Larrabee Trail Traverse: 12-6-15

This day gave us a happy break from super cold and rainy chill, but did offer safety challenges with the forecasted wind. We engaged the group in making solid decisions based on the hourly wind forecast and it worked out great! The Spotted Owls arrived ready for a day full of adventure and exploration along this wooded seaside trail.

We started the day reviewing how to make nettle string, reviewing the earth skill we'd learned earlier this season. We'll dry all this string and bring it out again in the spring when we teach the girls how to make cordage. I love seeing their focus as they strip the nettle of leaves and stingers, de-nub it, make a slit down the center, and fold it back to remove fibers. 

From there we began our journey, and what a journey it was! It took us 5 hours to travel a distance of ¼ mile! We truly lived up to the EC motto It’s About the Journey, not the Destination. We allowed ourselves to follow our curiosity, straying from the oft-traveled path to lead us to a myriad of discovery.

Highlights from the day included: 

• Discussing and determining cardinal and intercardinal directions to guide us where we wanted to go. We returned to considering directions throughout the day.  

• Trekking up trails alongside cascading waterfalls as we explored downstream. Learning about "exploring fever" (ask your gal what this is) and how it can get in the way of safety, and also understanding when to put an adult in the front of the group. 

• Doing a thorough safety check on a tire swing at the base of the creek, really analyzing whether it was safe for us to enjoy. After determining it was, and making some agreements about how to sit/hold on, away we went!

• Enjoying a much needed and savored peaceful place time alongside the stream, drawing, writing, sitting, breathing, doing nothing. Good medicine.  

• Walking through an area that past GEC groups had worked on over many years, building bridges and a new trail, removing invasives and planting natives. We noticed the English ivy invaders beginning to creep back and decided maybe the SOs need to come make their own difference on this trail!  

• Walking down to the bluffs at the state park, right as the wind picked up, and enjoying the exhilaration of the wind and waves. 

• Playing a rousing game of Jays and Juncos (thanks Ami, for bringing the seeds and inspiring the game!)

     • Reflecting on the season past, we ended our day by creating a Web of Life. Each girl became something from nature she had connected to this fall: cedar, stream, Salish Sea, fir, the group, nettle, waterfall, moss, rain and more. This underlines our GEC motto All Things Are Connected, and helps us understand that whenever one thing in the web is altered, it affects all the other aspects. We reiterated that GEC is all about strengthening the web of life, as well as the bonds between each other, and invited all Spotted Owls who wish to continue to be part ofthat to return in the spring. We hope they will! 


Our words of the day? Connecting and Protecting! 

You may check out the slideshow from our day here. 

Exploration at East Arroyo Park: 11-15-15

Nature certainly offered a Be Prepared Challenge Day last week for the Spotted Owls! With 100% chance of rain forecast to fall all day, girls had the opportunity to really test their preparedness. Most Spotted Owls did well, and somehow we avoided a downpour day – had the forecasted rain fallen, some would have been challenged with a lack of warm layers and rain gear. We're hoping to continue working on preparedness at the next outing and beyond.

After hearing a quote from Robert Frost: "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference," the group chose to trek east on a seldom-traveled trail towards the large old cedar whose fallen trunk acts as a wide bridge over the stream and into the woods across the creek. Though past GEC groups have crossed the creek on the tree, we did a group safety check and decided there was too much of a risk this day, as the creek was raging! We've seldom seen the arroyo quite this full and fast, and marveled at the salmons' strength to swim upstream against the powerful current.

The group made a collaborative decision to venture a bit further upstream, and established a base camp there, with many different niches for exploration and discovery. We reminded ourselves of the impact of erosion along one part of the steep bank, and discovered (and got stuck in) some deep mud. We had a good council under the tarp tent some had set up, and discussed this season of death and decay. We all noticed the death/life cycle going on around us, and agreed that death is an essential part of renewal (the salmon's journey reiterated that!). We reflected on the circle of life and how nothing really ever ends, but continues on, regeneration, and how those who have passed on become nurse logs for what comes after. This is true for salmon, trees, water and everything in nature. In our human realm, those who die can become nourishing nurse logs of inspiration, fundraisers, humor, memories, poetry, wisdom and so much else. Not gone, still going.

After lunch we made some collaborative decisions about the course of our day. First, we chose to do an activity Rebecca introduced, that mimicked salmons' journey to spawn. This required a lot of teamwork, patience, persistence, and trial and error as we learned that slow is fast to reach one's goals. There was quite a bit of cheering when our group salmon finally spawned!

Working to first leave no trace in the area, we traveled back to the main trail and witnessed salmons' swim upstream, showing us all the qualities we'd employed in our game, and more. It was a special site to see how engaged these girls were in watching the effort-full miracle of salmon spawning. We chose to have Peaceful Place there beside the stream; though we were joined by quite a few others who had come to see the show, we were all grateful that this place had been preserved for the benefit of so many. In our closing meeting, we recognized Cyrus Gates for preserving Arroyo Park for so many species.

We ended our day by reflecting with an Attitude of Gratitude, each person sharing what she was thankful for: salmon, connection, trees, mud, Chuckanut Creek, family, rain, death and decay, the road less traveled...

Our words of the day? "Salmon Struggling, Life and Death, It All Goes Round and Round"

Please enjoy the slideshow from the day here.

