The vision with multiple nodes

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#1

Hey everyone. I’m new to this forum.
I’ve been working towards starting a similar project for a few years now and just stumbled upon this site which was very refreshing and exciting to see. I’m part of a land project that is interested in these ideas and exploring different ways of implementing them.

I’d like to start a discussion on the practical day to day activities of being semi nomadic.

I’m curious how folks see each node interacting with the next. Will they be located far enough apart that they’ll offer a different harvest?

I’ve got many questions and ideas but let’s start with this.

Thanks
glad to be here

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#2

anybody have any thoughts on this?

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#3

I am not practically versed with going between ‘nodes’ (like wwoof-hopping, which may be an already existing equivalent more or less) so grains of salt and all that but I think a week away by foot is ideal. One can pack food for that long. Otherwise the next good distance is one negotiable by car (by hitchhiking, or within country by one’s own vehicle and a reasonable gas budget, and the next is by flight). Then there is seafaring. Pat Craig would have something to say about this, but so would Andrew. So there seem to be four different intervals: by foot, car, train / plane, or boat.

But more interesting is your consideration about how the travel (by fossil fuel powered vehicle presumably) can shorten or lengthen a seasonal duration, relative to a harvest. What did you have in mind about that?

Also there is bound to be an introduction thread on here. We’d be pleased to hear your story and project.

#4

Hey thanx for the reply.
I guess to begin I could share a bit about our project.
We are in northern bc (without getting to specific yet) in a town of roughly 4000 people. We have 160 acres of riverfront property bordering a bit of what the gov’t calls crown land, yet are situated in a residential area very close to downtown (if u can call it that).
Our group is experimenting with income sharing, where we pool our income for the purpose of sharing resources. One of the main objectives with the land is permaculture food growing. But we are also very interested in (and pursuing) the potential for different nodes reaching further and further out into the wilds.

We currently do a lot of fishing hunting and foraging in our areas. We also do an annual trip to a different region for the purpose of harvest in a region that has earlier or extended seasons.
Our annual trip is done by car since the distance is unrealistic to achieve otherwise.

Im not sure how many folks are currently involved with the project in Alaska, but I’m very interested to hear some experiences with living life between different nodes and the practical purpose for such movement.

I would also love to see this idea spread and have a network of nodes all over the place.

Is anyone here in northern bc and interested or practising these ideas ?

#5

@andrew @jenniferocious @seaweed and @dennis would probably have something to say. Their 5 million year slumbers have been disturbed with the feralculture tagging system. We’ll see if they awaken.

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#6

Flapjack,

Some friends of mine are very interested in visiting your land project and living a nomadic existence. They plan on traveling to Canada this Summer. If you’re hosting guests feel free to contact me directly through this forum. I’ve told them to visit Denman, Hornby, and Cortez Islands, along with the Gulf Islands in general, but I think they might enjoy visiting larger projects farther North.

The Feralculture project is so new that I don’t think there are current examples of people living the vision laid out as there’s only one node. Andrew and Jennifer may have different opinions on that after helping a local with a fish camp recently.

I have only lived at remote land projects that travelled by car/walking/buses/hitchhiking to different abundant harvests: acorns, blueberries, horse clams, seaweed, crab, dumpstered food, building supplies, etc. Only a couple times have I been part of a “camp” to harvest in abundance. Both times were on Orcas Island where I harvested nori and kelp for a couple days. When I lived in a remote project in Bow, Washington most of the hunting and gathering was done by foot: hunting porcupines/rabbits and gathering berries everyday. When living in squats, I’ve bused to Seattle and done the dumpster route (in South Downtown, aka “Sodo”) by foot and even carried my food conspicuously back on the bus. None of these were permanent camps, or nodes, really. Just “spots” I would go again and again. The “nettle” spot, the “chantrelle” spot, etc.

In Minnesota people do more seasonal harvest camps. Folks I know do a regular Wild Rice and Maple Sugar camp (aka Sugar Bush) usually for a week at a time. They also do Smelt and Black Walnut harvesting in bulk.

In other words, I’d say I don’t know much more than you do, and that you seem to know quite a bit more.

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#7

I am from BC (though have not even been to northern BC) and very interested in such things. At the moment what I doing is trying to get some training in wilderness living. But I also need to figure out where to live (I’m from Vancouver and staying is not an option).

I would definitely be interested in visiting sometime, though not necessarily this year if I succeed at going to a wilderness living school.

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#8

Hi There, You (Bewilderness) may want to check out Firemaker in Courtenay, BC in July. It’s a primitive skills gathering that I’ve heard good things about. There’s also the Wilderness Living Project that some cool folks run.

http://firemaker.org
http://thewildernesslivingproject.ca/
http://www.firemaker.org/links-resources-and-other-events.html

If you happen to come down to the states there’s Saskatoon Circle in late Sept in Twisp, WA. And Echoes in Time in late July in Monmouth, Oregon. I’ll be at Echoes this year.

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#9

The current Alaska experiment isn’t a perfect implementation of the concept. For instance, the one official node we have here is surrounded by millions(?) of acres of openly accessible state land. Of course, there are pockets of private property here and there, but we can freely roam in all directions for miles without coming into any major restrictions. As such, we haven’t felt any big hurry to purchase additional nodes. Also @david and @glennh (who are in the area, and own their own land in our watershed) have been urging us that you don’t need to own property to live in the forest here.

There are a couple anthropology papers on the topic that I have found helpful, and I’ll try to post those for everyone’s perusal before elaborating further.

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#10

Its awsome to see you guys putting this idea into action up there.
Im currently implementing similar ideas in my area and would love to bounce ideas back and forth.

I was wondering… are there differing bioregions in your area that offer a unique harvest at different times? The area that im in is a transition between coastal, southern interior and northern boreal so it offers quite a variety of harvest locations and times.

Im curious what your access is like? or proximity to a town? or road?
Im travelin between a couple places rangin from downtown in a village to about 40 kms up a backroad skidoo access only (which then borders 1000s of acres of wild lands.)

Something that has been on my mind for a while now is finding the practicality of being nomadic in an area where traditionally, people were fairly sedentary because of salmon.

Is anyone aware of imediate-return nomads who lived near a massive salmon run but didnt put away fish for the year?

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#11

This is one of the relevant papers I hinted at. I uploaded this the other day, bu forgot to link it…

Willow Smoke and Dogs' Tails: Hunter-Gatherer Settlement Systems and Archaeological Site:

#12

Aaaaand… Finallyyyyy… The other paper…

Social networks and information: Non-“utilitarian” mobility among hunter-gatherers

#13

awsome, ill take a look at them.
ive read the “play as a foundation…” text a few times. its quite inspiring.

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