Teddy Bear Cove Exploration: 5/20/17

The Chickadees are such curious and spirited explorers! Each group eventually forms its own identity over time, and some take a few seasons or even years to find the flow of curiosity, energy, and creativity that buoys exploration. It's already clear though that the Chickadees LOVE to explore!

To start our day off, we gathered near the trailhead in opening circle, and reconnected with our group. We revisited memorable moments from our outings this spring season and shared our favorite creature from the forest surrounding us and/or Salish Sea below us. We discussed our plan for the day (EXPLORE) and how we wanted to follow that plan through collaborative decision making. The Chickadees learned a new motto (one which they already embody so fully), We Are All Teachers, and reviewed our relevant safety mottos, including Meet Before You Eat and S.T.O.P.. With those mottos in mind, we began our descent down the trail to the sea!

Hannah and Lindy waving from atop the Boulder Castle

Our day was framed by a constant dance of Stretching Our Edge, Safety First, and so much curiosity about the world. Often the strongest pull is to explore a new experience such as rock climbing, dunking in the chilly sea, scrambling down a steep hill or up a limbed tree. These new experiences offer the Challenge By Choice for girls to stretch their edges, and at the same time also require us to take responsibility for our safety by Thinking Through Before We Do and conducting S.T.O.P's before we leap into a challenge such as rock climbing. The girls are learning the important balance between going headlong willy nilly into exploration and taking a moment to contemplate and proceed with a wise plan.

Highlights from the day included:

- Learning about Sticky weed and just how much fun it is to throw at everyone!

- Exploring and playing in a low-tide boulder castle for hours! Silly accents and giggles filled the air!

- Discovering and digging up Sir Crabbington, a huge Red Rock Crab that was somehow still alive under the sand! The Chickadees built Crabbington a 'Crabitat' so he (we checked!) could spend the rest of his day in a less stressful, human-free zone.

- Counting trains as they zoomed by: 2+ passenger trains and 2 long, loud freight trains (Lucy reported that one was 137 cars long!).

- Meeting and chatting with a Boys Explorers Club group out exploring Teddy Bear Cove, the Sculpins!

- Coming together as a group for some of the most inclusive and well-organized Collaborate and Compromise Circles that Hannah and I have ever seen or heard! EMA (Explorers Mentor Apprentice) Lily said her group didn't have such well done C&C circles until she was in 7th grade! Hannah and I are super proud of the Chickadees for making sure all voices were heard and communicating in such kind and supportive ways.

- Bestowing two new nature names: Clare is now Crab and Josie = Beaver! Nature Names are a super fun and important tradition in GEC that helps connect girls to the nature we live in. These names arise from beings in nature that each girl connects to and from the unique characteristics that the girls share with those beings. Nature Names can take years to discover and also evolve throughout a girl's time in EC; for example, Hannah used to be Mountain Goat, but as she's grown and changed throughout the years, she's on the lookout for a more fitting Nature Name. We also joke that since Stormie's given name is already so nature-y, that her Nature Name is Brittany or Veronica or Ethel (it changes every outing). Stormie is currently trying out Loamy, and Lauren is Flicker!

Finally, as we do on the last outing of every season, The Chickadees reflected upon the connections we made together throughout the season with a Web of Life Activity that reminded us of our motto All Things Are Connected. Each girl became something from nature we connected to this spring: The Salish Sea, sand, mud, sticky weed, rain, trees, rocks, forests, crabs, humans, and more! In creating our web with string, we clearly saw how all things are connected, and how every single action - human caused or nature made - affects the entire web. We can strengthen or weaken the web through our choices: in GEC we aim to be strengtheners!

Our words of the day? Crabbington, water, sand, and sticky weed!

Check out the rest of our pictures from the day here!

Earth Day Service

 Earth Day Service at Bay to Baker Trail



Last Saturday the Chickadees gathered at the Bay to Baker Trail to honor the Earth with a day of service. Before we began, we discussed the history of Earth Day and talked about reasons why we serve.

 After a quick walk on the trail, the Chickadees met up with volunteers from the Whatcom Trails Association, Freya and Norman. These lovely folks walked us through the labyrinth of native plants until we reached the section of the trail that the Chickadees were responsible for planting.
After learning the correct why to plant a tree, the Chickadees dove into their task with a sense of pride and play.

