Medicinal Plants Skills Day: 11-8-15

For this special Earth Skills Day, the Swallowtails donned their medicinal plant owl eyes and discovered the medicinal magic that nature holds. 

When girls look at the natural world through a medicinal lens, well known plants become strong and powerful allies, protecting us from illness and helping our bodies heal. Cottonwood becomes more than just a tall tree with heart-shaped leaves: it is transformed into a powerful antibiotic with buds that soothe the skin, with analgesic properties that helps keep pain at bay. Usnea is no longer just a cool stretchy lichen, but one that has the power to staunch bleeding wounds; the dancing needles of Red Cedar become strong anti-viral heroes that pack immune boosting punches; the artist conch fungus (reishi) becomes more than a natural canvas for our fingernail sketches – it is an ancient medicine that helps strengthen the immune system and fights against cancer. And devil's club shifts to medicine club in the ways it heals so many things... What an incredible way to appreciate nature’s endless gifts in a whole new way!

Highlights from the day:

• Collecting and then pondering some of our well known plant friends spread out on a bandana, we used our naturalist skills to deduct the medicinal powers of dandelion, medicine club, cottonwood, foxglove, plantain, Oregon grape, reishi, cedar, fir, and more. 
• We walked down the path, seeing more than just green, noticing, one by one, the lichen, ferns, moss, fungi and other plants often lost when we look in a generalized way. We then turned our attention to the seeking medicinals, seeing with new eyes the young Hawthorne with its pokey branches that sprout red berries in the summer, berries that are a heart healer, reducing hypertension as well as easing anxiety. We saw the sticky sap seeping out of the Douglas Fir and learned of its powerful medicine to protect against bacteria and fungus. We noticed so many more plants and discussed their unique medicinal power: licorice root, Oregon grape, red alder, saxifrage, salal, plantain, dandelion, horsetail, and more...
• Seeking the debris shelters that other GEC groups had made during their skills' days this season.
• Gathering around and talked about the salve we were about to make, with lavender, St. John’s Wort, calendula, comfrey, and cottonwood steeped in oil, all powerful plants with the ability to heal and calm the skin. We carefully stirred and added the oil to the wax, blending it into salve perfection and pouring it cautiously into our tiny containers. Once the salve set we delighted in our creations, applying it to dry skin and lips.
• Playing a lively game of Medicinal Plant tag, with the person who was "it" acting as an illness and others acting as the plant that helps the problem. We ran, laughed, got warm, and made solid connections between plants and their power. 
• Enjoying "Vitamin C Honey' (rosehip honey) on some fresh bread and making medicinal forest tea with nettles, licorice root & dandelion root
• Discussing where plants put their energy in each season (shoots, fruits and roots)
• Brainstormed on what we could bring with us from our packs and clothing if we had to leave behind anything made from plants. Girls quickly realized there would be almost nothing they could take with them, including their clothing! Maybe a zipper... water, but no bottle. 
• Deciding that its not only the medicinal plants in nature that can heal but also nature itself, offering a sanctuary from our often busy, stressful world. And that we can, in turn, help heal nature's illnesses and wounds when natural systems become overtaxed. Each Swallowtail said one way she can help heal nature. Here are some of the ways they came up with: don't trample plants, remove invasives, pick up garbage, don't litter, leave what you find, teach others about nature, don't cause too much erosion, forgive nature when it harms us, leave no trace, conserving water & electricity, recycling. 

Our words of the day? Shelter, Salve, Plants as Medicine! 

You can view the short slideshow from our day here.

Medicine Club Trek: 10-25-15

It sure was wonderful to spend this beautiful autumn day with the Swallowtails! These girls brought their adventurous spirits armed with their abundant nature knowledge to successfully co-lead us on our off-trail trek to the Teddy Bear Cove trailhead.

There is a reason this is one of our favorite outings – it's jam-packed with all the best elements of an Explorers' day: route-finding, reasonable risks, the need for collaborative decision-making, unexpected encounters with natural elements (fields and trails, downed trees, water, mud, dense forest, myriad plants, etc...), a walk through a beautiful old farm, vistas of islands, and more. Below are some highlights of our day:

• Spending an hour in our gathering meeting, collecting leaves in their various stages and colors of life and arranging them in a wonderful leaf mandala representing the natural cycles of life. This color wheel that became a reference point for the cycle of the seasons, of leaves, of where plants focus their energy in each season, of humans' life journey, and of the importance of death and decay in it all (we agreed that death is sad but not bad. As one girl said "Death is part of the cycle of life – dying allows other things to keep living."). We wish we could have written down all the simple, but profound, things participants had to say about the cycle of life. One remarked that most people see the life cycle as linear rather than circular, with a beginning and end. If you spend time observing nature, one can see how all things live, grow, die, regenerate, continue on. This leaf circle was a rich teaching tool, and led to further discussion about the role of decomposition in the cycle of life that carried on throughout the day. 

• Discussing the importance and value of Widening Our Circle, about how GEC is different from school social cliques, and how we all benefit from connecting with curiosity with others. We agreed to challenge ourselves to spend the day widening our circles. 

