LEARN ABOUT CREATURES

This is a level 2 activity because
* making fire without matches, lighters, flint, bow drills is really hard work, and you have to know your plants and use strength and patience in order to make fire.
* there should be supervision and guidance for youngsters who want to learn this skill

Get started

This activity is simple: learn how to make fire in the very very old way - before the match. Involve lots of people, and tell us all the stories of what you experienced.

Hang in there

If you notice that this process is taking years, that's ok. It isn't easy to do anymore - because we've lost a lot of that knowledge. But we can figure it out.

Make sure that you talk about why you are learning about how to do this. We have plenty enough of an energy crisis right now, and don't need to be making extra messes. When I think about this, it reminds me about what energy is. So try not to waste too much life in doing this activity.

We started trying to make fire, and after trying and trying to even just find good materials around us, from the earth - we only got part way and peeled a willow stick (which I still have.) We never made a tinder thing cause we couldn't figure out how to get a good knick in wood with a rock - and actually, I'm not even sure if we ever found good wood for the base. Also, the willow stick was really bumpy and giving horrible blisters when I tried using it on some regular wood.

So much to learn!

Why this is important

Making the fire isn't easy. It is our hope that you will also try it and share what you learned about this. All of our greatest grandparents did this, and I don't know anyone who doesn't acknowledge fire as important to a long long human story.

Seems like everyone had different ways of making fire in the past. But today you need to feel that in your own hands and muscles, or at least witness the creation of fire - because reading about it won't teach you some aspects of our struggles and strengths.

Resources for learning

In a book called Primitive earth skills there is a 60+ page explanation of how to make fire from plant materials. This information came from information recorded about how native people worked with the plants to make fire.

There is some knowledge about how certain plants ignite at certain temperatures, so they are better to use because those friction-based fires start with less muscle power.

Two survival TV/cable shows - Survivorman and Man vs. Wild feature (on youTube) fire building - different methods - in almost every episode.

A documentary, Fire and the Story talks about fire and how old knowledge (thousands of years of technical knowledge in complex ecosystems) is finally being used again to take care of the land in Australia.

Here's KQED Quest the Science of Fire on youTube

We need ideas and your thoughts

How else can we work to put this essential knowledge back into our lives?

Have you ever taught people how to make fire in this way? What was your experience?