What will you learn?

• Knife and saw safety
• Building a shelter
• Building a primitive kitchen
• Rope from plants/pees
• Preparing an animal for food with respect and more (subject to change)
• Finding, preparing and storing food
• Making fire with the firebow
• Saving fire for later
• Eating from nature
• Sleep systems for autumn and winter

Advanced Bushcraft Course

In this 5-day Advanced Bushcraft - Sweden course, we go a whole step further than previous courses to make our (long-term) stay in nature a comfortable success.

For this course, we will stay in the middle of nowhere, an area where it is still really quiet and wild animals like moose, wolves and bears live.

What do we need for this? We will actively work to build our own shelter this time (shelters) in which we can sleep dry and warm and take shelter when needed. We will build these shelters entirely from natural materials we can find in the area.

To stay warm and prepare our food, we need deeper knowledge of fire, which fire is suitable for cooking, which fire do we use to stay warm even during a long night.

Needless to say, we will actually sleep in our self-built shelters.

In our modern times, we often no longer think about how to get our food. In nature, there is not always a supermarket next door to find the (pre-packaged) ingredients for a meal. We will therefore get to work on fully processing an animal in a respectful way to a meal and which parts we can certainly use for other purposes such as bones and sinews (subject to availability).

Another product lacking in nature are a fridge and means of preserving our food for longer periods of time. Therefore, we fall back on older techniques to preserve our food for longer periods of time. Long ago, large animals were hunted that could not be eaten in one day and also served to bridge longer periods when new food did not arrive daily. This is also what we will work with during this week. Of course, eating from nature is not only about eating animal products, a healthy variety of fruit and vegetables is also necessary and we will also collect and prepare them ourselves during this week.

Making fire can be done in many different ways. Again, we go back in time and make fire in one of the most primitive ways, using friction, the firebow. A difficult technique to master, we take all the time we need to make a complete firebow set from scratch and actually light our fire with it.

We love the “leave no trace” principle. This means that when we leave, we leave nature just as we found it and thus have the least possible impact on that nature that has briefly been our home.

Programme

It is impossible to give a detailed programme because we never know exactly how a day goes, what the weather is like and how fast we go through certain topics.

• Sunday/Monday morning is the arrival day. You are welcome from 18:00 (Sunday) at the designated reception location. We start with a cup of coffee or tea by the fire to get to know each other a bit. Monday starts around 9am with the safe use of knife and saw and we will do a lot of building this day.
  
• On Tuesday, we will definitely continue building and furnishing our shelter with a kitchen on which we will also cook that day. We will start the process of preserving food on a well-known but time-honoured technique. Our shelter will then be even better and warmer, we will insulate it further and then also spend the night in our own built shelter.
  
• On Wednesday, we will work on making our own firebow kit, the techniques the we need to successfully make a fire with the firebow. On that same fire that evening, we will prepare our food and reflect on how to prepare the fire for transport or recreate a fire with much less energy.
  
• On Thursday, we work on becoming more self-sufficient in our own food. We learn to obtain our food from an animal in a respectful way. We also learn what other parts of an animal are suitable to use beyond food so that we don't have to waste anything and can thus be grateful for what is given to us.
  All that food and equipment must be able to be stored for more than a day without refrigeration or preservatives.
  
• Friday we focus on actually finding food in nature, both plant and animal. As we will have reached the last day of this course, we will again tear down our shelters and other built things, make sure that the remnants of our fires have become “untraceable” according to the principle of “leave no trace” and take time to look back on the past 5 days.

By arrangement, it is possible to arrive as early as Sunday and leave on Saturday. Please note that you will have to provide your own food on those days.

 Practical information

• Dates: 5 consecutive days: 20 to 24 July 2026
  Location: near Torsby, Sweden
• Prior knowledge required: working with knife and saw, setting up your own shelter (tarp, tent, hammock), experience with safe fire making/maintenance
• Physical condition required: we might go for several hours of walking spread over a whole day, it is hilly terrain. Building the shelters and firebows do require healthy fitness, it is not about physical strength
• Number of participants: 12-16
• Cost: €699.99
• A complete packing list and exact location will be sent after a few weeks before the start.
• Dogs are allowed, provided they are kept on a leash, are sociable and you always clean up after yourself on the field.

Included

• All (vegetarian) meals from lunch on Monday to lunch on Friday, including water, coffee, tea and fruit. 
• Stay at the location during the course (bring your own camping equipment)

 Not included in the course

• The journey there and back to the location
• Deviating dietary preferences
• Snacks for the evening or during the day
• If you want extra things such as meat or fish, you must bring them yourself.

Packing list: You'll receive a detailed packing list after booking. You can also count on our comprehensive guidance in selecting your equipment.

Necessary equipment (Minimum basis!)

• Fixed blade knife (e.g. Mora Companion)
• Sharpening stone (e.g. Fallkniven DC4)
• Saw, Silky POCKETBOY Professional – 170mm – Outback Edition
• Tent or tarp with sleeping bag and mat that can reach around freezing point (comfort temperature 0°C)
• Headlamp with red light
• Eating utensils such as mug, plate (e.g. BillyCan 2 liter), spoon
• Suitable clothing for every season; preferably wool layers, no jeans! It can be cold in Sweden even in summer.
• Waterproof and windproof jacket and wool or fleece sweater
• Suitable shoes/boots
• Rain gear (jacket and trousers)
• Personal hygiene and medication
• Notebook, pen and pencils
• Phone and power bank
• If you need any medication, please bring it with you. If necessary, please inform the instructors in advance about any medication you are taking or any medical conditions you may have.

Kurt Peeters

Kurt is your head instructor this week.

Kurt has been fascinated by nature, and especially the forest, since he was a little boy. At eight, he set off alone with his grandparents' dogs through the Kempen forests in Belgium, and at 19, he moved to the Netherlands to study tropical forestry. During his studies, he lived as a shepherd in the Pyrenees and worked on reforestation projects in Ecuador.
 
After many wanderings and experience in the jungle of offices, Kurt has been pursuing his passion and love for years: the forest. Staying there, embracing it, listening, and living. In 2021, he sold his house in Velp to fulfill his dreams and transitioned completely to a life from the "van," living everywhere but always in or around the forest.
 
Even before he'd set foot in Sweden, he knew he had to go there. One day, he and Ronja (his daughter) boarded a bus, traveling through Germany, Denmark, and finally to the bridge to Sweden. A song came to mind (which he didn't even like), and that was "Coming Home" by Dotan, played at the top of the bridge. It stuck with him, and from then on, the search for a place in Sweden began.
 
That spot now exists, on a mountain in Värmland, in the middle of nowhere. A place without human sound, without light pollution, but with moose, wolves, and bears. And a mountain of exciting challenges! Workshops will also be held there in the near future.
 
After several year-long training programs, including Faith in Nature and the bushcraft year-long program, a year of supporting the camp during those programs, and an expedition to Sweden without any modern tools like a knife and only homemade items like deerskin clothing, it was time for the instructor training program. Another year and a half immersed in bushcraft and primitive skills, and especially, how to teach these to others.
 
Kurt talks passionately about everything that comes with living with nature and he has endless patience to take you into that wonderful world.
 
In his endless wanderings through the woods (and offices), Kurt has not only become acquainted with the scientific world but also developed a spiritual connection with the forest. Besides facts and substantiation, you can also count on a genuine connection with the nature around you and the messages it holds for you.

Information
Want to know more or have any questions? Please contact Kurt: kurt@hogda-wilderness-wisdom.com or +46 (0) 767640782.