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Blog & Forum Archive Summary for 2006

To make it into the Wolf Camp Cooperative Blog Forum Archives: Email us a good commentary and if we like it, we'll post it on the blog. Take a look at some of our Original Articles, for ideas:

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Go to the Blog & Forum Archive Summary for 2007

September 3, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

It's time for a vacation, so we'll begin posting again in the spring. In the meantime, keep in touch! Make sure you come to the 10th Anniversary Harvest Party on Saturday, October 28th, from 1:00-10:00. I hope to have a special muscial guest here, so prepare for a surprise if he comes.

September 2, 2006: Bowling Green State University: GeoJourney • Posted by: Chris

It was wonderful having this fine collegeate group with us today. Most exciting for us is that we started work on the dugout canoe I've been dreaming about for many years! We shaved off the outter rotten areas of an old growth cedar tree that fell on the property a century ago, yet subsequent loggers never thought it worth their while to remove. Fortunately, there is a 20 foot section, 3 feet thick that seems perfectly preserved, although we won't know until it's done whether there are any fatal flaws in the wood. Next time we'll be working on it will be during the Harvest Party on October 28.

Scott helped the group harvest hemlock trees to use as fish spears, and the group was a bit overzealous with the time allowed, but they got to the point where they could finish on their own. Lorien taught cedar bark basketry after I showed the group how to harvest off a tree, although the demonstration was a bit abbreviated due to it being the wrong season for the job. It was from a tree that will be cut down soon anyway.

I almost impressed the group by nearly spearing a bull frog with one of the fish spears, since it was positioned perfectly for me to sneak up and get it. Unfortunately, time didn't allow for a slow enough approach, but they got the idea. Classic.

August 26 - September 1, 2006: The Survival Trek • Posted by: Glen

Participants: Glen, Lorien, Scott, Chris

Glen is writing a paper on his week as part of his senior project. Here is the link to read all about it: Survival Trek Log

August 21-25, 2006: Advanced Future Survivors • Posted by: Lorien

Participants: Lorien, Scott, Megan, Chris, Sidney, Owain, Eamon, William, Olivia, Kalyan, Liam & Miles.

The Advanced Future Survivors Daycamp was great! However, I'm off to begin my travels back east with Scott, so I'll have to email a summary for Chris to post later in the fall. Until then!

August 13-19, 2006: Herbalists of the Sea • Posted by: Chris

Participants: Chris, Carol, Linda, Lorien, Scott, Huck, Megan & Megan, Laurel, Medicine Eagle, Waterlily, Glen, Morgan, Indigo, Jeffrey, Brian, Carl, Ariel

The Herbalists of the Sea were awesome! We had a great time starting out on Sunday with everyone planning the adventure, and of course, packing up all the gear. Monday we went to the library to begin research on the advanced subject matter we would be studying this week, and we shopped for our supplies. Then we went to Lake Whatcom for kayak training, and everyone successfully did their wet exits and bow rescues.

After dinner, we traveled up between Mt. Baker and the Twin Sisters to camp at our secret location where we held our very first overnight camp in 1998. We arrived after dark and had a pleasant sleep under the canopy of trees with the roaring Middle Fork of the Nooksack River nearby.

In the morning, we went up to my favorite old growth forest so that the herbalists could experience nature as it was originally created, and spend time with those rare species like Pacific Yew. As always, it was a transendental experience, and a wonderful way to begin the day before going down river to Linda Quintana's home, where we learned a great deal helping her harvest a variety of plants, then process them in preparation for helping people that seek treatments at her store, Wonderland Teas & Herbs, in Bellingham.

In the afternoon, we took a walk along Marine Park and began to study seaweeds, then we rented sailboats at Fairhaven Boatworks, and had a good time in shallow winds, getting comfortable with the water and learning to tack and run small boats. In the evening, we ventured down to Washington Park near Anacortes, and spent the evening on the bluffs, watching the beautiful stars.

On Wednesday we made come concoctions from shore plants we had harvested, and we went kayaking out to Hope Island. We also had a great time at West Beach, climbing in our favorite monkey tree (really an old growth, gnarled douglass fir), and checking out the plants and shore life of the dunes there.

On Thursday, we went back up to Bellingham to check out the 40' sailboat we were going to rent, where we met my parents and brother before heading out to sea. What a day! Perfect weather for sailing. We went back to harbor to drop off our guests, and then headed out around Portage Island, then around Lummi Island and seal rocks, then straight west with an incredible wind, after dark, to our favorite private anchorage on Little Sucia Island.

The next morning, we spent a great deal of time exploring the fossils, seal and eagle tracks, intertidal life such as sea stars and starfish and mussels and crabs, plus all the variety of seaweeds, before swimming and then launching out toward Parker Reef, where we saw many seals, sea lions, porpoise, and eagles. The wind was okay until we got around the southern tip of Lummi Island, and then it really started blowing, and we made it back to harbor in record time. Can't beat it!

August 5-6 & 12-13, 2006: Wildlife Tracking & Herbal Medicine Workshops • Posted by: Megan

Participants: Chris, Lorien, Huck, Glen, Megan, Laurel, Morgan, Indigo, Patrick, Katie, Jami, Catherine

August 12-16, 2006: The GeoVORG Adventure and the Ultimate Tracker: Endangered Species • Posted by: Laurel

Participants: Chris, Huck, Lorien, Glen, Megan, Laurel, Morgan, Indigo, Patrick, James, Katie, Torrey, Sam, Abe, Isaac & Wesley

The GeoVORG Adventure included a grand tour of the state from both East and West, North and South. The campers had a special role as well in learning to plan thier own trips in the future by designing our meal plan and packing list, and learning how to assist the navigation of a moving vehicle with maps. By crossing the mountains once at Steven's Pass, and then crossing back at White Pass, we completed a large circle across Washington, and got a more whole view of our state than is normally afforded by there-and-back-again trips. We studied and adventured on Leavenworth's Rock, the Potholes Dunes, Ginko Petrified Forest, Umtanum Creek in the Yakima Canyon, Mt. Rainier, and Mt. Saint Helens. Washington's ecotones and geological features were used as tools for teaching ecology and geology in general. Ecological features that we observed in one place had stories that traced back to geologic events observed in other parts of our journey. Remember, the journey can be as important as the destination! - Laurel

July 29 - August 4, 2006: Scout Camps Week • Posted by: Glen

Participants: Chris, Bill, Nikki, Jason, Lorien, Glen, Megan, Laurel, Morgan, Indigo, Patrick, Bryce, James, Sam & Greyson, Torrey, Kayla, Nick, Lenny, Carl, Jonathan, Dillon & Dustin, Sidney & Indigo, Eli, Braden, Preston, William, Nate & Leo, Ruby, Aidan Suroweik, Kian, Zoe & Alex, Kaio

Secrets of the Ancient Scout was a fun filled week of adventures. We learned a lot about ourselves, from balancing on logs and doing blindfold activities to running around in the middle of the night doing scout games. The teams were quite formidable this year, with the advanced scouts getting a run for their money from some of the new scouts that just started. Primitive camo was one of the highlights of the week for me, especially when we got all set up with our charcoal, mud, and clay patterns and then hid around the trail edges for the instructors to find us. Also the secret mission to help out crazy Nikki and Chris without them knowing was great fun, especially watching from the bushes when one of the scouts was spotted and promptly attacked by Nikki or Chris with water balloons. All in all an awsome week. - Glen

July 22-28, 2006: Tracking & Birding Camps Week • Posted by: Chris

Participants: Chris, Lorien, Megan, Laurel, Morgan, Indigo & Indigo, Patrick, Nicco, Alexei, Xionlong, Brandon, Zachary, Sam, Kalyan, Eli, Mila, Brenton, Conrad, William, Preston, Webster, Thea, Marija

Tracking camp this year was wonderful. The overnighters decided that we would go nocturnal in order to see more mammals. We were sleeping during the day, and staying up all night along the river, using spotlights to see animals. Okay, the experiment didn't work out the way we hoped, but it was a great experience anyway. Just beautiful.

