Date: TBD

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Ever look around and wonder what's safe to eat? Enroll in this FREE 1-hour course and you'll soon find out! Enjoy a stroll in the park while learning about wild edible plants. Bring some shoes you don't mind getting wet or dirty. With close to two dozen species to cover, Survivor's Grocery Store is a way to enjoy nature's beauty while upping your self-reliance.

Meeting instructions: 10:00 a.m. at Mead Botanical Garden: 1300 S Denning Dr, Winter Park, FL 32789. Use the parking lot outside the Azalea Lodge. We will meet by the green signpost pictured directly below (don't worry, you'll find it):

A weekend, overnight course.

Date: TBD

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If you were to find yourself in the Florida wilderness, what knowledge would you wish you had? Come and learn those exact things! Gift yourself with living confidently in the woods without dependency on most modern items. The Florida Fundamentals journey is the foundational class at UDCFSS and is a must-have experience for anyone desiring a deeper relationship with the outdoors.

Hierarchy of Threats: what can harm you in the deserts of Texas or the snowy foothills of New England is different from what you might find yourself up against in the wilderness of central Florida. Learn about animals, thermoregulation, and hydration; prioritizing danger, practices, myths dispelled, plus distinctions that can mean the difference between a rewarding "rough it" weekend and being angrily stuck on the toilet for days on end.

Orientation: even without a phone, having a sense of direction and a sense of time is literally at your fingertips. Build a primitive compass, and discover the primitive clock you never knew you had.

Fire Building: create both a pyramid and a box fire, learn their pros and cons, learn about the crucial tinder bundle and then make your own, where to find dry tinder in moist conditions, fire's uses, and the balancing act of fuel conservation.

Edible Plants: learn to identify the abundant wild edibles in your area and their nutritional values.

Florida Fundamentals is a knowledge-based course. What you will learn here can be used to better plan trips for hiking and camping, and much of it is relevant to any environment on Earth! (some hiking required)

A weekend, overnight course.

Date: TBD

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For many, the Florida winter can be a big surprise! It's not Alaska, but every year there are folks amongst the cabbage palms and waterways who find themselves suddenly dealing with high humidity and wild temperature swings. Want to expand your outdoor knowledge? Don't want to freeze to death in a pair of board shorts? Good. Then come and learn what Florida's greatest threats are during her winter months, and how to counter them. The Cold Florida journey is a rather rare course, focusing on the least understood season of a unique subtropical peninsula.

Priorities: fire first/shelter second…or is it the other way around? Is it the wind or the rain that poses the greatest threat?

Dress Code: learn what to wear, and how and when to wear it. Become familiar with layering, vapor barriers, and more.

Environmental vs. Behavioral Hypothermia: E = the cold defeats you, B = you defeat yourself — learn how to think as much as what to do. This includes when to exert yourself and when to rest, understanding the Hypothermia Ladder, and much more.

Primitive Shelter: construct a cold-weather home, learn where to build, what threats lurk above and below, and what winter-specific solutions help mitigate them.

Fire Reflector Wall: build an expedient wall from all-natural materials to make the most out of your campfire.

Cold Florida is a knowledge-based course. Whether you are a tourist, transplant, or lifelong resident, what you'll learn here will not only better equip you for Florida's outdoor activities but will also give you a greater understanding of the cold, moisture, your body, and the interplay between them. (some hiking required)

A weekend, overnight course.

Date: TBD

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Learn how to feed yourself the way people did long before rods, reels, and tackle boxes. In Primitive Fisherman, you'll move beyond simply catching fish.

Stun: learn how to identify the right plant to slow fish down, then how to correctly process it to ensure max effect in the water.

Trap: construct a fish weir on the water's edge, bait it, and see what we get.

Funnel: create and keep a fully-functional fish funnel, one of the most ornate fish traps of the ancient world.

Fish Identification: learn about some of the most common (and tastiest) fish you will encounter in central Florida's freshwater.

Harvesting: get a refresher on, or learn for the very first time, how to clean, fillet, and harvest a fish—including the nutritious head!

Primitive Fisherman is a skills-based course. You will be learning different ways to fish in an ultra-primitive fashion; some of the ways working in tandem with another. Though subtropical plants are required for this course, much of what you learn is applicable wherever you find comparable materials. Take back with you new skills and a primitive fishing tool so fancy that your friends won't believe you made it! (some hiking is required)

A weekend, overnight course.

