It was all about the big trees today.
Immediately upon our arrival in the Cibola National Forest today, an Adventurer discovered this beautiful Ponderosa & instantly began pondering what had caused it's unique "beauty mark". The group consensus was that lightening had struck this giant, leaving it "more beautiful than before". The group was somewhat split regarding whether the lightning had passed up the tree from the ground, though, or down the tree from the sky "where lightning zaps from". There was some good theorizing going on!
Before long & without prompting, each child of the 10 took a moment to greet, touch, hug, & smell the tree (to those who aren't familiar with Ponderosas, they smell divine! Some say they've got a vanilla scent, some say butterscotch, some say they smell like cookies baking.... regardless, they smell divine!) each as if greeting a pet or a friend with fond familiarity. As I witnessed this moment of magic I couldn't help but to wonder, "Does the tree sense these children acknowledging & appreciating her"? I like to think so, just as I like to think that these children will forever feel drawn back into her comfort & shade. Once we arrived to our site called "Fallen Tree", the group was immediately drawn into exploring the fallen tree & building a fort with the tree itself as the eave of the fort's roof. Snack was eaten inside & the children made an agreement that "if everyone wanted to eat in the fort then no one could, because there wasn't enough room for the whole group". Soon after a primeval kitchen had been erected & stones were being used to grind things while soups cooked & cakes baked. A team added "insulation" (pine duff) to the roof, "home" duties & children were tended to by a core group of children, while others quite literally "hung out" from the tree branches. Forest school flow & bliss. It's amazing to watch primal roles & behaviors playing out & to witness the reset that seems to take place when children are able to engage in nature in this way. It's deep & meaningful in ways I'm just beginning to be able to put words to, but this article gets right to the bone of it: https://earthwrights.co.uk/making-space-for-the-primal.../
~Miss Sally for SOL
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