One of the highlights of the week was a successful search and rescue mission, where Sam and I were "lost" due to an "accident", and the two tracking teams were able to find us (without cheating), and then carry us over a half mile back to "safety". It was an emotional event, and everyone was amazing. If you think it's hard finding lost people, you should try getting injured people out of the wilderness! That's why they say "stay put" until you can get medivacuated out.

And like usual, we tracked lots of exciting wildlife, including bear, bobcat, coyote, fox, river otter, beaver, mouse, dog, deer, elk, heron, eagle, robins, geese, and more. We experienced the dawn chorus down on the lake, and documented which species started, really got going, and stopped all together.

Of course, the favorite activity of the week is always floating down the Skykomish River. What a treat after working hard with all those tracks on the sandbar.

July 15-21, 2006: Artisanry Camps Week • Posted by: Chris

Participants: Chris, Nikki, Peter, Megan, Laurel, Morgan, Indigo & Indigo, Patrick, Charlie, Katie, Zach, Aldin & Nora, Kevin, James, Bryndan, Kayla, Daniel, Riley, Branden, John & Kyle, Conrad, Mila, William, Kelly, Claire

The Artisans were incredible this year. Peter Yenkin came with bow blanks, and he gave us another great lesson on philosophy as well as bowmaking. That tillering is definitely tricky!

The younger kids made flutes, primitive drums, and helped the big folks with their projects, including fish spears which were successfully used to harvest at least one bullfrog, which tasted yummy by the way.

But most important was our ability to gain from the knowledge which Nikki developed over the course of her survival experience during sabbatical the last couple years. One of the impressive skills was fish hooks and line, just like it shows in Hillary Stewart's book, only Nikki can really catch fish! Like halibut and cod and salmon and everything.

The advanced group harvested materials to make survival bows, but also character bows and arrows for next year. We're looking forward to everyone coming back to finish with those materials when they are fullly seasoned in 2007, and welcoming new artisans to begin projects as well.

July 8-14, 2006: Survival Camps Week • Posted by: Chris

Participants: Chris, Nikki, Jason, Megan, Laurel, Morgan, Indigo, Xionlong, Nicco, Charlie, Maddie, Patrick, Sam, Aldin, Noah, Sophia, Harry, Carter, Gabriel, Max, Heron, Meika, William, Calvin, Max, Luc, D'Angelo, Michael, Spencer, Mizan & Ziad, Preston, Augie

Living with Primitive Fire & Shelter and Survivors Side of the Mountain participants worked side-by-side this year. Nikki guided both groups into the wilderness on the other side of the lake. Since none of them had ever been over there before, they didn't make it to our secret primitive camp, but instead, had to do a real survival trek instead, and they seemed to have loved it.

Later in the week, they returned and began constructing lean-tos and a wikiup in our near-by primitive camp. The Primitives worked together to survive as a team, while the Survivors went off individually to survive using their two years of experience.

The Future Survivors Fun Daycamp was a blast, and I had the privilege of leading them, although it was more like guiding them since there were so many returning, skilled campers to keep things going. Rarely have I seen a group so motivated to build shelters, for instance. It was a treat to watch them.

July 1-7, 2006: Pioneering & Mentoring Camps Week • Posted by: Chris

Participants: Chris, Bill, Jason, Patrick, Indigo, Maddie, James, Megan, Laurel, Charlie, Morgan, Aidan, Ariel, Kellen & Travis, Kalyan, Fran & Matt, Marco & Tessa, Milaniva, Ted & Torin

The Pioneers did incredible work this week, taking down some hazard trees which they used to start construction of a pioneer-style log cabin. They really whipped our gardens into shape, and prepared our barn and farmyard for the animals. As usual, they had a great time in the lake swimming, and they deserved it after working on their many projects.

The Mentors were a great group, just ready to begin taking on that adult responsibility, working toward becoming instructors here at camp, and we went deep into the meanings of our lives, especially during the sweat. This group leaves a legacy of developing the code of ethics we plan to follow as earth skills educators, and we developed a set of responsibilities that we need to do to work as mentors in future years. To read those ethics and responsibilities, click on Mentoring Ethics & Responsibilities which is located in the overnight youth camp section of the website.

June 24-30, 2006: Medicine Camps Week • Posted by: Megan & Chris

Participants: Chris, Nikki, Bill, Megan, Laurel, Charlie, Morgan & Indigo, Patrick, Maddie, Glen, Isabel, Emmett, William, Little Indigo, Ariel, Olivia, Braden, Conrad

I had the pleasure of running the Wild Chefs & Healers daycamp this week, and what a great group of kids! They really learned those plant families, the wild edibles, the poisonous ones, and some medicinal plants as well, both in the wild and in the gardens. And what a show they put on for their parents on Friday, it was a delightful meal that they served at their "restaurant"!

The overnighters had the privilage of benefiting from the herbal and survival expertise of Nikki. She really went deep into the gifts of the shore plants and animals, as well as imparted her decade of experience with herbal medicine. They had a lot of fun as well, playing Stalking Wolf at least twice a day from what I could see.

Archives from Spring 2006 on Birds & More:

Thursday, June 22, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

It cleared off yesterday for the first day of summer, and today was the first morning of pure sun for about a month. We're gearing up to start camps this weekend, so we'll be putting these blog entries into the archives and starting fresh with daily happenings around camp so that parents can keep up with their kids. See you there!

Wednesday, June 21, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

Morgan and Laurel and I managed to awake for the dawn chorus this morning since the solstice occurred at 5:00 a.m. our time. Then we took the canoe out to drift in the middle of the lake. The two young ladies went back up to catch a bit of shut-eye while I worked a bit on the dock, and just before I went up to the office, a cougar started screaming on the other side of the lake. The crows came in to harrass it after a while, and I'm looking forward to going over there to see if I can gather some evidence as to it's behavior.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

Mommy is cooking really great meals for us! We're eating like kings and queens, while the house is nice and clean, too. In the meantime, me and the other kids are going to school, learning to teach camps better. It's fun!

Monday, June 19, 2006 • Posted by: Morgan

Today was my first day as the loving housewife of Wolf Camp. I woke up the children and lead them in their morning exercises, which are important for growing young bodies. I made oatmeal banana muffins for breakfast and then sent the kids off to class. After that I did a bit of dishes and housework, like putting up some really classy shades in little Chizzy's office. I prepped lunch (tuna salad- yum yum!) and put on my bandana because it was time to work! I helped little Grizzy with some of his chores and then called all the kids in for lunch. They gobbled it down and went back to their fun. I threw a chicken and some butter and herb potatoes in the oven and then spent the afternoon hovering and basting, like a regular Betty Crocker. After dinner, the kids and I relaxed and did homework, played guitar, and mentally prepared for the following day. We also played dodgeball with a loaf of bread. I made sure all the kids got to bed at a decent hour and went to bed myself. What a swell day!

