Ricardo Sierra's Earth Skills Seven Day Challenge, June 1-7, 2014

I created this event to show people the power of connecting to the earth and nature through practicing earth skills just 15-20 minutes each day, for seven days.     I call in The Seven Day Challenge, and it's coming up on June 1, 2014.   Check out the video, too, that introduces what it's all about!

It's pretty simple.   You pick a skill that you can practice or study, and you commit to doing it every day, for just seven days!!!!!!!    And you will be amazed at how fast your learning takes off in just minutes a day......

Anyway, you can get more info about it on my web page,here.

If you know you want to do it, just click here to join our Facebook Group and get in on the fun!   It's going to be inspiring and awesome! 

Bird Language & Studies

As you know, Attitude and Mindset are two of the most essential ingredients for achieving our goals, and this challenge is no different.  It's time to get prepared, so we not only learn new skills, but we add a layer of confidence and self esteem boost to the week as well.   It's a powerful one-two combination that will spread from this activity to the other parts of your life as well.

Wouldn't that be nice?   Are you into it?    

Okay, so, here is a list of things that you will want to be prepared for:  

You can do Plant Studies!

Commitment:   What skills are you committing to practice for the Seven Days, and when will you practice them?   Try to remember to keep it simple and that 15-20 minutes goes by quick, so this is a good time to also practice realistic planning skills!   It's also a good time to think about why you want to learn these earth skills, and what your greater purpose is for practicing and learning them, and whether or not you are actually serious about growing closer to the earth or setting yourself up to learn.

If you look a head to your week and it's just too full for you, that's okay.  You can modify your personal agreement and no one will know the difference.  We don't judge!   The bottom line is that, whatever your specific commitment is to yourself, make sure that you are really committed to doing it and plan for success!   That being said, 15 minutes a day for seven days is pretty much doable for just about everyone, if you really want to learn new skills and grow.   So, be bold!   Let's do this!

Safety:   Is the skill you are practicing something that uses knives, or sharp tools or stone edges?  Do you have a safety plan for your practice that includes eye or ear protection, and is there a First Aid Kit present at all times?  Do you have to protect against breathing in dust or smoke?   If you are going out in the bush for your daily practice, does everyone in your group of skills enthusiasts know what poison ivy looks like at this time of year, or do you need to be aware of ticks or other local hazards, like snakes or black flies?   If you plan ahead for these things, you will be setting you and your group up for good times!   

Buckskin & Tanning Skills

Materials and Supplies:   Does the skill you have chosen have a materials list, or tools or supplies needed in order to get it accomplished?   Go over it in your planning so you know if you will need sandpaper, or string or a bunch of willow shoots or whatever it is you will need to make this happen!  If you get those things ready prior to Sunday, June 1st, you will be all ready to go to let your skills grow right off the bat, rather than spend that time searching your gear or looking in your garage for your stuff.   Make sure that if you are doing this with friends, that you let them know what they will need to bring if anything, and that they wear the right clothing for the weather, etc.

Daily Celebration and Final Celebration Incentives:   Everyone loves to have some incentives, especially when we complete a difficult task or achieve a goal that we really are excited about, and this is no different.   Typically, people will celebrate with food or a beverage that they enjoy, in a circle of friends, or maybe an outing or getting a tool that they have long wanted.   We don't need to go crazy here, but all I am saying is, "Give yourself every reason to make this a positive, successful experience, rather than a let down where you only go half-way and don't make it through the whole week."    

Celebrate Your Campfire Cooking Skills!

A reward will sometimes keep you going when your attention starts to wander, so, make sure that a person you trust will help keep you honest and then verify you did this challenge and award your prize!

On the flip side, some people tend to do things because they are motivated by the potential loss of something.   I have a friend who is an athlete, and she has an agreement where she will give $100 to her training partners if she misses a training session for a non-injury related excuse.   This keeps her honest and her team holds her accountable for her commitments, so it's all part of knowing yourself and how you want to set yourself up for success.