• Collaboratively deciding on the "challenge by choice" of route-finding our way to the Mud Bay trail through dense forest (there was an option to take the more direct route of the Interurban Trail, but no one voted for that!).

• Finding rosehips and appreciating them for their fleshy fruit that is full of vitamin C and other goodies. We processed a few of these nutritious fruits to make into rosehip honey for spring eating!

 • Immersing ourselves in the earth skill of Navigation all along our journey, pausing to establish cardinal directions, and repeatedly checking in with them ("Where do you think we'll end up if we keep going this way?" "Which way is the sea, and what direction is that?" "Which way do we continually want to keep heading (southwest)?" "Which way do you think we should turn to get to our destination?", etc...), helping the girls practice navigational awareness all along the way. We learned that often one needs to reroute from their planned direction due to obstacles, such as hillsides, thickets of salmonberries, or a busy road. Later in EC, we'll tie this in to an awareness of life direction, paying attention to the choices we make that determine where we're headed.

• Learning about the wonders of Devil's Club (and renaming it Medicine Club, due to its innumerable uses): as blood sugar regulator, skin infection fighter, tattoo maker, lice controller, deodorizer, and much, much more. Like nettle, misunderstood Medicine Club has a bad reputation solely due to its effective defense mechanism. It asks for respect, and in return offers many methods of healing and support. In learning about Medicine Club, we also learn about people. Do we know any people with sharp, spiny aspects? Are we quick to judge them? Very likely they have many wonderful aspects, just beneath the surface, like Medicine Club. 

• Doing S.T.O.P. risk assessments all along the way, traveling slowly and with awareness as we navigated through salmonberry, nettle, blackberry and "medicine club". We called attention to the different plants around us, and tested the girls' naturalist knowledge by asking them to identify many plants, to differentiate them from Medicine Club. Watching girls travel through this medicine club patch was inspiring; they were calm, focused, aware, and attentive as they walked through. A few girls were nervous about entering the patch at first, but with much support from one another, they stretched their edge and were able to move through their perceived fear. This practice and habit of awareness is an important skill to cultivate, in forest travel and in life.

• Making collaborative decisions all along the way, practicing the art of listening to everyone's opinion, then coming to consensus about what can work for all.

• Exploring the tide flats around Mud Bay. Not much mud to be found today, for the tide was high. Little did we know, as we played a game in the tall grass that the STs had invented, that the tide was rising still! It became a problem-solving challenge of getting each group member back to dry land without having to water wade. A good reminder that nature is dynamic and ever-changing and awareness is always asked for!

• Enjoying the pastoral peace at Woodstock Farm, and learning about the generosity of its founder, Cyrus Gates, who donated land for Larrabee, Arroyo, and Fairhaven Parks, Chuckanut Island, and many other green spaces in Whatcom County. Thank you Mr. Gates! And thank you too to the Mamosee people who occupied this land before, and who were the ultimate preservationists. 

• Peaceful Place on a beautiful bluff overlooking the Salish Sea, blessed by the warm sunshine and the bright autumn colors of the day, followed by a spirited game of Squirrels. 

• Thoroughly enjoying each other's company, stretching our edges, collaborating and compromising, and, at the end of the day, enthusiastically appreciating one another and all the gifts in our lives through a circle of thanks. Some things these gals are thankful for: the lessons of the Salish Sea, Explorers Club, medicine club, sunshine, soil, decomposers, the cycle of life, friends and family, one another, Cyrus Gates...

You may see the slideshow from our day here.

EC Mottos especially engaged today:

* Safety First

* Be Prepared

* It's About the Journey, Not the Destination

* Leave No Trace

* Collaborate and Compromise

* Stretch Your Edge

* Challenge By Choice

Exploring Sage's Place - A New Adventure in the Bow Woods

Sunday was filled with new explorations and new views. The Swallowtails gathered at Samish Woods and before long headed south towards Sage's house off Colony Rd.

We started our day with an opening circle in the sunshine overlooking the Chuckanut Bay. We discussed how today was our only true "free" exploration of the season. Every other outing this fall there is a specific focus (service, medicine club, and medicinal plants), and on this particular day we could really let the land be our guide. Before heading into the woods Sage and gave us a brief overview of what we could expect on the 20+ acres available to explore. The girls were especially excited about seeing the balds, the creek, and a few of Sage's favorite down logs! We discussed whether we wanted to see more of the land, but take less time in each spot or dive deeply into one particular area. After a brief conversation, the girls came to the consensus that they would rather see more of the space and spend a less time at each spot; with this intention we headed into the woods.

Almost immediately we found our first opportunity for exploration: a huge down Douglas Fir tree that created a bridge deep into the woods. Before attempting to balance, the girls ran through a safety check and reviewed the STOP motto. All girls felt the log was safe and had a plan for how to get everyone down and back safely.

The Doug Fir led us to an amazing nurse stump. The girls were able to see firsthand how this cedar had been logged, and we acted out how loggers would have taken down this HUGE tree. Girls climbed and clambered up this stump to find it was completely hollow inside. We identified three hemlocks growing out of this stump, and one brave explorer, Gwen, came down through the stump!!

