Sunday’s outing with the Black-Tailed Deer was a powerful example
that we are subject to our natural environment; that in order to thrive and
explore in all of our wonderful and unique seasons we have to adapt and carefully
track the land and weather. March, much
like November, is a windy month in Whatcom County due to the constant
fluctuation between high and low pressure systems.
As outdoor leaders we must
be hyper vigilant in tracking the forecast, which often changes the night
before or morning of our outings. As an organization we choose not to run
outings in sustained winds of over 30 mph.
Parents we thank you for being flexible in the wake of
shifting outing times on an already challenging day of springing our clocks
forward an hour. As shepherds of the Explorers while on outings, it is our staff’s
foremost task to care for the physical and emotional safety of the group.
As parents arrived at the Lake Padden parking lot, the
Explorers headed out onto the baseball field to play a name game with our new
Boys EC Mentor, Bobby Faller. Once the group was acquainted we held an opening
circle. The Mentors explained to the group that a powerful storm, forecasted to
bring gusts of winds up to 70 mph, was building and would be arriving from the
south a few hours after the end of our outing.
Taking a moment to track back to our first fall season
together, the group remembered being out in the pouring rain at Arroyo Park and
having to be preventative in order to stay warm and dry. Since every Explorer
is a leader on our outings it was everyone’s job to embrace two of our mottos, Be Prepared and Be Here Now. Being Prepared
meant being ready at a moments notice to gather our stuff and head for the
field; Being Here Now meant that even
though we’d play games and have fun we needed to keep an awareness of the
strength of the wind and what direction it was coming from at all times.
The mentors empowered the group, explaining that the advantage
of being at a location like Lake Padden was that we had the ability to skirt
the fringes of the woods and come back to the field and shelters if the wind
picked up.
Turing our attention towards the outing we went over our
skill for the season, The Art of Harvest:
Plants. Passing out jobs for the day the boys were tasked with finding a
patch of harvestable Stinging Nettle to make tea at the end of the day.
After we revisited a little group culture the boys had been
sitting for almost twenty minutes and had become quite unfocused and antsy. The
mentors challenged the boys to hold their focus for a little bit longer.
Breaking our circle we headed past the Dog Park and arrived
at a junction in the trail. Circling up our tribal elder for the day
facilitated a quick group decision and we headed up towards off leash dog area.
The calm before the storm was pleasant and the sights and smells of spring were
abundant. Hiking along we checked out the flowering Salmonberries and Indian
Plum and marveled at the young Swamp Cabbage pushing it’s way up through the
wetlands. Doug Fir branches blanketed the forest floor, remnants of the
previous storm. It was powerful for the group to realize that this event had
only happened three days prior to our outing.
The boys called out for a game of Spider’s Web in a valley
next to the wetland, but mentors reminded the group that we wanted to find our
Nettle patch first in case we had to leave the woods early. Once the boys found
out that Nettles grew in moist soil in area with plenty of light they quickly
navigated to a small stream nearby. Sure enough we found a healthy patch of
nettles and filled our stove pot. Before we harvested the mentors helped the
group identify Stinging Nettle’s characteristics: a tooth or serrated leaf edge,
a heart shaped leaflet, and a opposite branching structure. The group was
allowed to harvest with two caveats, first that we only took 25% of the patch
that we found, leaving some for other animals and some to go to seed for future
seasons; second that we never harvest or
eat something in Explorers club without talking to a mentor. The boys got
familiar with the Stinging Nettle’s greatest defense, Formic Acid, ouch!
The boys snacked, rehydrated, and headed back down to play a
game of Spider’s Web. As we set up the course we revisited the rules and got
our gear ready in case we needed to leave. The group agreed to play with honor
and spread out over the course disappearing into the underbrush. For a solid
forty-five minutes the boys crawled and sneaked through the Vine Maples and
Salmonberry until we felt a gentle breeze blow through the trees, which then
gradually started to strengthen.
Giving a crow call the group met at our backpacks and headed
for the field. As we left the woods the sky opened up and it started to pour. The
group had lunch under one of the picnic shelter and tried to wait out the
downpour. We waited to no avail and eventually decided to embrace the rain and
play a few field games to warm up. We laughed and ran until the rain relented
and the wind started back up. The boys took a fifteen-minute sit spot next to
the lake and watched the American Coots and Mallard Ducks take refuge near the grassy
wind blinds on the shoreline.
Calling the group back in a few of the boys had been
investigating a clay deposit on the edges of the lake and were completely
covered from head to toe with mud. Feeling the inspiration the group, mentors
included, embraced the weather and went slipping and sliding in the mud. Our
Nettle tea had reached a boil and we gathered under the shelter to share apples
and have a circle of thanks. The mentors praised the group for Grasping the Nettle and exploring safely
on the fringes of the storm. Through their courage, awareness, and ability to
push back a little discomfort the Explorers embraced the weather and made a
powerful start to their first spring season as a group.
For more photos from the day please visit the Black-Tailed
Deer photo album.