Sunday, June 18, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

We went up to Bellingham today as part of an introductory tracking class for new staff in order to survey an area behind some friends' house who called me up asking for help to figure out who might be coming over their 8 foot fence from the neighboring park lands, once dumping over a 1 ton fountain they have in their yard. It was evident that a small variety of people had spent some time back there, and we were able to gather some evidence as to the identity of the principal perpetrator, plus create a couple traps that would help to gather more evidence in case of further incursion. This was after everyone woke up at 3:50 and going down to sit on the new dock to listen to the dawn chorus, which sounded like this:

3:50 Swallows and/or Swifts wake up on the east side of the lake, a minute later on this side. (same for other species listed below)
4:10 Robins.
4:14 Swainson's Thrushes.
4:16 Neighbor's Rooster.
4:18 Black Headed Grosbeak.
4:20 The little guy who says "fitz-bew".
4:22 Yellowthroats.
4:24 Red Wing Blackbirds.
4:26 Song Sparrows.
4:28 Black Headed Junco...

Saturday, June 17, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

The dock is here and placed in the water! Thanks to board member Mike Helms for delivering it and using ingenuity to get it down the trail to the lake! And thanks to all the auction attendees for donating to the project! Also picked up Morgan from the airport today. Yea!

Friday, June 16, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

Whoops! It'd definitely getting busy, so sorry about missing yesterday's blog entry. Everyone returned from their survival projects in fine style. Megan spent 3 days and nights at primitive camp, Laurel completed the framing for a beautiful wigwam in the northwest corner of the property, and Mike got his first bow drill fire started with a "whoop" that rousted me from my office to watch him blow his tinder bundle into flame. Work day tomorrow, then non-stop classes until September 2.

Wednesday, June 14, 2006 • Posted by: Griz

Today I went to primitive camp to check up on an apprentice on her survival trek. She was journalling when I got there and we ended up gathering some fire material in preperation for an attempt with the bow drill. After a couple of minutes of fiddling with the kit a coal was made and a fire was started. No matter how many times I watch a tinder bundle get blown into flame it is as exciting for me as if it were the first time. After chatting a short while with her I decided I'd best be heading back and so she was once again "running solo", but I figured at least this time she has a fire, which was a good thing because she had not had any water to drink since her survival trek began. She has very little previous expierience with survival treks and yet she decided to go without bringing water or food of any kind other than a couple small pieces of cattail. I commend her greatly.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

Well, Mike is sleeping under the cedars in the instructor's cedar grove, and he plans to eat only foraged food for the next couple days while working to perfect his bow drill firemaking technique and maybe build a stone reflector behind his fire pit, and if possible, make a lean-to under which to stay dry while working on projects or sleeping in his sleeping bag. Laurel is up in the Northwest corner where she usually sleeps, but she is beginning construction on a wigwam which we plan to complete over the course of the next few weeks. She is also foraging on the plants and sleeping tonight under a fallen tree. Megan is all the way over in the primitive camp on the other side of the lake, and Griz and I just got back from checking on her. She was sound asleep when we arrived at 10:30 and she plans to call in on the walkie-talkie after waking up in the morning to give her plans for improving the earth lodge we built over there a couple years ago while also working on her bow drill firemaking. It was a beautiful paddle and hike there and back!

Monday, June 12, 2006 • Posted by: Mike

Today we began the Wild Plants & Survival week. I arrived fashionably late to find Chris, Bill, Laura, and Megan around the fire pit. We spent a while discussing what this week is going to be about. Each student is given lots of latitude to decide how he or she wants to experience the course. For instance, we can choose how much we want to divide our focus between shelter, fire, food, and water. We can choose if we want to go really hardcore and forego food for a certain amount of time. Personally, I'm going to focus on fire and water rather than shelter, and I might skip food for a day.

After lunch, Megan, Chris, Laura, and I went on a plant identification trek. The weather was grey yet warm. Once we left the Wolf Camp driveway, we walked around a road that borders a large clearcut. Lining the sides of the Wolf Camp driveway and the clearcut are a slew of different edible plants, and we began to identify them.

First, Chris showed us how to distinguish grasses and sedges. Grasses are all edible. Chris showed us the parts of the grasses and their seeds that we could eat. Along our way through the clearcut, we saw wild lettuce, fire weed, four types of fern, salmonberries, red cedar, vine maple, blackberries (native and invasive), hemlock, pine, and many other types of plants. We tasted samples of these plants as we went. Some tasted good, some tasted bitter.

At a certain point, we turned onto a logging road that went straight through the clearcut. After about 15 minutes of walking down that road, it started to rain. To stay dry, we got under large trees. I was surprised by how dry you can stay when under a big tree in the rain! Lightning started to flash every few minutes, and to figure out how close the lightning was to us, we counted the seconds in between the flash and when we heard the lightning.

So far, we weren't in trouble because the lightning was too far away. The lightning became more frequent, and at one point we saw a flash and heard the thunder four seconds later. This was getting too close, so Chris did an about-face and we started walking back. It started raining heavily, and there was only a second delay between one flash of lightning and the thunder, so we wanted to find shelter. We didn't want to be under the large trees because those are the ones that will attract lightning, so we found an area of smaller trees, hoping that we could avoid the lightning while having some shelter from the rain. We got soaked anyway because you can't stay too close to the trunks of the trees in case they funnel lightning down, but after a half hour of getting rained on, the lightning subsided and we headed back to camp.

Sunday, June 11, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

It was a beautiful day around the region, and it's the 100th birthday of my grandfather Lawrence Prosper. I often think of him in association with working to successfully make ends meet through this enterprise, and especially this year after seeing a re-made DVD of the home movies he made of my mom Nancy, aunt Karen, and nana Rose. He definitely provided an enriching experience for them within a solidly middle class life, and the movies give ma a greater appreciation for his thriftiness and creativity.

I celebrated the day at Dominick's fundraiser, which was wonderful. There was professional decorating to spruce up Ingraham High School, a top-rate silent auction to raise funds for his second year of recovery, prominant politicians advocating for pedestrian safety, incredible entertainment on stage from well known artists of all ages, lengthy visits from several news organizations including all the local television stations, and participation from several survivors of pedestrian-vehicle traffic accidents and their families. Griz, Megan and Jason were there all day along with several dozen other volunteers. Click on www.headstrong4dominick.org for the whole incredible story.

Saturday, June 10, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

Griz mentioned he saw the beaver slapping its tail down in the enchanted cove this evening, and Megan observed raccoon tracks in the mud on the way down to the lake. While they were down there, I was delighted to see the red wing black bird male and female bring their baby boy up to the feeder, perhaps conveniently making way for Griz and Megan to put the canoe into the lake The chick is bigger than the female blackbird, and for the first time in my life, I noticed that the female does seem to have a red sheen to the shoulder area of her brown wings. I hope I was never as demanding and fowl mouthed as that baby blackbird, but I am glad he survived the myriad predators, probably due to the intelligence of the female, who for instance, would always lure the chick deep into the brush before feeding it after each trip to the feeder. The chick would come out to the edge of the brush, then beg when he saw his mother flying from the feeder toward him, but past to go deeper into the brush, where the little guy would follow.

We've also been observing increased deer activity around the center camp area and over past the girl's yurt. Fawn tracks, too!

The "headstrong" fundraiser for Dominick is tomorrow. I hope there is a good showing from the Wolf Camp community!

Friday, June 9, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

It's been a very interesting day today. Camp season must be approaching. I'm looking forward to putting this spring series of blog entries into the archives at the end of next week in order to start the first summer series of entries which will consist of the goings-on at camp each day as well as significant wildlife observations.