Date: TBD

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Be it the Australian outback, the savannahs of Africa, or the mountains of Europe, indigenous peoples the world over used many of the same tools. Florida's earliest inhabitants were no different. Come see what those tools actually were—and make them with your own hands! The Seminole Skill journey is a walk back in time, when know-how and harmony with one's environment were a way of life. Come experience this era for yourself, connecting through craftsmanship to your ancestors.

Edible Plants: learn how to identify the abundant wild edibles that grow in central Florida's woods, their nutritional values, and other uses such as tool-making and bug repellent.

Primitive Shelter: construct a home from fronds and limbs, learn where to build, what threats lurk above and below, and how to mitigate them.

Cordage: create string from yucca, learn how to identify, then make reverse wrap cordage.

Fishing: trap and stun—learn two of the most prolific passive fishing tools of the ancient world; what materials you'll need, then let's build one together.

Primitive Containers: use fire to carve out "fire bowls" using the same techniques pre-Colombian Floridians did.

Seminole Skill is a skills-based course. You will be applying new information in practical, tactile ways; this includes burning, building, tying, and thatching. Though designed with Florida in mind, much of what you'll learn here is applicable worldwide. Create and take back with you some primitive tools that an ancestor of yours once had in their very own home! (some hiking is required)

A weekend, overnight course.

Date: TBD

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Outdoor courses usually fall into one of two categories: how to survive until you are rescued or how to live off the land. In other words, you either got lost or you want some time detached from civilization. And cool. This course, though, belongs to a third type; you want the gut check. You want to be a little miserable, and you want to know you can do it again if you have to. Cousin to outdoor adventures and mud runs, Summer Suckfest combines knowledge, skill, and grit, building confidence while facing Florida's most challenging season.

Fasting: push past comfort and discover what you're truly capable of. A guided 24-hour fast sharpens your awareness, discipline, and mental resilience. By the end, you'll gain a deeper understanding of your body, break dependence on constant intake, and build the confidence to stay focused and effective even when resources are limited.

Cordage: turn the landscape into a toolkit by identifying the right plants and transforming them into strong, functional cordage with your own hands. You'll leave with the practical skill and confidence to process natural fibers for shelter-building, fishing, and real-world survival.

Heat Management: learn the realities of Florida's brutal summer by learning how to manage heat, humidity, and hydration before they manage you. You'll walk away knowing how to stay cool, think clearly, and operate effectively in conditions that sideline the unprepared.

Heat Casualty Response: learn to recognize the early warning signs of heat exhaustion and the life-threatening indicators of heat stroke before they escalate. You'll train in practical extraction techniques—carries, drags, and team movements.

Low-Stimulus Mindset: encounter the discipline of low-stimulus survival by resisting the urge to act and learning when stillness is the smartest move. Through deliberate inaction, you'll sharpen situational awareness, conserve energy, and build the judgment to act only when it truly counts.

Summer Suckfest is a challenge-driven course. What you gain here is earned through real exposure to Florida's heat, discomfort, and unpredictability—building resilience and confidence in your ability to operate when conditions are far from ideal. You'll leave with a tested understanding of your limits, practical heat management skills, and the mental discipline to stay effective when it matters most. (moderate to strenuous hiking required)

Master one of mankind's oldest fire-making devices — from the ground up. In this course, Dave walks you through every component of a functional bow drill set, the Florida-specific woods that make it work, and how to craft each piece with your own hands.

The Set: Understand what makes up a complete bow drill set — fire board, drill, bow and string, socket, and catch — and why each component matters.

Florida Materials: Not all wood is created equal. Learn which native Central Florida species work best for the fireboard and drill — and how to identify them in the field.

Crafting: Step-by-step instruction on how to carve and shape each piece that make the difference between frustration and fire.

Putting it Together: Learn the body mechanics, technique, and rhythm that turn a well-crafted set into an actual ember.

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Florida's waterways have fed people for thousands of years — and the yucca plant is one of the oldest tools in that tradition. In this course, Dave takes you from a plant on the trail to a tool in hand, pairing time-tested primitive technique with the chemistry that explains exactly why it works.

Find It: Learn to identify yucca in the Central Florida wild — what to look for and how to recognize the right plant with confidence.

Process It: Turn raw leaves into a working tool. Dave shows you how to process yucca to unlock saponin, the powerful natural compound at the heart of the technique.

The Chemistry: Go beyond the how to the why. Understand what saponins actually do to a fish at the cellular level — and why, done correctly, the method is safe.

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