We had another beautiful and sunny day out at Bart’s Cobble. Today was the first day of guilds! We had a lot of diverse options to choose from for forest skills.
Raven offered a quickie bow-making guild, where six experienced carvers will had a chance to practice the subtle art of bow making with different types of wood. Raei offered a black walnut–dying guild, where students processed the hulls of many black walnuts, separated the nut to be dried, the outer part to be dyed, and steeped the T-shirts they are going to dye next week in mordant solution to help the colors stick.
As the summer solstice comes around this Sunday, our campers are having fun preparing for the longest day of the year! Through songs, demonstrations, and lots of play and crafting, the groups have been learning about the element of fire as well as the four cardinal directions and why it is that we have seasons where we live! Our campwide circles have been filled with exciting fire skills, such as hand drills and torches. The campers are also playing bird trivia every day—we read a riddle that describes a bird’s behavior or habitat and the answer is revealed the next day!
The Cicadas have been working on torches made out of pine cones and resin and have come up with a very fun dance to one of our most popular songs! The Red Pines made their very own flint and steel strikers and are working on building swings at their campsite. The Herons also made torches and learned that making fire under time pressure is challenging and exciting! The Katydids have been exploring melting beeswax and shaping it around nature items, and enjoying wild mint tea. All the groups will be working on other ways to contain fire as well as how to make floating devices to let fire burn on water for a celebration later in the week!
We look forward to seeing everyone out in the forest on Friday!
Katydid Camp Tour, Friday, 9:00–10:00 am
Join us in the field for a tour of the Katydid campsite and to learn more about the activities and adventures your campers have experienced during the week! (Pickup is at 3:00 pm as usual.) Adults are required to wear masks at this event.
Cottonwood Camp Tour, Friday, 2:00–3:00 pm
Families will be greeted at the kiosk in the large field to learn more about Flying Deer and the initiatives we’ve undertaken over the past year and be guided to Basecamp, where you will meet your child’s instructors, tour the Cottonwood campsite, and find out more about what your campers have experienced during the week!
Flying Deer merchandise will be available for sale Friday morning and afternoon.
