As colder temperatures and wet, wet mud become a part of our routines, we are finding a new rhythm to our days together. The red squirrels in our spruce grove have been actively knocking down cones in large quantities. And, they are starting to nest! A highlight of our week was the discovery that a red squirrel has moved into the nesting box we built last year! We are so excited to watch their activity as the season progresses.
Mud puddles abounded on Tuesday, with our plans to make fire tossed to the side as the splashing and stomping were so much more interesting than anything else. Quinn showed the children the different ways water flows at the stream, naming eddies and flows.
Spooky (not- so-spooky) happenings showed up around our medicine tree on Wednesday. It seems as though the woods are a bit haunted these days. Thanks to the Wild Ways teens and FOREST Director Dan Yacobellis for the seasonal inspiration. We had a blast coming up with stories for the scenarios!
We also took some golf balls out to the hill by Grandmother Maple to test out our physics skills; rolling them down and having their weight land them in the stream was sometimes tricky as many leaves kept getting in the way. But friends worked well together to make it work.
This week, we heard a special story about a woman who helped take care of animals in the forest including a bird who, in return, gave her a magic blue seed that produced pumpkins filled with food and gold. On Thursday we discovered that in fact, her bird had found its way to our forest! Our mission was to find her by sneaking up on her without being seen by the Roly Poly group and then try and grab her feathers. The blue bird was guarding a golden pumpkin filled with nature names and a treat!
—Julie, JJ, Quinn, and the counselors
October 28, 2021