Introductions

Hey Salad,

Jason Godesky is busy working on his The Fifth World roleplaying game. I think he just finished the beta version. When he is not working on that, he is writing the essays for this site that will be on the new main page (which he designed in collaboration with me and Willem and Ian and others). He’s around, but not doing Podcasts. For rewilding podcasts, see the Unlearn and Rewild podcast by Ayana Young. That is the best one out there at the moment.

This site is still active, but facebook is where content flows like niagra falls. I try to cross post, but even I just post things to facebook. The idea of the facebook page is to draw more people here. It’s working, but people need reminders. :slight_smile:

Thank you for the response.

Bummer about Facebook. I just deactivated my account. It was all too anxiety provoking for me. I will just do my best to help liven things up here. :slight_smile:

This is a re-introduction, as I spent the last 2 and a half years posting here as Goblin Girl. (Now that I’m in my 40s, it seemed like a good time to ditch that user name).

I’m a self-employed artist, married with one kid, and I live in Portland, Oregon where I work a lot with Rewild Portland. I’ve also been a maskmaker for over 20 years. While figuring out how to rewild my art, I have been researching a lot of ancient European mask traditions, and am utterly blown away by the animism that is so evident in the oldest rituals. Also starting to get together with other folks interested in masks and ritual and animism, so we can work on bringing these traditions back!

I got into Rewilding in 2011, and I have to say that the first two or three years were really, really hard. I think it is common for folks to discover rewilding and just want to be rewilded already! It is so easy to get trapped in a mind-set were every single thing you have to do everyday is analyzed in terms of it’s place on a scale running from wild to civilized, and it can start feeling pretty hopeless when pretty much everything falls on the civilized/domesticated side of the scale.

But it gets better.

Rewilding is a multi-generational transformation of culture and environment that can’t happen overnight. It’s like taking off a pair of blinkers or dark glasses, and suddenly being able to see things truly. You’re still seeing the same stuff around you, but you are more aware of the big picture, and how important even the smallest steps towards a more rewilded state are. We take as many of those steps as we can, and we set our kids up to take even bigger steps, and so on and so on. And we help those who want to take steps but are afraid or confused or don’t know how.

Maybe the world succumbs to the ravages of unrestrained civilization tomorrow. But for me, knowing I am taking those little steps, and seeing others taking little steps or medium steps, or occasional large steps into rewilding gives me hope despite the odds.

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Hello, my name is Hannah, though I’ve been known by many different ailias online. I am young, not yet 18. I failed to find any age restrictions on this forum, but if it was merely due to improper reading, I understand and am okay with being removed.

Though I am fairly young compared to those I’ve seen in other introductions (and anyone I’ve ever come across who was interested in rewilding in general), I’ve known that getting back in touch with nature, by far more than just recycling, was of great importance for years. I have traveled to many areas of the US throughout my (short) life, and I mean camping in Yellowstone…not visiting NYC, so my childhood was no stranger to nature, and maybe that’s part of why I’m here now.

I used to, well still technically do, run an Instagram account on which I dicussed civilization and rewilding, as well as reviewing books such as those by Derrick Jensen or Miles Olsen, biological anthropology, pantheism, etc. However, being as young as I am, I’m in the part of life where you’re just starting to feel the pressure of joining civilization, the urging of your peers to hurry up and live “normally” with a part time job and an apartment in the suburbs, which put me off my typical Tumblr/Instagram rewilding discussions, but I know I need to come back to it.

Also, at the moment, I’m technically homeless (but not family-less) and roaming the Florida panhandle…so I do not have a set location as of now.

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Hello folks! My name is, Alice, and I’m 28 years old. I’m an artist/musician/writer/plant tender who lives in Southern Ontario. I’ve spent most of my adult life as an autodidact drifter, in and out of the wild, and I’d like to find some sense of community. My blighted urban current situation is starting to make me a bit twitchy. The only problem with practicing anarchy is that it gets lonely sometimes. I plan to lurk a bit, but I enjoy reading, writing and connecting, so probably not for long. I look forward to getting to know Rewild as a community and Rewilders as individuals. Can’t wait!