On top of the epic nurse log. 

Gwen making her way through the stump.

After this mini-side trip, we made our way back along the Doug Fir to our packs. We then headed toward the Balds overlooking the Skagit Flat Lands. These balds are especially amazing because instead of grass/prairie which you usually see on a bald, these balds are actually moss-covered rock. The moss creates a sponge like surface that is comfortable for sitting and laying and also made for a GREAT games spot. We combined a number of games to create a new game: SNICKET (combo of sneaking and thicket).  

In this particular game there was one owl who hunted mice (this owl was perched high in a tree and couldn't actually move). The mice die if they are seen by the owl. During the day (when the owl closed her eyes) the mice had to sneak towards the owl. A successful mouse was either able to sneak during the day to the owl and tag her. We knew before heading to Sage's place that there were a number of owls who inhabit the area and this spot turned out to be perfect for this particular game because a few minutes later we found over ten huge owl pellets.

Owl Pellet Dissection

 The owl pellets were filled with really interesting bones. We found skulls, ribs, femurs, spines, and claws! The girls hypothesized that these pellets must be from one Great Horned Owl because of the size of the pellets and the fact they were all in the exact same spot. Great Horned Owls use a sit and perch method of hunting, and it made sense that all these pellets would be under one tree. We imagined this particular owl swooping to kill little voles then returning to this particular perch to throw up all the bones and fur from his or her hunt.

A skull - maybe a mole or vole?

The girls brought the owl pellet back to the balds for some more dissecting, and we even attempted to piece together the skeletons of a few of the creatures.

After using some hand sanitizer and burying the skeletons of these creatures, the group decided it was time to trek to the creek. On our walk to the creek, we encountered a gorgeous frog, some amazing mushrooms, and countless nurse logs. At the creek, we set our packs down and a few gals ventured up the creek while others took a second to relax. Up the creek girls naviagted down trees and it felt like we were entering portal after portal as we made our way through, over, and under fallen hemlocks, doug firs, and cedars. We then came back together as a group, and we settled into peaceful place along this gorgeous stream. During peaceful place birds swooped by our heads, the sun warmed us, and we had the chance to sit quietly in this magical space. 

After peaceful place, we realized our day was quickly coming to an end, and there was still one more place we wanted to check out. We decided to do closing circle at the campground on Sage's property. Knowing time was running out, we moved quickly through the woods. Sage's family has put together an awesome primitive campground with a fire ring and sitting area. Around this ring, we had our closing circle. During this particular circle, we did acknowledgments for one another. Acknowledgements are an amazing way for the girls to recognize one another. It allows us to recognize each girl, and take time to honor the gifts that we all bring. 

After acknowledgments, we had one more uphill push to get back to Sage's house and the bus. We gave Sage hugs and thanked Sage's family for hosting us, then loaded up, and made our way back to Bellingham. Our words of the day: Super, Spectacular, Sunny, Sage DAY!

To see more photos from the day, check out our album here. 

Service for the Chore Program: 9-13-15

Welcome to the new Swallowtails blog! We've decided to test out a new group website format, in the effort condense our GEC online presence to a Google-based system. Thanks for bearing with us as we learn more about this program. We hope you enjoy it.



What a productive time we had today, spending our hours together working under the autumn sun while we mowed, weeded, stacked, and pulled, giving back to community member Joni as part of Whatcom Volunteer Center's Chore program. 

The Chore program identifies homeowners who are elderly or living with a disability and unable to carry out house chores and outdoor upkeep, and pairs them with volunteers who perform these necessary tasks, allowing those in need to remain in their houses and keep their independence. It is a great program that brings communities together, relying on the kindness of neighbors to keep those that are struggling in their homes. We sure experienced the heartwarming joy of that connection today, being grateful to be able to help Joni out and in turn having our cups filled with her gratitude and kindness. 
Some highlights:

• Weeding! Joni has multiple garden beds that were overgrown with weeds and invasive plants. The girls took time to carefully weed these beds, and created some great spaces for future flowers to grow.

• Yard Maintenance! Invasive tanzy has slowly taken over Joni's backyard, growing to be taller than even adults. The girls clipped the tanzy down and used pitchforks to remove the roots. 

• Sweeping! Girls swept the front and back porch of leaves, detritus and wood chips.

• Organization! Joni's back porch had become full of excess "stuff", so the girls spent time sweeping, scrubbing, pressure washing, and tossing garbage and recycling. Joni has family that were hunters, so some girls were able to take home deer antlers and hide!!

• Expressing and enjoying gratitude! Joni was so grateful for our work that she was kind enough to make us a homemade card. The girls enjoyed this gift as they gave their thanks to the Chore program, to each other's hard work, to dogs, to the sunshine, and especially to Joni. What a wonderful day!

Words of the Day? Helping Joni Clean Up With Our Friends... and Doggie Zipline!


Mottos in Use Today:

You See It You Own It
Our Cups Overflow
Safety First
Everyone Helps
Widen Your Circle 

You may see the entire slideshow from our day here. Enjoy!