrue Nature offers a variety of custom courses, wilderness trips and family programs that are designed to meet your interests, schedule and budget.
Our programs can be tailored for families, individuals or groups and are suitable for all ages (well, almost all ages... so far we've had participants from 6 to 72 years old). We offer over 20 custom programs because we want you to choose exactly what's right for you and be involved with your own learning experience. How does the custom course work? |
Find out what's possible!
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Wilderness & Primitive Survival Trips Traditional Living Skills & Self Reliance Natural Gardening & Homesteading |
Wilderness & Primitive Survival TripsWilderness Camping BasicsThe Wilderness Camping Basics is much more than a 'basic' course: You will be learning the fundamentals of outdoor camping and hiking, and gain competence in your ability to go 'out there' and be comfortable in the wild.
Lessons include: Fire-making in difficult conditions; proper shelter construction & placement (including emergency shelters); mapping & aidless navigation; knife safety and usage; back-country hygiene; thermoregulation of the human body; positive impact camping & ethical material harvesting, night hiking, and much more. This course is designed to increase your skill level and expand your comfort zone in the wilderness while enjoying the beautiful canyonlands and mountains of southern Utah. Recommended for: Age 16 and up. Recommended Workshop Length: 1 day to several weeks. Primitive Survival SkillsThis custom course offers participants a hands-on experience in wilderness living skills, primitive survival techniques, Traditional crafts and nature awareness.
Some of the topics covered in the course: traditional hide tanning, primitive trapping, foraging of wild edibles, natural cooking techniques, fashioning of stone knives, friction fire methods, hunting with primitive tools, and stalking exercises for hunting of small and large game, and more. Recommended for: Age 16 and up. Recommended Course Length: 1 day to several weeks. Wild WalkaboutJoin us on a wild adventure into the heart of the Utah wilderness, carrying little more than the clothes you wear.
Learn how to slow down into the heartbeat of the earth, to expand your awareness of the natural world and the gifts it has to offer, to reclaim your native ways of living with the land. The focus of this course is to let go of some of the stereotypical survival teachings and establish a relationship with the earth through the skills of the Hunter-Gatherer. By treating the earth like our home, we can become more comfortable and let go of the conquering notions that the term “survival” sometimes has associated with it. In the Wild Walkabout custom course, you will acquire the tools necessary for being comfortable walking the wilderness with minimal to no gear, while learning the ancient skills we all once had for living off the land. We will be foraging, trapping and hunting our food with the tools the land offers us, and expanding our awareness of the natural world as well as the Wild Within. Recommended for: Age 18 and up. Recommended Course Length: 2 days to several weeks. Family Nature CampWe offer educational nature trips for families ranging from 1-day nature awareness hikes to weekend wilderness camping, and even a week-long adventure in the canyons and mountains of southern Utah.
Our family trips include lessons on edible & medicinal plants, wilderness living & camping skills, traditional arts and nature awareness. Recommended for: All Ages (Family Friendly). Recommended Course Length: 1 day to 1 week. Traditional Living Skills & Self Reliance
Fire by FrictionExperience the marvel of making fire in the old way, using nothing more than a couple of sticks found in nature.
We will share the Bow Drill and Hand Drill friction fire methods using local materials, and will walk you through the process of selecting the wood, carving the fire set, creating a coal of smoldering wood dust, transferring it to a tinder bundle, and blowing the coal to flame using but a couple of sticks you whittle into form. Recommended for: All ages (Family Friendly). Recommended Workshop Length: half day to 2 days. Medicinal Plants & Their Uses
This experiential workshop designed to introduce you to the world of plants and their medicine.
We will share the lore of the Wise Woman Tradition, focusing on a few plants that can be found in your garden, back yard and the nearby environment, and cultivating a relationship with the plants in order to benefit from their healing properties. Participants will learn ethical and proper plant harvesting techniques, prepare and go home with a healing salve as well as a medicinal tincture (alcohol-free) using natural, organic materials such as apple-cider vinegar, olive oil and bees wax. This workshop is designed to deepen your awareness and relationship to the world of plants and their healing properties. Recommended for: All ages (Family Friendly). Recommended Workshop Length: half day to 3 days. Traditional Bow MakingThis workshop will walk you through the entire process of making a traditional bow.
Participants will learn how to choose the right stave, carve it into a working bow using basic tools (primitive or modern), make arrows and arrowheads and finally, proper shooting techniques. At the end of the class you will have not only a great bow that can be used for hunting, but also a working knowledge of how to make your own bows with very basic tools. Recommended for: Age 16 and up. Recommended Workshop Length: 5 days to 7 days. Stone-Tools & Flint KnappingGaining a working knowledge of stone tool-making is not only an ancient form of craftsmanship, but also an important survival skill for those who go out into the wilderness.
Learn how to make stone knives, arrowheads, saws and other utility tools using obsidian and local Jasper. We will also show you how to make the basic flint-knapping tool kit to set up a knapping-pit in your own back yard. Recommended for: age 16 and up. Recommended Workshop Length: 1 day to 1 week Shelter Building: Duff Beds & Debris Shelters
Building a shelter is one of the most important wilderness self-reliance skills. In this course we will show you how to build emergeny & survival shelters, from site selection to right shelter construction.
