Adult Workshops

Double the fun! Bring a friend and take $25 off individual workshops!

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WINTER TRACKING

Evening class and 1-day workshop
January 23 – 24, 2026

6PM – 8PM and 9AM – 3:30PM

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Natural Archery

Saturday March 21st

10:00AM – 4:00PM

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Intro to Hide Tanning

2-Day Workshop
May 23 – 24, 2026

9:00AM – 5:00PM

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Atlatl Day!

Saturday Feb. 7th

10:00AM – 4:00PM

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Wild Edibles

Saturday April 11th

10:00AM-4:00PM

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Bird Language

Saturday May 30th

10:00AM-4:00PM

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Matchless Fire Magic

Saturday Feb. 28th

10:00AM – 4:00PM

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Bow Making Weekend

Friday May 1st- 5:30-8:30pm
Saturday May 2nd- 9:00am-5:00pm
Sunday May 3rd- 9:00am-5:00pm

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Wild Fibers

Saturday Jun. 13th

10:00AM – 4:00PM

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We believe in a reciprocal relationship between community and skill building, finding that community enriches the adoption of new skills and skills enrich community.

Whether you join us for a single workshop or one of our extended earth skills programs, we welcome you into our community and hope you will take what you have learned back to yours.

Winter Tracking Workshop 2026

Ages 18+ | Jan. 23 6 – 8pm and Jan 24 9am – 3:30pm
Locations: TBD
Instructor: Jed Jordan (see bio on our people page)

Whether tracking for the first time, blowing the dust off your neural search images, or looking for an adventure with other aspiring trackers and mentors – this weekend workshop will get you on the path!

Long-time tracking instructors Jed Jordan and Jason Hamilton will review the foundations of mammal track identification, and then guide you through some of the best tracking hot spots our area has to offer. You and other participants will practice the art of seeing and identifying the clues left behind by all the creatures out there, with instruction and coaching for all experience levels. This workshop will also demonstrate replicable teaching methods for anyone looking to teach tracking to others.

Includes one evening of indoor instruction and a full day of field studies in multiple wildlife areas. Grab your thermos and bag lunch and come join the fun!

Winter Tracking Workshop 2026:
$150 – $250 ($154.50-$257.50 with credit card)

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Atlatl Day!

Ages 18+ | Saturday Feb. 7th, 2026 10am-4pm
Locations: 4-H Acres, Lower Creek Road, Ithaca, NY

Long before the bow and arrow appeared, our ancestors perfected a powerful tool that allowed them to hunt huge ice age beasts. The atlatl has been used all over the world to throw spears many times faster and farther than by hand alone. In this workshop we will collect materials and learn the skills to make and use this ancient hunting tool.

Participants will leave with a handmade atlatl and dart set and the skills to use it. We will focus on self-sufficiency so you can go on to reproduce this project on your own or teach others in your community.

Our crafting time will be spent around the fire at our adult camp or indoors if the weather is too cold. Atlatl history, hunting, tree lore, natural history all may be topics of conversation while our hands are busy.

Skills Covered:

Identifying and harvesting local natural materials to build an atlatl and dart set.

General Carving skills and safety. Specific wood working techniques to complete the atlatl project.

Wrapping and attaching wooden foreshafts.

Heat straitening the dart shafts

Fletching (applying feathers) to stabilize the dart in flight.

Atlatl throwing technique.
Tool use including carving knives, saws, and fire.

Cost:
$125 ($128.75 with credit card), includes a $50 non-refundable deposit

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Matchless Fire Magic

Ages 18+ | Feb. 28th 10am – 4pm
Locations: 4-H Acres 418 Lower Creek Rd Ithaca

What lights your fire? Come with us to learn the ancient art of friction fire. In this workshop we will use the bow drill to light our maple boiler and kick off the first harvest of the season. While the sweet sap bubbles, our mentors will guide you through the fundamental human skill of friction fire. Each participant will go home with their own bow drill kit and the skills to master matchless fire magic!

Step by step instruction from experienced mentors will make the practice of friction fire accessible and fun! Use provided bow drill kits to learn the skill then dive deeper by carving your own kit and learning how to identify and harvest local natural materials to reproduce this craft or teach others in your community.

Skills Covered:

Identifying and harvesting local natural materials to build a bow drill set.
General Carving skills and safety. Specific wood working techniques to complete the bow drill project.
Bow drill friction fire techniques.
Tinder selection and preparation.
Basic fire building skills.
Tool use including carving knives, saws, hatchets and batoning.

Cost: $100 ($103.00 with credit card), includes a $50 non-refundable deposit

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Natural Archery 101

Ages 18+ | Saturday March 21st 10am-4pm
Locations: 4-H Acres, Lower Creek Road, Ithaca, NY

What is “Natural Archery?” Come find out in this emersion into the world of archery as it was practiced for thousands of years. Together we will learn instinctive archery techniques and form using handmade wooden bows and arrows. We will take a tour through the skills of natural bow and arrow making and learn about the local plants that can be harvested to make these amazing tools.

