Day Five of Plant Week

Last day of plant week! We were so sad, but we were happy to be together. We spent a lot of the day aware of the time—what time is it? How much camp is left?

We had a circle and sang some songs: “The Earth Is Our Mother,” “This Is Not a Chew Toy,” and “Down by the Bay” (it had to be done).

I told the Abenaki story of how maple syrup was watered down (they have the best stories).

We drew echinacea plants, and some nice artwork was produced by those who drew. One of us played with the dog instead.

The art in this group is really amazing, but as a group, they are all very shy about showing it to others.

We ate a snack that was delicious! Then we did a short sit, which became shorter because the dogs found something really cool. They kept barking very insistently, so we went over to investigate. At first we thought it was a small mole or maybe a mouse under a fallen tree; then we realized that it was a possum! Not just any possum, but a really big one. The possum remained still and we tried to get a good view from a respectable distance. It was fascinating to watch how the older the person, the less they saw until it was pointed out to them by a younger person.

Checked out the bark house in the woods.

Collected stinging nettles ever so carefully. This took a long time, and later we realized we had collected too much. This nettle is so rich and tasty that it doesn’t take much to fill you up.

We had a nice discussion about our favorite parts of camp: plants, dogs, walking in the woods, and drawing.

Had lunch.

Visited the maze and the troll homes, for those who missed them.

We made a delicious soup out of some stinging nettles, lamb’s quarters, and burdock root that we had. Ingredients in order of amount: stinging nettle, lamb’s quarters, garlic mustard greens, chicory flowers, clover flowers, salt, and garlic mustard seed.

We played Camouflage in the woods for an hour and tried out harder versions of the old-fashioned game.

Went up and told the story “Turtle Goes South for the Winter.”

Saw all of you and gave out stinging nettle stew. Hope you liked it.

Peace,

Eric Wolf

P.S.: We made a magical map of camp. To get a copy of the map in PDF format, click here.
P.P.S.: Questions:
Easy – What herb makes a tasty soup?
Hard – Even if you have colorful clothing on, how can you hide from danger?
Hard – What is wrong with tasting a plant to make sure it’s safe to eat?