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Coyote had to compete in a serious of challenges (sit spot, animal forms, improv, bow drill, Brooke's Nature Museum, awareness) and earn the power of tools and resources. YES, we picked THE shovel in the morning. All to make good use in a balloon fire making competition (we won third place) before taking the fire on a little swim through the pond. We took first. Yip!
This mouse lives in a magical place,
Where the morning sun slowly sweeps away ice from frozen maple leaves, Where Housefinches skip from branch to branch, Hummingbirds call each other for companionship, Trumpeter swans cheer each other on with honks. Where the Great Blue Heron flies low, the Bald Eagle watches over the Snohomish River, And the Flicker spreads their colorful wings. Where mallards swim together in circles, And a Cinnamon teal might be seen. Where endless bird poop can be found. Where Caddisfly larvae uses silk to make a protective case out of gravel, sand and tiny pieces of plants, so strong they are hard to pull apart. Where Cedars make great hides But less mindful visitors leave their tools and lunches Decorating logs with sprayed art. Where Beavers snack on young Cottonwood branches Leaving behind their tracks to observe Where Coyotes go swimming in the icy cold river Taking a long time to build a fire afterwards Where Bob saved the place from development His death marking the end of the Golden Age of Steelheading. This mouse lives in a magical place. If I'm really honest with myself, why am I here?
I'm a wild thing. Tamed and muted by education, anxiety and capitalism. Society, crazy and deep. Destroying our home. I'm a worker bee caught between adventure and duty. Inspired by the brilliance of each flower, snowflake, seed gathering life's elixir. Mystery. Beauty. Grief. Keeping it together. Propolis. One with the hive. Unique. Like everyone. One. Temporary. What longing am I moving towards? Giving my inner child what it needs to be happy. Playing in the forest with friends. Wondering. Creating space for magic. Dazzle. Enchantment. Desperate for connection. I want to feel home wherever I go. Fun activity I want to save for later:
https://quizlet.com/403266963/pnw-plants-flash-cards/ Got my kits out and fine tuned them. 3 bows, 4 fire boards, 2 hand holds, 2 spindles. It was very loud. I had issues with my spindles flying off. It was hard on my hands to drill. I got a lot of saw dust.  Monday: Wander at Schmitz Slugs, mud, log Looked at crusty lichen on big trees Got to Linne Doran late Chatted Emailed til 2 Tuesday: Heard alarm at 6 Not a happy camper Learned about Linne Doran History Went on a bird wander Saw a grey jay maybe Learnt more about bird language Presented spotted towhee pipilo Cool stories about poly robins Senses Tired Walked to Mosswood w Genevieve Chatted with Rowan + Maggie Went to Tolt with Allegra Camas is Self-Heal Deer Ear Bird long white brown Weird poop Pizza This morning when I stepped outside for a second, I heard a very loud crunch on the right Douglas fir out front. I waited a bit and then the little fluffy tail came in site. I waited a bit more and my neighbor squirrel positioned itself on a little branch carrying a big nut or acorn in his mouth. The sound when he climbed head down the trunk to get to the branch was amplified, almost screaming at me. I do think he knows me. He rarely screams at me even if I pass under the tree. He nibbed a bit on his food before dashing off over his highway - from one Doug to the next over the cherry into the Cedar.
One of my goals is to earn his trust and be able to get closer. Also to find out if he is in fact a 'he'. When I stepped out in the afternoon to go to my sit spot there were two of them in the tree. One climbing down a very brittle, dried up looking branch, I would avoid if I was a squirrel. Not entirely sure how I found this, but I love it so much, I need to share this video/link.
Just in case, the video goes away and I need to look up what this was about, it's about phallus rubicundus. The Washington post did a short little article about this type of mushrooms which are often called stinkhorns: “The slime sticks to the feet of insects, which spreads the fungus when they land on damp mulch, but a more effective form of spore dispersal begins when the fly feverishly sponge up the sticky, stinky syrup, consuming as much as 80% of their body weight in stinkhorn slime in a single day. The putrid breakfast doesn’t sit well with the fly’s digestive system. When a bout of diarrhea ensues, intact stinkhorn spores make their exit. Each resulting fly speck can contain more than 22 million stinkhorn spores.” The flies eating this fungi are going to have terrible diarrhea later! We had our Orientation Day yesterday. Strix Occidentalis. 2 Clans.