If you are doing this challenge with friends, or especially with kids, I would definitely plan on celebrating with something at the end, and even a great snack each session, too, just to keep it fun.

Contingency Plans:   On Saturday, it rained here at Hawk Circle really, really hard, on and off, pretty much all day.  It was really wet.   I immediately thought of everyone getting ready for this challenge and said 'We need some contingency plans so we all can stay on track!"   

So, what is your back up plan?   Do you have a sheltered place to go if you start experiencing rain or intense heat or dust or whatever is happening in your local area?   How will you adapt your activity if there is inclement weather to still get your practice in?

Carving Skills

You see, what I am training you and your group to do, is to not let yourselves off the hook when something comes up.   You still have to honor your commitment and get your goal accomplished.   If we let ourselves off the hook because of a little rain, or because the traffic made you late, or whatever the situation is, you will start to create a pattern of not accomplishing your goals.    You will get the mindset that it's okay to let it all go, as long as you have an excuse.   Which is not a good habit, in earth skills or in any other venture in our lives.   Seriously, this type of thinking is outright poison to your dreams and vision.  (Not to mention the damage it does to your personal relationships.)    

So, that means, you have to have a mind that says 'I always finish what I start, no matter what."   

This is a very, very powerful mindset that will help you and your kids or your friends throughout their life.

So, what could go wrong or have a potential to derail your plans?   

Do you have a group doing this?   What will you do if no one shows up?   Will you still practice it anyway, for yourself?

Phone a Friend:   Who is your go-to source for help if you get stuck in your practice?   Are you prepared to reach out if you need help, either to one of your friends, or a mentor or teacher, or someone in our Facebook Group?   Let us know if you need help, and I promise you, there is a ton of help all around you, all the time.  (Just like in Nature!)

 You just need to ask for what you need!

Accountability and Inspiration:  One way that I have set up this challenge is to invite you to post a short update on what you did in our Facebook Group!  You can share what you learned, what you did, and a photo or short video.   This will allow you to know that you are staying on track, and if everyone is doing it, we will all see your progress, comment on your work and give you 'mad props' for making it happen!   It will feel good. You will also be inspiring others to keep going, too.   Feel free to share your trials and tribulations, and what you did to keep going.   I promise you, whatever you are working on or working through, you aren't alone.   

I can also guarantee that looking at what everyone else is doing and hearing their stories is going to be powerfully inspiring and also build a great connection and community among us all.   And I would love to have you and your group be a part of all of that.   So please, join us there, and share, and don't worry about whether your skill is big or small, or whatever.   Trust me, we all love it all!

If you aren't on Facebook, well, seriously, it takes like ten seconds to join.   You need a password and a valid email address.   You can join, do the challenge and check it all out, and then you can delete your account afterwards, if you want. 

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Okay, if I haven't scared you off by all these ideas and suggestions, please go to my Earth Skills Seven Day Challenge page and check out the different downloadable journaling sheets, planning guidelines and more, as well as the video above, which is all about these same things I just wrote about.  

My bottom line is your success.   I know that if you practice a single skill every day for just 15-20 minutes, it will positively affect your life.   I know this from my own experience, as well as countless other students and apprentices.   This stuff is very, very powerful, and it doesn't matter which skill you pick.   I want to see you succeed, and to be awesome.   So I am pulling out every stop to help make that happen.

See you in the Facebook Group!   We have a week to get ready, and then we will be doing this together!

If you want to join, please click here:

Ricardo Sierra's Earth Skills Seven Day Challenge Facebook Event

June 1-7, 2014.

Introducing the Speakers from my Summit on Nature Connection

Here are some of the things that people are saying about the Interviews:

"Thanks looking forward to listening Have learned so much so far. Priceless…."

"The whole summit has been amazing, thanks so much!!"

"I liked the part where he said: "Better hurry up before a bear eats me!!!" terrific interview, ordering his book!"

