When Oak Hill School approached us about running a program at their property last summer we were super excited. If you have ever been to Oak Hill you will know what I mean. The school sits on 70-plus acres surrounded by forest land right on the edge of Eugene. They have a huge variety of habitats from forest to field to stream for us to explore and we could never use up all the great opportunities in a week long summer camp. (In fact, we are scheming to create a regular after school camp on the site that would be open to kids from all over Eugene-Springfield, but that is a different blog)

With such a great property at our disposal we wanted to create something special that we had never done before. We often get younger kids asking us for an overnight program and in the past we have felt that a week-long overnight camp, such as Big Bear Village, is a lot for some of these younger kids to handle. With all that in mind we created a camp that gives us the best of both worlds. Camp Little Bear is a week-long day camp that includes an overnight camp-out on Thursday Night. With this model it allows for the kids to get comfortable at camp and for us to get to know them before they embark on their campout adventure.

On Thursday night of Camp Little Bear all of the families will be invited to a community pot-luck to celebrate a great week of camp. We will have good food and share stories of our week with parents. Then, as the sun goes down, we will retire to our camp to have campfire stories, play night games, and gaze at the stars.

At the risk of being redundant, I am really excited about this camp. For more info about Camp Little Bear please visit the Summer Nature Camps Page

If you have ever read a book by Euell Gibbons you will immediately understand the inspiration for this camp. Nature is chock full of wonderful things to eat, especially so in the late summer. Stalking the Summer Harvest is our way of celebrating the end of the summer.

The key to this camp is location. We will be holding camp at Alton Baker Eastgate Woodlands which is perfect for our purposes. Nearby there is an abandoned historic orchard which features plums, apples, pears and more. The nearby forest has tons of blackberries ripe for picking. And the Alton Baker canoe canal is freshly stocked with trout.

Returning with our harvest we will help the kids to make their own blackberry jam to take home. That is, if they haven’t eaten all the berries already. At the end of the week, the kids will make ice cream the old-fashioned way to share at our family pot-luck. Sounds to me like a great way to end the summer.

To learn more visit the Summer Nature Camp page.

I love all of the programs that we run. I am truly blessed to get to work outside year-round with so many amazing kids. However, by far my favorite program that we do is Big Bear Village.

Big Bear Village was originally inspired by the land that it happens on. Big Bear Camp near Walton, Oregon had previously been abused and had been the “black sheep” of its rural neighborhood until it was acquired by some good friends of ours several years ago. Since then they have restored it to an absolute gem of the coast range mountains. They have done work to restore the healthy flow of Miller Creek. They have maintained its historic orchard. They have cleaned up the land dramatically. And they have constructed a beautiful lodge which is at the heart of the camp.

The camp is surrounded on three sides by wildlands that extend for miles. This natural environment supports a healthy wildlife population. In hiking around in the nearby forest I have commonly seen signs of bobcat and black bear. In the winter the shallow waters of Miller Creek are the spawning grounds for coho salmon.

In addition to the experience of just being out there the thing that I really love about Big Bear Village is getting to spend so many more hours working on skills and activities with the students. The fact that we have the kids twenty-four hours of each day means that the possibilities for activities are hugely expanded. Last summer at camp we were able to have the kids sleep in primitive shelters, tan hides, cook our food with primitive techniques, stalk the fire ring at night, take extended hikes in the woods, and our older kids got to spend the night out in supervised “survival” on the last night of camp. This year we have more ideas to make the summer even more epic.

Also, we have extended the dates of the camp. Big Bear Village now runs from Sunday to Saturday which gives us an extra day to fill with epic adventures. It also makes pick up more convenient for parents since it will be on the weekend rather than Friday.

In preparation for the camp I have been out visiting Big Bear Camp recently. Just being out there has me very excited to spend another week out at that beautiful land with so many awesome kids. Learn more by visiting the Summer Nature Camp page and clicking on Big Bear Village.

Archery has a very primal appeal to it. Everyone seems to like shooting bows. Interestingly, the bow and arrow is a relatively recent invention in human history. Before that people relied on many other hunting tools such as throwing spears, atlatls, slings and the like. Still, the bow is a tool that has an amazing history.

We want to share the rich history and skill of archery and bowmaking with kids. That’s why we created “Archers of Sherwood Forest”, a camp about all things related to archery and bows. At this camp kids will spend the week crafting their own wood longbow. They will also make their own accessories including sewing a quiver and making their own bow string. During breaks in the bowmaking process we will go outside to our own private archery range and practice shooting different kinds of bows. It is my goal that kids will come away with a good basic understanding of proper archery techniques.

Occasionally during the camp we will also just want to play. At those times we will pull out our safe foam-tipped arrows and use them as we play games in the woods. Games like stealth capture the flag are a ton of fun and they teach kid about how to move quietly in the forest. To learn more visit our Summer Camp Page. And for a little inspiration take a look at this:

Magic is great. I love how in a magical world anything is possible. We can turn invisible, transform into animals, fly on broomsticks and generally have all sorts of fun. The ability to live out a story in an imagined world is what makes summer camps so fun. That is why we offer the School of Wizardry camp.

