Smoke Signal
The 2013 Sticks & Stones Season awaits you!

          With the Earth tipped away from the sun here in the Northern Hemisphere we are filling with excitement about a new year of programming at Sticks & Stones Wilderness School. This year promises to be full of growth as we continue to build community and nature connection with new groups of enthusiastic students. This is the time we reflect on all the wonderful courses and connections we experienced last year and dream of new adventures and the bright souls we will share them with in the next. For our past students it is the time to put your skills to the test and to bring those stories with you when you return. Till then, take care and know that opportunity awaits you!

New Programs  
4 Seasons - Wilderness Skills Immersion Program 

4 Seasons 

Wilderness Skills Immersion Program

Learning through Living

1 weekend/month for 10 months 

May 2013 - February 2014

 

The long term mentoring approach of walking students through the skills one by one with lots of opportunity for dirt-time and growth in between weekend workshops enables people to grow organically with the skills-internalizing and taking them deeper over time.  As a small group of committed people coming together as a team, we will grow stronger individually, by working and training together throughout the 4 seasons within the last of the wild spaces in Ontario.  

        

Beyond the scheduled workshops and field weekends, you will also be part of Monthly:

  • Group Connection Calls
  • One-on-One Personal Mentoring Calls
  • Home work assignments and research projects to complete in between the scheduled workshops

Enjoy small group sizes, expert instructors and a robust support staff team, alongside our huge resource library, onsite workshop, and classroom space as well as the 100 acre habitat we call home.  Beyond our land we will find ourselves throughout the last of the wild spaces in Southern and Central Ontario.  

 

This is the opportunity that you have been waiting for, hesitate no longer, enrollment limited to 8 participants....

 

read on....

 

Path of the Sacred Hunt
 
The Path of the Sacred Hunt has been designed to lead participants through a learning journey to be able to hunt with tools they made themselves from natural materials. The learning journey to apply these tools comes from integrating a deep awareness for the natural world which you will be unlocked through
Empowering Ancient Way and Ancient Hunting Skills. Participants will hone their abilities over time through a series of skills that directly relate to one another and build upon each other seamlessly. There are 4 Compulsory workshops and 1 Elective workshop that participants get to choose to focus on. The 5 workshops together provide the core curriculum for the Pathway of the Sacred Hunt. We will be accepting only 6 participants for 2013 so don't wait to sign up.
 

 

2013 Wilderness Skills Programs 
Schedule Release  
 
It's Here! Those waiting for the new schedule to sign up for all their favorite classes can now do so. Click on the link below to get the info on all our classes old and NEW. Don't forget to check the Calendar for all the dates.  
 
Headwaters Community Update 


Headwaters Gathering 2013 
 
***Important: CHANGE OF DATE  
to May 16-17-18-19-20, 2013***


A reminder that the
Beaver-Valley & Blue Mountains
Tracking Club
(formerly known as the Headwaters Tracking Club)
 meets once a month on Sundays to go tracking in the morning and work skills in the afternoon at the
 Sticks and Stones Workshop at Kimbercote Farm.  

Next meeting: 

Sun. February 17th 2013 from 10am until 2pm
.

We have now updated our Tracking Club web page with info and dates for 2013! Please check it out by following the link.

 

Winter 2013 
Issue
tracksSnow
In This Issue
4-Seasons Immersion
Path of the Sacred Hunt
2013 Schedule Release
Forager's Corner
Forager's Corner

Eastern White Cedar
Thuja occidentalis

High up on the escarpment or down low on the floodplains, the eastern white cedar remains a welcome touch of green in the white tapestry of winter. Not only does this tree provide much-needed shelter from cold north winds but it also provides much-needed Vitamin C for the common winter cold! Tea made from the needles of this tree once cured Jacques Cartier's men of scurvy... and surely can help you do the same, today.

What it looks like:
The Eastern White Cedar is a fairly small, evergreen coniferous tree. It has scale like leaves and fan like branches.

How to use it:
The amounts and preparations for this tea can differ. Check out this recipe and this one for ideas! Precaution: not for children or pregnant women.

Where to find it:
In swampy areas as well as cliff sides, generally in areas where the rock underneath is limestone.

"University of Guelph researcher Douglas Larson discovered that eastern white cedar is Ontario's longest-lived tree species by a long shot. The oldest eastern white cedar, growing on the Niagara Escarpment, sprouted in the year 688, making it more than 1,324 years old in 2012." -Source:

 

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Thanks to You  
 
We owe our success to those of you who keep the fire kindled inside and the passion to grow and live through the life sustaining skills of the caretaker.  Thank you to those who have been sending us pictures, videos and testimonials from the various classes and workshops we've hosted. Your stories and achievements are what keep the community thriving.