"WOW, what a powerful and inspiring voice for wilderness! Humans like Doug Peacock are truly a gift! Thanks for sharing! Great interview Ricardo Sierra!"

" When Sean Rowe was talking about his favorite wild edibles, my 5 year old lassie piped in (she was listening too while we were making dinner) "Mom, my favorite wild edible is wild raspberries!" "

"There was a LOT I liked about today's interview, especially the 2nd half. I took about 2/3 of a page of notes -- and a friend called me tonight to say she had listened to it after I posted a link to it on my Facebook page."

"Curiosity, Compassion, and Community-- perfect. We need more of the three C's in our world."

"Your message of conservation is an important message that needs heard!!! I will always support the effort to make this world a better place."

"I listened to the Eugene Schwartz interview, now trying to catch up on the others that I've missed. Thanks, and keep up the GREAT WORK!"


Okay, here are the list of Speakers on my Wolverine Way Summit on Nature Connection:

John Griffith, of the California Conservation Corps

Derrick Jensen, author of Deep Green Resistance and A Language Older Than Words

Tom Elpel of Hops Press and Green University, LLC

Kristen Schulte of the Yellowstone Youth Conservation Corps


Sean Rowe, musician, singer songwriter and Anti-Records recording Artist with Magic, 27 and The Salesman & The Shark

Craig Blacklock, acclaimed landscape photographer at Blacklock Gallery

Joe Lau, former Tracker School Head Instructor and founder of the Phyre Dojo wilderness school

Cheryl Charles, director and co-founder of the Children & Nature Network

Brandt Morgan, author of Vision Walk and Sacred Journeys Guide

Charles Saylan, author of The Failure of Environmental Education and director of the Ocean Conservation Society

Mike Douglas, director of the Maine Primitive Skills School


Doug Peacock, naturalist & author of Grizzly Years and In the Shadow of the Sabertooth

Randall Lewis Eaton, author of Hunting as a Rite of Passage

Eugene Schwartz, Waldorf Educator and creator of Millenial Child

Kiva Rose, herbalist and creator of Plant Healer Magazine

 Tom Brown III, founder of the Primitive Arts Collective

Susun Weed, Herbalist, author and founder of the Wise Woman Way

Reese Maxwell, instructor and founder of Dancing Sol, and co-founder of the Whole Earth Nature School

Matthew Bradley, co-founder of the Whole Earth Nature School

Victor Wooten, five time Grammy Winning Recording Artist and author of The Music Lesson

Tom Brown, Jr., founder of the Tracker School and author of over 19 books on Survival, Tracking and Earth Philosophy

Ruth Ann Colby Martin, former Tracker School Instructor & Certified Midwife

Lisa Bonny Berry of Four Elements Earth Education

Wendolyn Bird of Tender Tracks Tails and Trails

Tony Deis, founder of the Trackers Earth Camp and Wilderness School,

Cristina Eisenberg, wildlife biologist and author of The Carnivore Way and The Wolf's Tooth

Laura Zerra, wilderness skills instructor and Reality Show participant on the Discovery Channel's Naked and Afraid

Richard Cleveland, founder of The Earth School

Erik Hoffner, eco-journalist & photographer and editor at Orion Magazine

Special thanks to all of these kind speakers who took time out of their work saving the world to speak to me, and to you, and share their thoughts and ideas and stories with us.

You are all amazing and wonderful!  Thank you!

And if you want to sign up and get access to them, check out The Wolverine Way website!

The Wolverine Way Summit on Nature Connection

It all started from something I saw on Facebook.   

It looked like just about any other of the hundreds of links and posts about nature that show up every day in my Newsfeed, and I almost skipped over it.   But I didn't.   I read it and then I checked it for sources.   It was legit.   (You can read the original article here.)

That's when I had a few sleepless nights.   

