Wolf Camp Cooperative - Blog & Forum

Directions: Email us whatever you want and we will post it here as soon as we get a chance to review the content. Topics may include, but are not limited to: Comments on the website; Your experience at Wolf Camp; Things you experienced out in nature; Questions related to the practice of earth skills; Messages you have for people you met at Wolf Camp programs; Etc.

APPRENTICE ALEXANDRA "SQUIRREL" BUNKER IN THE NEWS: (if you have news about yourself or your kids, please email us so we can keep the camp community informed)

For Immediate Release:
Seminole Soil and Water Conservation District
Contact: Chairman Tim Brodeur: 407-513-8254

Conservation Activist Alexandra Bunker Becomes the Youngest Public Official in Florida

Sanford, Fla.- Alexandra Bunker, 18, of Altamonte Springs has become the youngest public official in the state after being appointed as a Supervisor to fill a vacant position on the Seminole Soil and Water Conservation District (SSWCD) Board. Alex was appointed on Sept. 11 during the regular monthly board meeting.

Although only 18, Supervisor Bunker has been an advocate for nature in the region for five years. She’s lobbied local and state officials on behalf of the Wekiva River, and has testified a number of times before the Wekiva Basin Area Task Force, and the Wekiva River Basin Coordinating Committee. Because of her efforts, Gov. Jeb Bush invited her to speak at the official signing of the Wekiva Parkway and Protection Act at Wekiwa Springs State Park in 2004. She was also honored by the Friends of the Wekiva River, Inc. with a Conservation Award for her work in support of the river.

"I grew up swimming in Wekiva Springs and I loved it. It opened me up to appreciating the need to protect special places like that---they’re so rare and beautiful," says Alex. "In the process, I learned about nutrient loading, and recharge areas, and how the springs are under more pressure now than ever before."

Working on behalf of the League of Conservation Voters in 2003, Alex also helped educate the public on the effects of mercury poisoning and explained related conservation issues. In 2005, she was a Legislative Page for Sen. Lee Constantine. As a participant in the Rotary International Exchange Program, she spent a year living and studying in Rome, Italy in 2005-6. Alex has also mentored young adults in outdoor skills and environmental education at Wolf Camp in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State.

Currently, Alex is on the state-wide Climate Change Committee for the League of Women Voters of Florida, and is enrolled in the Honor’s Program at Seminole Community College. She plans to continue her education and attend law school to study environmental law. She works part time as an instructor at the Aiguille Rock Climbing Gym in Longwood.

"At SSWCD, I would really like to revitalize some of the programs there that have proven very successful in the past. They include Envirothon, WaterWise Yards, EnviroCamp, Adopt-a-Spot, Cameron Ranch, and the distribution of the reprinted environmental classic "From Eden to Sahara." I’ve been involved as a volunteer in several projects in the past, and hope to re-engage as many volunteers as I can in both new and revived programs."

The Seminole County Soil and Water Conservation District is a governmental subdivision of the state of Florida, formed under F.S. 582. There are five elected "Supervisors" who serve who serve four year terms. Our mission is to educate land users and water consumers, promote natural conservation technology and to provide the best land and water use management practices that will conserve, improve, and sustain the natural environment of Seminole County.

APPRENTICE MORGAN TIDD BECOMES 2007 JUNIOR WOMEN'S WHITEWATER FREESTYLING CHAMPION:

Morgan first came to camp in 2004, completing our ancient scout, tracking, wild foods and survival series of courses. She completed our week-long Naturalist Mentoring CIT course as well as site management and open water rescue courses at age 14 in 2005. She remained for most of the summer served as a youth mentor for day and overnight youth camps. We were fortunate to have Morgan here the entire summer of 2006, and she's planning to return in 2008 to teach the kayaking aspects of our Sailing with Sealife / Herbal Medicine and the Seaside Spa camp week. She's more than qualified, too, having mentored that very camp 2 years running, and now having become the 2007 National Junior Women's Whitewater Freestyling Champion!

NOW FOR NEWS FROM CHINA VIA MORGAN:

Her family runs Turtle River Rafting Company in California, and she is currently studying abroad in China while kayaking much of the Mekong River, as you can see in her extremely creative cartoon blog if you click on this link.

