USING THE WHOLE ANIMAL

Learn to Use the Whole Animal: A hands-on course in butchery and utilization

The energy invested and the risks taken by our ancestors when hunting using relatively short-range weapons made it important to waste as little of an animal as possible. Each animal represents a precious resource consisting of an astonishing variety of raw materials. These materials provide food, clothing, containers, cordage, tools, lighting, and a host of other possibilities!

So many parts of an animal do not make it onto our modern grocery store shelves! This course covers some of the myriad options for using those parts.

This course will introduce you to which parts of an animal are useful for different products, and how to preserve those parts until they can be used. We will cover all basic butchery for both food and utilitarian items, as well as those parts not often seen as useful.

Learn to use a range of materials during the course. Some examples of what will be covered include:

• Organs: Removing, sorting, and cleaning the edible organs as well as the utilitarian ones, such as brains for tanning the skin, the bladder for water bags, and intestines for thread.

• Skin: Removing the skin, de-fleshing, and preserving the skin for later use and the making of hide glue.

• Meat: Removing the meat, what cuts are best suited to different uses. How to debone, make roasts, jerky, and soup meat—basic meat preservation.

• Fat: How to render fat to preserve it.

• Bones: How to separate joints, bones as food, how to make tools from bones, such as skin processing tools, awls and needles, fishhooks, harpoon and arrow points, and jewellery.

• Sinew: How to remove, clean, and preserve both backstrap and leg sinew, and how to later process it for fibre for sewing, bowstrings, hafting, bow backing, etc.

• Hooves: How to process the hooves for decorative items or hoof glue.

• Antlers: If antlers are present, how to remove them, and a discussion on how best to work with antlers.

  
  

The length of the course will allow us to cover a wide range of introductory subjects, but will not allow for the completion of finished projects. This course and its content will evolve, based on weather and participant interests.

* Multiple levels of technologies, from stone to steel, will be covered.

Additional Information:

Duration: 3 days (Friday 09:00 am - Sunday 4:00 pm)

Max number of participants: 14

Prerequisites: None - This workshop is suitable for ages 18+.

Food: Please bring your own breakfast. We will eat the various parts of the Deer for Lunch and dinner.

Location: Kannapolis, North Carolina

Payment: You can pay by credit card, use one of our gift cards, or pay over time with PayPal Pay Later.

Host: Douglas S. Meyer

Venue:

The course is situated on a large lot in a quiet residential area on the outskirts of Kannapolis. It is surrounded by lovely forest on two sides and has two large flat lawns for camping. Parking is available on site. The area is frequented by a herd of deer, as well as many species of birds and small game. You’ll barely feel like you’re in the city!

Accommodation:

There is plenty of room for camping and trees for hanging a hammock. Camping will be the easiest (and most fun) accommodation option for the course! However, if you would prefer a bit more luxury, hotels and B&Bs are available within a 10-minute drive of the course site.

Included: All course materials, coffee/tea. No dogs allowed as the site host has dogs of their own.

Not included: Off-site Accommodation.

Instructor: Theresa Emmerich Kamper

A bit about me:

I'm an avid practitioner of traditional living skills and of all kinds of primitive technology. My interest came in part from growing up in the USA's Rocky Mountains, where backpacking, hunting, and fishing are deeply rooted in the culture. This passion led me to the academic field of Experimental Archaeology, where I earned a PhD from the University of Exeter in the UK.

My work has been featured in both documentaries and popular TV shows, including Alone Season 8 and Surviving the Stone Age. I've been tanning skins using traditional methods for over 30 years. Learning to tan was a natural offshoot of my desire to use as much of an animal as possible, and it had the added bonus of producing a beautiful end product.

In my instruction, I share a wide range of information—from the intricate details of skin morphology to helpful tips for dealing with the numerous, frustrating problems often encountered when you're first learning to tan.