I'm a woman who lives in New York City. "Food procurement" is picking up Thai food and "navigation" is figuring out which subways are shutdown on any given weekend. So to say Hobo Forge's training was out of my comfort zone is an understatement. But opportunities to really think through what self sufficiency means - and consider how easy we have things on a day to day basis - are few and far between. So I dusted off my sleeping bag and hoped my high-top converse shoes would work as hiking boots, and headed to North Carolina.
Jason and his team were so welcoming. I immediately felt comfortable upon arrival - and nobody seemed to notice my sneakers. They clearly love what they do and are honestly just excited to share their knowledge and experience with people.
The skills we learned were incredible - making and building fire, navigating with a compass, building shelter, making rope from tree branches, plant identification - the list goes on. The mix of verbal information plus hands on activities is extremely effective, and Jason and team's depth of expertise and experience are just astounding. Their patience and calm create an environment that is conducive to learning and trying new things, and also feels so safe, despite the fact that we were working with things like knives and open flame. It really gave all of us the confidence to experiment and to DO these things in a very practical way. Everyone learns at different speeds and has different strengths, and Jason knew how to get the best out of all of us.
And at the end - we'd gone from five strangers to a team somehow. It was so fun to have these people I'd never met before get so excited for me as I learned, and I honestly got so excited for their successes along the way. It's a great mix of individual skill building and team activities. I did not think I would be able to figure this stuff out - and somehow I did.
The first thing Jason and team do is to invite you to look at the world differently - not as things are, but as what they could be. While this mostly applies to objects ("hey, that trash bag would be a great poncho/water collector/ground cover") it also applies to an overall approach to life - what do you actually need? In all the noise of life - who and what actually matter.
Highly, highly recommended for anyone looking to team build, push their boundaries, learn some incredible skills, or just be able to believe in themselves a little bit more.