Blog  January 3, 2013

Nature Nuts come in all sizes at Evergreen

Campers gather around the closing circle to share their experiences with Outdoor Educator and Counsellor Lee Earl (top middle) at EBW (Photo: Michelle Laporte)

By Lee Earl, Outdoor Educator

“Sometimes, when it’s not Saturday, I take the sticks in my backyard and make forts and pretend like it’s a Saturday.”

That is a direct quote from one of the young participants at a closing circle I held over a month ago, on the last day of the Nature Nut Kids’ Club fall session. We had just climbed a challenging and slippery summit to a lookout that gave us all a hawk’s-eye view of the Weston Family Quarry Gardens.

“I’m excited to have seen the changes throughout the season as we watched the leaves fall and things get ready for the winter,” said one of our counsellors.

It is almost hard to believe that when our group of keen, playful and adventurous kids started, we had been able to spot the Midland Painted Turtles in one of the back ponds. That must have been back in the first weeks of October, and the sightings had prompted questions about what had happened to those turtle eggs that had been laid in the Chimney Court gravel back in the time of summer camp. Had they joined their parents late one night? Or had they ended up a snack for a sneaky predator? Hmm. . . .

“I just loved knowing that we would always have an adventure, no matter what,” another participant chimed in, as the fallen oak leaf representing her turn to talk, reached her.

Oh, and what adventures we had! From tracking birds into the prickly brambles only to find fresh cottontail scat, to whittling our own digging sticks to harvest Jerusalem artichoke roots for our soup.

Sitting at the top of our little world, I remember wondering what birds would be first back this winter session, and who would be snacking on our lard and seed feeders. Most of all, I wondered what adventures I would be lucky enough to have again every Saturday this winter…

Want to join Lee and our other outdoor educators in their adventures this winter? Sign up for the next session of the Nature Nut Kids’ Club starting January 19—registration is now open and space is limited!