What we planted: Hemlocks, Cascaras, and Ferns.
Invasives that we stomped all over: Canary Grass!
Methods We Employed: The Double Kid Shovel Technique, Mulch Bucketline, Rolly Polly Tree Roots, Greenway's famous Doughnut Ring

Before the day was over, the Chickadees and the other volunteers with Greenways planted nearly 300 native plants on the Bay to Baker Trail!


Mottos of Particular Note: Safety First, Connect and Protect, Leave No Trace, LIBK, Walk Your Talk, Widen Your Circle

Words of the Day: DoopadeeChicadeeTree, Sapling, Earth Service

Whatcom Wander 3-26-17

Wet, cold, and full of life! That's springtime in the Pacific Northwest and the Chickadees were all about it. We set out from Lake Whatcom on a drizzly morning to explore the winding channel of water that runs from the Lake into Bellingham Bay and all along the way, we searched for telltale signs of spring.

We found lots of plants, heard and saw many different species of birds, and even glimpsed some salmon in the hatchery! All of the girls met the Indian Plum plant and tasted its cucumber-y leaves. Did you know that it's one of the first things to bud in the springtime? Whenever you see its lovely white flower, you know that spring has sprung.

Another important and very useful plant friend that the Chickadees met along the trail was the Cattail. In meeting the Cattail, the girls learned about the different stages of a plant's life, in GEC we say Roots, Shoots, and Fruits. The Cattail is useful in all of its different forms. The roots are edible and the root system helps maintain wetland habits. The stalks are used for making mats and also as perches for the Red Winged Black birds (or the DooPaDeeDoop birds as we now call them). Perhaps the most exciting feature of the Cattail is that you can use its seedpod as a natural torch. So much for headlamps!

As we followed the water from Lake Whatcom to Scudder Pond and then into Whatcom Creek, the Chickadees talked about our local water cycle. We imagined the massive and ancient glaciers residing on Kulshan and the other mountains in the North Cascades and how those glaciers feed springs that lead into the three branches of the Nooksack River. The Middle Fork of the Nooksack empties into Lake Whatcom, which then flows into Whatcom Creek and eventually makes it way into Bellingham Bay. WOAH! Thats a really long trip!

Soon enough, we were nearly to the Stone Bridge and our pick-up spot. The Chickadees enjoyed a very peaceful place, with the sound of the waterfalls in the background and rain lightly pitter-pattering through the trees above. When we reconvened for our closing circle everyone shared in a round of Attitude of Gratitude and then came up with these great Words of the Day: "Cattail Torches and Noisy Waterfalls"

All things properly muddied, it was a great GEC day. We learned, we played, we built fairy houses, and of course, chucked large branches off of bridges... Only one season in and the Chickadees are already a strong and connected group! Can't wait to see what future explorations are in store.


 Mottos that were of particular use: Be Prepared, Collaborate and Compromise, Build Bridges Not Walls, S.T.O.P., Safety First, Meet Before You Eat, We are All Leaders

Service at Woodstock Farm: 3/11/17

The Chickadees and the Ospreys gathered in the muddy, busy parking lot of North Chuckanut Trailhead for another day of service at our adopted site, Woodstock Farm!

We hopped onto our trusty bus, Merkel, and zipped up Chuckanut drive. At our Opening Circle, we checked our preparedness, as the weather called for a tricky day of low temperatures, high winds, and LOTS of rain. The Chickadees are well on their way to owning two of the most important EC mottos, Safety First and Be Prepared.

We also talked about why we are serving today, and reviewed another motto, Our Cups Overflow. The Chickadees agreed that people are not the only ones whose cups can be empty, and that today we would be filling the cups of the cedars, firs, ravens, fungi, ferns, eagles, rabbits, deer, maples and more of Woodstock Farm. The girls pointed out that even though we "pour our overflowing water" into other's cups, our cups are not really emptying but in fact filling!

With that magical aspect in mind, it was time to get to work! (After a few rounds of cup-filling, body-warming rounds of Spider's Web though). The Chickadees and Ospreys buddied up and broke into three groups with the common task of removing Holly, Stinky Bob, and English Ivy! 