You see, the basis of this report is simple.  Only one out of five kids are getting a close relationship with nature.   A meaningful connection to the natural world.   A real understanding of the earth and the land.   One out of five, means four out of five kids are NOT getting a real chance to connect.   It means that 80% of our kids are functionally disconnected from nature.  They aren't getting the emotional, psychological and physical benefits from a strong connection to nature.   They don't get the stress cleansing power of a walk in the woods.  They don't get the creativity boosting energy from making a fort, or exploring a new section of the back field.   They don't get the problem solving insights that come naturally from playing and adventuring in the wild.

There is also the intimacy that nature offers to our kids, as their first real relationship beyond their family.   The nature around us provides a protective factor that enhances almost every part of our lives.

I knew I had to do something more to make a difference.  I knew I had to have a bigger impact.

So, for the past eight months, I have interviewed 29 different experts in various aspects of the Nature Education 'field' so to speak, for a Summit of Speakers on Nature Connection.  Activists.  Philosophers.  Writers.  Biologists.  Conservation Leaders.  Trackers.  Wilderness Survival Experts.   Educators.   Musicians.   Photographers.   Writers.   Community Organizers. Nature Advocates. Herbalists.  And more…

It's called The Wolverine Way.   I called it that because the wolverine is a powerful animal that is virtually unstoppable in it's ferocity to defend itself, or get what it needs.   It is fearless in the face of certain destruction.  It will use a tireless lope to travel miles of vertical ascents of rugged mountains and walls of ice.   It is impervious to cold, too!   I thought it would be a suitable totem animal to help me define my approach to getting us connected to nature!

 

It's totally free to sign up, and all of the interviews are online audios that can be downloaded, or listened to easily.   You can listen by phone for the first 'airing' too.   Just click the link in this post and you will go to my web page where you can sign up for instant access.

I purposely interviewed experts from a broad range of nature connection spectrum, to give us the widest view of our situation, and get tools and perspective from these amazing individuals who have graciously taken part in this project.   

The biggest effect that I got almost immediately was a sense of hope.  A sense of renewed strength and energy.   I feel totally different after putting this together, and I hope that anyone who gets a chance to listen can come away changed, renewed, stronger, smarter and better able to keep up the work of getting that 80% number a lot lower in the next few years!   We have our work cut out for us, but we can do it if we work together!

Anyway, I am really happy to be sharing this with everyone, and here is the link to sign up:   The Wolverine Way.

I will try to post more often and in the meantime, get outside!    Have a wonderful day, everyone!

Ricardo

Hawk Circle 3.0: Transformation, Creation and Renewal

The New Hawk Circle Woodshed, Fall, 2011
We got the firewood stacked even before the roof was up!

So, years ago, Hawk Circle had piles of wood around the Farmhouse, covered in big tarps.   It also had garbage cans, some with lids, some without, just far enough away from the house to eliminate the smell factor, but clearly, needing a more secure location to avoid the raccoon feeding hour!   The firewood would get covered with a large snowfall, and then it would rain, and then freeze, making the tarp a giant convoluted ice cube, leading to intense frustration for whoever's job it was to bring in firewood to keep the house warm.   Sometimes, the tarp would be lifted to get wood, and then forget to put it back over it, and it would all get covered with snow.   Also frustrating.

The Old Woodshed and Trash Shed, Summer, 2011
I know, it's scary, isn't it?

So Simon Mayer, Chris Marx, and possibly Matt Burr, built a trash shed for the trash, out of old silo boards from the old lower barn, which is now gone.   They used nails and screws and hinges and built a two door shed for recycling and trash.   It was on cinder blocks, and kept our trash somewhat secure until it was time to head to the transfer station outside of Cooperstown.   It was pretty old, but still worked.  But it looked pretty funky.

Lucas Kane makes pegs for
new Trash Shed Frame!

Abigail assembles the New Trash
Sill Beams.