This workshop provides hands-on instruction and practice in the use of traditional handmade archery equipment. Shooting a bow should be natural and fun. Our experienced instructors will help you learn instinctive archery in a low-pressure accessible environment where success starts with the first shot.

After some shooting practice we will have hands-on demonstrations of the process of making bows and arrows from local natural materials. Out in the woods we will identify some of the best local trees and shrubs for bows and arrows. Then we will visit our willow gardens where we can grow hundreds of arrows per year.

Participants will leave with a solid foundation to go further in traditional archery. And if natural bow and arrow making spark something in you, please check out our Bow Making Weekend where you can make your own natural archery set.

Skills Covered:

Instinctive shooting with natural archery equipment.

Identifying local natural materials used to craft archery equipment

Traditional wood working techniques used in bow and arrow crafting.

Tool use including draw knives, carving knives, saws, hatchets scrapers, tillering sticks, and batoning.

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Cost: $125 ($128.75 with credit card), includes a $50 non-refundable deposit

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Spring Wild Edibles

Ages 18+ | Apr. 11th 10am – 4pm
Locations: Meeting at 4-H Acres 418 Lower Creek Rd Ithaca and traveling by van to various locations to harvest plants then returning to 4-H to cook and end our day.

Our ancestors relied on the wild plants growing all around them to provide food and medicine. Come spend the morning exploring some of our favorite local foraging areas. We will get to know the spring staples as well as some of the more obscure and delicious treats sprouting around Ithaca. Then we will take our catch home to try out a few recipes and share a wild feast.

Cost: $100 ($103.00 with credit card), includes a $50 non-refundable deposit

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Bow Making Weekend (tent camping available)

Ages 18+ |

Friday May 1st- 5:30-8:30pm
Saturday May 2nd- 9:00am-5:00pm
Sunday May 3rd- 9:00am-5:00pm
Locations: 4-H Acres, Lower Creek Road, Ithaca, NY

The traditional wooden longbow is legendary for its power and accuracy. For thousands of years all across the globe, the longbow has built nations, fed families, protected homes and provided sport for people of all descriptions. Today this elemental tool continues to earn its singular place in history as a form of functional art that is just as effective and beautiful now as it was in the hands of our ancestors.

This weekend workshop will dive deep into the art of wooden bow making. With more than 30 years of experience, our instructors will guide you through the bow making process from identifying and harvesting a good “bow-tree” through final tillering and shooting your finished longbow.

Using traditional techniques and simple hand tools you will craft a custom wooden bow suitable for hunting or target archery. Making arrows, armguards, and finger tabs will also be covered, so you will be leaving with a complete archery set and the knowledge to continue your natural archery journey on your own.  There is really nothing like shooting a beautiful bow that you crafted with gratitude from living wood. Come with us as we follow our ancestors into the adventurous world of natural archery!

Our Basecamp and main teaching location will be 4-H Acres 418 Lower Creek Rd Ithaca. Tent-camping is available and includes indoor bathrooms, a shower, and an outdoor kitchen with refrigeration. A pre-camp email will give details of where we will meet and what to bring.

Skills Covered:

Making long bows from harvested trees
Learning the basics of archery using the instinctive aiming method
Making willow arrows
Making arm guards and finger tabs
Hand tool use: hatchet, rasp, scraper, carving knives, saws.
Bow string making using the Flemish twist method.

Cost: $325 ($334.75 with credit card)

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INTRODUCTION TO HIDE TANNING

Ages 18+ | May 23 and 24, 2026 9am-5pm
Locations: 4-H Acres, Lower Creek Road, Ithaca, NY
Instructor: Danielle Prizzi (see bio on our people page).

Photo credit: Danielle Prizzi and Lyla White

Ready to partake in the revival of learning to create a durable, reliable textile that breaks down into the Earth when its usability is complete?

In this 2 day introductory tanning workshop, we will be transforming local white-tailed deer hides into buckskin using the smoke tanning method.

Participants will practice:

bucking a hide
fleshing & graining – wet scraping method
prepping the hide for applying fat emulsion
framing & dry scraping
rehydrating & stretching
smoking a hide

This workshop will be set up with different deer hides in the various stages of smoke tanning. These workstations will allow each participant to get valuable hands-on experience taking part in each step of this tanning method, without having to commit to working an entire deer hide on their own. Participants will leave the workshop with a small section of smoke tanned hide and with exposure and knowledge of smoke tanning to begin tanning on their own. As hide tanning is a lifelong skill, with lots of nuance and regionally adapted methods, what is covered this weekend will be an overview to inspire those curious about tanning to feel equipped to go further.

