Quote of the Month
"Go to the winter woods: listen there, look, watch, and "the dead months" will give you a subtler secret than any you have yet found in the forest."
- Fiona Macleod,
Where the Forest Murmurs
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Our 2011 Program Schedule is Up!
After an extended holiday season of family time with our bouncing new baby boy, we are very excited to have finalized and posted the schedule of programs and community events for 2011. Check out the website for Tracking Club, Wilderness Skills Program, and Headwaters dates.
We have some completely new programs running for the first time this year. Click on the titles below to learn more:
Wilderness Awareness I
Flint Knapping and the Art of Stone Tools
Paddle Making
The Art of Seeing
The Art of Felting
Traditional Art History
The Way of the Wild
Click here or visit http://sticksandstoneswildernessschool.com/full_schedule/ for more details.
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What's Happening at Sticks & Stones:
Winter Tracking
by Michael Peters, Past Intern
Tracking is a skill that has been around since the dawn of time. It's not even a strictly human phenomenon. The origin of tracking represents interpretation of life, in the form of story and adventure. The human ability to track, to understand cause and effect within the environment and ourselves, is perhaps what our large brains developed for, and what makes us human. The San Bushmen of the Kalahari are a culture that epitomizes what it means to be master trackers, and interpreters of a landbase - they know the tracks of their Cheetah friends as well as they know the wrinkles on their own read more ...
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Sticks & Stones and HERBS!
Baby Guinea Pig!
No, Skeet and I haven't adopted any furry rodents, and you're right, Guinea pigs are not herbaceous... I'm using the term metaphorically to refer to our baby boy, who has become my new inspiration to learn more about herbs; in my ongoing journey to experiment and experience more, I've already tried several mild home-made remedies for diaper rash, gassy baby, and fussy unsettling baby. I must say the results have been more than pleasing-- the diaper rash was cleared up within two days, and my red-faced boy was gently "knocked out" within a few minutes.
Rather than focusing on an herb or group of herbs and providing you with a recipe to try, this month I thought I'd write a bit about inspiration and planning, when it comes to learning about herbs. February seems the perfect month for this, as winter's been set in for a while now, and I'm sure most of us are beginning to feel the enticing pulls of spring-- it won't be long before those little incubating flower bulbs and fresh green shoots start rearing their brave heads. And while the world is still awash in white, it's a good time to get thinking about an "Herbal Calendar" for the growing season.
It is with renewed energy that I turn to my herb journal this year and plan out a harvesting schedule and medicine-making goals for the year. Our first baby, now 8 weeks old, is inspiring me to learn all I can, so that one day I can teach him something very valuable. I would love it if his first word turns out to be "dandelion," and he knows to rub plantain on a bee sting without a second thought as he toddles through the yard. I owe it to myself, and now to him, to make the most of my days on the planet here.
So, take a moment to remember what it is that draws you to the green. Ask yourself why you are on this learning journey, or why you'd like to begin one. Write an entry in your journal. Why is it important to you? What are your personal goals? Sit by the glow of a warm fire... or the warmth of your oven stove... and reflect, ask yourself questions. Make a cup of chamomile tea with honey, and rekindle your inspiration. Take your time, and enjoy these quiet months, knowing that soon the world will be alive with hustle and bustle again, growing in that cycle of new energy.
Now is the quiet time, the time to be thinking about how to approach what can sometimes feel like a "wall of green" in the spring time. Maybe you have a list of two or three herbs you'd like to concentrate on for the summer. Write them down, and find out when they start growing, when they're in flower, when they fruit and go to seed. That way, you can lay out a bit of a learning/ experimenting schedule for the summer, because of course you will want to ground-truth any preliminary research you do this winter. Rest, and use this quiet time wisely!
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Headwaters Community
Tracking Club
Join us for a day of exploring the natural mysteries of our local ecosystems through tracking and wilderness awareness skills. Our meetings are open to anyone of any age.
Next Meeting: February 27, 2011
We will meet at 10 am sharp at the Sticks & Stones workshop. Dress warmly and bring yourself a lunch or some snacks, and water. Email us to let us know you're coming, and for directions:
info@wildernessschool.ca
Headwaters Gathering
A traditional & ancient earth-based skills gathering, people of all ages and experience converge for a weekend of workshops, story telling, trading goods, sharing knowledge, stewardship projects and celebrating life. It's a wonderful place to gather and reconnect with each other, the earth and the natural world.
Sticks and Stones hosted this past gathering, in October. What a weekend!
Link: http://www.earthmentorship.com/Headwaters/index.html
Next Gathering: May 6-8, 2011
Stewardship
We welcome your support whether through your energy or by way of financial or equipment donations. Please contact us if you wish to take part in any project or would like to make a financial contribution. If you would like to donate equipment, please visit our "Wish List" to see where our needs lie.
If you have a stewardship project in mind or have access to land that is need of rehabilitation, please feel free to contact us, we'd love to talk with you about it.
Community News - February Events
Dan Gardoqui and Alexis Burnett are running a winter tracking workshop in Algonquin later this month. See the article below for details.
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Special Winter Tracking Event
Dan Gardoqui of White Pine Programs (who many of you met at the Art of Mentoring this past August), and Alexis Burnett of Earth Tracks will be hosting a Winter Wildlife Tracking course in Algonquin park at the end of February.
These men are both seasoned trackers, and if you're lucky Alexis will tell you the story of how he once fell through the ice of a lake and waded chest-deep though frigid water carrying a load of firewood on his back.
This is an amazing opportunity for anyone seriously interested in wildlife sign and tracks. You'd be hard-pressed to find more experienced trackers, and both Dan and Alexis are great instructors. for more information, click here.
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