Kids who attend School of Wizardry will get to learn all about their favorite magical subjects and how they relate to the natural world. Here are some examples:

Weather Divination. Kids can learn to read the clouds, the birds and the wind to “divine” the weather that is coming.

Herbology. Kids can learn about the magical properties that plants have to heal wounds.

Transfiguration. Kids can use their magical powers to transfigure themselves into various animals that live in the forest. They will crawl through the bushes as raccoons, they will walk silently through the forest as foxes.

We believe that kids (and grownups) learn better when they are inspired and involved in what is happening. By creating the School of Wizardry we are creating an environment where kid will be eager to get down and look closely at a plant or crawl through the bushes. We want the kids at our camp to have a great time and we also want them to come away inspired by the natural world.

To learn more visit our School of Wizardry camp page.

Time and again I have heard many parents lament how their boys just don’t get enough positive reinforcement of their identity as boys. They tell me they lack positive role models in their lives. The result of this is that the boys often act inappropriately, and when they do act out they just get negative feedback. These boys are thirsty for some boy time.

It is understandable why some parents and teachers don’t want to let boys be boys. The “boy energy” is the kind of thing that can sometimes manifest itself in injuries. Kids fall while climbing trees, hit each other with sticks that have become swords, and get bruised in wrestling matches. That kind of stuff happens all the time and parents (rightly) don’t want to see their kids get hurt or hurt someone else.

That is why we created Lost Boys, a camp where boys can be boys…safely. A big part of growing up is learning your own limits and setting appropriate boundaries. The lessons that we learn about appropriate choices when we are young serve us through our whole lives.

At Lost Boys camp our professional staff will help the boys create safe and appropriate boundaries for themselves as they go about their time at camp. The boys will have the opportunity to climb trees and set safe limits for how they do it. They will learn proper technique for carving on wood after creating a set of safety agreements. They will play stealth games with our bows and foam arrows while setting safe boundaries for their game. All the while their instructors will be there to help remind them of their agreements and to help them accept appropriate consequences for breaking those agreements.

Click here for more information about Lost Boys Camp.

When I was a kid some friends of mine and I created a club we called the “Black Ninjas”. In our 9-year old minds we are going to dress all in black and go on covert missions with dubious ends. I loved to watch the movie “The 3 Ninjas” and sometimes I would hide in the low branches of a tree near my house just to “spy” on the passersby.

One of the core principles of our teaching philosophy is to utilize so-called “child passions” to inspire kids to really get into the activities that we are doing. When kids are fully engaged in something that they love then they don’t feel like they are learning, it just happens. Examples of such child passions are digging, jumping, singing, running, asking questions, telling/hearing stories, and being invisible.

That last one, being invisible, is at the core of what we will be doing at Earth Ninja. One of the many skills that we teach kids at these camps is “Scout Formation” which is a way of moving through the environment without being seen and while maintaining hyper-awareness of our surroundings. A couple of years back, while Anna and I were running a similar camp that we called “Wilderness Ninja”, we took a group of kids in Scout Formation walking through a popular park traveling through the forest parallel to a running path. As we crept along the leader put up his fist and everyone froze. We did a move called sink and fade and everyone melted into the forest floor. Just then several runners came by only 10 feet form where we lay and passed by without even noticing our presence. Kids have a natural aptitude for this stuff.

If your kids dream of being ninjas like I did then take a look at our Earth Ninja Camp Page.

Recommended reading:
Way of the Scout by Tom Brown Jr.

One of the things that has always challenged us as we work toward connecting as many kids with nature as possible is that we often feel that the learning that we facilitate only touches the surface of what is possible with nature connection. The structure of camps and after school programs means that everyone is always moving at the group’s pace and some group members will always be more passionate about nature learning than others. We have strongly wanted to develop a program that will provide the opportunity for those students with the most passion for nature to take charge of their own learning journey and go much deeper into developing their own personal relationship with nature.

The program that we have created is called the Nature Apprentice Program and it is now ready to launch in its pilot phase. We are looking for dedicated, self-directed, and passionate students who are interested in applying to become part of our first generation of Nature Apprentices. If this sounds like you then please visit the new Nature Apprenticeship Program Page.

Sure, in this day and age we all have access to weather forecasts 24 hours a day. They are on the TV, the radio, on our computers, and even in our pockets. Meteorolgy has become a very advanced science but forecasting the weather doesn’t have to be complicated. There are signs all around us all the time. They can be seen in the clouds, in the behavior of birds and mammals, and even in the behavior of plants. Read on below to learn more about how you can become your own personal weather station.
Clouds are a great place to start forecasting the weather. Clouds come in three basic types, Stratus, Cumulus, and Cirrus. Sometimes you will also see the word “Nimbus” attached to the cloud type name.

Cirrus

Stratus

Cumulus

This Friday, January 20th Whole Earth Nature School will be hosting a Girls Night Out for the Girl Scouts of Oregon and Southwest Washington. The theme will be focused on nature and all things wild. Girls who attend can expect to be making their own herbal lip balm, working on creating pine needle coiled baskets and playing fun awareness games with our founders. To register for this event please contact the Girl Scouts at www.girlscoutsosw.org or by calling (541) 485-5911.