Wild Ways Thanksgiving Celebration

Today we unveiled the pots that were fired last week. They looked beautiful. We hope these gorgeous pots will find a good use at home. We also unveiled the buckskin which we finished last week. We will craft something with our pieces on our final week.

Although it was rainy, blustery and cold, we gathered for a story about the real historical adventure tale that surrounds the Thanksgiving story—which happens to be so much better!

This story featured a kidnapping, escapes, long journeys, storms, leaky ships, pandemics, starvation, strong alliances, bloodshed, double agents, a feast, and so much more. This was the story of Tisquantum and Massasoit of the Wampanoags of present-day Massachusetts and the forging of an alliance with the Separatists that founded the Plimoth Colony. For a really good read that covers this story in depth, try The Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick. If you like history and adventure, you will not be disappointed!

Each group took off to camp and kindled a huge hardwood fire in order to create a hot, lasting bed of coals for cooking upon. They decorated camp, created a mainstage for the storytelling event, and brewed up a nice pot of tea. The food table was laid out and it was a beautiful sight. When it was all cooked, we sat down to a nice meal with great stories from everyone’s lineage and good questions from the audience.

We pondered the miracle of our own existence after hearing about narrow escapes from our ancestors—the countless escapes, narrow misses, and ingenuity we all owe our very existence to! What a thought. It was very cool to connect ourselves to our lineage today. What a gift.

—Josh, Raven, and the counselors, November 23, 2020

Flying Deer Nature Center