CAMPER-TURNED-INSTRUCTOR GLEN MACKAY RECEIVES FULL-RIDE SCHOLARSHIP TO OBERLIN COLLEGE:

Glen first came to camp in 2002, and has graduated from our ancient scout, tracking, hunter-gatherer and survival series of courses. He returned at age 16 as part of our Youth Mentoring CIT Program in 2004, and completed much of his Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship during the summer in 2006. He graduated from high school this year, and for his senior project, he did a solo survival trek and is completed a senior thesis about it. You can read a summary by clicking on Survival Trek Log. Glen is now attending Oberlin College in Ohio on a a full-ride scholarship, as we mention within our Wolf Tracks New Page. Camps that Glen will likely teach in this year include:

YOUTH MENTOR ANNA "LEE" FLIES SELECTED TO ATTEND ISREALI-PALESTINIAN YOUTH PEACE CONFERENCE:

Lee first came to camp in 2003, and has graduated from our tracking, wild foods, and survival series of courses. She completed our week-long Naturalist Mentoring CIT course at age 15 in 2005 and served as a youth mentor for day and overnight youth camps. She lives with her family in Washington State. Lee was selected in the summer of 2006 to attend an Isreali-Palestinian Youth Peace Conference in Colorado.

moved, and totally delighted if you attend! Sustinance and refreshments provided, with donations accepted for Helen's world-wide youth education program, the Adventure Classroom. RSVP email required, or call 360-799-1997.

Things are gearing up for summer, and I'm especially looking forward to having so many veteran campers returning as apprentices and assistant instructors this year. My slogan for the year, stolen from my high school graduating class of 1988 and no doubt every other even decade before and since, is: 2008 Is Great! Spring has arrived here, and it's been beautiful, no matter the weather.

And what a wonderful upcoming week! First palm sunday occurs on a "leaf" day according to the biodynamic calendar. Then St. Patrick's day slides in Monday, my personal ethnic holiday of the year, although I'm celebrating tomorrow by attending a morning mass for peace with the Seattle Archbishop Alexandar Brunett and guest speaker John Burton, who is the former Irish Prime Minister in office when the Good Friday accord was signed about 10 years ago, finally quelling most violence in the island of (half) my anscestors. Then there's the parade down 4th St. and festivities at the Seattle Center House.

The equinox happens at 11 p.m. Pacific Time the night of the 19th, when I like to do a sweat, though this year I'm not sure what we'll do. Then Easter weekend comes, when I traditionally like to fast from 3 p.m. on sunset on Holy Thursday sunrise on Easter Morning. Something special is happening, and I pray that this week's gifts include health, safety, ease and happiness. I hope that you, too, hold it sacred, as we should hold every moment of our lives, no matter your ethnic or religious traditions.

I got an email from Elise Santa Maria who's one of our veteran youth mentors, and it was inspiring to hear all she's been doing. Click on her name link to visit our staff page where I've just updated her bio. Amongst many other attributes, Elise is a poet, and she composed this gem a couple years ago:

From the depth of the midnight sky
A pair of golden eyes comes forth
Crescent moons staring
Searching beyond my soul
Reading me
Like a book

From the pads of her feet she stands
To the bristling tufts of her ears
She takes in the essence of the earth
Tasting the dampness of night
Praising the land like a song
And sharing it all
Like a story

Her deafening silence reins high
Her spirit, aged with wisdom
Keeps the balance of the earth
While her moons span all of nature
And see what we cannot

She breaks the peace with a stride
Her paws taste morning's dew
As she honors the creator
The directions
And her guardian the moon

The wind softens the land
She senses it before it arrives
The breeze sifts through every part of her
Casting off a peice of her soul
She releases a song of creation

From the pads of her feet she stands
To the bristling tufts of her ears
She takes in the essence of the earth
Tasting the dampness of night
Sharing it all like a story
And praising the land
Like a song

To relax after 11 years of service, we're taking this winter and spring off except processing registrations and also offering custom designed programs for schools, families, businesses, service organizations and other groups. Otherwise, we'll see you this summer to share our wonderful lake and forest!

Tomorrow is Groundhog's Day, and it's been a wintery one here, apparently due to the effect of La Nina. In celtic tradition, the mid-point between winter solstice and spring equinox is Imbolc, and since the climate here is similar to the British Isles, we experience similar signs of awakening toward spring just about now.

For new years, I went to visit 3 of my siblings who live in northern Virginia, and spent time playing with their kids - 8 of my nieces and nephews between them, and that's not to mention those who live in Minnesota and out here in WA State. That was a blast, and it was also a real treat to be there where camp instructors Lorien MacAuley & Scott Fanello live, also not far from where apprenticeship graduates Micah Fay and Andrew Twele live.

