The day was warm and our hearts were warmed by this Fall day. Today was our Stone Soup celebration and what a monumental day it was! There was such a sense of joy and community bringing both our kindergarten groups together.
We started our day in the open sun warming our bones and practicing our dance moves. We made a “movement soup”—we laughed, fell, wiggled, and grooved and then played a game of Dance Honcho where our dance moves were put to the test. Students took a turn leading the group in dance moves in a circle, with a guesser trying to figure out who was leading the group.
We nestled ourselves in a new campsite for the day, and found so much to explore and discover. Excitement was in the air as we began to light our two fires, one for our rock boiled noodles and one for stone soup and cider. With help from many hands, both fires were lit.
Next, many hands began to chop and dice our vegetables for the soup: carrots, potatoes, cabbage, garlic, onions. Each person lent a hand with chopping the vegetables and soon, some kids were practicing their flint and steel skills, while others decorated a place to leave an ancestor plate, others helped to prepare our wooden trough with water and noodles for rock boiling, and others tending to the soup with patient stirring. It was a true celebration.
When the soup was done and the noodles successfully rock boiled, we sat around to add our final special ingredient, a gratitude gem from each student. Everyone was quiet and focused as each student and teacher took a gem, said what they were grateful for out loud or in their heart, and placed the stone into the soup. We acknowledged the farmers, the trees, the earth, the sun, and all the things that allowed us to be here together.
Then it was time to eat! Chatting and laughter filled the air as we ate our soup and the sun shone.
—River Otter, Striped Maple, and White Pine (Chris, Beatrice, and Raei)
November 18, 2021