June 7
We can’t believe it was the last day, 10 weeks went WAY to fast!
Today we found a treasure map! Building our map reading skills, we followed X’s that took us to many of our favourite places, finding different tools along the way (fishing string, hook, cotton balls, lighter, cordage…). Each stop, each find we had to say multiple ways the found item could be used during a survival situation to continue and receive their next X.
The coveted treasure? s’mores ingredients!
We soon settled in at one of our favourite places along the river to cool down, catch minnows, roast up s’mores over the little stove, put together survival kits, find dead fish… and bury them, catch minnows… all the good things :).
We ended the day yelling a big thanks to the forest and tree hugs.
Thanks for everything wild families!
Previous Weeks
We spent the day exploring and playing at “the pond” where they became extremely invested in making bamboo aqueducts, building a dam, and some making a home with hammocks. We pulled out the tackle box and many of these wildlings went to collect sticks, strung them up and settled in by the shore catching peaceful thoughts and line tangles :).
We kicked off the day working together to find DRY easy to ignite loose parts in the wet woods then worked together to start the community fire. A few wildlings decided to come along a foraging walk, collecting edibles for our wild lemonade. We came back to camp, mixed up our blueberry bannock and placed them all on the fire.
It felt like a fire day where we jumped head first into play and never stopped till the last second! Some tended their own fire ALL day, others constructed traps, some whittled… we finished off the day having a bear visitor! Giving us first hand experience to go over bear encounter safety! They all took turns being rolled over by the “bear” and learning to roll back on their belly fast :).
With unknown weather ahead we decided staying on the move was best because it kept our minds engaged and bodies warm. We traveled to the witches hut crossing the beaver bridge and stopping for a cattail snack and harvest which we sautéed as we settled in at the hut. Some of us branched off to watch the pelicans and play with the currents of the weir, throwing in different plants to see how they would react.
Today felt so OUTER WORLDLY thanks to Tom from the Lethbridge Astronomy Society!! We got to learn all about our amazing star we call the sun, and see it up close! Looking at its dark sun spots, and many solar flares using both a powerful telescope and a solar scope!! Oh ya!… and he even showed us how to do marine navigation using an antique sextant compass!
Quotes from our wildlings!
“That small thing is bigger than the earth!”
“I see hairs!”
“I just saw a solar flare!”
“That’s weird”
After we went to cool off in the mud and water. Just as a side note, in case your wondering, the place where we go to allow the wildings to explore in the water further has an almost zero current, and you can easily touch the whole way to the island that marks our boundary line for this site.
With pickles as our companion in the trees today and the on and off again sun and rain as our companions in the sky we settled in for an extremely relaxing day!
We got right to chopping vegetables to make our soup and making banana boats. Following up with being 100% engrossed in story building, full body, big laugh play every second (I’m not kidding, they couldn’t get enough play in today!)
One of my personal favourite parts of the day was when these guys took it upon themselves to prune our low hanging dead branches off the trees using a rope and brute force. They learned how to recognize dead branches and determine best way and direction to pull, it naturally forced them to dynamic risk access not just for themselves but also others around them. Was it riskier play? Yes, but not hazardous (we cleared a very large “no go zone” for them )… and then we let them get to it, because of the boundless fulfilment, excitement, and learning this play offered.
We finished the day guessing “what’s in the bag” as a way for them to be excited about learning about our local history… and it’s amazing fossilized algae and plant minerals… coal!!
We traveled to one of our favourite locations with the excitement tangible for the adventures that happen here!
It was a day filled with excitement and camaraderie as we hiked to the cave site, going up and down and then up and down again! Rock collecting, tree climbing, mining, and working our bodies HARD! They even found a dead racoon in one of the caves and after MUCH (like an hour) discussion, delegation and effort they decided they couldn’t “unstuck” its body and decided to have a “burial” in the cave laying flowers and foliage around. The ability to show kindness and respect to all animals alive or not, domestic or wild, shows an incredible heart ❤️.
Fire day! We started the day foraging for a homemade “birds nest”, searching for things in nature that are easy to ignite with a spark! Using ferro rods these wildings each persevered till they started a fire of their own!
We placed our bread on the fire to cook and took turns shaking our cream to make butter for it!
These wildlings stretched out doing what calls to them most. Many spent much of their time mining out a very deep hole in search of nothing in particular and ended up finding bones! It was a very exciting find heard from far away! Then they spent time discussing what it was and what they were going to do with possible millions!
Some wanted to learn how to carve a spoon! We went over knife and saw safety and settled into make spoons, learning to control your knife a little more. Then using a primitive/survival method to burn the hollow into it. While others stayed working on building fires throughout the day!
The first day is all about connection, connection with the land and spaces we will spend our time in. However we mostly focus on trying to build a good connection amongst the wildlings and each other, finding similarities, sharing laughs and building stories together.
We discussed risk and listening to our bodies, then allowed our feet to guide our path letting the children explore the land in a way that excited them! We traveled around spotting interesting things including crawfish, unique rocks and recognizing signs of spring!
Our feet ended at a wildlings favourite spot, the pond, a place where so much learning, and excitement happens! Setting up shoe shinning businesses, mining and finding coal!, and a rock scrubbing station. Mostly everyone ended up on the extremely muddy hillside making lots of muddy memories!
We ended the day heading back to home base gathered around in conversation, listening to a story, and reflecting back on the day with a chocolate in our hands.
P.S. At the very end we found one of the most exciting finds we have had! Porcupine quills embedded into a downed tree! Where some wildlings were able to get a very personal and up close experience with the feel and look of them!
