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Who we are
MAPS Group has been devoted since 1997 to assisting its members become more proficient at the whole range of primitive living skills and connecting with Nature.
What we do
MAPS Group meets regularly in the greater Washington DC area to learn, practice, share, and promote primitive technology skills.
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Welcome to the Mid-Atlantic Primitive Skills Group
Learn, share and promote indigenous life skills!
MAPS Partners
   
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Washington, DC: Elizabeth Hargrave and Matt Cohen authors of The Natural Capital blog.
Chanterelles are a choice culinary mushroom prized by chefs around the world. And they grow in Washington, DC [and the Mid-Atlantic region].
The most common chanterelle species in our area, Cantharellus cibarius, generally comes up in July; we've already found several this year. They are golden yellow to yellow-orange (but not pumpkin orange). The gills on the underside of the cap are very distinctive because they continue down the stem, and are not very deep -- it's almost like the mushroom has wrinkles, rather than the gills you'd see on a typical gilled mushroom. The smell is also distinctive -- sweet and fruity, like apricots (some guidebooks also suggest rose and pumpkin).
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Read more: LOOK For: Chanterelles
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Michelle Gienow. Once upon a time, apple cider--both sweet and "hard" fermented (alcoholic) cider--was early America's favorite beverage. Cider was simple to produce, and in a time before municipal sewage treatment and indoor plumbing, it was often safer to drink than water. These days cider's more of an autumnal novelty drink, but I recently became obsessed with making my own. I was looking for a good supply of local, organic, and affordable fruit juice to get my family through the winter, and since oranges don't grow in Maryland, apple cider seemed the natural answer.
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Read more: Hard Cider: Homemade hooch is cheap and easy
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. How Trading, Ecology, and Economics Affect Health, Wealth and Happiness
The words Ecology and Economics have the same root. The Greek word oikos means house. In any house, economy or ecosystem, the flow of energy in and out is crucial to whether or not the house is thriving and healthy. The economy of a nation or region is stagnant when not enough goods, services and money change hands. The significant process in a healthy system is FLOW: receiving and dispensing over and over. Hoarding does not help the whole. Such stagnation affects the members of a community, region or nation, and even the world.
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Read more: Seeking a Healthy Primitive Community
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Bill Kaczor, Ancestral Knowledge. -- What follows is a short step-by-step explaination of hide tanning using primitive methods vice modern. Of course you can use modern tools and methods for hide tanning, especially with your first hide, but then you would be cheating yourself out of the true experience and miss out on come really valuable lessons. |
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Read more: Step by Step Hide Tanning
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. Start early. Don't wait till they are "old enough" to begin doing primitive skills, camping, crafts, nature exploration, or taking trips to events and gatherings.
It is much smoother and easier to do things with kids in their pre-teen and teen years if they have already been doing them since they were toddlers. Start where the learner is: in other words, tailor the chosen activity and the challenges associated with it to the age of the child.
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Too much frustration often results in a child refusing to do an activity again. Know the child's attention span and tolerance for frustration. A little bit of frustration accompanied by discussion, thinking, and resulting success can be a real growth experience.
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Read more: Parenting a Natural Child
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The Good, the Bad and the Not So Ugly
First The GOOD News.
Mid-Atlantic Primitive Skills (MAPS) Group T-Shirts are ready for wearing around town and to Primitive Skills events everywhere.
Some MAPS Members have cornered us to get their own MAPS T-Shirts before everyone else, so you might see a few around town.
Very Cool!
The T-Shirt has a newly designed MAPS Group symbol that is printed on high quality 6.1 OZ 100% HEAVYWEIGHT WHITE COTTON Tees that are hand-dyed with good 'ole Maryland black walnut dye that makes it look like tanned buckskin. Some T-Shirts have a mottled look and some like a tie-dye, but all are one of a kind.
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Read more: The MAPS T-Shirt is BACK
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Help us Grow