The smoke moved in quickly and it was nice to have the face masks. I particularly enjoyed the walk and learning that my sit spot for years is between the 'Cable Tree' and the Ancestor Hill. I also got to visit my sit spot and decided to put some intentions in my Anake year and remembered how Kyle introduced me to the site and demonstrated his skills on the log in the Enchanted Forest. So, I took this and thought what would Kyle do and started rolling down from my sitting position and lay above the big old stump where the 3 little birds visited me a while ago, where I got inspired to learn about the Hemlock, Cedar and Huckleberry, I didn't know yet. I loved to lay there in the still and look up in the tree tops. Another perspective. A bit of playfulness and cheer build-in. My name is Christine (she/her) or Biene. I'm very excited to join
Anake this year as my longing for more connections with the natural world and other people has steadily increased during the pandemic. Growing up I roamed the woods in the Bavarian alps, climbing my favorite spruces, observing the little creek, falling in and breaking my collarbone (ask me about the fish), playing house under the hazel, snacking on dock and purple dead-nettle with my best friend, chasing dandelion seeds, picking grapes, apples and berries, in awe with Nature. In 4th grade I finished my school's scavenger hunt first. It was held in my woods, a home game for me. After college I worked in Marketing and Internet StartUps, produced an Astrology show and sold wine and delicacy online. I moved to West Seattle in 2004, where I raised my Climate Action Family, built the West Seattle Bee Garden, started the West Seattle Coworking space, and work as a bookkeeper for the Community School of West Seattle, currently closed during Covid, which allows me to join the Anake program. In 2016 I got my mind blown attending Art of Mentoring at WAS, rolling in mud, chasing the Golden Elixir (GE) with a bunch of fun Canadians that I made say 'about' a lot. It was the highlight of my summer, being playful, rekindling with my childhood passions and the following year I wanted to do Anake, but there was just too much going on in my life, so I joined the Tracking Intensive and the Wild Plant Intensive the following year, became a Native Plant Steward and Master Forest Steward. I volunteer for the Green Seattle Partnership, the Bee Garden, South Sound Nature School and Seattle Tracking Club. I love learning, becoming more humble with each day and hanging out with other Nature nerds. I am fascinated by all things Nature and a few of my favorites are chickadees, mason bees, huckleberries, nettles, deer mice, madrones, hoverflies, crows, maidenhair fern, lupines, ghost pipes, spittlebugs, racoons (we Germans call them 'wash bears'), sphagnum moss, oaks, horsetail, yarrow and thimbleberries. My all time favorite pastime is going on wanders and foraging with friends.  On August 22nd in the afternoon we met with Stu and Helen from the Puget Ridge Edible Garden. First, Emory and Sarah welcomed the other Ambassadors and parents to PREP and Stu and Helen gave an introduction on how we would make cider using an apple press. While we picked up all the apples from a giant apple tree in the middle of the garden, some more people arrived to join us. We worked together pretty well and it did not take long at all to fill up the giant wheelbarrow and all crates with apples. We started sorting all the apples we found on the ground and ended up with one pile of good apples, we then washed in a big tub of water and cut them up in four pieces. The other apples went on a compost pile so nothing would be wasted. It smells pretty sweet. All the cut up good pieces ended up in an apple masher. We took turns turning the handle to mash. Whenever the bucket was full we dumped the mashed up apples into a big cider press. Rusty and Marco helped us using the press. The cider ran into a red circular spout and dripped into big Mason jars we all brought, so we could take some fresh pressed apple cider home with us. Once we had our first batch we all got to try some and everyone was pretty happy with the final result. We also learnt that the difference between apple juice and apple cider is that apple juice is more processed and apple cider usually has some chunks or pieces of apples still in them. Emma also gave us a little tour of the Garden and we harvested a few carrots from her little fenced-in experimental area to showcase how many different things can grow in only a very limited space. We all had a lot of fun and can't wait to come back. We recommend you visit, too.   After a long rollercoaster ride through many many potholes up the steep hill to Mt. Tuam in our 36 year old VW Bus Willie, Sarah needed a little bit to orient herself to the new environment at Camp. It didn't take her too long to figure out how to make new friends. She was in the 'Leafwalking Bandits' group with the 10 to 12 year olds with more girls than boys and the 3 instructors, Barnaby, Stephanie and Teresa. They practiced a lot of skits, played Quiddich (from HP) but some nearby wasps made it not fun for everyone. It seemed to be a common theme, as whenever the group tried to play games something else came up instead, so Sarah can't remember playing much games. The nonstop request for snacks from one very hungry starving fellow helped the rest of the group get snacks earlier and earlier every day. They found a very pretty hangout spot with a bunch of trees and a nice ocean view. The initially spot wasn't as nice, but after some search parties for a better home they all agreed on the new spo being awesome. So pretty. Sarah (Ladybird Beetle, short: Bird) made 2 new best friends, Spiderwasp and Rosegall. They discovered making leather pouches at the skill tent and were quite crafty. They also liked to chat a lot and Sarah was a little surprised how quickly she become best friends with the friendly boy with crutches (he had a rock fell on it 2 weeks before Camp). The Bandits also played Foxtails (stealing Bandanas out of each others pockets in a circle) with the Fawn families. Sarah's favorite part was when she (Bird) and Spiderwasp volunteered to help out a Fawn family, one with little ones, and got to watch a 3 year old girl during mealtimes. She didn't like to be quiet for a long time during campfire to listen to very long stories, but really liked the yummy dessert for lunch.  |
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