Acquire a thorough understanding of how to choose your campsite location. Then, gather natural materials and build warm beds and shelters to sleep in without the need for a blanket, sleeping bag or a tent. Gain the knowledge that might save your life in case of emergency - a kind of insurance policy for a rainy day. Recommended for: All ages (Family Friendly). Recommended Workshop Length: half day to 2 days. Atlatls & Darts WorkshopAtlatl is the 'grandfather' of the bow, dating more than 20,000 years back into the era of the great prehistoric hunters.
It is a precision dart-throwing hunting weapon which is still used today in some native cultures, and has some advantages over bows. Its light weight and simple construction makes it a great tool. Learn to make and use the atlatl and darts and gain skill in this simple yet elegant primitive weapon. Recommended for: Age 10 and up. Recommended Workshop Length: 2 day to 4 days. Traditional Hide TanningHide tanning is an ancient art practiced by indigenous people around the world for thousands of years. Traditionally tanned leather is stronger, softer and more durable than chemically tanned leather.
In this workshop participants will learn to process a deer hide into beautiful Brain-tanned buckskin that can be turned into clothing, bags and many other uses. Workshop includes hide processing, brain/egg softening, hide smoking and sewing techniques. Recommended for: Age 16 and up. Recommended Workshop Length: 2 days to 1 week. Large Animal Processing
During this workshop students will learn to slaughter, skin, butcher and cook a medium sized animal (sheep or goat) in a traditional way, using little more than one’s knife. We will identify all the parts of the animal and learn how to process the muscles, sinew and organs as well as share some ways to cook the edible parts.
We will process the hide, sinew, bones and hooves to the point where they are ready to be turned into usable tools, clothing, musical instruments or adornments. Students will have the opportunity to work on these projects including bone tools, sinew and intestine cordage, hoof rattles, hide glue and more. Examples of such items will be available. The workshop includes lunch and dinner, cooked by the students during the workshop. Vegetarians welcome! Recommended for: Age 16 and up. Recommended Workshop Length: 1 day to 4 days. Primitive Pottery - Anasazi Black on White
The ancient Anasazi people were expert potters, creating pottery that was striking yet simple. They did not use potter's wheels or modern kilns, but only what was available in their surroundings. How did they make such elegant and practical pottery?
In this workshop, students will learn how to make their own clay pots and bowls in the traditional Anasazi style known as Anasazi Black on White. Using only tools and materials from the land, we will learn the various steps necessary to produce a primitive pot - from harvesting and processing the clay to the natural firing process. Recommended for: Age 6 and up (Family-friendy) Recommended Workshop Length: 2-3 days. Foraging Wild EdiblesLearn to identify and harvest edible plants - from the common back yard "weeds" to the wild edibles and medicinal plants in the area.
Prepare meals with what you gather and make poultices and tinctures from native herbs for a variety of healing purposes. You will be surprised how many edible (and yummy) plants grow around your house, even if you live in the city! Recommended for: All ages (Family Friendly). Recommended Workshop Length: half day to 3 days. Traditional Weaving with Inkle-LoomWeaving with Inkle loom is a fun an easy way to make beautiful straps and belts.
In this workshop we will teach the way of working with this traditional loom to create elaborate designs that can be worn. We will also share plans for the construction of a loom at home, using simple and inexpensive materials. This class will also cover basic hand-weaving techniques. Recommended for: All ages (Family Friendly). Recommended Workshop Length: half day to 2 days. Gourd ContainersGourds are a natural, beautiful material that come in many sizes and shapes. Gourds can be turned into bowls, drinking bottles, jewlery boxes, musical instruments and a variety of other uses.
In this workshop we will share the traditional way of preparing, shaping and decorating the gourds and even teach you how to make hand-woven straps to hold your containers. Recommended for: All Ages (Family-friendy) Recommended Workshop Length: Half-day to full day. Natural Gardening & HomesteadingFarm - StayTrue Nature Farm offers an opportunity to stay on our farm (in our Yurt or campgroud) and experience the farm's day-to-day life:
Milking the goats, collecting eggs from our chickens, spend time with our horses, llamas and donkey, and harvest vegetables from our organic garden. Learn about natural Farming & organic gardening methods & principles, from how to build a great compost pile to creating a food-forest. You may also learn more about our accommodation options on our Farm-Stay page or by contacting us directly. Recommended for: All ages (Family Friendly). Recommended Stay: 2 days or more. Homesteading BasicsLearn the foundations of Homesteading that can be applied to your back yard - even if you live in the city!
We will share with you various ways to prepare and preserve food, including milking goats, cheese-making, food canning, , fruit jams and even small scale poultry processing. Other topics will be covered according to your interests. Recommended for: All ages (Family Friendly). Recommended Workshop Length: half day to 2 days. Cob-Oven BuildingThis is an experiential workshop that will teach you how to build your own cob-oven in your back yard, so you can start baking your own breads, pizza, and a variety of other pastries.
We will walk you through a step-by-step process of designing the right oven proportions, choosing and processing the materials, constructing & decorating the oven and finally - some great recipes for breads and pastries! Recommended for: All ages (Family Friendly). Recommended Workshop Length: 1 day to 2 days. Traditional CookingThis tasty workshop offers participants a hands-on experience in native cooking methods, including:
camp-fire & Dutch oven cooking; cob-oven baking; steam-pit cooking; traditional grain-processing and hominy; making jerky; and a variety of other indigenous cooking techniques. The workshop will include (of course!) eating all the yummy foods we've cooked together. Recommended for: All ages (Family Friendly). Recommended Workshop Length: half day to 3 days. |