Getting Into a Rhythm

On Thursday, we started with Sam's facilitation on Wessels' Stumps chapter.  It was fun to learn a new way to get learners involved and help them step out of their comfort zones a little bit.  And all that song and dance (kind of an exaggeration) led to some interesting discussion that clarified the structure of trees for everybody.  I am really seeing how this activity-based learning, which I rarely had as a child if at all, can enhance and deepen a learning experience.  And when the mundane facts become colorful and alive, they are easily remembered and readily retrieved in your mind.  Overall a great activity!

Awesome tree adaptation!  I still don't know the full 

history but I think I've pieced together most of it.

We spent most of the remainder of the day working on our group projects, and it is feeling nice to start to get into a rhythm, both with our projects and with the Institute as a whole.  We tune in to what we are doing in the woods so acutely that we are constantly losing track of time!  There is still a lot of work to do and it's taking longer than we thought, but I am confident that our group can rally and get all the planned sites plotted just as we have planned.

This dense plot made for slow recording of data, but it's fun to look so closely at a micro-ecosystem.  

You rarely get a chance to spend so much time in such a small area, and it really

gives you a chance to get to know the dynamics of that part of the forest.

MMMMMMM!   Sarsaparilla and wintergreen.

They often grow side by side, and as I learned recently, make an incredible root beer.  

I wonder if I could harvest my own and make some...

This weekend I took my first hike since starting the EE program, and I impressed myself with how drastically my perspective on nature has already changed.  I have always connected with nature more than most of my friends and family, but I feel this strange (but strong!) affection toward the earth and the vast diversity of life that inhabits it.  And for the first time I feel like one of those inhabitants.  Previously, I thought of myself as more of an observer, watching from the outside.  I now understand my relationship with nature on an entirely new level.

Beautiful views of Lake Winnipesaukee from atop Mt. Major in West Alton, NH