Griz saw a new brood of ducklings in the pond. There were at least four of them, and it is about that length of time after I observed the most recent pair of mallards mating. It's great to think that two broods of mallards were reared on this little pond in 6 week successions, butt not great to wonder what happened to them since I can't spend all day following them around during this time that is just as busy for us as for the wildlife. That one renegade mallard duckling from the first brood is still tooling around the pond as well, and the pair of wood ducks are still constant residents, though I have no idea where they may be nesting. I only know they are now starting to follow the mallard's lead and feed under the bird feeder when no sign of us or other danger is around. The red winged black bird male and now female are bee-lining it from the lake up to the feeder and back a lot as well. That's good, since we hope to transplant more cattails into the pond here so they will nest here next year as well.

Thursday, June 8, 2006 • Posted by: Laurel

The foliage has just exploded since my last visit a couple months ago! I can hardly see into some thickets that were brightly lit with swamp lanterns before... The more spend time at this place the more I love it.

Today we saw 3 brownish white eggs in a 3- inch deep, steep walled nest with a 3+ inch diameter, sitting right by a trail, under some dewberry branches on the ground. A bird that looks like a robin but stays more down in the brush and has more white on it could be heard calling "rheeEEE!" (pause) "rheeEEEE!" while perched on a shoulder height stump not 10 feet from us.

Next week will be find-your-edge 101, "back to the basics" as it were...

Wednesday, June 7, 2006 • Posted by: Megan Damofle

This is my first week staying at wolf camp and I've witnessed so much wildlife. The variety of birds out here is amazing! I've been working on the garden mostly. I found a garder snake in the herb spiral and when I picked it up it pooped on me. I've never seen snake poo before. I also practiced some bow drill today. It's a bit of a work-out on my arms. I want to prepare myself for next weeks survival trek. I wasn't sure if I was going to do it or not because I'm new to survial skills. But I think that if Laurel and I work together for the survival trek, I will learn those skills in the best situation. I can't wait to explore the land more. This place is so lush with wildlife I only have to walk out my tent to see all sorts of tracks, animals and birds.

Tuesday, June 6, 2006 • Posted by: Bill "Griz" Chambers

Heelloo!! I'm finally back at camp and i've never been more excited. The camp is looking good and we have some awesome plans for the year. I'm going to be down here for just about all of the summer except for the second week in July when I will be traveling home for my birthday. I can't wait to see everybody again and to see what is new. I enjoy coming here for so many reasons but the one that really stands out is to be in a place where you can see all the friends you've made over the previous years as we'll as makeing new ones.

Monday, June 5, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

Today is an auspicious day for me. It's the birthday of one of my best friends from high school, Ray Spaulding, who is a Marine Corps officer with a couple tours to Iraq under his belt, and I haven't heard from him since last year. Hopefully he's fine. It was 14 years ago today that I met him at Bremerton after his first couple years in the military and we drove down to Fresno to attend the wedding of another friend from high school, Rodney Branch. It was also the first day of the rest of my life, as I've always basically been healthy and happy since then, thanks to the influence of some great mentors like Wayne and Britta in college, then Russ and Leslie after first moving to the Pacific Northwest. Leslie just called last night from New Zealand to say hello, and it got me to calling up Russ as well.

But why bring this up? Because it was really the spirit of the Pacific Northwest coastal mountains which made me feel so at home, no matter who was around. Like this past winter, living here at camp where the wind seldom blows and the pond reflects an utter serenity. That's what makes me healthy, but it was a joy to pick up Griz (Bill Chambers) at the airport today, indicating that summer is truly here. I haven't spent a summer without Bill in 5 years, so it wouldn't be the same without him here, and now that he's a lead instructor, it relieves my responsibility to know I have him to depend on for an uplifting spirit as well as completing camp tasks. Megan also started today, and it looks like another great summer with a balanced staff of instructors and apprentices.

Sunday, June 4, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

Well, that renegade mallard duckling is back up here in the pond without supervision. He's about 10 times bigger than the last time I saw him. Gotta admire his guts, if not his brains. The salmonberries are all ripe, and some of the birds are drunk on them, including a Spotted Towhee who didn't realize I was walking past until I was right next to her, whereupon she flew barely one foot further into the salmonberry bush.

Yesterday we filled up the bird feeder again, though Kim had been keeping up with it while I was away, but no birds have come to it since then. Very wierd. I suppose I should go see if the holes in the feeder are really open, or if it's the same kind of bird seed as the last bag. Maybe a raptor or other predator has been stalking it so the birds are too wary.

I left the back light on last night in case Laurel needed to find the house in the dark, and today several moths were sleeping on the back door, including a few beautiful yellow ones, and one big brown one that I studied several years ago but have since forgotten the name of. He's a funny one, because in the middle of the day, he moved from the door to the very end of the rope hanging from the camp dinner bell. That must mean something deep.

Griz arrives tomorrow, as does Megan. Can't wait!

Saturday, June 3, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

A special thanks to Robert and Xionlong for their incredible work today at the work party. They helped plant the garden two weeks ago, and probably thanks to the clear plastic I put over the hot plant rows (corn and squash, etc.) it is all coming up through the straw layer! The weather is warm today, and although it is supposed to rain tomorrow, I don't think the soil needs the extra warmth any more.

Lauel arrived this evening to start her apprenticeship, while Megan and Griz come on Monday, so it's time to gear up after our 10th Anniversary fall-winter-spring off. I'm well rested and looking forward to it. Actually, I'm also looking forward to them doing blog entries for me after making nature observations on the property daily!

Friday, June 2, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

I got home at sunset tonight, and wow, has it rained! But it cleared off in Seattle when I landed, so that blue sky should be up here in a few hours. The grass is all in seed, the birds are singing wildly their good night, and I can't wait to look at the garden tomorrow.

I had a wonderful time in MN/WI with Michelle helping her renovate her basement in preparation for selling it, and with my parents discussing plans for replanting the areas being logged around our family cabin this year. But it's great to be back, and I'm looking forward to my parents visiting during the sailing camp this August, and to Michelle moving out!

Monday, May 29, 2006 • Posted by: Kim

I finally got around to reading the blog from the beginning. It was fascinating! I read for a half hour straight after dinner, ignoring my family's pleas for dessert. I was pleasantly surprised to see myself mentioned, but don't feel I deserve the honor. Indigo was tickled pink about your mention of her and Charlie.

I will be adding this blog to my early morning routine - after I wake up, before anyone else in the house gets up, I sit in bed with my laptop and check my e-mail, check the school district site for messages/closures, check the kids' classroom blogs, and then check out CNN for top stories. I usually give up in disgust after reading a few headlines. Now instead of grumping to Todd about the mess the world is in, I'll just go to Wolf Camp's blog and restore my faith in the natural order of things.

By the way, have the frogs started singing yet? If not, have you figured out what's going on? We have a protected wilderness area across the street from our development here in Duvall. It's a bog with lots of habitat, and we often hear the frogs singing. I know I've heard them over the last month, but now we can't remember whether we've heard them recently. We will listen tonight and let you know.

Sunday, May 28, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

I will be in Minnesota with Michelle for the next few days, and going to visit the logging operation on my parents' property in Wisconsin in order to help assess how many trees we will need to prepare for replanting in the fall. Megan will be housesitting and starting her teaching apprenticeship, while Kim keeps up with the office management tasks. See you on June 3rd at our next Open House BBQ Work-A-Thon!

