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.
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:
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!
Our words of the day? Connecting and Protecting!
