As the rain turned on and off around us, we danced amongst the droplets as only beings with deep nature connection do! As the showers ebbed and flowed, we went into our guilds. The bow guild had to move under the pergola roof to protect the bow staves and because it’s really difficult to carve in the rain. Everyone made some great progress and the bows are moving closer and closer to completion.
Dan and Nathaniel took the Stealth guild up into the forest across the road to work on their skills of silent movement and deep listening. It helped the motivation that they were told they would need these skills in an upcoming game with the Treetop group next week.
Olivia had a crew out in the garden. They moved mulch, planted peas and other veggies, and did some beautification of the garden area. They also were out in the full rain with no cover of tree canopy for the whole morning and they never seemed to mind one bit about the rain!
We all had lunch up at the Red Pine camp site. After lunch we separated into two groups. The Phoenixes had a group fire challenge. The rain helped set that one up! Christian challenged the group to a stick-collecting contest. Could he collect as many sticks on his own as the whole rest of the group combined? In the end the piles were close but the group’s was slightly bigger. However, we all won because we had a great amount of dry kindling to get our fire going!
The Dawn of Thunder group played a new game that incorporates wild edibles collection. The kids did really well identifying the plants they needed to harvest and the game was another success.
The Phoenixes also had a nice sit spot at Red Pine site and at the end of the day, it was apparent that that area was full of bird sign and activity. We counted at least 5 different bird song during sit spots, and found a nest with two different kinds of eggs in it, a barred owl feather, and owl pellet not too far from a large stick nest like an owl might make and lastly, the remains of what appears to have been a small Canada goose with sign of coyote predation, as well as a ginormous coyote scat full of feathers right next to the goose remains!
Until next time,
Dan Y, Dan C, Olivia, and Nathaniel for the FOREST staff, May 4, 2023