Earth Tracks Info

Class Summaries and Photos

February 29th, 2008

Algonquin Winter Tracking Expedtition 2008

Here are some photos of our annual winter tracking trip to Algonquin Park. As usual we had a blast and learned a tonne!

Edible and Medicinal Plants Class

May 15-20th 2008 - Heronwalk Retreat Center

Over this May long weekend we gathered at Heronwalk retreat center to learn about wild edible and Medicinal plants. Everyone was very eager to learn and we spent time both in the class room as well as in the field. Some of the topics we covered included Plant identification, plant journaling, use of field guides, characteristics of both edible and medicinal plants, cooking with wild plants, herbal tea making, harvesting, drying and preparation, specific plant uses, the caretakers attitude, medicine pouch making and a variety of other subjects relating to the uses of plants. We all learned a lot and became like one large family as we began to walk the path of the plant nation. Working with wild plants is a journey that lasts a lifetime and as our experience grows so to does our knowledge about not only the edible and medicinal qualities of specific herbs, but also too we get to know the spirit or essence that each plant holds. I would like to thank everyone who came out to this class and made is such a great experience. Earth Tracks looks forward to continuing to offer this program and build and expand on the material. Perhaps soon there will be an advanced class? I would also like to thank Chuck and Sandy at Heronwalk for providing such a wonderful space and nourishing food. Lastly my deepest thanksgiving goes out to all the plants that shared thier teachings with us as we learned to use them in a good way.

Happy Harvesting

Here are some photos from our class:

The Art of Survival August 7-10th 2008 - Northern Edge Algonquin.

As always the Art of Survival class was a blast and we all learned a lot over the course of 4 days. We focused primarily on the Sacred 4 — Shelter, Fire, Water, Food. These skills help you to understand and deepen your relationship with nature and continue to enhance your ability to live comfortably in the wild. I’ll be posting some more photos of the class here in the near future. We will be offering this class twice in 2009, see the ‘classes’ section of this site for dates and locations.

The Way of the Naturalist — January 16-18th 2009 — Brock University

Here’s a few photos from the Way of the Naturalist class sponsered by the Brock outdoors club at the university. Unfortunately we didn’t take too many photos, but we did have a great time studying and learning about the natural world. This class focuses on how to go about studying nature and developing your core naturalist skills. We spent our time learning about Hazards, Mammals, Plants, Trees, Birds and how to journal and identify them in the field. We split our time between class room learning and walking in the forest putting into action the skills and tools that we learned inside. We also had some fun delving into the worlds of tracking and bird language. Two skills that have the ability to greatly enhance our awareness of the world around us. Learning how to track and move like the animals and utilize the knowledge of bird language can greatly increase our ability to move undetected through the forest and begin to experience nature like never before. These skills have the power to open up a whole new world and allow us to begin to unravel the many mysteries of nature.

Photos from left to Right: Naturalist museum/library, Cottontail browse sign, Cottontail browse sign, deer scrapes, Gypsy moth casings, Naturalist library/museum.

Traditional Hide Tanning Workshop: January 23-26th 2009

Earth Tracks partnered with Sticks and Stones Wilderness School to run the Traditional Hide Tanning Workshop in Caledon, Ontario over this cold, wintery weekend in January. We had a great indoor workspace complete with woodstove and shelter from the elements. We taught the ‘dry-scrape’ method of working buckskin and managed to do 5 hides from start to finish. It was amazing to watch participants work through the process with such enthusiasm and determination. It was no small feat, but we managed to complete each stage and ’smoke’ each hide on the last day of the class. Below are some of the many photos that we took over the course of the program showing each of the stages that we went through. It never ceases to amaze me how you can transform a ‘green’ or ‘wet’ hide into a beautiful piece of buckskin. We are going to offer this class again in the fall time in October. Keep an eye on the website for the date.

Algonquin Winter Tracking Expedition February 2009

I have just recently returned from our annual winter wildlife tracking trip in Algonquin Park. This marks my 9th year at this program who is organized through White Pine Programs and my close friend Dan Gardoqui from Maine. As always it was a great week of tracking and we found tracks and trails of many animals including wolf, moose, marten, fisher, otter, mink, beaver, snowshoe hare, flying squirrels red fox and many others. We continue to experience epic tracking on this trip year after year and learn a great deal about these animals and how they survive and relate to this beautiful landscape. After a couple days of warm weather before the trip the temperatures dropped to below freezing and a nice ‘crust’ layer formed with a trace of snow on top leaving a great substrate to record the tracks of the many animals that we tracked. After a couple days of building, there were so many tracks registered in the snow that it was a little tricky deciphering the different ages of the trails that we followed.

At the beginning of each day Dan and I would be out in the early hours ’scouting’ for wolf sign crossing the highway and determining the plan for the day. We spent the first few days following at least 3 different packs of wolves as they moved across frozen lakes and traversed the rocky hills in the southern part of the park. There were literally thousands of perfect wolf tracks left for us to read and follow. At night we would follow up our day of tracking researching and striving to answer some of the many questions posed by our discoveries that day. We also managed to sneak in some slideshows on local wildlife as well as some informative presentations on the current tracks and sign evaluations taking place in the U.S. One of the local wolf biologists also came and talked to us about some of the current research happening in the park which helped the participants to gain a deeper understanding of the Eastern Wolves and thier current status in Ontario.

This is definately one of my favorite trips of the year and I continue to look forward to it each February. A week of tracking in such a beautiful place with a small and eager group of people is hard to beat.

For a full array of photos from our trip please visit our Earth Tracks facebook page and become a fan while you’re there.

Happy Tracking

Urban Edibles Class - Toronto May 2009

Over last weekend Earth Tracks ran an ‘Urban Edible and Medicinal’ Plants class in Toronto. The program was sponsored by the Pine Project and was a great success. We were close to High Park and had a reat opportunity to view some of the many plants that were begining to emerge from the soils after a long winter. Some of the many plants that we got to see and experience were dandelion, garlic mustard, common plantain, Burdock, curly dck, trilliums, blue cohosh, mayapple and many others. It was nic to be able to offer this class in the city and I was very happy to begin offering classes in combination with the Pine Project and look forward to offering many more programs through them in the coming years. The next scheduled program in Toronto will be from June 19-21st — Wildlife Tracking and Nature Awareness

Drum Making Workshop - April 2009

On the Weekend of April 18-19th Earth Tracks ran a ‘Drum Making Workshop’ at the Blue Canoe in South River. Everyone that participated learned a lot about making drums and working with hides and we made 8 new drums for the world. It felt good to facilitate this experience knowing that these people would use these drums in a good way. It is a sacred journey making a drum and I was truly impressed with the passion and enthusiasm that was brought by everyone involved. I’m looking forward to to offering another drum workshop in the fall. Keep an eye on the schedule on our website and feel free to contact me directly if you are interested. www.earthtracks.ca earthtracks@gmail.com