The Townsend's Chipmunks Practice Knife Skills and Utilize Teamwork

Practicing our carving skills

What would you bring with you from our modern culture into a survival situation if you could bring only one item? Many people answer this question by first asking another question, "what kinds of tools necessary for survival are the most difficult to replicate in the woods?" A tent seems like it would be a poor choice if you only could bring one item; shelter is easily created in a variety of ways in our Northwest forests. What about matches or a lighter? Making fire is a skill that takes time to hone, but once learned, fire by friction is a reliable way to make a fire and have heat.

The Townsend’s Chipmunks were asked this question in our opening circle today, and many of them identified a knife as the item that they would choose to bring with them. They succeeded in recognizing the important human needs in a survival situation: shelter, water, heat and food. They agreed that the reason that they would want to bring their knives was because a knife could help them secure all four of those needs. Today, the Townsend’s Chipmunks got lots of time to practice using their knives for a variety of tasks. They also got to use a saw to harvest some wood for their personal projects. Finally, we ended our outing with a triumphant display of teamwork as the flies outsmarted the spider in an exciting game of Spiders Web.

After opening circle, we trekked back into the forest and eventually set up a base camp with the understanding that some of us needed space and time to explore, run, and play. A few of us stayed close to camp and half-jokingly asked the mentors if we could have a fire (must have been from all of that survival talk at opening circle). To their moderate surprise, the mentors agreed to allow them to make a fire, with a two key rules. 1) The mentors will not help build, start or maintain the fire and 2) their knife and their ferrorods are the only tools that they could use that they brought with them. With that, the Townsend’s Chipmunks set off on their impromptu challenge. Thirty minutes later, after many attempts at lighting a few different kinds of tinder that they found, we had no fire, just a bit more wear on our ferrorods. After the boys had decided that they lacked the necessary skill to start a fire, they debriefed their fire making methods with the mentors. Together, we were able to recognize that while attempting to make a fire they had done some things well and that in many areas, they still had space to learn and grow in skill. The Art of Fire will come at another time for these boys, but it was fun and illuminating to see them put their collective skill together and attempt to make a fire.

Attempting to start a fire

After our fire challenge, we chose to move out into the open area of the clear cut and peruse the burn piles for quality carving wood. Before we harvested any wood, we discussed what kinds of characteristics we wanted our wood to have, and then chose specific types and sections of wood to match those desires. We practiced a variety of cuts together. Some of us got to baton for the first time, a crucial skill for processing wood in the field. Also, others of us got a chance to learn about and use a pack saw.  

Using a knife to carve

Using a larger knife to baton

Getting some practice with a pack saw

After we had had our fill of knife work, we headed to a small patch of woods within which we knew we would play spiders web. As the game progressed, the spider (Mentor Joey) became more and more confident that this game would end in a victory for him. The food source had been moved very close to the web and he had a good perch from which to see all of the flies. What he had failed to take into account was the height of the ferns! The flies were able to slowly sneak off of the web and lay down under the ferns so that Joey could not see them. Then, they got the food source (a bandana) and passed it along their human chain of bodies lying below thick sword fern fronds. Joey was totally unaware of their plot until he heard a chorus of cheers that indicated that the flies had somehow won! This game of Spiders Web was a great illustration of cooperation. It turns out that every single fly touched the food source at least once on its long journey through the woods and back to the web. If this information is lacking context because you have never played Spiders Web, please ask your explorer to explain it to you; they will likely have their own memories of this specific game that we shared together.

A great spot for Spiders Web

We ended our outing as we always do with a closing circle where we have a chance to practice our Attitude of Gratitude. This is always a special time and it was inspiring and grounding to hear what the boys were thankful for.

To see the rest of the pictures from our outing, click here!