Wild Walkers Photo Recap: Learning Primitive Skills with Vermont Wilderness School
Our most recent Wild Walkers Camp over winter break was a great success with campers ages 10-14 learning new skills and reconnecting with the outdoors. We were so pleased to have Amy Hyatt from The Vermont Wilderness School return to lead our campers through a day of learning and practicing primitive skills.
The day began with the group lighting a fire without the use of an open flame. Once their fire was lit, Amy gave campers a knife-safety lesson followed by instruction on wood whittling. As the fire's coals began to get red and hot, campers were introduced to the age-old coal-burning method used to create many things including spoons, bowls, and even canoes.
Campers were given the task of creating their own coal-burned spoons and bowls if they chose. For the next several hours, every camper worked tirelessly whittling, burning, scraping, sanding, and oiling their bowls. In between their work, we enjoyed lunch at the snow-buried picnic tables, a snowball fight, sled-riding, and pop-up tag.
As we came to the end of the day, and the campers' work was wrapping up, Amy gave campers a cooking lesson. Campers helped in the preparation of ingredients to create a fire-baked apple crisp dish. Some campers were even able to use their new bowls and spoons to indulge in this sweet fire-baked treat! We came together for our ending circle-time, sharing highlights of the day and something we were all grateful for. Campers left dirty from their work, proud of their bowls and spoons, and smiling from a day immersed in the outdoors.
We hope to offer our next Wild Walkers program this summer; stay tuned!
