The Northwoods is coming alive with spring greenery, and the Seekers are taking full advantage. They went on a 20 mile hike to gather wild leeks, which tastes like a cross between onion and garlic and is one of the first to appear after the snowmelt. We were nearing the end of the leek season, so the very next day they were ready to go on their second edible plant walk, where they learned about spring beauties, ferns, violets, cleavers (bedstraw), and tamarack needles. The Seekers are collecting these plants every day now, to add to their evening fireside meals.

Learning plants in the Wilderness Guide Program is not just being able to identify a specific plant and gather it. Immersing themselves in an ecosystem,  this yearlong’s adults and children learn about respectful foraging guidelines based on forming relationships with the individual plants and through them to the entire environment the plants are part of. It begins with honoring the plants by acknowledging them as living beings and communicating with them, then making an offering and listening to what they have to say. Perhaps a big harvest is intended, or maybe a good share of the plants are needed by the other creatures of the forest.  As Seekers learn about the broader implications of gathering, they build an internal knowledge of larger ecosystems, which enables them to know where and when a particular plant will grow by surveying the surrounding forest–even from a distance.

Their final plant walk took them across Woodbury Lake to rich meadows, where they learned about nettles and basswood. Nettles prefer open, sunny, wet areas, while basswood prefers rich deciduous forests.

This year, the Seekers are divided into two groups: the Guardian camp and the Family Camp. A guardian is a person who devotes his or her life to the service of their people as provider, protector, emissary, scout, and guide to the young. The Guardians are situated at the top of a hill at a camp called Zhawanong (Warm-Breeze-Bringer coming from the south). The Family Camp is at Wabanong (the camp to the East, name meaning Morning-Light). The Guardians are busy building a new log bridge to allow clear access to the lake, and at the same time it will protect the sensitive bog it traverses.

Amidst all of the settling in activity, the Seekers are enjoying the beautiful weather: clear blue skies, temperatures in the 70s, and low humidity. They just got their canoes, and they have had swimming and canoeing safety workshops, lost-proofing training, and instruction in several other core skills. The children are learning everything the adults are learning in their own way, and more, as they develop their children’s culture.

Evenings are usually spent around the fire, where a new (old!) storytelling ritual is taking place. An adult begins, and the children quickly take over, continuing the storyline as each child takes on a character’s voice and develops the scenes. It’s beautiful to watch them hanging on each other’s words. Their storytelling is a way for them to reflect and express what is happening in their lives, and it gives us adults a window to view them as they view themselves. Rich relationship grows from here.