Training in Traditional Nature Crafts
About this Class
Craftsmanship is as old as humanity itself. In this training program, we want to revive the old arts and focus above all on age-old manual ways of working, using the simplest tools possible to bring our creations to life. The materials we need to make beautiful and useful crafts will take us back to the Stone Age, span medieval times and reach more modern styles, while preferably still coming from the pre-industrial era. We want to gather good tools and leftover materials from our ancestors—from Grandpa’s toolbox or Grandma’s sewing table—and learn to use them again with admiration! Nature has always generously bestowed wonderful materials on humankind. A few examples: horn for buttons, wood for cutlery, straw for shoes, plant fibers and animal hair for clothing, hides for bags, earth for pottery, iron for knives, rods for basket weaving, branches for making bows, stones for cooking, leaves for mattresses, and much more. For most of human history, on every continent, we have used nature’s gifts to make useful things for our lives. Today, the main question is how we can take from nature again without harming it. In other words, the question of the “sacred harvest”: taking only as much as necessary and as little as possible, always mindful that we and our grandchildren will survive only if we live and work within nature’s cycles! We want to take a step back in that direction. Partly because we have to, if we do not want to destroy the Earth, but also because planning, designing and making something ourselves is so much fun—and certainly also because we want to become less dependent on others again. In other words: empowering ourselves by doing things ourselves. Craft skills do not come easily to everyone, especially those of us who have been told they have two left hands. But that is usually nonsense! Although some steps may be laborious, through trial and error we gain our own experience, which helps us grasp and understand things—for example, which materials are suitable, which tools work well, and how we can make the best possible use of our hands as tools. We learn particularly well in a nature school that understands the connection between nature and people and supports you without pulling you along, gives you room for creativity, and stands for the power of shaping things yourself! We will learn together, from one another and with one another. Our leaders for the course weekends love what they do. That is the best prerequisite for inspiring people and supporting them as effectively as possible. During the two years of training, we will work on the topics listed below, using the materials required for each, and learn how to use them to create beautiful, creative and useful objects. NATURE CRAFTS I 1. Block: Metal & knives 2. Block: Fish skin & pouches 3. Block: Wood & tableware 4. Block: Bark & containers 5. Block: Rods & baskets NATURE CRAFTS II 6. Block: Stone & cooking 7. Block: Wood & bows 8. Block: Straw & shoes 9. Block: Spinning & weaving 10. Block: Hair & felting Participants The training program is for anyone who enjoys working with their hands and wants to be creative. It is also for those who want to learn to live more independently and consciously, with nature, in nature and from nature. The two-year course is naturally also suitable for passing on the skills you have learned to others, both professionally and pedagogically. Structure The wide range of topics means that the training program runs over two years. Each year can be booked separately. The program consists of five consecutive units, totaling 15 training days per year. The blocks generally run over 3 days; they begin on Fridays at 15:00 and end on Sundays at 14:00. The training year begins in autumn and ends in spring, as was customary in earlier times: making crafts was mostly winter work, and we, too, want to keep this tradition and prefer to use summer for gathering herbs, swimming, picking berries and preserving fruit—and enjoying the sunshine throughout! Certification Instructions are provided for all crafts. During the course, participants supplement them with their own experience, depending on the craft. After each block, the completed work is gathered together, documented, photographed and shared with the group. Upon successful completion, graduates receive a corresponding certificate describing the content of each block.
Available dates
There are currently no upcoming dates for this class. However, you can express your interest in future events by putting yourself on the waiting list.
Structure
The training consists of four units with a total of 12 training days. The blocks are generally structured as 3-day sessions; they begin on Fridays at 3 p.m. and end on Sundays at 2 p.m.
Craftwork was mainly done in winter, when work outdoors came to a standstill. We too want to uphold this tradition and make better use of summer for gathering herbs, going swimming, picking berries, storing fruit, and celebrating life!
We will plan the dates together with the registered participants for the months listed below. Please enter your preferred dates on the registration form and send it.
Tanning: October
Bark: December
Weaving: February
Gluten: March
Prerequisites
The training is aimed at everyone who enjoys hands-on work and wants to be creative. It is also for those who want to become more independent and learn to live self-aware and knowledgeable, with, in, and from nature. The winter course is naturally also suitable for passing on the skills you have learned to others.
Board & Overnight
Price: | €1,500 total training fee
€100 registration fee
The cost of raw materials will be communicated separately.
Additional costs for partial catering and accommodation will be communicated separately at current prices.
Certificate
Upon successful completion, participants receive a corresponding certificate describing the contents of each module.
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Ausbildung Naturhandwerk
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About the Organizer
Natur-Zeit
Nature recreation > Nature enjoyment >> Connection with nature
Experiencing nature, spending time in it, feeling connected. A human need that we give in to and pursue.
The forest beckons right outside our door!
