Townsend's Chipmunks Continue to Carve

The Townsend Chipmunks met on this drizzly late winter/early spring day having been robbed of one hour of sleep by daylight saving time. Fortunately, any of the fatigue that this caused disappeared as soon as we took our first few breaths of fresh, cool forest air. We were excited to check out some shelters that we had built here on a previous outing. We were also eager to continue practicing safe knife techniques that we learned about on our last outing.

Practicing safe knife usage

At Lookout Mountain, cedars, Douglas firs, hemlocks, maples, and alders reach high into the canopy while vine maple, grand fir and indian plum form the understory. The abundant nurse logs and stumps provide a perfect growing substrate for young hemlocks and huckleberry. We felt lucky to be able to have a pretty healthy patch of woods in which to play, learn, and deepen our relationship with the natural world.

As with most of the BEC outings at Lookout Mountain this winter/spring, the first order of business was to check out the deer carcass that was found earlier this winter. It has been interesting to visit the carcass and see it in varying degrees of decay. We noticed that only a few of the bones remained, including most of the spine, and these bones had been picked clean. We also observed that in the absence of rotting meat, the smell really wasn't so bad.

Not much remains of this deer, the forest has distributed its energy and nutrients back into the ecosystem

After finding the shelters that we wanted to check on, we set up camp and had some time for free play and exploration. After this, we began our first carving project in BEC: chopsticks! All of the BEC groups that learn carving start with this simple yet challenging task. Carving chopsticks provides lots of practice with some of the basic carving techniques while at the same time introducing us to the patience, calm and attention to detail that any carving task requires. The mentors were happy to see us respecting our blood circles and generally having good intentional focus surrounding carving. We look forward to having a completed set of chopsticks by the end of this spring season!

The chopstick blanks that Tim harvested for us today

As growing children, we are constantly in a state of learning about the outside world as well as our own selves, or, our 'inside world'. Learning about ourselves includes recognizing the feelings that we are having and acting on those feelings in increasingly healthy and responsible ways. Today, many of us found ourselves feeling antsy and restless during our closing circle of thanks.  There are many times that we are allowed to be silly and loud and goofy in explorers club, but during our sharing of gratitude is not this time. Today, we had to be reminded that, even though we may feel the urge to blurt out distracting comments or have side conversations with our fellow explorers, we need to be intentional about holding our focus during circle. We were reminded that this is because when we are in circle, we acknowledge that this is a time to speak from the heart and seek to listen. Listening to each other is the foundation on which we build respect in our community. It is arguably the most important thing we will learn to do in Explorers Club. We look forward to holding circle many more times during our tenure with BEC and getting the opportunity to practice our intentional listening skills.

We finished our day off with some practice using an atlatl (a primitive hunting tool) that Tim had made. We realized that this was something that didn't come automatically and it gave us lots of respect for those humans who relied on this kind of tool in order to eat and survive.

Practice with an atlatl

Overall, we had a great (and mostly dry) day that included some great carving practice, a discussion about personal management and a few games mixed in as well! Be sure to check out the rest of the pictures from the outing here.

Townsend's Chipmunks Delve into the Art of Carving

The Townsend’s Chipmunks met up at North Galbraith Mountain for a highly anticipated outing. Not only were we returning to the location of our first outing together in the fall, but today we were going to delve into the exciting world of carving and all the responsibilities that accompany learning how to safely handle and use a knife. Starting things off we hit the trail and made our way back to the bike jumps where every group of Explorers can’t help themselves but take a few runs on an imaginary bike leaping from jump to jump. With our wiggles out it was time for opening circle to discuss a plan for the day, divvy out jobs, and introduce our volunteers for the day to the group.

With that out of the way it was time to head out through the deforested land, harvesting carving materials along the way, and setting up base camp in a small stand of preserved forest beside the stream.

Gathering up for opening circle

Trudging through the recently deforested landscape being developed

Taking some time to discuss "widow makers" and other hazards of the forest

Inspecting the stump of a once mighty Western Red Cedar

While the group knocked the rust off of their shelter building skills constructing a debris hut, one of the mentors pulled aside pairs of Explorers for an introduction into carving. Working closely with two Explorers at a time ensured proper oversight and critique while the boys situated themselves properly to begin carving. With a small, fresh branch of Big Leafe Maple, each Explorer was tasked with removing the bark, carving a pencil point, a flat point, and learning how to accurately cut a segment of the branch off. All these skills incorporated deep and shallow cuts, a couple different carving techniques, and the ever vigilant mentor reminding the Townsend’s Chipmunks to maintain safe positioning of body, hands, and blade as different cuts promoted the temptation to lose sight of safety in order to get better leverage, angles, etc.

Beginning to carve making sure to always cut down and away

Continuing to work on cleaning off all that bark!

Remembering to make sure we cut out in front of our bodies and not being tempted to bring the knife in closer for better leverage.

With everyone getting a chance to be introduced to the basics of carving, it was time to check in on the earth shelter and transition to the end of our outing. After a damp and drippy morning, the sun had come out to dry and warm the forest. Spreading out the Townsend’s Chipmunks took fifteen minutes for a “sit spot” where everyone takes time to reflect on the outing and observe the natural world in solitude under the guidance of a few rules: Solo, Still, Silent, Safe, and focusing on observing with our Senses. This time offered the opportunity for mentors and Explorers alike to reflect on the big step forward the group took today in learning carving. Not only does this mean the Townsend’s Chipmunks will be able to utilize the incredible versatility of a knife as a tool to aid our explorations, but the group will now, and forever, be held to a higher standard of maturity and responsibility. Despite the playful nature of this group, there is no doubt they are eager for greater responsibility and today they proved they were up for the task. After taking this big step we can’t wait to see how this group continues to grow and develop over the spring season as they demonstrate a greater level of responsibility and maturity while carving that will hopefully begin to permeate throughout other aspects of our outings, group dynamics, and development as individuals both in and out of Explorers Club. 

Gathering in the sunshine for closing circle after a peaceful sit spot

Make sure to check out the rest of the photos from our outing here!