An epic example of Chickadee and Osprey collaboration: the girls identified this Holly TREE, persevered for 45 minutes to remove it, and then carried it out to the bus because it obviously wouldn't fit in the trash bins.

With a good chunk of service done and many native plants left free to breathe and grow, it was time for lunch!

The sideways rain and noisy wind led us to take shelter on the porch of the Gates' old family home, and then it was time for more Spider's Web, fairy house construction, mouse funerals, running, and exploring. Soon enough it was time to walk back to the bus with our GIANT bag of invasive plants, and meet up with families and friends.

Our words of the day? "Mud Bananas" (ask your daughter to explain that one 😊 )

Enjoy the shared slideshow from the day here!
Mottos especially alive today:
Be Prepared
Our Cups Overflow
Safety First
Widen Your Circle
Walk Your Talk
You See It You Own It
Attitude of Gratitude

Winter Games Day @ Fairhaven Park 2-4-17

It's raining, it's pouring, let's go exploring! 

The Chickadees whole heartedly embraced the spirit of all-and-any weather exploration this Saturday in Fairhaven Park. The forecast looked gloomy, but as true explorers, the Chickadees came prepared with warm layers and a big sense of adventure! In our raincoats and boots, we traversed through the park in search for the perfect place to play games. And games did we play! Furry the Fircone, Run Rabbit Run, Otter Steals Fish, and Spider's Web were just a few of the games that the Chickadees reveled in.

We also built boats, created fairy villages, and played in the mud (as was evident by the state of our clothing at the end of the day)... Entering their second season with GEC, the Chickadees already play like pros and explore like experts.

In between all of the mudsliding and raucous laughter, we took time to notice the way that nature changes in the wintertime. The day gets shorter, the air is colder, and the plants and the animals have less energy. Since All Things Are Connected, we talked about how we, as people, are connected to this cycle and are also affected by the changing of the seasons. 

Often when it becomes cold and dark outside, we want to curl away and stay indoors. Some people call this the 'Winter Blues.' But the Chickadees coined a new phrase on Saturday: the 'Winter Pinks.' It's the feeling of joy that one gets when they play outside in the wintertime. Without a doubt, the Chickadees have got a case of the Winter Pinks!

Words (phrases) of the Day: Winter Pinks, Playing Games, Mud Princesses, Boats, Fairyhouses

To see more photos of our day, click on this link! 

GEC Mottos that we kept in mind today: Safety First, Always Come Prepared, All Things Are Connected, You See It You Own It, Leave No Trace, LIBK, Build Bridges Not Walls, Widen Your Circle, Get Dirty!, Expect the Unexpected

Arroyo Park Exploration: 11/13/16

The Chickadees + Outdoor Adventures = Joy

It is such a lovely thing to begin a new group and see them engage so thoroughly with EC Mottos, leadership, service, and connection to self/others/community/nature. After only 4 outings, the Chickadees already feel like a solid group.

After gathering and meeting new mentor, Brooke, we reflected on our last service project and decided we could do service on any outing day as well, by picking up litter, removing invasives, seeing community/nature needs and taking care of them, applying the EC Motto, You See It, You Own It. We went over other mottos that could apply during our day of pure exploration, such as Safety First and The Trail is the Teacher, and had a brief check-in to see how everyone was feeling on that glorious fall day. After that lovely opening circle, we hit the trail!

A Chum salmon swims by a very mossy rock

Five hours flew by as we opened our eyes and hearts to everything Arroyo had to teach us! Here are some highlights from our amazingly adventurous autumn day:

• Meeting the best friends in the forest- Licorice Fern and Moss (and learning why Moss is also good friend of Big Leaf Maple). We learned the EC Motto Meet Before You Eat, and how to carefully harvest using the 1 in 20 principle. 

• The girls collected leaves of every hue and created a 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!"). This leaf circle was a rich teaching tool, and led to further discussion about the role of decomposition in the cycle of life. 

Our Leaf Color Wheel

• We then became decomposers ourselves in an energizing game of Decomposition Tag!  We wanted to find more decomposers in the forest around us, so we continued onward into the arroyo as Death Detectives.  We found evidence of death, decomposition, and the cycle of life all around us in the form of worms, spiders, mushrooms, nurse logs, beetles, woodpecker holes, and so much more!

