Activities:
– Did you like the song “Wild Ones” from last week’s message ? Here’s a french version. It was adapted by Muriel with the help of other families from a family program a while back. Enjoy !
“Que le soleil vienne réchauffer mes os
Que les oiseaux et les abeilles viennent chatouiller ma peau
Je suis sauvage maintenant, fait(e) de pluie et de vent
Je suis sauvage maintenant, pis j’veux pas redevenir comme avant”
– Puppet show! For 4 – 6 year olds. A bilingual show for youngsters looking to be inspired around fun nature connection practices. Produced by our very own Jesse Grindler and Cleo. It’s 3 minutes long. In this episode, Cleo learns to do a sit spot. You can try it with your child. Find a nice place to sit outside and try to be silent for 5-10 minutes. Maybe even sit apart from them if they are ready for that. Give a coyote howl when you are ready to come back together. What did you see? feel? smell? Did you hear what the birds did? Is there a nature mystery to follow up on now?
– Building a rocket stove:
Rocket stoves are simple, DIY stoves that make burning wood safe and efficient. It can be used to boil water if the power goes out or for a fun fire experience. When working with tin cans and metal cutters / snips, make sure to wear safety gloves because the edges can be sharp!
Basically its an insulated metal bucket (insulated with wood ash, rocks or sand), with two cans connected together to make an L. That’s the entrance and the chimney of your stove. The entrance can (the one that’s horizontal) may have a piece of metal with holes in it in one end, that sits in the middle, dividing the can into two, to let air come in from underneath, while you feed wood to burn up top. Screws to attach the cans are optional as there are designs where they simply sit on each other and are supported by the insulative material around them.
A video tutorial for one design:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDADCZtVJ9w
A collection of variations and other designs:
https://homesthetics.net/rocket-stove-plans/
Learn the basic principles then get creative with it and have fun! Send us a picture of your rocket stove if you make one!
Resources:
– How to safely buy groceries in a pandemic?
https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/coronavirus-grocery-shopping-online-1.5516983
– This is an amazing collection of short, simple activities to do with kids, it’s called Exploration of the Day. There’s translations in english, french, german, and spanish
https://www.explorationoftheday.com/
Reflections:
A few reflections from activist, mythologist Michael Meade
“The wisdom gained from suffering our isolation together, must be used to make the next world.”
“We live in times of widespread trouble and sweeping change: if we can trust the nature of our souls and throw ourselves wholeheartedly into those things that truly call to us, these could become initiatory times as well.”
“We are called to become ourselves and since each self is unique, the calling comes uniquely to us. Learning one’s true way of fitting into this world often requires becoming unfit for regular duties and common expectations. What truly calls to us would have us go beyond the usual limits. In responding to the call we join the lineage of those who are burning with an inner fire; not simply fired up with the heat of ambition, but awakened to a dream and flame that flickers in one’s heart of hearts. A genuine calling further ignites the eternal spark originally carried into life by the soul and nothing can sooth that inner flame except that we fully respond and follow it through the world.”