Saturday, May 27, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

The combination of long days (4:30 a.m. - 9:30 p.m.), vibrant green vine maple leaves and flowering shrubs and herbs, new needly leaves growning off the tips of the evergreens glowing in the waning evening light as the cottonwood down floats around, and critically, the drippy water during this wet Mayvember is making for the richest feeling of glowing aliveness throughout the forest that I ever remember. Adding to the surreal sights and feelings was the presence of three female ducks of different species in the pond, all preening themselves in utter abandon: a Hooded Merganser turning herself upside down in the water like a sea otter, picking through her downy featers; a Wood Duck darting around like a paranoid prairie chicken in water until she finally jumped up to the dock railing to preen herself, looking like she was in fast-forward in a videotape or something; and the resident Mallard who sat on the dock and pulled out a mass of downy feathers which are now strewn in the nearby, still water. Soon the children of camp will arrive, and they will scare away some serenity, but attract more wonderful experiences than I could ever otherwise hope for, bringing this landscape as alive as it was meant to be in the summer.

Friday, May 26, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

The field trip with the Seattle Waldorf School 4th Grade was excellent. We reviewed the information I dumped on them yesterday, then practiced fox walking in tracking team formation using deer ears and owl eyes, and were rewarded almost immediately with Robins singing not too far off the trail, then we watched a Harrier with maybe a mink in its talons being harrassed by a Bald Eagle, so the Harrier dropped the maybe mink from 100 feet up and the eagle veerred off to perch in a tree well within our sight.

After saying thanks, we continued along the trail, practicing our sensory awareness, rotating through our tracking team formations, and a Song Sparrow felt safe enough to continue singing its delightful tune in plain sight just 7-8 feet off the trail to the right as 30 of us flowed by. We were blessed with more bird song and sightings all the way down to the river, where the class correctly guessed from 100 feet away that the branches on the edge of the river and marks in the sand leading to/from the woods were those of a beaver, but we held off looking more closely until we had examined the tracks of Crow, Killdear, Great Blue Heron, and Canada Goose, none of which we had previously studied since we were focusing on mammals.

After lunch, we studied the abundantly clear beaver tracks, then found tracks of a deer which had been scared off once it realized we were down at the river, and the tracking teams split up to mark all the tracks, forward and back, to a point where we could stand back and see what was going on. It was amazing to see that this full grown doe had remained in her direct registration even after hearing us, turning around, and quickly moving back into the woods.

After each tracking team measured the tracks, guessed that it had been there between 11:25-11:30 a.m., and acted out what had happened, we spent some time roaming the beach for more tracks, skipping rocks into the river, and then beggining an experiment of walking and talking loudly on the way back to the vehicles. As soon as we started doing that, a cottontail hare bounded out of the brush away from us, and so we rushed behind it, destroying its tracks, but seeing 30 seconds later in plain sight the same doe we had been tracking before, so the kids up front began tracking it over a hard-packed trail, and they (a mass crowd of 10 kids by then) covered about 500 feet in 5 minutes! We had to pull them off the track when it went into the japanese knotweed and himalaya blackberries because they would have been late getting back to school if we let them continue their pursuit. So, we ran back to the vehicles, stopping to smell the wild roses and eat some salmonberries on the way, reached the parking lot, departed, whereupon it started dumping rain. Can't beat that timing! And thanks to Ms. Holsher for putting together the field trip, and last week's regional Waldorf Potlach as well!

Thursday, May 25, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

I went in to the Seattle Waldorf School today to prepare the 4th grade for a field trip tomorrow. It was fun to see 5 of our day camp alumni in that class, and I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Still a bit of a wet spell, fortunately, as it had been drying out so much over the past month, and I was getting worried about whether we would be able to have campfires in wild areas around camp at all this summer. Usually we have to curtail things by the end of July, which is why we have our Primitive Fire and Survival Treks in early summer. Maybe the June rains will continue long enough now.

I let all but the Gold Finch thistle feeder run out today after tiring of the Stellar Jay chaos. Will put more small-bird seed and adjust the feeders tomorrow after everyone gets a chance to look for other food sources for a couple of days now.

Wednesday, May 24, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

The weather was crazy today. Perfect spring day in the PNW: three two rain storms, one hail storm with big thunder, three very nice sun breaks, and a beautiful sunset. Don't know about the sunrise since I slept through it. Shouldn't now with the swainson's thrushes and all the rest singing.

Two young male Red Wing Blackbirds showed up at the feeder today after the Stellar Jays and Grosbeaks finally scattered toward the end of the day. I'm going to switch to thistle and filter out the big stuff from the other mix so that the Jay's get bored of it all. The wood ducks even showed up under the feeder, but skidaddled as soon as I stepped around the corner of the house and the chipmonk sounded an alarm.

Hopefully I'll have time to switch out and refill the feeders, then go look for Cedar Waxwings in the clearcut on my way out to the Seattle Waldorf School early tomorrow morning. Looking forward to it, and to having the first taste in my mouth being a salmonberry leaf, berry, or maybe a thimbleberry flower up there.

Tuesday, May 23, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

Four Stellar Jays at a time for half the day at or under the feeder today, and two pair of Grosbeaks for pretty much the whole day, plus the pair of Cowbirds here and there. The goldfinches have their personal thistle feeder and get in there pretty much when they need to, but the chickadees (mountain chickadees that is) and other little guys aren't getting much of a shot nowadays. It is kind of unnerving to affect nature in this way, and I wonder how many chicks of other species the increased density of Jays will kill, and how many eggs of other species the Cowbirds will throw out of a nest and replace them with an egg of their own in their usually successful effort to trick sarrogate species into raising their young for them.

I figure having the feeder here on the edge of wilderness is fine for a while in order to learn more about the species which are attracted to it, but once there isn't any of us paying attention regularly to learn something most every day, it should be time to remove the feeder and let natural patterns come back. Of course, just living here, with at house, yard, invasive species, etc, dramatically change the natural patterns for a long time, so it's not like it's possible to be a purist unless we live a total hunter-gatherer existence. Hey, that's a good idea! (See Nikki's letter about her survival trek mentioned at the top of this page.)

I haven't been able to use my rain guage for a while due to the lack of rain this spring, but finally there was measurable precip, a full inch over the past 24 hours, plus half days of part sun, making for perfect spring days. Paradise here! What's it like where you are?

Monday, May 22, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

I forgot to mention that the swainson's thrushes were singing for the first time when I got home on Friday evening, although Jason mentioned that they were singing almost two weeks ago down in the river valley. I also saw a few tree swallows competing with upwards of 20 vaux swifts for the insects down at the lake. I added a third bird feeder and new seed mix today since it's become a traffic jam, including chipmonks and towees as well as the mallards usually picking at the seeds dropped to the ground.

It rained pretty hard this morning, and a bit yesterday evening, but it's cleared off again this evening so I expect a chilly night. I was wondering if our June rains have come, or if the spring rainy season is back, but not yet it seems. So much for the second year that the meteorologist predicted the El Nino / La Nina phenomenon incorrectly. Last year, they declared an El Nino when it warmed into the 60s from late January to early March, then rained all spring until early July, whereupon we did have a nice dry summer and fall, due in part to a freak delay in the annual upwelling of cool water on the west coast, preventing rich nutrients like plankton to surface, and causing the starvation or reduced nesting rates of many birds and other animals.

This year, it rained and snowed hard for that January - March time period, which I loved since it was just absolutely beautiful here, especially when the snow stuck for a month, and they predicted a La Nina year, whereupon a day later it got warm and sunny all the way until now, with barely adequate rain. La Ninas are supposed to mean cool and rainy here, and the last time that really happened, in 1999, Mt. Baker set the world's record for snowfall at 172 feet (50+ meters) for the winter.