I "treated" the four of them to a day at the Smithsonian Institution's new Museum of the American Indian although of course the Smithsonian is free, but at least I was able to buy them huge lunches at the Native American food court, which was an awesome treat for all of us. My favorite musical bard of western history, Jack Gladstone, was playing in the museum rotunda that day, and it was moving to hear him sing in person a couple of songs I like to share with campers in the summer.

At the museum, I came across a display about the 7 values inherant in the Anishanabe Nation, also known as the Chippewa, and speaking the Ojibwe language, from the area of the country my family is from: the lands surrounding Lake Superior. I've always liked the 3 principles of peace the Iroquois confederacy shared with our founding fathers as they drafted the constitution, but as I explain in my youth mentoring essay, there seems to be many other principles which our culture needed to embody even more than those, principles which may already have been embodied in their culture so they didn't need to be emphasized so much.

The museum displayed the following principles, or values, associated with walking the good road in the Anishanabe way, including:

TRUTH: This value was symbolized, or embodied by, the Turtle in the museum's display. It was explained that the Creator is Truth, like the Sun is always true, as no one can change it. Truth represents that which never changes.

HONESTY: This value is embodied by the Sasquach, also known as the Wilderness Man. In the display, honesty was described as having to do with how we see ourselves, that we need to see ourselves accurately in order to achieve health, happiness, and harmony in life. Wilderness Man was described as looking after human life. His honesty encourages ours, and is reflective of how we treat his home: the natural world. (Garry Raven, Conrad Spence)

HUMILITY: This value was embodied by Wolf, who teaches us our place, as we put ourselves where we belong in the universe. (Garry Raven)

COURAGE: Bear represents moral courage, the strength to follow the Way. In other words, it gives us the courage to embody all 7 of the teachings, to responsibly care for our families and each other.

LOVE: Through its love for people, Eagle says that to love someone, you have to love yourself first.

The last value especially reminds me of the late Cha-das-ska-dum Which-ta-lum of the Lummi Nation who eloquently inspired me to see people for who they truly are through a prayer he wrote just days before the passing of his own son. It's called: Prayer on the Passing of a Great Warrior

Oh, Great Grandfather, we stand before you small like a grain of sand on the beach.
We cry this prayer to you; this one who comes to you was a warrior of the greatest.
He taught us to love ourselves! And that was a mighty fight!
Take this one to the council of our ancestors to sit around the Council fire.
Welcome and warm the tender soul. Let the smell of buffalo, elk, deer and bear enter and float gently on the wind, that the new warrior may feel as our ancestors felt, at the dawning of each day.

We feel the reunion that's taking place with all that have gone on before us, and we rejoice for them!
We shed tears, not for the warrior's soul, for it is where it was born to be. We shed tears for ourselves. We are still here, without our friend, and must yet walk a good life and earn our way to the Council.

We lay to rest the bodily remains in our Mother Earth, knowing the soul passed over on the 4th night.
We thank you, Great Grandfather, for preparing the Place where one day we will all meet and sit in the Medicine Circle once more! Let our tears no longer touch the ground. But send our cry to the Four Directions. The winds will carry our cry, the mighty Eagle our soul, the nightwalker our dreams.

Let us learn from our friend who has gone before us: we cannot give away what we do not have.
But let our walk speak loudly: I have love. I have love. I have love. I have lots of love.
Hear us, oh Great One. Aho.

I heard this prayer read at Cha-das-ska-dum's memorial service in 1999. Although he sufferred from problems that put him in conflict with much of his own community, those experiences also made him one of the elders in the region who reached out to non-Indians in our thirst for earth-based knowledge.

For me, he was a great herbalist and inspiring mentor, and I would like to pass on his prayer in dedication to all the mentors in my family, social and work lives, in the various lineages which influence the earth skills field, and to all those who are now endeavoring to deepen their skills through practice in nature.

In this time of Imbolc, which leads into the retreat season of lent, may healing prevail through the values written above, but how can we start? It is through door of forgiveness that healing starts. Oh, but how difficult it is to step through! May our political leaders walk through that door to reach peace on the other side, as may all whose lives I've touched also find that door and walk through it whenever they need to find happiness which awaits on the other side.

- For a friend from high school who just contacted me today, and to the participants in my 2007 cooperative residential intensives.

Our Book Series is called Wolf Journey, written by Chris Chisholm. It is a comprehensive curriculum of earth skills education for all ages, including field exercises for the naturalist, tracker, herbalist, scout, hunter, artisan, and permaculture pioneer.

• Introduction to Book 4 - Skills & Arts of the Scout to be posted asap.
• Chapter 13: Attitude & Orienteering to be posted asap.
• Chapter 14: Navigating Air & Water to be posted asap.
• Chapter 15: Shelter and its Impact to be posted asap.
• Chapter 16: Stone Age Artisanry to be posted asap.