In addition to processing the hides we will discuss methods for storage and preservation of fresh hides, creating your own at-home hide step up, and future hide tanning opportunities.

Background:

The process of turning animal skins into usable cloth or leather is a universal earth living skill, very likely in all of our ancestral lineages in some form. Regionally adapted methods of tanning hides, using the earth-based resources provided, have been a part of human existence for thousands of years! More recently evident in history, indigenous cultures all across the world still use/used the entire animal when processing them, turning raw hides into usable cloth. The warm, soft, durable and water-resistant buckskin being a highly valued resource for clothing, structures, vessels, shoes etc.

Tanning hides in old, natural, from the Earth ways using smoke, bark, brains, eggs, soap, salt, oil and minerals is having a slow revival. Over the last two centuries, much of the specific land-based nuance of tanning hides regionally has been lost due to the invention of chromium and harsh chemical tanning has dominated tanneries all over the world, having huge environmental impacts.

Disclaimer:
Hide tanning is physically (and often emotionally) enduring, hard and smelly work! This skill requires patience, persistence, and self-care. We will be working in a deeply heart-centered, intentional and held way, where Danielle will pass along my personal rituals around animal processing. Her intention is to make sure everyone feels comfortable and informed as this process is for your learning. Taking a break to stretch and move your body, root yourself in the Earth, and step away is always welcome. The deer hides provided were all sourced from local hunters.

Hide Tanning Fee:
$250 – $350 ($257.50-$360.50 with credit card)

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About the Instructor:
Danielle Prizzi is an ancestral earth skills guide, craftswoman, an earth-centered somatic healing practitioner, community herbalist, naturalist, and a humbly radical homesteader, who weaves together a deep connection with each step. She has dedicated my life to living the skills that she teachs. Through embodying ancestral skills as the foundation of her life, she has been facilitating workshops and programs for everyone from kids to adults for the last 12 years and offers private earth skills & hide tanning mentorship.

Danielle has been tanning hides for over a decade and is well practiced in smoke tanning, mineral tanning & bark tanning to make leather processing both domesticated and wild animal hides. She uses her tanned hides for making clothing, bags, and for straps or adornment on her wild harvested material baskets. Danielle has been teaching hide tanning consistently for the last 5 years focusing her teaching efforts on teens & adults through Primitive Pursuits and on her own.

Beyond tending her small homescale tannery, she also shares a passion for fiber arts, herbalism, foraging, making animal fat body products, making fire from friction, preserving homegrown & wild foods, wild basket weaving, and tending her homestead.

https://www.onthewoodedpath.com/ Instagram

Photo credit: Danielle Prizzi and Lyla White

Bird Language

Ages 18+ | May 30th 10am – 4pm
Locations: TBD

Discover the birds around you on a whole new level in this beginner-friendly workshop focused on understanding the unique “language” of birds. Through guided listening, identification techniques, and hands-on practice, participants will learn how birds communicate through calls, songs, and behavior. Whether you’re brand new to birdwatching or looking to deepen your connection to the natural world, this workshop offers an engaging introduction to tuning in, interpreting, and appreciating the beautiful voices of the birds around you.

Cost: $85 ($87.55 with credit card)

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Wild Fibers

Ages 18+ | Jun. 13th 10am-4pm

Locations: 4-H Acres, Lower Creek Road, Ithaca, NY

A string is a marvelous thing. From the thread that makes up your shirt, to the giant ropes that allow ships to cross oceans, cordage is one of the most useful and overlooked inventions in history. This weekend we will get to know a variety of local fiber plants. Join us in the woods and fields to harvest, process and weave our own strong cordage using traditional techniques. Work as a team to become a human rope machine and maybe even win the Cordage Olympics!

Cost: $100 ($103.00 with credit card)

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LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND RESPONSIBILITY:

The Primitive Pursuits team recognizes that the land where we live and work exists within the territory of the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʼ (Cayuga Nation). We acknowledge the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʼ and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy for their enduring stewardship of this place throughout the centuries and still today. We recognize a responsibility to learn about this history while also educating newer generations about how to live in good relation to the earth and with our neighbors. This learning and relationship building is ongoing and we welcome guidance and feedback along the way. If you have feedback or wish to engage with us on this topic please see visit our Cultural Repair Acknowledgment + Action + Reparations page.

Cornell Cooperative Extension is an employer and educator recognized for providing equal program and employment opportunities in accordance with applicable laws.

Office Location:
Cornell Cooperative Extension,
615 Willow Ave., Ithaca, NY 14850
607-272-2292 | email Us

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Primitive Pursuits is a non-profit 4-H program of Cornell Cooperative Extension Tompkins County.