Buckskin Revolution
Woniya Thibeault and I have been friends for several decades and I have been following her various adventures over that time. Her recent endeavors these past few years are much more public than ever before; so this seems like a great time to write more about them and share them with everyone who is not already familiar.
Our friendship all started when we met briefly in the 1990’s at a Rabbitstick Rendezvous, in Rexburg, Idaho - one of the oldest and most iconic ancestral skills gathering.
Soon after, she was among the youngest students in attendance at a brain-tanning workshop at Pt Reyes National Seashore that I was co-teaching and her zeal for learning the process of transforming a deer hide into beautiful “braintanned buckskin” was quite evident.
The workshop that weekend was challenged by inclement weather but the participants persevered and each student did take home a small piece of buckskin.
For Woniya it was just one more step in the direction that her life was already taking her. She continued tanning on a regular basis and when I next saw her a year or two later, she was bedecked in beautiful buckskin.
Book on Working with Buckskin
Find out more about the Buckskin Revolution Books
Now over 20 years later, Woniya is renowned for many accomplishments, but one of her specialties is creating beautiful and functional clothing out of the incredible (but sometimes challenging to work with) material that we call braintanned buckskin.
Her regular “Buckskin 101” class at ancient living skills gatherings is very popular and participants leave fully empowered and ready to move forward with creating their own buckskin bag or piece of clothing.
The need for this kind of detailed instruction for creating skin clothing has been evident for many years and spurred her to embark on the ambitious project of writing a book on the subject, entitled “Buckskin Revolution”.
Paleotechnics has supported her in this endeavor from the very beginning and I was also honored to write a Foreword for the book.
The project has since been expanded into two volumes, which supporters have been eagerly awaiting and which will be published very soon!
When I was planning the design for this dress, Woniya’s own dress gave me the inspiration for how to do the back cinching tie, which has worked great!
Sustainable Living Education
In 2010, she brought a group of her students to our land project to learn about some of the things that we have been working on there, such as earthen plasters, poured adobe floor, grafting trees and generating power from the sun.
Over the years, I have watched her grow into a remarkably skilled individual who also has a knack for getting information across to others in a highly relatable and comprehensive way. Anyone who has met her understands her energy and devotion to both teaching and practicing ancestral skills and I am delighted that she is putting more and more information out there online, especially during these challenging times when our usual in-person skills gatherings and workshops are mostly being postponed or cancelled.
Buckskin Revolution Online Gathering
Article in The New Yorker Magazine
In response to this need, she threw together an online gathering in the spring which went really well and which participants wanted to repeat; so she is getting another event together for this fall.
Alone Season 6
Woniya & Callie chatting about Alone - Part 1
(originally on Instagram Live) - September 23, 2020
One of the big events that pushed her into moving more into the digital realm was that she was selected to participate in Season 6 of “Alone”, a reality TV show where participants spend time in very harsh environments filming themselves during the experience.
Her time there was an inspiration to watch and her core character and beliefs were apparent, even though countless hours of important footage did not make it onto the aired episodes.
Woniya & Callie chatting about Alone on Instagram Live
September 23, 2020
Alone Season 6, Episode 11
Woniya was among the final three survivalists to continue to battle weight loss, extreme temperatures, and predators.
Buckskin Revolution YouTube Channel
After Season 6 of Alone had aired, she started making follow-up videos about her experiences during that time, which have often been even more enlightening and entertaining than the original television series. These stories were the birth of the Buckskin Revolution YouTube Channel and her subsequent videos have covered a gamut of interesting and relevant material….. becoming a sort of video blog looking at whatever she is working on at the moment.
Website & Patreon
If you are interested in learning more, please visit the Buckskin Revolution website and/or subscribe on Patreon to both give her financial support as well as gain access to behind the scenes information.
Visit the Buckskin Revolution website for more information about the books, online skills gathering, upcoming skills academy, and much more!
Subscribe to Buckskin Revolution on Patreon for behind the scenes access to resources.