Gray Squirrels: Week Eight - Macrame and Tinder Bundles

What a gorgeous day in the woods! The morning

started out brisk, but warmed up to a fun afternoon with crafts, fire and testing our edges with a challenge called "Meet a Tree".

Participants are led to a tree blindfolded. After they have some time to get to know their tree, they are led back to camp. They remove the blindfold and then have to go back and find their specific tree! Some thought it was so much fun, they wanted to try again after finding their first tree!

Ms. Britt also showed us how to make macrame bracelets! We had so much fun learning to tie different knots, and it was hard, too!

We have been exploring Friction Fire and today a few participants started putting together their own kits! We have been reviewing what all fires needs and how a Friction Fire has very specific requirements. We also a really good discussion about what a powerful force fire is. Working with fire is a responsibility and that respecting fire and making safety the most important consideration. We talked about the California fires and how the weather can impact what kind of fire we would build.

The first step is making a tinder bundle. We made these out of cedar bark and pine straw, a combination that has worked well for previous fires.