Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Micmac Baskets

Today in the News:  Thanks to all of you, we've been averaging around 250 hits per day for quite some time.  I'd like to thank all of our guest writers and readers for their dedication.  This has really grown more than I ever thought it would.  If you like this blog, please click follow at the top of the page. 

Link of the Day:  Tim Smith, from Jack Mountain Bushcraft, has recently released a podcast on his website.  As you know from previous postings, I really respect the work that Tim has done in the bushcraft community.  Please stop by the Jack Mountain Bushcraft site and give a listen.  His podcast on bushcraft as an industry really made me think about the changing face of bushcraft and outdoor skills. 

I'm not sure that I've ever written this here, but this blog is intended as a simple journal of skills that I am (and others are) acquiring in life.  My goal has been to collect and practice the old and new ways.  It is a preservation of the skills that I didn't feel were important when I was young.  My perspective has changed in recent years.

Overall, I'm not sure that this is a bushcraft blog.  That's why I changed the header above.  There are aspects of bushcraft here, as well as other skills.  What I took from Tim's podcast is that the name of what we do is unimportant.  The doing is what matters.


Micmac Baskets

This is the other video that I mentioned a few weeks ago when I posted the Woodsmen and River Drivers video.  This one is also on http://www.folkstreams.net/ .  The Micmac Indians are from my neck of the woods. 

Although I don't know much about the Micmacs, it appears as though they are trying to keep their traditions alive.  Here is some information from Wikipedia

Enjoy the film.  Since it is under copyright protection, I'm posting it as a link.

Our Lives in Our Hands - The Micmacs

Pax Domini Sit Semper Vobiscum,

Mike, Oscar, Hotel......out.

2 comments:

  1. Thank you for the link, appreciated.
    http://woodsrunnersdiary.blogspot.com/

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  2. Mike, the header is great because the title of your blog doesn't say Bushcraft anyway; it says the Sharpened Axe and an ax can be used in bushcraft but it is also in many homes that burn firewood without any bushcraft connotations. Indeed, you were posting more about the axe when I first started reading your blog and thought: "Cool, a dedicated axe blog", but I have enjoyed your posts on other skills as well.

    We have Míkmaq people here as well in Nova Scotia but I don't notice as many basket makers around town these past few years. When people talk about native skills I am always interested in pre-steel and post-steel. Would a pre-steel Míkmaq be just twigs or would it still be the split wood types we see today?

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