These campers (including Bawny McQuistin on the left - we love you forever Bawny - and current assistant instructor Alex "Squirrel" Bunker in the middle when these two dear friends first camp to camp together as 11-12 year olds) made the most delicious clam chowder we've ever tasted.

Camp Goals & Skills Covered:

The goal of this camp session is to help you feel comfortable living as your ancestors did and have fun doing it. Skills covered during this camp session include, but are not limited to the following list, and are somewhat dependent on instructor preference and camper readiness:

• Use of Survival Knives, training in skills and safety for everyone, but only those who reach Level II Certification may carry knives in safe sheaths.
• Natural selection forestry, using Hatchets & Axes for chopping and wood splitting, for those who demonstrate the most ability and consistent awareness of hazards.
• Wild Edible Foraging & Preparation (Herbs, Nuts, Roots, Flowers, Fruits, Insects)
• Emergency Shelter & Traditional Living Shelter (debris hut, lean-to, wickiup, thatch hut, earth lodge, split cedar cabins, including fire drafting strategies)
• Natural Water Purification (seeps, filters, rock boiling, and locating natural springs)
• Wilderness Camping, and Swimming in Natural Waters, depending on camper desire and swim testing.
• Navigating without modern aids.
• Fishing with Traditional Technologies.

Field trip to the beach this week in 2010.

Morgan & Emily collecting grass for a survival shelter.

Our first herbal spa session back in 2002.

Some of the campers drying willow leaves for aspirin during Herbal Camp 2009.

Soaking our feet in herbs during one of our spa sessions back in 2003.

Camp Schedule & Activities:

See below for Sunday, July 8, 2012 Arrival Times and Friday-Saturday-Sunday Departure and Weekend Stayover options between camps. Our schedule during the week includes morning wake-up, stretches, washing, and breakfast vary slightly depending on previous evening activities, but if all was quiet by 10:00 p.m. we would awake at 7:00, do warm-ups from 7:30-8:00, and have breakfast from 8:00-9:00 ... 9:00-12:00 is the morning session. 12:00-1:00 is lunch, and 1:00-2:00 is usually swimming or other recreational time. 2:00-5:00 is the afternoon session. 5:00-6:00 is dinner, and 6:00-7:00 is usually personal time. Evening sessions begin at 7:00, and bedtime varies according to the activity and the time of sunset.

Activities covered during this camp session include, but are not limited to the following list, and are somewhat dependent on weather, instructor descretion, camper desire, and serendipity:

• Learning the Top 10 Important Plant Groups in the Oak Prairie habitat.
• Practicing the ethnobotanical uses of Pacific Northwest plants.
• Understanding the geology of the south Puget Sound trough.
• Understanding the waxing full moon, stars, and planets above the mima mound prairie.
• Discovering the history of Native Americans in the area.
• Having stimulating discussions around the theories of the mima mounds.
• Sleep under the stars on top of the mima mounds, and commune with its energy.
• Travel to near-by old growth rainforests, olympic mountains, seashore tide flats and estuaries for perspective day hikes.
• To understand the ancient peoples of the land, we will make ethnobotanical crafts, including rope from various plants, baskets from various tree barks, and medicine pouches to carry our prairie herbs and concoctions.
• Do everything we can with the Oak Tree, which was the life source of the greatest civilizations prior to the advent of wide-scale grain agriculture.
• Gather clams and shellfish from Salish Sea beaches, and make chowder and other dishes for dinners together.
• Journal as investigative naturalists, and learn to draw/sketch plands and landscapes easily.
• Swim in lakes, rivers and the ocean.
• Sing Songs & Tell Stories.
• Keep in Shape with Daily Workouts.
• Having a lot of fun to gether with new friends!

Register

Stretching next to the Wolf Haven mima mounds 2010.

Beautiful salmonberry collection.

Camp Storyline, Songs, Books, AV & Other Resources:

This session's storyline is Salmon Woman but may be modified by the instructor, and some of the songs you may learn this week include: Balm in Gilead, Circle of Life, Circle Song, I Give Thanks, Earth Angel, The Rose, We Shall Be Healers, Rainbow Friend, Edelweiss, Wild Mountain Thyme, Loch Lomond, Wade in the Water, Cockles & Mussels, The Trees Could Dance.

Books, AV & Other Resources this week include various hand-outs that campers will take home, and if you would like to prepare in advance, please consider studying the following resources we will be referencing:

Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast (Lone Pine) or Plants of the British Columbia Interior (Lone Pine)
Botany in a Day: Tomas J. Elpel's Herbal Field Guide to Plant Families (HOPS Press)
Medicinal Plants of the West by Michael Moore
Healing Wise by Susun Weed
Billy Jo Tatum's Guide to Wild Edible Cooking
Cedar by Hilary Stewart, and her book Cedar
Drawing from the Book of Nature (Rudolf Steiner College Press)
Waterlily (University of Nebraska Press) by Ella Cara Deloria.
The Stars by H.E. Rey, or (Peterson’s) Skies, or A New Way To See Stars
The Song of Hiawatha by by Henry Wadsworth Longellow (version by Bounty is beautiful).
The Peacemaker's Journey (cassette from wildernessawareness.org/tapeindex.html) with Jake Swamp.
I Heard the Owl Call My Name (movie by Tomorrow Entertainment) based on the book by Margaret Craven.

Camp Instructors & History:

This session's lead instructor will be Kelda Miller of the Divine Earth Garding Project with assistance from Parr & Grayson although that arrangement may change based on camp make-up and availability. The history of this camp session includes:

• Pilot Year on this theme! Second year running flora-focused camp at Wolf Haven, Millersylvania State Park and the Mima Mounds Natural Area.

Kelda Miller, permaculture instructor and pproprietor of the Divine Earth Gardening Project, is also founder of Sustainable Puyallup where she grew up, and a organizer with Sustainable Tacoma-Pierce. Kelda also co-teaches our monthly Permaculture Home & Garden workhops on Sunday afternoons at the Wolf Campus.