It’s hard to believe that the fall season has already come to a close here at Primitive Pursuits. Over the past few months, we’ve spent countless hours in the woods, slowing down and appreciating everything the changing season has to offer. Our adult earth skills participants built deep connections with the natural world and with one another.
I joined the group last Saturday for the final meeting of the Fall Adult Earth Skills session: a snowy nature sleepover. Using shelters they had built back in October with cattails they foraged themselves, participants spent the night sleeping under the stars in one last celebration of our time together.
After preparing the shelters and tending the fire, we shared a foraged soup made from venison and tubers collected along Six Mile Creek during our November meeting. Everyone was surprised by just how delicious it turned out. Who would have thought those tiny brown roots held so much flavor?
Once the sun set and supper was finished, Sean guided us into a sit spot. Sit spots are a practice where you walk into the woods alone and sit in silence, simply observing the world around you. Our prompt that night was to reflect on our place within the ecosystem: How do our lives affect the woods around us, and how have the woods changed us in return?
Standing outside alone in the snow in pitch darkness is spooky at first, but once your eyes start to adjust, the magic happens. I began to hear the rustling of twigs and the sound of snow falling around me. I sat down with my back to a tree and watched. After half an hour of silence, a small possum came bounding out of the woods, passing five feet away from me. The next morning, participants tracked the very same possum using the paw prints it left behind in the snow.
We returned from our sit spots to a large pot of warm hot chocolate waiting by the fire. The night ended with plenty of laughter and a Primitive Pursuits favorite: banana boats. Despite the snow outside, everyone commented on how warm they felt. The shelters were wonderfully insulated, and the fire was beautiful.
Thank you all for a fantastic season, and special thanks to Instructor Sean for the care and dedication he put into making this program such a meaningful experience.