• Introduction to Book 5 - Skills & Arts of the Stone Age Artisan to be posted asap.
• Chapter 17: Hides & Hairs to be posted asap.
• Chapter 18: Skeletons & Viscera to be posted asap.
• Chapter 19: Tanning & Clothing to be posted asap.
• Chapter 20: Knapping & Playing to be posted asap.

• Introduction to Book 6 - Skills & Arts of the Hunter-Gatherer to be posted asap.
• Chapter 21: Butchering to be posted asap.
• Chapter 22: Fishing to be posted asap.
• Chapter 23: Trapping to be posted asap.
• Chapter 24: Hunting to be posted asap.

• Introduction to Book 7 - Skills & Arts of the Permaculture Pioneer to be posted asap.
• Chapter 25: Theory & Activism to be posted asap.
• Chapter 26: Farming & Forestry to be posted asap.
• Chapter 27: Appropriate Technologies to be posted asap.
• Chapter 28: Community Economics to be posted asap.

Come Meet Us

Click for a link to the Fall-Spring Class Series descriptions. All classes run from 6-9 p.m. including a pot-luck dinner. Classes take place at the new Wolf Camp home office at 1313 A 2nd St. in historic downtown Snohomish. Please park on "E" Street as there is no parking right around our home office. Costs vary, so see class descriptions for details.

Mondays: Cooperative Group Facilitation runs November 17th - December 15th in the late fall of 2008, January 5 - February 9 in the winter of 2009, March 2 - April 6 in the spring of 2009, April 27 - June 1 in the earlly summer of 2009, and September 21 - November 16 in the fall of 2009. The cost is $5.00 for those with demonstrated facilitation experience, and $10.00 per class for beginners.

Tuesdays: Permaculture Pot Luck runs November 18th - December 16th in the late fall of 2008, January 6 - February 10 in the winter of 2009, March 3 - April 7 in the spring of 2009, April 28 - June 2 in the earlly summer of 2009, and September 22 - November 17 in the fall of 2009. This is a complimentary event for those who are currently engaged in permaculture projects and who will be preparing pot-luck dishes to share, while the public is also invited to attend at a $5.00 contribution level to learn about permaculture.

Wednesdays: Earth Skills Study runs November 12th - December 17th in the late fall of 2008, with no class on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, January 7 - February 11 in the winter of 2009, March 4 - April 8 in the spring of 2009, April 29 - June 3 in the earlly summer of 2009, and September 23 - November 18 in the fall of 2009. There is no charge for those who are already teaching in the field of earth skills, or $5.00 for those who are actively studying the Wolf Journey or similar secret-spot-based curriculum, and $10.00 per class for everyone else.

Thursdays: Art & Music Composition runs November 13th - December 18th in the late fall of 2008, with no class on Thanksgiving Day, January 8 - February 12 in the winter of 2009, March 5 - April 9 in the spring of 2009, April 30 - June 4 in the earlly summer of 2009, and September 24 - November 19 in the fall of 2009. The cost is $5.00 for those who are currently teaching or professionally recording music and art, and $10.00 per class for beginners/intermediates. You can also try out your compositions on Friday nights at Open Mic Lives! located in the Thumbnail Theater just up the street from the Wolf Camp home office where Chris has some of his sound equipment on loan, and Chris will also help you schedule and promote cover performances of your compositions at the Thumbnail on Saturday nights if you like.


Overnight Camp Choices Summer Day Camps Custom Designed Programs	See Schedule & Tuitions for summer residential intensives which are prerequisite for fall.	Training Camp Weeks Summer Weekend Stayovers Fall-Spring Class Series	Staff, Mission-News, Cool Apply • Scholarships-Giving Book Series • Resources

Overnight Camp Choices Summer Day Camps Custom Designed Programs

See Schedule & Tuitions for summer residential intensives which are prerequisite for fall.

Training Camp Weeks Summer Weekend Stayovers Fall-Spring Class Series

Staff, Mission-News, Cool Apply • Scholarships-Giving Book Series • Resources

Blog & Forum for Staff, Students & Campers

Come Meet Us

Overnight Camp Choices
Summer Day Camps
Custom Designed Programs

See Schedule & Tuitions for
summer residential intensives
which are prerequisite for fall.

Training Camp Weeks
Summer Weekend Stayovers
Fall-Spring Class Series

Staff, Mission-News, Cool
Apply • Scholarships-Giving
Book Series • Resources