We invite you to choose one of our offerings. Whether alone or in a group, we’ll accompany you outdoors in different ways and in every season, for as much time as you bring. You are warmly welcome, no matter how old or young you feel or are. With or without a disability, we warmly welcome you into nature.
Our offerings and dates: https://www.natur-zeit.net/
Why Nature-Zeit?
! Put simply: Because we need to spend time in nature to keep our innermost nature healthy! That means our bodies need enough exercise in clean air throughout our lives, healthy food, and restful sleep. People who live especially urban lives need both sensory stimulation and grounding experiences to sustain the resilience of their minds and souls.
My path to Nature-Zeit After being fortunate enough to grow up as a child in the countryside, surrounded by nature that was still relatively intact, I was drawn to the big wide world as a young adult. The city’s diversity and modernity intoxicated me. What happened to me then happens to almost everyone in our society. Everything seems possible; we can have it all, and of course we can live life our own way. But after many years of consuming and trying things out, I began to mature. At the latest, when my first child was born, I woke up and felt a longing—no, a need—for a simple life in the countryside, in harmony with nature. To this day, I dance on the tightrope between modernity and simplicity, because “living simply” is no longer so simple in our complicated, fast-paced times, with ever fewer values and a lack of role models. So it was that I longed for peace in healthy natural surroundings, with plenty of time for our little family—not just for three weeks of vacation a year or a weekend trip that began with many others in a caravan on the highway. My (supposedly) new need was met with baffled looks. You have everything! What more do you want? And yes, I wanted so much more! But before I managed to bring more Nature-Zeit into my everyday life, I had to start humbly and learn. My mind was to be free again for all the fascinating stories waiting in nature right outside my door, stories I could only guess would occupy me for the rest of my life. It meant letting go of some habits, ways of thinking, and relationships. And that wasn’t all, because I experienced a transformation that catapulted me out into a suddenly new world, like a newborn. It was a world full of life I had never noticed before: trees, meadows full of flowers, water in all its forms, multifaceted stones and rocks, campfires, and nights beneath a canopy of stars. My many years of training in the knowledge of our ancestors opened my eyes and ears. I could never have dreamed of such diversity. For example, of how many plants and living creatures inhabit a small patch of Mother Earth, and how everything is interconnected. The more I learned and continue to learn, the more clearly I feel that my life will not be long enough to fully understand nature. And yet I am filled with a sense of connection to everything that is. That means that even if my mind can never understand and learn everything, I have nevertheless found the home that feels familiar to me: here, in nature. Today I am endlessly grateful for the earth, the sun, the wind, and the rain. Grateful for their existence and the tireless cycle of coming into being and passing away. Grateful because all our food and clothing, along with our homes and all their comforts, come from the earth! Through my offerings, I want to help the earth heal and remain a place worth living in—not just for people like us, but for the generations to come: my children and your grandchildren! How sad that our children now have to take to the streets to demonstrate, asking for restraint and demanding that the plundering of the earth stop now! It is so important simply to get started. To begin now. To go back out into the forest, to experience and grasp things anew, and to reconnect with what is essential. The least we can do is try to live closer to nature, in a more nature-friendly and species-appropriate way. Whatever speaks to you or is on your mind: every step is a beginning! Or, as Hermann Hesse put it so beautifully: “And in every beginning dwells a magic that protects us and helps us live.”
Hoping that all beings may always enjoy a contented life on earth, I remain with a handful of floral greetings for you!
Birgit Vogt Director, Natur-Zeit
Our offerings and dates: https://www.natur-zeit.net/
Naturerholung > Naturgenuss >> Naturverbindung
Natur erleben, in ihr Zeit verbringen, sich verbunden fühlen. Ein menschliches Bedürfnis, dem wir nachgeben und nachgehen.
Vor der Haustüre lockt der Wald!
Wir laden Dich ein, aus einem unserer Angebote zu wählen. Allein oder in der Gruppe begleiten wir Dich mit der von Dir eingebrachten Zeit, auf verschiedene Weise und zu jeder Jahreszeit hinaus. Du bist herzlich eingeladen, egal wie alt oder jung du dich fühlst oder bist. Ohne oder mit Handicap heißen wir dich in der Natur herzlich willkommen.
Unsere Angebote und Termine: https://www.natur-zeit.net/
Warum Natur-Zeit?
! In einem einfachen Satz zusammengefasst: Weil wir Zeit in der Natur verbringen müssen, um unsere ureigene Natur gesund zu erhalten! Das bedeutet: Unsere Körper brauchen lebenslang ausreichend Bewegung in sauberer Luft, gesundes Essen und entspannten Schlaf. Besonders urban lebende Menschen brauchen sowohl sinnliche als auch erdende Anreize für die stetige Resilienz von Geist und Seele.