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Welcome Alice and Hannah!

And Mona Rose what an amazing sum up of your rewilding journey. I love it.

My friends call me Lish. I write fiction, read, cook, play outside, and work part-time at my community food co-op. Overall, my goals are to gain skills/increase my comfort in the wild and spread the truth about civilization to a large amount of people through allegorical fiction. I live in Mt. Vernon, WA with my husband and cats.

After a mysterious period of psychological transformation in 2014, I became aware of how self-loathing and depressed the mechanisms of civilization had rendered me. Since discovering these ideas, life is actually growing into something beautiful again! I am still learning a lot, trying (with some measure of success, depending on the person) to engage others in discussions re: civilization/rewilding, and tirelessly working on the craft of storytelling. Sometimes I feel overjoyed by the sheer amount of beauty and information available and want to shout everything from the rooftops.

I am excited at the prospect of belonging to a forum of likeminded individuals, but admittedly intimidated, as I’m still pretty new to the entire problem of civilization. Before this, I did the college/big city/salaried job thing. It was weird, and not in a fun way. I feel like I’m finally on the right path now, in mind and heart, even if sadly ignorant of my home planet on a physical level. My heart bursts with gratitude for all of you who are involved!

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Hi I’m Firekin, female artist, scholar, healer, and warrior from the midwest US. :stuck_out_tongue: I apologize in advance for one huge paragraph, I’m on a flip phone. xD I usually don’t properly introduce myself in forums, rather not announce that I’m new, but I’m just so happy to find a place I might actually fit in. I was researching prehistoric culture and came across the concept of primitivism/rewilding for the first time, and as I read about it, I felt like the words could’ve been my own. The values of self-sufficiency, personal liberty, honoring our instincts, respecting non-human people…Everything I stand for. :stuck_out_tongue: Few other herbalists are as zealous as me about nature, and most survivalists fail to see that the collapse of civilization isn’t the apocalypse, civilization itself is, so I don’t fit in well with anyone. Dx I wasn’t even sure if I would here, because I love small-scale gardening and I’m addicted to my mp3 player, but I see now that there are many different shades of wild here. :3

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Hello to all,
My name is forest runner (real name keenan) and I’m from the Pacific Northwest, grew up in Oregon but right now I live in Washington. I’m in my early 20s. My interest in rewilding comes from my curiosity and a drive to understand the way the world really works and how the heck we got here, which combined with my love of the outdoors to lead me to the worldview I have today. I’m not very plugged into social media/the technosphere, so this will be an interesting experience in some ways! Haven’t done too much rewilding but I’m interested in harvesting and propagating wild edibles, and forming real community. Excited to network/share ideas here!

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Hello all. I am Michael. I am a father of two and husband of one in a family that has lived in everything from a school bus (our current home) to a milk house, a squat, a one room cabin with 8 people. We lived in a tipi for two years in the wilder places of Southern Oregon and Southern Missouri. While living in the wilderness, in community, I learned how very important learning to be in a real community is. It is, by far, the most valuable primitive skill that has been lost (stolen? good conversation for later?).
I am a bowyer, music maker and singer and hunter. I enjoy my bow saw most of all, then my mora and my draw knife is up there as well.
I participate in many activities that bring my ass onto the earth around fire as often as possible and would love to sit in a talking circle with you.
I came into the beginnings of rewilding on the banks of the Missouri river on a 103 degree day with my kids aged 3 and 4 at the time. We had spent the day chasing butterflies and turtles and they wanted to swim. They asked me if we can jump in the river and I had to say no, not here. The water is quite toxic in this area. They asked what made it toxic and I explained agriculture and industry. At the time I was an organizer for labor and a big supporter of farming. They caught me. They asked why I support industry and farming if it is killing the river. My youngest pined “we have to stop them dad. We have to stop money.”
From that point, I wept and carried on and decided to join the war for love and life.
I am open for any conversation with anyone. I would love to host you on th eland which holds me in the Willapa Hills of Washington. There is wood to be gathered, and people too.

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Welcome all! Glad you figured out how to sign-up. Sorry for the problems. We are going to be migrating to different forum software that will take those problems away.

