How often do you wake up under a roof of leaves, in a self-made shelter? Or just outdoors? Whether you’ve had a good sleep or not, whether the sun is shining or it’s raining, there’s a fire where water is boiling and which is the heart of the camp. You can make this fire, read it, and understand it. Together with the other (temporary) inhabitants, you run the camp. Collecting wood, sawing, making arrangements—who’s going to knead the dough so there will be bread later? And what do you eat with that bread? Perhaps fish? How do you catch that fish? Can you make a net to catch fish? You work on your projects, let yourself be guided by the weather, seasons, and what is needed. Living by Nature.

It’s more likely that you wake up to your radio station or a melody you’ve set. You hit the snooze button twice before starting your day. A warm shower, clean clothes from the closet. A couple of sandwiches or maybe a smoothie with some exotic fruit. Then off to work on your bike or by car. Meetings, reports, clients, budgets. In the evening, tired and satisfied or disappointed by the boss or colleagues, you return home. Or maybe you have the responsibility of children, household, caregiving. Who doesn’t feel busy? Or never worries about money, house, family, the future?

The idea that life was better before is, of course, not true. It was different, very, very different! Biologically, emotionally, and mentally, we are still those ancient humans. Only now, we live in a society with many conveniences. This has led to spending countless hours in front of screens and sitting on various types of seating, breathing air through climate control systems, and eating all types of fruits and vegetables all year round.

As handy as our facilities and inventions are, they do not fulfill the primal needs of the hunter-gatherer in us. We also want to be outdoors! But how to go about being outside, we as modern people have somewhat forgotten. There are now many possibilities; things you can do outdoors. Just like you can watch a movie inside, you can walk or spot birds outside, and much more. Anyone who enjoys being outside and in nature knows the terms: Survival, outdoor, and probably also Bushcraft. We introduce the term Living by Nature. What’s the difference?

Outdoor activities: These are various things you can do outside. It’s an umbrella term that covers many activities.

Survival: This is focused on ‘surviving’ in nature after a sudden, unplanned event. In Survival, the goal is to quickly establish contact with the civilized world and return there.

Bushcraft: This is often a hobby where various nature techniques and crafts are learned, studied, and applied. Both modern and primitive techniques are used together.

Living by Nature: This is the complete set of nature skills, primitive crafts, social skills, self-knowledge, and observation needed to consciously stay in nature for extended periods, based on Native methods. It primarily involves using natural materials and ancient techniques.

What We Do

We teach you how to be outdoors again! Not just random activities, but the whole approach of what we call Living by Nature. When we go for a walk, we see where certain plants grow, useful for when you need them! We hear the alarm call of birds, who have seen us and warn other animals. We see a deer fleeing, which also heard the bird. Or we can feel the air that tells us rain is coming. When we find a fallen tree, we take a moment to look at what type it is. Can we still use it and take something with us? Maybe the fibers from the bark to make rope? This gives a whole different experience than just walking for fresh air. Even that is valuable!

But with a Living by Nature perspective, you’ll experience, hear, and see much more. We teach you to see, feel, and understand the connections, so you become part of the whole. We are nature! Whether we’re sitting within walls or not, we’re part of a greater cycle. The more you learn and experience this, the better you’ll feel, even when you’re doing other things you ‘have to’ do.

For Whom?

Are you already Living by Nature? Everyone is part of nature, even if you live in an apartment in the middle of the city. But not everyone is deeply engaged with it or wants to explore it further. We see in everyone a potential Living by Nature person, as long as you’re willing to dive into the aspects that come with it. We are sometimes asked if we live vegan or vegetarian. While we support these personal views, they don’t fit within the hunter-gatherer and Living by Nature philosophy.

