Projects
Here are some details on my ongoing projects:
The Orion Foundation – With an emphasis on outdoor adventures, camping, bushcraft, shooting, weaponeering, adventure equipment/gear, and general woods shenanigans, The Orion Foundation began back in the day as the online hub for our scenario- and woodsball paintball-focused outdoor adventures group. Follow the action at The Orion Foundation website or on the Orion Foundation Instagram page and Support the Action Lifestyle.
Buckskinning.org – Originally started in the early 2000s as a way to explain the buckskinner hobby/lifestyle to my incredulous co-workers, Buckskinning.org is an online resource for folks interested in learning more about buckskinning and mountain man events. Articles and resources are listed to help new “skinners” know what to do and where to go to get out to Rendezvous!
The Green River Boys – The Green River Boys project was started to provide a historical camping and skills-based alternative to the Boy Scouts and other youth outdoors programs. The goal of the Green River Boys is to train and teach young people the skills that kept the mountain men alive during the time period of the Western Fur Trade. A blend of Christian values and mountain man history help provide the backdrop for skills-based Gatherings and Camps.
Homesteading/Farmsteading – Whether we are keeping chickens out of the kitchen garden, attending the Mother Earth News Fair, setting and tuning up rainwater collection, integrating our homesteading plans into our wildlife management program, our little farmstead is constantly evolving and helps keep us outdoors and grounded to the earth with a never-ending stream of projects and goat fence-mending.
Project Appleseed – Project Appleseed is firearms training based on the tradition and heritage of the American rifleman and his place in the history and founding of the United States. Rifle marksmanship, improved skills – with a strong emphasis on safety – Appleseed events are based on making better marksmen of all Americans with a focus on early American history and tradition. I am an expert-level marksman (Rifleman) with Project Appleseed and am a volunteer instructor-in-training. Find an event near you and check it out!
Volunteer EMS work – I am an EMT and have been since 2000. I’ve never worked professionally in this capacity and originally got my certification to support my plan at the time to become a professional backpacking or hunting guide. I’ve found over the years that I love volunteer EMS work – being a first responder and helping my community and have done so as a member of a Search & Rescue team, managing a corporate First Responder medical team, and volunteering at different events.
Teaching History – Beyond being an avid history nerd and attending historical events and reenactments whenever possible, in the Fall of 2021 I started teaching history classes at our local homeschool co-op. I teach a class in the fall on the Westward Expansion of the United States (1800-1890) and a spring class on the War for Texas Independence (1835-1842).
Writing projects – Other than the ever-evolving websites, sporadic magazine writing, short stories, and a pile of started but never finished novels, I am a recent regular contributor to Backwoodsman Magazine, of which I have been I have been a huge fan since I originally found it back in college.