Sunday, May 21, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

Berries, berries, berries. Had my first ripe salmonberry today, and the thimbleberry flowers are in bloom along the road in the clearcut. The native blackberries are still in bloom as well. There are always so many berries available here all summer long, thanks to the clearcut and the salmon and huckleberries all over the property. The huckleberries seem to be done blooming, but they produce all summer long, so maybe they flower randomly? I have to keep watch along with the other blueberry species. The mints are going gangbusters under the cedar trees, been in bloom for a couple weeks, and in the herb spiral, where it just came up a couple weeks ago.

Just thought of a naturalist challenge for you, which I'll place on the Fun Challenges page as well: Which bird most sounds like a video game or R2D2 from Star Wars? The one I'm thinking of spent about a half hour picking through the cedar/alder mulch around our herb spiral garden late this morning, but it flies up into the middle canopy as well, doing those computer-age-sounding calls while up in the evergreens as well as down on the ground. Email your ideas to forum@wolfcamp.com anytime.

Saturday, May 20, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

The Waldorf Fourth Grade Potlatch program was a wonderful experience, but I am so sore from doing animal forms for two days straight, that I remember why it is I send other instructors on those kinds of excursions nowadays, and why it is that I better get back in shape before summer camp season begins!

I picked up Aldin in Everett on the way back, and he spent the rest of the day plus today working around camp. What a great worker! And everyone who came today for the Work-A-Thon was great. I couldn't believe how many tasks got crossed of the never-ending list! Thanks to all of you: board members Rick, Mike, Kim, and Mary plus at least one member of their families each; and Elise and Lee who made a repeat of planting two rows of corn in the garden, only it took a half hour today whereas last year it took them all day long due to starting the garden from scratch last year. Mike D. was also here as part of his permaculture training, and he lead the planting of much of the rest of the garden as well, Fucuoca style, a method of natural gardening without tilling or mechanization which relies on mulch and nitrogen-fixing cover crops, etc. I'll finish up the planting and cover things up with more straw and lawn clippings tomorrow, then water if it continues to stay warm and dry, or will place clear plastic over the rows of heat-loving plants if it starts to cool back off. Robert and Xionlong finished putting the fence up to create more pasture, while Ellen and Bridget, as well as Allison and James, completed many a task as well.

The yellow waterlillies are blooming in the lake, the taller grasses are starting to seed in the pasture, the evergreens are sending out fresh green needles, and the dandelions are waiting for a bit of wind to release all their full seed balls. The mountain ash are just past full bloom, and most of the perennials in the weed garden have grown from tiny sprouts last week, to half-size plants this week. Can't beat it.

I'll be gone Wednesday - Friday AM teaching a Waldorf Potlatch program on Whidbey Island. Kim will be staffing camp. - Chris

Tuesday, May 16, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

Ordered the dock today, and it should be delivered before the June 3 work party. There will be plenty to do on Saturday, though, the second of our three Open House BBQ Work-A-Thon extravaganzas. It was another scorcher today for us, same temp as yesterday but the sky was a bit hazy, like its mid summer or something. The bats were loving it tonight when I was swimming in the lake after my run. Can't get over how I don't get tired when it's warm out, but I can hardly go over a mile when it's cool.

The pair of geese, one of which we rehabilitated last year after it tried to take off out of the pond despite having lost a couple important feathers somehow, but since there is little runway clearance here, he ran into some trees and had to hobble back to the pond for a month-long stay. His mate hung around a lot, and they are the only pair that came regularly this spring, unlike last spring when Gimp called in lots of them every day. Anyway, I was about to say that they noticed the new mallard pair eating the seeds that fall from the bird feeder, and have taken up the practice now, too. Then they went over to the veggie garden like usual when they stay a few hours. Nice of them to eat the slugs, and they'll probably move along before our greens come up, timed for when it gets busy in the early summer around here.

Cool thing happened today, too. I saw my first dragonfly of the season, then I looked back at the computer, and then looked out the window again to see it hovering right there by the screen looking at me for a few seconds. Then took off. Gotta appreciate that!

Monday, May 15, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

Big day, very big day. About 25 degrees out, Celsius that is, or 85 Farenheit Caused all sorts of things to happen. One, when I was running, I never got tired, not because I am in any shape, but just because it's like you're in San Diego or something - my old body just functions better. Two, the bullfrogs started croaking, and now tonight, all the other little frogs are croaking in Silver Pond for the first time much in over a month. This has brought a raccoon successful hunting around the pond's edge tonight, and through my open window, I'm listening to her periodically splash at frogs while I write. Too bad my spotlight is burned out!

Three, the lake is super warm, well the top two feet anyway, and swimming was incredible. The veax swifts numbered around 20 as they swarmed after the hatching insects, and the red wing blackbirds were kind enough to let me watch the scene for a while before getting too agitated at me near their nests. It was unnatural spending any time in the office today! But I did bills all afternoon anyway.

Four, I'm had to put the soaker hoses in the gardens already, and actually, some of the herbs that our new apprentice Laurel planted in late March never died after seeding because I didn't think about the week-at-a-time hot sun we had which isn't normal in spring. Caught me off guard regarding the need for watering. Still no sign of Cedar Waxwings, but a Western Tanager showed up over the pond, and in my excitement to get the binoculars to view this beauty up close, it thought twice about coming down to the feeder area, and continued on its way over the trees, though it stopped to sing for a bit way up there.

Finally, I thought I'd also mention that it seems that the Juncos have taken up residence in the small bushy sitka spruce tree in the back yard in front of the barn. We'll have to be careful pruning the himalaya blackberries out from underneath it now.

Sunday, May 14, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

Guess who became a new mama today? Red wing blackbird. Well, not the male red wing blackbird who is actually a black bird with red patches on his wings, but the female, who is a striking brown color. Anyway, he's there, too, and hopefully, by father's day, he'll have some sons and daughters who survive infancy, not only from this female, but from his (at least one) other mate who is nesting on the other side of the cove. He just seems to love sitting on the snag in the middle of the cove, watching his harem on either side.

Now I'm just waiting for the cedar waxwings to show up. It seems pretty late for them not to be all over the place here, too. Maybe they, like the swainson's thrush, didn't know we had a super early spring, but instead were suffering cooler temperatures down south somewhere. I can't imagine not going up to the clearcut tomorrow and not seeing the waxwings all over the place, and I haven't been up there in a week, so maybe they are already there, but just not down here by the lake yet for some reason. Other migrants I haven't mentioned have arrived, though I'm not as familiar with all those upper-canopy birds, like the warblers. Oh, some have arrived, but I can't remember their songs to be able to ID them. Gotta get out the bird CDs again. I can tell a couple of the tree-toppers, like the Willow Flycatcher who did arrive about a week ago.

Oh, and guess who showed up at the feeder today? Brown headed cowbird. A pair, the female being brown. They are beautiful, with a nice whistle note, but those other birds better watch out, or these nest robbers are going to create some surrogate parents around here. If you don't know what I'm talking about, google them.

Saturday, May 13, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

Well, now that the Swainson's Thrushes are here, I guess it's summer. Days are long, yard plants are growing at a gangbuster pace, and we even had our first northwesterly breeze the last couple of days. Brought in lots of sunshine.

Interesting behavior from a pair of mallards today. They were the ones here the last couple of days, arriving to stay for a while, it seems, after Mama Mallard and her 8 ducklings migrated down to the lake. But wait, actually I haven't seen them down at the lake, so they either are there and I didn't see them, they went to another body of water, or they died. I'll let you know if I find out. But anyway, this new pair just took up the habit of eating all the droppings from the bird feeder, oh, by the way, at which I saw a song sparrow yesterday. That little guy must have gotten the idea from all the other birds now using it, since he never bothered to check it out until now despite living around the pond since long before I put it up. One pair has a nest in the one of the weird spiky reddish purple bushes by the driveway (okay, I'll go look it up if I have an ornamental field guide somewhere) and another has a nest under the big hemlock inside the salal bushes over the pond.