Mein Weg zur Natur-Zeit Nachdem ich als Kind in einer noch relativ intakten Natur auf dem Lande aufwachsen durfte, zog es mich als junge Erwachsene in die große weite Welt. Die Vielfalt und Moderne der Stadt berauschten mich. So wie es damals mir geschehen, ergeht es fast allen Menschen in unserer Gesellschaft. Alles scheint möglich, alles können wir haben und selbstverständlich können wir nach unserer eigenen Façon leben. Doch nach etlichen Jahren des Konsumierens und Ausprobierens kam es zu Reifungsprozessen. Spätestens seit der Geburt meines ersten Kindes wurde ich wach und spürte die Sehnsucht, nein, das Bedürfnis, nach einem einfachen Leben auf dem Lande - im Einklang mit der Natur. Und bis heute tanze ich auf dem Seil zwischen Moderne und Einfachheit, denn so einfach ist das eben nicht mehr mit dem „einfach Leben“ in unserer komplizierten, schnelllebigen Zeit mit immer weniger Werten und mangelnden Vorbildern. Es war also so, dass ich mir Ruhe in gesunder Natur mit viel Zeit für unsere kleine Familie wünschte – und das nicht nur für drei Wochen Urlaub im Jahr oder einen Wochenendausflug, der mit vielen anderen in der Karawane auf der Autobahn begann. Mit meinem (vermeintlich) neuen Bedürfnis erntete ich unverständiges Kopfschütteln. Du hast doch alles! Was willst du noch? Und ja, ich wollte noch viel mehr! Doch bevor es mir gelang im Alltag mehr Natur-Zeit zu leben, durfte ich demütig anfangen zu lernen. Mein Kopf sollte wieder frei sein für all die spannenden Geschichten, die vor meiner Haustüre in der Natur warteten und von denen ich höchstens erahnen konnte, dass sie mich mein restliches Leben beschäftigen würden. Es hieß loslassen von einigen Gewohnheiten, Denkmustern oder Beziehungen. Und nicht nur das, denn ich habe eine Transformation erlebt, die mich wie ein Neugeborenes hinauskatapultierte in eine mir plötzlich neue Welt. Diese bestand aus bisher nie so wahrgenommenem Leben voller Bäume, mit Wiesen voller Blumen, Wassern in allen Formen, facettenreichen Steinen und Felsen, Lagerfeuern und Nächten unterm Sternenzelt. Meine jahrelangen Ausbildungen über das Wissen unserer Vorfahren haben mir Augen und Ohren geöffnet. Solch eine Vielfalt hätte ich mir nicht träumen lassen. So z.B. wie viele Pflanzen und Lebewesen auf einem Stückchen Mutterboden leben und wie alles miteinander vernetzt ist. Je mehr ich lernte und lerne, umso deutlicher spüre ich, dass mein Leben nicht ausreichen wird, um die Natur völlig zu erfassen. Allerdings – ich bin durchdrungen von dem Gefühl der Verbundenheit mit allem was ist. Das bedeutet, dass selbst wenn mein Geist niemals alles verstehen und lernen kann, so habe ich dennoch meine mir vertraute Heimat gefunden: Hier bei mir in der Natur. Ich bin heute unendlich dankbar für Erde, Sonne, Wind und Regen. Dankbar für ihr Sein und dem unermüdlichen Kreislauf von Werden und Vergehen. Dankbar, weil wir alle unsere Nahrung, Kleidung mitsamt Nest und allen Finessen aus der Erde beziehen! Mit meinen Angeboten möchte ich einen Beitrag leisten, dass die Erde wieder heilen kann und weiterhin lebenswert ist. Nicht nur für unsereiner, sondern für die Generationen die nach uns kommen: meine Kinder und Deine Enkelkinder! Wie traurig es ist, dass jetzt unsere Kinder auf die Straße müssen, um zu demonstrieren. Um Mäßigung zu bitten, dass der Raubbau der Erde jetzt aufhören muss! Es ist so wichtig, einfach anzufangen. Jetzt zu beginnen. Wieder hinaus in den Wald gehen, wieder zu er-leben, zu be-greifen und sich zu-verbinden mit dem was essentiell ist. Das Wenigste was wir tun können ist doch, zu versuchen wieder natur-naher, natur-freundlicher, art-gerechter zu Leben. Was auch immer dich anspricht oder umtreibt: Jeder Schritt ist ein Anfang! Oder wie Hermann Hesse es wunderbar beschrieben hat: „Und jedem Anfang wohnt ein Zauber inne, der uns beschützt und der uns hilft, zu leben.“
In der Hoffnung, dass alle Wesen stets ein zufriedenes Erdendasein haben, verbleibe ich mit einer Handvoll Blumengrüße für Dich!
Birgit Vogt Leiterin, Natur-Zeit
Unsere Angebote und Termine: https://www.natur-zeit.net/
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