The woodshed didn't happen until a few years later.   Eli Martz, another of our early campers turned instructors, built a lean to woodshed, using logs of white ash from up on the hill, sunk into the ground, and covered with corrugated steel.   It was strong, serviceable, and while lacking in diagonal bracing, it kept wood dry, and allowed us to load a lot of firewood, maybe seven or eight full cords in there at one time.   We also stored the splitting mauls, axes, sledge hammers and wedges there, as well as our old wheelbarrow.    When it was full of firewood, it looked pretty good.   When it wasn't full of wood, it quickly became filled with all kinds of wire, an old blacksmithing forge, various lawnmower parts, a snow plow, and other things that looked like if you got scratched in there you would need a tetanus shot!   Barry Keegan installed some boards to brace it along the back, to keep it from falling over, using random planks and some steel lag bolts, which added a number of years to it's redneck life...

The posts are up with braces!

The thing about a shed is that it keeps things out of the weather, and around a camp and farm, there are all sorts of things that are good to keep dry, so it fills quickly.  It also is a place to put things that we don't know what else to do with it, so in the shed it goes.  But with no walls or doors to close, it ends up looking pretty banjo, if you know what I mean!   Which isn't a terribly bad thing in general, unless the woodshed is the first thing you see when you drive up the road to the Farmhouse.   So, the funk factor was starting to become a problem for us, which I had been waiting to address for a couple of years, and in the summer of 2011, we did something about it.

Putting on the Plate Beams...

The first thing we had to do is figure out what to do with the trash and recycling.   In order to burn the old nasty small shed, we had to first build a new shed and put it somewhere more out of sight, but still close by for us to use easily.   We chose to build the new one behind the Hide Shed, which is itself a little funky, so it would be in good company.  And it would be very much out of sight most of the time. The second thing was to figure out where to get the funds to build it.   We don't usually have much in the way of extra cash, as we are a not for profit organization called the Earth Mentoring Institute, Inc. and our budget pretty much barely covers our expenses on most years.   We had to keep the costs very low to make this happen.

Watch out for the pegs!

I looked in our woodpiles for extra wood, and found that we had a number of 5x7 beams left over from a frame that we did in 2010, that had a number of worm holes in the wood, and we didn't feel we could use them in a new frame, so the sawyer had cut new ones for us, and never picked up the old ones.   I would have been able to build a shed very quickly with 2x4s and smaller wood, but since we didn't have that on hand, and we didn't want to take the time to order it from a local sawmill, and since we had some apprentices who wanted to learn timber framing, we set to work.   Abigail Liss and Lucas Kane worked on making the pegs, cutting the mortises and tenons and drilled the holes for the pegs out of the older wood.   It was white pine and it cut very easily.   It took us about three days to cut this small trash shed frame, working part time, and soon we were ready to put it up.   It seems ridiculous to make a timber frame for something so small, and so mundane as a trash shed, but hey, it's how we roll here at Hawk Circle!

Classic Timber Frame Joinery!

Putting it up was fun because it was so light and small.   Usually we need a bunch of people to help lift the beams into place, but I could have probably done this by myself and been just fine.   As it is, Abigail and Lucas did a great job, pegging it together, making little adjustments to get it to fit, and cutting off the pegs afterwards for a smooth exterior.   We got the rafters up, too, and then I ended up buying a couple of sheets of plywood for the roof and some 1x8 inch boards for the siding and doors.   I also got a few hinges and clasps too, to keep out the chipmunks, mice and rats.

The rafters are up and the frame is
complete!

Putting up the siding was a lot of fun too, screwing the boards in place, and getting the doors to open correctly.  It was a good learning project for the apprentices, and the sun was warm and the weather beautiful.   Eventually we got the plywood up, some felt roofing paper down, drip edge installed and then asphalt shingles over the roof so it was water tight and ship shape.

Then, we moved the trash to it's new home, along with the recycling, and started tearing the old shed apart.  We took off the old doors, and brought them up to our burn pile, and then we rolled that old shed up to the center of the pile and filled it with wood chips and shavings from our timber framing.   They were extremely dry!   We covered it with brush from some clearing that Adam did with the Caretakers earlier that summer, near the Garden Shed, and added some of the wood from the old shed too, that had too many nails to reuse, or was rotting or broken.

