News
Seasons Greetings!
6th Dec 2011
It is with great pleasure that the Native Awareness Team can announce our 2012 course schedule. We are especially excited about offering our family camp, The Native Family Experience, as this is how we initially began. It is with great anticipation that we can run this class and expand the Native Awareness community to the next generation.
Exciting Courses!
29th Sep 2011
Great anticipation is now present within the Native Awareness team due to the Native Skills 3 class that is to be run in October. We have the pleasure of John Lord’s company as he will be passing on his experience with stone and other primitive tools on the class. For those who are not familiar with John, we believe he is the most respected flint knapper in the UK and James has known him for many years as John has helped him understand the art of knapping. In fact it was John who helped put Native Awareness on the internet by designing the first website. Each meeting with him and his wife Val brings many fascinating insights into our European prehistoric ancestors and how we can use their skills today.
Countryfile Magazine
15th Jun 2011
Last spring Native Awareness was asked to participate in a feature written by The BBC Country File Magazine. For the day we were joined by presenter Jules Hudson and photographer Rob Scott. We spent it giving them both a flavour of the skills that we teach at Native Awareness as well as discuss ideas about prehistoric Britain.
It was an enjoyable time even despite the frigid temperature. The day before the interview we went up to the Elmley Castle estate to set up camp. The hill was beautifully still and really quite warm for February. The next morning we had a northerly wind that blew the warmth out of us all…
Wild Foods, Fire Day And More!
13th Jan 2011
We officially commence mainstream classes this year with Native Gift. In March we will be teaching one of our most anticipated classes. Native gift is as the title suggests, a Gift for those students who have taken Native Skills 1 and above. We very much appreciate the support of our students and so we only charge a minimum cost for this class; it also provides us with the opportunity to meet up with old friends from previous years and share skills. We whole heartedly encourage you to come and bring with you skills that you might be working on for others to see as well as to offer advice.
What a year this has been!
13th Oct 2010
I believe that a large part of this year’s success is a direct result of the venues which we have used. The owners of both Ravens Hill Woodland and the Elmley Castle Estate have been very supportive of the classes that we have run. The venues are abundant with wildlife which helps to make teaching nature studies a breeze. A couple of memorable moments include, seeing goshawks fly through camp at Ravens Hill and badgers and deer walking through the students’ sit spots at Elmley Castle.
A Significant Year
29th Jan 2010
In May we are to launch Earth Living, our twelve month programme. The team at Native Awareness are thrilled about offering this curriculum of learning and having the opportunity for continuous contact with a group of dedicated students. We are also looking forward to expanding on some of the subjects found in the mainstream courses as well as going into great depth with new and inspiring skills. If you are interested in the Earth Living programmes we recommend you book as soon as you can as we are limiting the number of students attending.
The Perfect Present.
4th Dec 2009
The festive season is approaching and what better gift to give than to reconnect people with Nature. Why not make use of our voucher scheme. We can arrange vouchers to any sum of money for a course. This works as a great way to introduce your friends and family to Native Awareness or for them to help you pay for your continued study.
Breathless!
15th Oct 2009
I have to say that I feel deeply honoured to have helped create these classes, they were our finest to date! The level of community created and peoples growth, with their individual relationship with Nature, was staggering.
Special Announcement. A Native Gift!
9th Jul 2009
Due to the global financial instability that prevails, we are to run a free class for our committed students. It pains us to think such vital education is being sacrificed due to matters that are beyond our control. Time and time again we receive comments from folk who are struggling to make ends meet and who otherwise, would have joined us in the woods, to learn more of the ways of the Earth.
We at Native Awareness are so very committed to the passing on and preservation of the ancient wisdom and skills we feel this will help!..
June Natural Mystery Quiz
28th Jun 2009
Thank you to all who sent your answers into us concerning the last Natural Mystery Quiz and yes, it was a badger latrine!
For this month’s quiz we thought we would like to ask something a little more challenging…
Primitive Tanning Class Announced
1st Jun 2009
As we were packing up the owners of the venue, an American bison farm, informed us that sadly one of their calves had died that morning and they offered us the animal. As a group we set about skinning the calf and removing its sinew and we were all involved; holding a leg, peeling away the skin etc. It was a beautiful and fascinating time. The calf was only a couple of days old but was as big as a roe deer. Feathers and I have dedicated ourselves to turning the hide into something beautiful for the Native Awareness school, to mark the great gift and the short life of the calf.
New Website And Natural Mystery Quiz
1st May 2009
Welcome to the new Native Awareness website. We are delighted with our new site and would like to give great thanks to student and friend Emily Heath and her partner, North, from Whitespace Design for creating it for us. We hope you enjoy navigating around it. There are now many more exciting pages to view.
I would like to mention a few new changes on our site. We now have things for you to get involved in. Each month we will have an item called Natural Mysteries…
Looking forward to 2009
1st Jan 2009
As do many, I find the beginning of a new year to be the ideal time to firstly review the previous year, then plan and develop new ideas based on what I have learned. Thinking back to 2008 and the courses run by Native Awareness, my abiding memory has been of the dedication to the old skills new and returning students brought with them to class. I am filled with enthusiasm when I receive emails and letters from students that are full of excitement about the new projects they are working on. Only recently a student came to dinner with a bag of wooden spoons, a beautiful length of rosebay willow herb cordage and a couple of deer hides he was working on. I could see in his work that he had not only made an eating utensil but also had created a work of art! What a great way to give thanks to the tree that they came from.