Imagine all the modern conveniences gone. No houses, no supermarkets, no washing machines, no cars, not even roads. What you have is endless nature, trees, swamps, plains, mountains, sun, cold, wind, and rain. Imagine you need to gather wood, make fire, repair your clothes, weave baskets, build a new shelter or a canoe or sled. You’re busy all day long. Then, a nettle soup with some ground elder and dandelions is not enough. Many things are seasonal—fruit, nuts, and seeds. Of course, you can store some of it, but not everything. Our chickens lay eggs all year round! But that’s not ordinary! How would a chick survive in the winter? When it comes to food, fish and meat are absolutely essential. And that’s just food.

Clothing was made from skins (buckskin), super-soft leather. Without warm clothing, you wouldn’t survive in most of Europe during the cold months, and plant-based clothing just can’t keep up with how much you use it, the effort it takes to make it, the wear, and how warm it would keep you.

If you want to learn about this way of life, it involves everything. If you want leather clothing, it’s logical you also understand the process of skinning, cleaning, and preparing it. And when the animal has been killed for us, we use everything we can. Bones, tendons, a bladder, for example. You can make the most beautiful and useful objects with these.

Respect for nature and specifically for animals and what we ‘take’ is incredibly important. We notice that anyone who becomes Living by Nature does this naturally. The more you become part of nature, the more passionate people become and the more carefully they handle everything that exists. We don’t do anything without purpose; everything serves a function.

We focus on nature lovers who want to go beyond survival, bushcraft, or just being outside. We expect that you want to learn, experience, and apply our Living by Nature knowledge yourself.

Our Passion (What We Stand For)

We are passionate about how people lived thousands of years ago. All the knowledge and skills they possessed. And about how everything is interconnected when you look from a natural perspective. We see how people learn, grow, and enjoy working in and with nature. That’s what we’re here for. We stand for purity, authenticity, good theory, practical experience, and personal support. Since people didn’t live alone in the past, we pay a lot of attention to teamwork and collaboration.

Our Motivation (What We Strive For)

We bring people back to themselves, to their knowledge of nature, and the ability to live with nature. All our activities are based on living as a Hunter and Gatherer. We teach our students and participants the skills needed to spend extended periods of time in nature. With this, we go beyond what is usually understood by bushcraft. A key part of our offering is the year-long course. In this program, a group of people will spend an entire year diving deep into all the techniques and crafts. We are the only Living by Nature school in the Netherlands that offers this. In our individual courses, we also work in the most natural way possible.

Where It Leads

We train people in the fundamentals of nature skills. But you learn so much more:

• Theoretical knowledge of all the areas related to Living by Nature and long-term stays in nature.
• Practical experience; all lessons are applied in practice.
• Teamwork, cooperation, and group dynamics.
• Knowledge of the psychological aspects of Living by Nature.
• Learning to see how everything in nature is interconnected.
• Understanding cause and effect, learning to read signals.
• Functioning under stress. It’s not always easy. Nature is not a supermarket. You learn to work with focus under different situations.
• Living more alert, improving your observation skills, even in daily life.
• Self-knowledge, recognizing your own signals, hunger, thirst, fatigue, and how it expands to experiences, behavior, and interactions.
• Knowledge of others, it’s important to recognize signals in others. Is someone hypothermic? Do you recognize dehydration?
• Planning and thinking ahead, how long does a task take, how much energy does it cost, so how do you plan this? Do you make fire first and then go hunting? Or the other way around and why?
• Knowledge of the environment, it matters where you build your shelter or where you make your fire.
• Living more consciously in modern society.
• Being comfortable in your own skin.
• After the year-long course, there is an option for follow-up / instructor training.

What It Does to People

We notice it ourselves, and we hear it back from our participants. The experience of workshops, courses, and outdoor living has an impact on people’s daily lives. The trees in the street suddenly look different. People are more alert, see more, and many of our participants feel more connected to nature. Sometimes we get participants who are in difficult situations or have been through tough experiences. We are proud that they tell us that after a weekend in the forest, they can make a huge leap forward. Without us consciously steering this or explaining it, we know that this can happen. These are the extra benefits that people can take with them.