I don’t know whether this is good timing or not, what with migrating to new forum software, but I’m past due for introducing myself and want to do so while I’m thinking of it, so…Hello! My name is Mindy, and the best thing about my name is that if you say it over and over you’ll find a little surprise there. I’ve been living in Portland, Oregon, since 1997 and have lots of people-roots here by now, which makes my life really rich and full. I spent my middle childhood in western Washington, most memorably Whidbey Island (slugs, nettles, bull kelp, driftwood forts), and my baby years in Kansas City, Kansas (fireflies, cicadas, crispy grass, lightning). I live with my husband and two little daughters, and we homeschool/unschool/don’t go to school. I wandered into this community by following some friends here, particularly friends connected to Rewild Portland, and I’m glad I did.

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Hey. I’m a middle aged musician and I escaped from my native Philadelphia many years ago. I’ve had a lifelong interest in woodlands and conservation. These days I can spend a fair amount of time outdoors. I’m breaking in a new hip and hiking, fishing, hunting and just generally hanging around in nature keep me sane and happy. I can’t call myself a rewilder but many of the ideas here appeal and resonate. Planning my first true “rewilding” activity for this coming spring…since moving back to the east coast ( Vermont ) I’ve been picking lots of ramps, a wild alium that creeps up limestone hillsides each year in the early greening. This year, instead of simply leaving some plants alone in each patch, I’ll be coming back later to reseed the beds. Not much but perhaps a worthwhile start.

In a few years we’ll be moving back to the Portland Oregon area and my “agenda” here involves, in the long run, getting involved with the Portland rewilding community as a way of learning about the native plants there. We lived in Beaverton during the years leading up to my hip replacement, while I was on a cane, so I spent little time in the woods of Oregon. I hope to rectify this in the long run.

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Greetings from the Low Countries, just a few meters above sea level, where the turf (peat soil) has been removed and the land is so flat that I can see the red sun rise and set. In my studies I always felt at odds with its linear concepts; an introduction to hunter-gatherer skills showed me ways that feel more natural. My path has since led me to different ways of (re)connecting people to nature.

With a half hundred circles around the sun behind me, my husband and I are seeking to restore our plot to a more natural state. Certainly our two cats that grew up here show a much more varied scala of expressions and behavior than any I had in a more urban/domesticated setting. It makes me happy and thankful when people learn to see that difference and how to make that happen for themselves.

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Welcome, Anneke! Being half-Dutch, I am very interested to hear from folks in the Low Countries! While I have not yet had a chance to visit the Netherlands, my impression is of it being a vastly domesticated/tamed region. Extremely curious to know what that means for folks living there with an interest in rewilding. I live in Oregon, but by way of New Zealand where my dutch Grandparents emigrated in the 1950s.

Also, welcome Wylden/Michael! I think you know Ande and Kayla? I hope that things are going well for you and your family up in WA, and I’m looking forward to reading anything you might like to contribute to the forum!

And welcome Lummox! Looking forward to meeting you at Rewild Portland events when you make it back to Oregon.

Hello!
I am Frédérique, originally from Paris. I escaped city life 4 years ago and moved to wilder Scandinavia. I now live on a small island in the Baltic sea where I am converting a former orchard turned suburban garden into a food forest. I am learning “permaculture” by myself, through free online sources and practicing at home.
I love forest walks, bird watching, sun bathing, swimming.
I try reconnecting to wilderness by barefooting, wearing no clothes at the beach (in summer), gathering wild food (herbs, berries) and observing my 3 cats (born at home from a feral mother).
I hope to learn a lot from all of you :-*

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Hello all!

another frenchman-citizen-of-the-world ;D
My name is Hervé. Originally from Paris, I currently live in London. Two kids, and I travel the world for a living.

I came to rewilding from a long maturation process, which started on 2007 when i first saw a “peak oil” chart. I then moved onto permaculture, which led me to question what was supposed to be an adequate human diet. That led me onto the paleo sphere, then recently the rewilding movement appeared to me to be the missing piece to give some logic to the whole ensemble.