• We marvelled at the tenacity of the Chum salmon in Chuckanut Creek, and learned a sweet new song for remembering salmon names from Brooke!  Ask your girl if she remembers, and here are the lyrics for quick reference:
• The Chinook is the King of the salmon, The Coho's the bright Silver one, Sockeye is Red!  Humpy's Pink, so it's said, and the Dog salmon's always a Chum, a Chum! The Dog salmon's always a chum.

• The girls tested their S.T.O.P. skills and passed with flying colors!  We came to a huuuge fallen log across the creek, which opened a pathway to the other bank that was about 20 feet higher up than the creekside we were currently on.  Brooke and Lauren thought it was too slippery to climb at first, but after the Chickadees walked their mentors through their S.T.O.P. thought process, we were more than happy to scramble up and check out the wonders above us.  Ask your girl what S.T.O.P. stands for! 

  

  The Magical Tree!

• We loved this fallen tree so much that we decided to have Peaceful Place on, under, and next to it.  It was one of the more peaceful of places that I've been in, surrounded by ferns, Chum salmon, cedar, and the rushing river, and I know the girls felt the magic of that place, too. 
  
  

• Reflecting on the season past, we ended our day by creating a Web of Life. Each girl became something from nature she had connected to this fall: rain, sandstone, fir, salmon, cedar, wind, sunshine, mud, sword fern, maple tree, licorice root, Salish Sea, moss, one another. We celebrated our EC motto All Things Are Connected, and understood that whenever one thing in the web is altered, it affects everything else.  We reiterated that GEC is all about strengthening the web of life, as well as the bonds between each other.  

Web of Life

Our words of the day? Mud, web, fun, salmon, licorice root!

Check out more pictures from the day here!

EC Mottos especially alive today:

Be Prepared

S.T.O.P.

Meet Before You Eat

You See It You Own It

LIBK

Widen The Circle 

Collaborate and Compromise

We Are All Connected

Connect and Protect

Service at Woodstock Farm: 11/11/16

In the past few days, a new personal motto has come up for one GEC mentor: The Antidote to Apathy is Action. Taking action can help alleviate frustration and anxiety, and generally helps one feel purposeful. 

Haulin' our tools to the site!

Four GEC groups contributed joyful purpose to our shared service day, taking pride in our new role as caretakers of Woodstock Farm.

At our gathering meeting, we learned about the history of this place and how generosity and forward conservationist thinking led to its preservation. Thanks to Cyrus Gates, his family home and land has been gifted to Whatcom County for all to enjoy - Mr. Gates also had a strong hand in protecting Larrabee State Park, Arroyo and Fairhaven Parks, Sehome Arboretum, and the Mt. Baker Bulb Farm (since turned into Bellis Faire Mall due to a legal loophole).

We brainstormed on who the users of the park are: humans, yes, but also raven, salmon, chipmunk, raccoon, weasel, mouse, heron, slug and so much more. We talked about why a park needs caretakers for all these stakeholders, and what occurs without people lending a hand to manage trails and terrain. Since our gathering area was adjacent to a stand of alders, thimbleberry and salmonberry, overrun by invasive blackberry, the girls quickly understood how invasive species take over native ones rather quickly.

Then we were off on a very short trip by bus to our destination just up the road. The next few hours were spent collaborating in purposeful work- removing invasives with care and attention, all while singing and chatting. Worms were admired, baby fir trees were transplanted, connections were made within and between GEC groups.

Enjoying a well-deserved snack break!

Each group shared some time on the bluff overlooking the sea, marveling at this extraordinary view that is normal for us here in Bellingham, and feeling thankful that Cyrus Gates had the foresight to set this bluff aside for all to enjoy. We also gave thanks for the Clark family for it's donation of Clark's Point to the Whatcom Land Trust, and the preservation of Chuckanut Island, now owned by the Nature Conservancy (but which was, long ago, a 13th birthday present for Cyrus Gate's son!).

Playing a game with the Salish Seals

Other gratitudes shared included the company of one another, the chance to serve, Explorers Club, trees, the Salish Sea, connections, generosity, and people who understand that all things are connected.

Enjoy the slideshow from our day here!