But back to the new pair of mallards. In addition to eating the bird food droppings, they were mating off the end of the dock, too. So even though I haven't seen mallards brooding young later in the season, maybe this will be a first for me. I was thinking they were a young couple, or she lost her first brood and is coming back into estrus. Hm, it's not old Mama Mallard is it? I'd better look for some individual characteristics the next time I see female mallards out there, and try to keep track of the males as well.

Friday, May 12, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

I was paranoid all day long, worrying about the tree frogs not singing much in the pond for the last month, and fretting about the Swainson's Thrushes because everyone around here is cutting down their salmonberries (including me somewhat for this and that project) and they hadn't shown up yet. Okay, I rarely actually see these rather invisible birds, but there have been no "water droplet" alarm calls to indicate were here yet; no rising, etheric songs which they don't get into full gear singing until after a couple weeks anyway though, like they are practicing up before being able to sing their full song again after the long flight up here from south america. But guess what, maybe it was just too much coffee that made me worry, though it is already May 12th, but I heard my first "water droplet" this evening as I was just about to clean up the garden tools and come inside. Made my spirits soar, and I hope I can arise for the dawn chorus tomorrow to see if any of them will sing their amazing song. Oh, and a good thing about the tree frogs this year is that many were singing from the wetlands below the yard later in the spring (maybe they migrated) and now they are singing around the lake a lot more than in the past years (maybe they migrated more). Any ideas out there in the blogosphere as to what's up with the frogs this year?

Thursday, May 11, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

I think it's a false alarm regarding the raptor nest in the bog, though I couldn't get a really good view of it through my binoculars from the beach. I'll need to get closer with the canoe this weekend. Otherwise, I spent most of the day in town and in the office, so the only other wildlife observations of note today were the pair of wood ducks and pair of visiting mallards in the pond, but I didn't catch sight of Mama Mallard or her ducklings. The pair of gold finches were at the feeder again, though, perfectly upside-down on either side of the feeder, and I tried to get a picture, but the telephoto isn't strong enough to get a good one from a distance far enough away as not to disturb them. Okay, I could have gotten my behind out there and stalked up, but really, there wouldn't have been time before they left, and I would have had to have been perfectly out in the open standing up in order to get that perfectly symmetrical shot of them evenly upside down on either side of the thistle feeder.

One last observatory note is that the False Lily of the Valley, which covers about 3 acres of the transition area between the wetlands and dry area between the house and the lake, is just starting to bloom. It's amazing, as its leaves are like a carpet that you wouldn't dare walk through, but it dies out before the end of summer, leaving only a berry or two on a tiny dead stalk as evidence of its presence in late summer, fall, winter, or early spring.

Wednesday, May 10, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

I just finished reorganizing the camp library and setting out all the materials for Kim to put the camp store together next week. Mike has the garden ready to receive last year's compost, and then we'll be able to plant next week, too. Kim saw the 8 ducklings together with Mama Mallard yesterday, but today, one of the little guys was alone all day, probably got separated when Mama took the rest down to the lake, which she seems to have done daily for the last 3 years she's raised her young. The first year, she lost one on the way, and it came into a group of 20 adult students from the North Cascades Institute that I was teaching birding to. They thought it was a set up, and I must admit, I wouldn't have believed it myself since it just walked right up to us around the campfire, thinking I was its daddy or something. Anyway, Kim's daughter Indigo was here today as well, and Charlie, the large mouth bass that lives in the pond, came up and "smiled" at her, which it does to everyone it likes. We really should eat him, though, as he probably does a number on the frogs. Besides, then we can put some sunfish in there and be able to teach the kids how to fish with primitive hook and line.

Bird update: the Goldfinches showed up today, first a pair at the feeder, then another male grappling with the mated one. There was a backup for the first time also, as the house finches, grosbeak (male and female once today), goldfinches, and chickadees (mountain chickadees, that is) were all waiting their turn later in the afternoon. The female hummingbird (anna's) is nesting up in the hemlock again I guess, though I haven't seen her new nest yet, and she is usually buzzing around the pond, stopping every once in a while at the rosemary next to the house which has been in bloom for the last week and a half.

Tuesday, May 9, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

Mike has the garden almost prepped, and we worked on expanding it to about twice it's former size, utilizing the mulch that Scott and Jay put down last fall. The robins are having a field day with the newly turned-up soil and worms. I noticed the swifts hunting in the yard a lot today, but I'm still not sure if they are nesting in the snag above the garden, or if they are just coming up from the lake. Oh, a male black-headed grosbeak showed up briefly at the feeder today, as did the house finch male and female. I'm ruling out purple finch, but it still might be cassin's. And some juncos were feeding in the little sitka spruce back by the barn. Juncos don't hand out here much normally for some reason, so it was nice to see them. And to cap off the evening, our two resident canada geese stayed for a couple hours as well. A wonderful day. Kim Allen, our new office manager and also one of the board members for the WOLF Foundation, also got going on helping me catch up on processing registrations, so things are falling together for summer nicely.

Monday, May 8, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

On my run today I went up to where the Vanilla Leaf are growing, and they are beautiful. That's about as far as I dared go since I'm pretty out of shape. I better get it into high gear starting now, since the campers will run me ragged if I don't drop the weight I gained over the winter. It's just so relaxing here in the winter. I just wasn't too moved to exert much energy. Happy as a bear in hibernation, I guess.

Anyway, after the run, I met Mike D down at the lake and went for a canoe ride. He hadn't been out there yet despite taking a course last fall here. Showed him the beaver lodge, the beaver dams, the sundews which he already recognized as carnivorous even before I said anything since he took a botany class this winter and they visited the UW greenhouses which has a nice bog display. I did try to coyote him into looking up the Bog Laurel, which is in beautiful bloom right now, and sure enough, he went right to the Pojar & McKinnan field guide when we got back to the camp house.

Boy, is the beach a cornucopia of nesting birds this year! I also noticed that a new large raptor nest is possibly being built in the largest tree (cedar) in the bog on the south side of the lake. Unfortunately, we didn't bring binocs, so I'll go down tomorrow maybe and look closer, and will report to you as to whether it was an optical illusion or something.

Sunday, May 7, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

Mama Mallard still has at least 7 of her ducklin's. She's really kept them hidden so far this year. Only appeared briefly around dinnertime on the far brushy part of the pond for a moment. Maybe she remembers last year, when one by one, they died, though I never witnessed how. Rain today, the first good soaking we've had since a freak snow storm 2 Saturdays ago. Middle of the afternoon, flakes as big as sand dollars. It was beautiful, dropping to 36 degrees that afternoon after temperatures in the upper 70s the day before. Such is spring in the northwest. I noticed that the only patch of vanilla leaf I know of around here is fully leafed out as of a couple days ago alongside Woods Lake Road. I'd love to dig just a couple up and see if they'll survive transport to camp. Also have to go get cattails for the pond, and nettles for the wild garden after adding some compost since the soils aren't quite rich enough and too acidic around here for this very important plant. Otherwise, the diversity of plant life is wonderful here, especially the conifer trees: western red cedar, western hemlock, douglas fir, sitka spruce (not so much precip here as lack of wind, keeping it wet enough for them) and both lodgepole and shore pine, which are both the same species, but referred to as one if they are stunted along the shore or in the bogs, or the other if they grow tall like is standard on the dry side of the mountains. Western White Pine has also been planted in the clearcuts by DNR contractors over the past 5-10 years. Looking forward to Kim A starting admin work tomorrow, as is Mike D with his special permaculture pioneer internship program.