SO Service Outing at Squalicum Creek 10-24-15

This is what Community looks like! Wow! The Silver Salmon and the Spotted Owls joined hundreds of people on the fresh new banks of Squalicum Creek for Make a Difference Day this year. MADD is an effort on the national scale. We joined hands with millions of people all over the U.S today! Big gratitude for the Bellingham Parks Dept (especially our restoration mentor, Rae Edwards and her staff) and the Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association staff for coordinating this enormous project. Collectively, there were 1500 trees and shrubs to plant, a mountain of mulch to move, and all the tools to make it so. Our new collective noun for both our groups fit naturally into this outing: The Spotted Salmon!


We met on this chilly cloudy day to plant salmon friendly habitat along the new route of Squalicum Creek behind Sunset Square. Why did they need to re-route the creek? Squalicum Creek spilled into Sunset Pond and Bug Lake, two shallow bodies of water that just get too hot for salmon to breathe in. Salmon need cool, clean water with lots of shade and places to rest to survive! Here's a link to the City's info so you can get a grasp on the enormity of this project.

These girls were totally up to the task at hand, and couldn't wait to dig right in. During our opening circle we checked in about the girl's preparedness (which was great preparedness today looked like plenty of layers and raingear, check!), played a quick game of Firry the Fir Cone, held opening circles to ask the important question: Who's "cups" are we filling today? Resounding answer, SALMON! After a buddy-check, we were off. Here are some pictures, but please browse our Photo Album for more visuals of our day!

Thanks, Renee (Explorer's Mom!)! She helped us understand the scope of the day and our specific role in the project. How many plants, again?? No problem.

Let us just grab our partners, shovels and buckets and go. We stopped at mulch mountain to fill those buckets, of course. And found the old railroad line, which brought a quiet moment as we fell into a single file line on out to our site.

Many hands, people. There are many pictures in our photo album of these girls digging hard, breaking up rootballs, chucking rocks, planting and mulching. They only needed encouragement when our work flow stalled due to tiredness and a pause in direction from our MADD leaders. They were kind of busy! A conversation about Walk Your Talk and we were right back at 'em. By noon, we had planted ALL our plants already! Now what do we do? Time for a little play with clay session. Clay is truly magical. We waited, practicing patience as we waited for further instructions from the Stream Team (B'ham PArks & NSEA). Snack happens, as it always does. And then, we moved mulch mountain.

Moving a mulch mountain a 1/4 of a mile required one long mulch bucket brigade as we passed buckets hand over hand, firefighter style. For 1/4 mile from mulch mountain to our individual baby plants. It was kind of epic, really.

Now it was time to make the donuts! Here's how you properly mulch baby plants. Please ask your Explorer all about it.

After lunch and a few fun rounds of the game Bear, Salmon, Mosquito, our Closing circle reflected our Motto: All Things Are Connected. Although not specifically identified, each girl's words of gratitude included salmon, helping, birds, humans and all of nature. 

Words of the day: Restoration with mulch, trees and salmon. Teamwork for the Spotted Salmon!

We didn't plant these! But we wanted to.

Home Connections: Ask your Explorer for a demonstration of our Motto, Our Cup Overflows.
Have a conversation on why service is important, not just for salmon, but for yourself and others.
What kind of plants did your girl plant?
What did she enjoy most about our day?
Why are mulch donuts important?



To view the full album of the day, click here

Nettle Cordage Harvest @ Fairhaven Park: 9-12-15

As the Spotted Owls gathered for our opening meeting on a gorgeous fall day, we shared among ourselves the changes in nature and our daily lives that accompany the coming of autumn: leaves changing color; FALLing limbs, leaves, and  trees; darker days; bird activity - both migratory and at the feeder; animals putting on their winter coats and scouting out hibernation spots...and for humans, new homes, new schools, new changes. 

Before setting out, we talked about cordage. What is it? What could it be made from (all sorts of plants and roots, and even hair, and animal intestines!), how essential string and rope were to the development of civilizations. We brainstormed uses (pull, carry, tie, climb, attach to make nets, snares, bows, clothing, sandals, baskets, shoelaces, bags, mats, lines, etc…). Would progress have marched on without rope and string? We doubt it! We shared that nettle cordage has been found in caves dating 30,000 years, and that today we were going to engage in an ancient activity: seeking out nettle in her tall, fall form, to strip for string that we would dry for cordage making later. 

We hit the trail with explorer’s eyes – and what an abundance of things to see. We stood beside Padden Creek and figured out where it came from and where it was going, and the ways it provides habitat and obstacles for salmon (hooray for the current project to daylight Padden Creek!). Girls clambered along and in and over the stream with exploring joy. 

We could have spent all day in the microcosms of that short stretch of trail, but there was work to be done, and it was time to meddle with nettles. Where the sky and the forest opened up, we began to gather nettles to turn into string for cordage behind the Center for Local Self Reliance. As we collected, we remembered the best practice of the One in Twenty principle of harvesting. 

After Peaceful Place next to Padden Creek, we were brought back into circle, and experienced the satisfaction and calm that comes when we get busy with our hands. It was a lovely thing to see how focused the girls became on the task – like a meditation for many, and a great chance to talk about our lives with each other. By the end, we had an impressive amount of stripped nettle string that will dry through the winter and be ready to made cordage in the spring!

We made our way up to the parking lot with time to spare, and stopped to walk and admire the Labyrinth in Fairhaven Park. We discussed how labyrinths can be a walking meditation, a place and process to find clarity and solace on the journey to the center. Many of the girls took this meditation idea seriously and practiced it till the end of the day.

You may see a slideshow of our shared day here.