Seeing how far along most of you are on this path, i’m also hoping i’ll learn from you all. :wink:

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I’ve been meaning to get on this forum for a while but was one of the unlucky folks who had trouble registering.

I grew up in a small village of about 1,500 people in eastern Québec. I used to really like walking in the woods, getting my feet wet stepping in the small streams and dreaming of building a cabin there. I also liked walking on the rocky beaches of the St-Lawrence river (which we called “the sea” because you really couldn’t see the other side from where we lived). But I was also conflicted. I hated how people were riding their motocrosses and ATVs, abusing the landscape and making me feel unsafe. I also felt like I was the strange bird with all the other kids living with both their parents, a house and a car while I was living with my 2 siblings under the care of our single mother in the only apartment building of the area. My father was diagnosed with schizophrenia when I was only a few years old and I couldn’t find it in myself to share this with potential friends. So I felt like I didn’t belong there and wanted to move to the city where anonymity and diversity were commonplace (and ended up living in Montréal for several years).

Fast-forward to adulthood, I was (and still am) living the life of a privileged white man. I have two kids (8 and 4 years old) who have already learned to live and depend on an urban environment. I’m a software engineer and I think that everyone working in technology is paid too much for the value we provide (which, in a lot of instances, would be negative value). I started learning about rewilding through my learnings about nutrition/paleo/health when I got some early signs of retinopathy in my left eye due to complications of type 1 diabetes. I got that reversed pretty quickly by changing habits and that proved to be very enlightening because the current prescribed way to dealing with type 1 diabetes wasn’t working well at all for me. When you start to doubt one thing that you’ve taken as a given all your life, it’s easy to start questioning more!

I got some introduction to rewilding through Unlearn, Rewild which I bought used at a festival with books about the environment and through Daniel Vitalis’s Rewild Yourself podcast (which I got disinterested in at some point but found useful for some time). I’m not sure which one came first but meanwhile, I was also reading every night trying to go deeper and finding some direction. I forgot to mention that I was living in San Francisco at the time, having moved in 2012. I felt stuck in what I could do because my ability to roam the land/live in the United States was tied to my employment. I felt stuck so we started planning to head back to Canada where we would be a little more free. I’ll spare you the details but we decided at the last minute to stay in the United States, find a new home and accepted to spend a few years locked in the world of a 9-to-5 job while going through the green card process that would allow me to stay without being tied to my contribution to the economy. So last summer, we traveled in our Volkswagen Vanagon on the west coast in search of a place to settle down and we finally ended up in Portland, in great part because of the rewilding community here.

I still struggle everyday with not having the opportunity (unless I were to decide to break the rules) to leave my job and reconnect with nature and live what I’ve been reading and aspiring to. But the biggest challenge for me is sharing this desire with my kids while still living in the city. I want them to learn to live a real life, which means not learning to live as a member of the civilization/system dependent on it. But everyday, they’re learning to get better at living in an urban environment and that probably means more things to unlearn later. We often feel isolated because of our different way of looking at the world (although I’m not sure I can say that about our kids yet) but we also feel isolated because we’re still very new to the area and we’re not as comfortable speaking English, French being our first language. This isolation, you might imagine, creates tension inside the home from not having a group of people to talk to/hang out with.

Fortunately, I got to know a few very nice people through Rewild Portland (:wave:, Peter) and I’m hoping we make more friends going to the free skills share/members hikes/classes. I’m also going to be doing rewild 201 in February which I’m very excited about.

Oh and I haven’t put too much thought in my username of boarkid. I’ve been using this at work after we joked after seeing the picture from a terrible zoo in the 1930s where people were riding animals. Apparently, the kid looked like my son which prompted colleagues to speculate that this was a picture of me as a young boy (disregard the fact that I was born in the early 80s and not the 30s). I started using “boar kid” after that. And when came time to pick a username, I was thinking that boars are cool now so I might just stick with it.

Looking forward to learning and sharing from everyone here!

Update: I decided to drop boarkid and change my username to my real name to make my identity clear. I’m thinking it might be better if I eventually meet more of you in real life :slightly_smiling:

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Welcome boarkid! :wink: Thank you for all your help with this site migration. :smiley: