Thursday, September 1, 2016

Pine Martens (first outing) - 100 Acre Woods - 8/28/2016

Grey skies, prophesying autumn’s immanent emergence, greeted the Pine Martens for our first outing as a Boys Explorers Club group. Our pack of wild Whatcom weasels quickly rallied from drop-off games to find a suitable spot for our morning circle. A few pumps of the tire and everyone sat facing each other for the first time, to learn our names and some of the ecology of Explorers Club: What does Explore, Serve, Connect even mean anyway, who’s the #1 person in charge of one’s own safety, what are circles for and how can we respect everyone in them, and what the heck’s a pine marten? Ask your explorer what it means to listen with their ears, eyes, body and mind, if you want to water the seed of those BEC ecological services in your home!

Of course, after all that sitting in circle we needed to break out across the field and roll down a hill! Duh. An important part of boyhood connection to place is knowing which are the best hills for rolling down, and Fairhaven Park has a beautiful example of an ideal prominence for such purposes. After a few rolls each, we tested how quickly we could circle again, and our marvelous guest GEC mentor, Hannah and I were very impressed by how respectful the Pine Martens are already at answering crow calls and giving their attention to the group. After assigning our very first knowledge keeper, medicine man, TTTPP, hunter gatherer, and game master their jobs, and discussing trail etiquette, the Pine Martens were all set on disappearing into the woods!

Right away our troupe of explorers was immersed in the magic of the moment, as we discovered spiders webs, squirrels, and a plant who’s berries we were very curious if we could eat. Out came Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast, by Pojar and McKinnon – a fantastic resource for your explorer and family at home, if you’ve a budding naturalist or two on your hands – from the backpack of our knowledge keeper, and soon 12 little bodies were bent around the bent spine and open leaves of our illustrated field guide. The berries of the black hawthorn it turns out are edible, but was that the plant we found? Its leaves were darker green on top and lighter on bottom, serrated and lobed but not quite like the picture. Black hawthorn has thorns up to an inch long, which were not present on this tree, and the berries were much more red than purple… hmmm…  One important lesson every explorer learns on his first day; we don’t eat plants unless you know 100% what it is and which part is edible, and then only after your mentor has approved you to ID that plant on your own. We passed on the berries, as the natural mysteries of camouflage drew us on.

What does it mean to camouflage anyway? Do any animals do that? What’s the difference between camouflaging and hiding? Speaking of which, “HIDE!”. Play is the highest form of research, and in investigating the Art of Camouflage, Hide is the first game we learn. See if you can get your explorer to explain the rules for you, as this can be a fun game you play on the trail anywhere! Eventually our bodies tell us they need more food to keep on playing and investigating. We find a magical spot where our imaginations can run wild, and we perch on fallen logs like we were nesting birds as we eat our lunch. Of course, this spot was too good not to try our imaginations and test our art at another game – Eagle Eye! A level up from Hide on the totem pole of camouflage games, Eagle Eye takes your explorers skills to the next level, as they have multiple rounds to try and sneak closer and eventually try to touch the eagle and hide again, to win. Our Pine Martens were very excited about the prospect of becoming eagle eggs if they were spotted, and were happy to share the nest with Hannah “eagle mamma”.

After the “eagle daddy” had his turn to spot as many Pine Martens as he could see, our group circled up again to learn how we make decisions in BEC – something we call the 4Cs: circle, collaborate, compromise, and consensus. After everyone shared their ideas about what they wanted to do, we compromised and reached the consensus that we would move along and practice a sit spot before our day was done. Reaching a beautiful edge environment, where the forest of cedar, hemlock, Douglas-fir, and maple was gradually replaced with grass and sedge, alder and cotton wood, the Pine Martens got the chance to explore the idea inside the reality, of environmental disturbance and the different habitats that forest and meadow provide to wildlife. After exploring the area and questioning our explorers on their observations, we discussed what a sit spot is – the opportunity to be still, silent, safe, solitary, and present with their senses, as they engage with the natural world in a more meditatively reflective way than the games and adventures we engage in for the rest of our outings – and sat our explorers down on what for some of them was their very first sit spot!



In our closing circle, the Pine Martens shared their gratitude for the day’s explorations, and Honeycrisp apples that our hunter gatherer had been carrying for us all outing. We thanked Hannah Plant for joining us as our mentor and eagle mamma for this outing, and reminded our explorers that for their next outing, we will be delving into the magical camouflage game of Spider’s Web, and they will get to meet their other mentor for the season. Fortunately for the Pine Martens, we finished with just enough time to roll down our big hill a few more times on the way back to pick-up, and to learn the name of the spruce trees crowned the top of the hill. A beautiful end to a fantastic day in the woods!