Saturday, May 6, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

A big thanks to board members Rick, Mike, Lars and Judy who were here today helping me run the Open House and Work-A-Thon. I didn't realize that it was Judy's first time to our new property, as she recently re-joined the board after a 2 year hiatis. She was one of the founding board members of the WOLF Foundation, and was hugely instrumental in procuring donations for our first and also our most recent auction. Mike ran another wonderful BBQ, while Rick helped me set up for the day. All three guys brought their sons to work today, and new interns Mike D and Megan D put in a great day getting camp ready as well. Me? I was giving tours and registering new folks for camp.

Down at the beach, though I didn't point it out to anyone due to time factors, there is a red winged blackbird nesting 15 feet to the left in a solitary cattail stock leftover from last year. There is another female who may have a nest nearby, meaning the strutting male may be polygamous. There is also a Virginia Rail nest not 10 feet up the right shore, and a swift nesting in a dead tree about 10 feet further on. Yellowthroat nests are also nearby, though I'm not going to tromp through the spirea to find them. There are probably 10 swifts in the air at any one time over the lake, though last year at their peak, there were maybe upwards of 100. I do think I noticed a new swift returning to the dead snag by the camp house, which I'm hoping is so, because the mosquitoes are a bit larger in number early this year due to the incredibly warm and sunny, early spring. Okay, yesterday we worked all day in an alipine-like cloud of drizzle, but it was an anomaly this year, though normally the case in other years through June.

Friday, May 5, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

Lo' and behold: Mama Mallard shows up this evening in the pond with 8 of the cutest little ducklin's you've ever seen. So much for my theory from yesterday. It was a wonderful sight after spending yet another day doing environmentally impactful things. Today it was spreading gravel on the driveways, mowing, etc. Quasi intern Mike D. was here working on the garden as well. We're doing it Fucuoca (sp) style, which involves no tilling. Rather, we just cover it up with mulch and plant right into the ground. Eventually, we'll only need to add grass clippings and compost to keep the weeds down and the soil healthy. Right now, however, we need to put down cardboard and other stuff to kill the sod under some of the areas we're expanding into. I guess that's it for today. Work-A-Thon is tomorrow!

Thursday, May 4, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

Chris Huff (that's aldin and nora's dad) came over today with his little escavator and donated his time to smoothing out the driveways and doing site prep for the area of camp being parceled off back past the house. I think we're going to have another year where the pavillion and longhouse areas are still bumpy, however. This year, the improvement will be the dock and beach. Next year, the plan is to smooth out the dojo/archery area and build the pavillion. The following year, we'll smooth out the center camp circle and lay down logs for the longhouse, which might take another year or two or more to build after that.

Two other escavators were working in the vicinity yesterday as well, so needless to say, the wildlife was rather skiddish. The geese did land around breakfasttime, but they only stayed about an hour, whereas earlier in the spring (this year and last), they would stay all day, then fly down to the lake, then after dark, fly off to the south again, perhaps to the river (Skykomish). The wood ducks were out in the middle of the pond early in the morning, but disappeared as soon as I stepped foot outside, as they are always very skiddish. The resident male was fighting off a visitor last week, and seemed to have kept his mate. The mallards didn't care we were making a ruckus, of course, as always, they probably felt safe in the pond with us around. They were mating fiercely about 5-6 weeks ago, and then the female disappeared for a week with the male seemingly standing guard, more skiddish than usual, but then she returned, perhaps having lost her brood of eggs to the coyotes who always hang out on the other side of the pond where she seemed to have put her nest. Maybe no chicks in the pond, unlike last year, when we had about 8 drop to just a couple due to predation.

Wednesday, May 3, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

I spent the day marking out areas for an escavator to come in tomorrow to: grade out the center camp circle where the long house will eventually stand; grade out the archery area where the pavilion will go up next year; fix up the driveway some more; bring cottonwood logs to the beach to start construction of the new dock this spring; clear some debris remaining from the past couple years, pus open an old logging road which we'll use for studying bird language and animal trailing. Too much for one day, really.

The chickadee brought his/her mate to the feeder as did the finch! But I still can't decide which kind of rosy finch it is. Gotta get those binoculars out, and follow those love birds to their nest if possible. When plowing through the woods today, I also discovered a Swainson's Thrush nest from last year, about one minute after wishing I would see one (meaning a new one being started this year) since I haven't heard the Swainson's calls yet this year. Maybe they'll show up Friday, after the escavator rams through some salmonberries, and before they start nesting. I hate removing salmonberries since it reduces the Swainson's habitat and food for other woodland songbirds, but then the Robins take over where there are clearings.

I am worried about the tree frogs, red legged frogs, etc., in Silver Pond, though. For some reason, they stopped singing over a week ago. They did start a couple weeks early, on March 1st which is really early up here, but they usually sing until early July. I'm worried they got poisoned or something. The bullfrogs do seem to have increased numbers over last year, however, although they've been here since at least before 1940 according to the old timers who were here as kids, so I don't think they are affecting the little frogs much. I'll keep my eyes and ears open and see if I can figure out what's going on.

Tuesday, May 2, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

I've been up late working on the Headstrong website in preparation for the June 11 fundraiser for Dominick May-Douglass, a multi-year wolf camper who got hit by a car a year ago. Finally I'm done with my part of the site, and am passing the job off to another volunteer. Check out www.headstrong4dominick.org for more info, and save the date of June 11 to attend the fundraiser in Seattle!

Here's today's camp note: I put up a couple bird feeders on the edge of the pond where I can see them from the office window. It's been a month and a half, and finally I see a new bird that we haven't seen on the property yet, which was the goal of the bird feeder. It was a male purple finch, well, okay, maybe a cassin's finch or a house finch, but it was one of those. I hope it comes back so I can use the binoculars to positively ID it, as the those three mentioned species are hard to distinguish. Only one chickadee per day over the last week, and one stellar's jay (twice) have showed up at the feeder otherwise.

The female Cooper's Hawk soared overhead again today, too, again around noon.

Monday, May 1, 2006 • Posted by: Chris

Okay, it's time to start our daily camp journal! I wish I had been making a post every day over the off season, since I stayed right here at camp. It was wonderful, and no, I'm not exaggerating or just saying that because you're supposed to sound positive when running a business. No, the only way I can describe it is "zen" even though I went to the bookstore to read about zen, and it's not that. More like an American "motorcycle" zen type thing, where I was completely blissed out in a serenity type way. Content, a reflection of little Silver Pond, which I now call the pond over which the camp house and office look. God knows what I would feel if the house and office were overlooking the lake. Maybe I'd just ascend.

It's an auspicious day, May Day 2006. Millions of immigrant Americans are striking and demonstrating in the streets, on this day celebrated by working people across the globe, and by those who follow the old spiritual ways of northern Europe, where the day is called Beltaine, a festival of fertility. Here at camp, I was standing on the porch while on the phone at noontime with our board president, Dr. Rick Minutoli, who called to hear how I thought the auction went (great), when a female Cooper's Hawk called and streaked right over the house. I hung up on Rick and grabbed the binoculars as the hawk started to soar in short circles over the house, then take off over the trees toward the lake. I called to it, and it returned, higher, soaring in circles with its mate!

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