Marin Tender Tracks Tues. March 24, 2015 49

Waxing Moon
Lake Lagunitas

We are now 8 children and they were all here on this day. Michelle, I and the weather were clearly all working together well before this day began. What I mean by that is, I wound up changing plans and thought having a fire seemed just right, Michelle was thinking  over the weekend how much having a fire would be good and then the weather, over cast and drizziling throughout the day conspired with us as well to make it a PERFECT day for all of this to take place.
Since it was a day for fire it became what we call a “Backwards day.”  This means, lunches came before stories, songs and snack because, we were making snack!  The focus of the day was to build a fire, gather long sticks to carve, and make the dough to make stick bread.
Julian, Theron and Enzo were COMPLETELY engaged and focused with helping Michelle make the fire by being the “Fire Tenders.” They gathered wood of all different sizes to sort in order to be ready for the many stages of building the fire.  Ariel, Nico and Velia were very much on board for gathering their long sticks and carving them.  They were carving them with these special vegetable peelers that I bought with this intention in mind.  It was delightful to see them as well as work with them as they peeled the sticks to make ready for their bread.  Julian carved as well as Theron and Velia but the rest were less interested. Thea STRAIGHT away went  to the creek and there she and then everyone else at varying times found  a lot of California Newts. They all had such a grand time with them. She, Nico, Hana, Ariel and Velia made a little pool for them too. Then Thea was able to catch a Dragon fly to share with everyone.
Later in the day Enzo, Hana and Ariel made a sweet home over in one of their favorite Redwood trees for lunch.  Enzo came over to me at one point and I heard noises from the tree. He said it was the baby birds and he was getting worms for them.
After the dough was made there was the scraping of the bowls and licking it along with licking the spoon by, Theron, Ariel and Hana.  Before this Hana, in particular, was having a GRAND time becoming “sneaky coyote” and hiding some of our things. Other children joined in with this very fun game of seeing if they could be SO very quiet and sneak up, grab something and run away with it.  They were supurb, almost as good as the Jay’s and Raven’s!
When the fire was completely glowing all the children got together and we began to wrap the dough made around their sticks.  They then all gathered around the fire to cook their delicious personal bread sticks. When they were done they had their own butter that they made last week and jam to put on it.  The best part I find of this adventure is learning how to sit and wait for the bread to cook, keep turning the stick so that the bread doesn’t burn and all the challenges that go along with this. Waiting for their food instead of having it instantly.  Can’t learn in a more fun way these crucial skills of patience and stillness.
The fire was loved and cared for and there was some learning about how to be with it safely such as, you don’t swoosh the coals in the fire around as they will fly out and… well, there could be harm.
After second helpings were cooked and eaten and a little running around to desired places, they came back in with curiosity as a few at a time began to plant their wheat berries in little bowls and hear some new songs about Rabbits and grass.
They all loved this, even Enzo who gets so JOYFULLY involved in playing, chopping, exploring and all.
Right before we left Theron and Thea discovered a mud bath in the creek near the bus and they HAD AT IT!!!!   And we, PEELED them down like a banana, wrapped them in towels and blankets and made our way back to home base.