The Epic Hawk Circle Trash Shed Bonfire

It was the last day of camp, and the summer session was the Wolverine Survival Camp.   We ate dinner and there was a light rain, and our hope for having a bonfire seemed dashed by many of the staff and campers.   But wait!   There was a flash of inspiration!   As dinner wrapped up, we all agreed that our goal could still happen, and be accomplished, if we just "Went For It!"   Which we did.   In the rain.   We tore up the old woodshed, pulling up old pallets that was the floor for the firewood, and took down old boards.  We pulled off the old steel roofing, and put it in a pile to be reused.   We dodged wasp nests and sorted out old metal and wire, being careful not to get injured in our moving and piling.   All of the time, the Bonfire Pile was getting bigger and bigger, as we added poles, old rafters, boards and posts to the giant tipi.   It rained hard, but our spirits were strong and there was much joy in our labors, and the rain mixed with our sweat and we were alive and awake!

Hawk Circle Summer Campers and Staff, enjoying the
cleansing power of fire...

We made an ember with a bow and drill in the barn as it was raining and kind of dark by then, and we carried it out in a nice tinder bundle, and let it ignite into the fire, which started to smolder, and flicker with small light, and thick smoke.   Then, the smoke rippled with energy, and flames began to lick along the long edges of the wood, then rising through the pile towards the cloudy skies and the dark mist.   Our fire was alive!    When the fire got to the burning of the old trash shed, it became Epic.   There is even a Hawk Circle Facebook Page about it...   That was one huge, intense, crazy fire!   It burned for about three days after the camp ended, too.  In the end, the land was cleansed of the old woodshed and trash shed, and the space for the new Woodshed was opened for business.

The Sill Beams, leveled and ready!

The First Bent goes up!

The first thing is to clear the site for the foundation and the sills.   Each corner has to be dug out in a three food circle, about four feet deep, and filled with mango sized stones, to keep the frost from lifting the frame up due to the cold.   The spaces between the stones gives room for the moist soil that expands, room to move, rather than push up.   Anyway, we dug six holes, and filled them with stones, after careful measuring, that is.   And then we sloped the soil around, to move the water away from underneath the frame.   We also covered the ground under the frame with plastic and old tarps, and covered it with gravel, about 3 or four inches deep, so that moisture won't come up under the sill beams, floor joists and floor boards which keeps it dry and helps the frame to last a long, long time.

The Second Bent is up!

Then we found some large stones, of varying sizes, to be the foundation rocks.   We had to put the sill beams up, and then try to level them, using different sized stones to make a solid floor.   We used the largest rocks we could, and it took a while, but we made it.   Once that happened, we dropped in the floor joists, which we cut from beams we had that were extra, and started on cutting and raising the posts and ties.

The Woodshed Rafters

Our Fall Apprentices Ezra Ward and Ben Gallagher cut the old posts, the tie beams and the braces, using posts from other frames that either were extra, or were two long or two short, that had been waiting to be put to good use.  We used a couple of white oak posts, and white pine and hemlock tie beams, and a mix of hemlock and pine beams for the top plates, which we scarfed together to make the 10' x38' frame.   We cut them in the barn, and then put up the beams as soon as they were finished, so it was kind of fun to work so close to home, so to speak.   The weather was good and we started putting the floor down too, using 2" hemlock boards that are strong, long lasting, weather resistant and not slippery when wet...

Putting the last few roof boards up...

Ezra and Daryl put the
Top Plate in Place.

We were able to use left over 5"x5" beams for the rafters, and those went quickly, until we ran out of extra beams.   We ordered more, and when those arrived, we cut them as well.   Putting them up felt great, just to see it come together.

We ordered boards for the roof, using a variety of 1" boards of different widths, and staggered these across the span of the structure. I did a lot of cutting them to length and handing them up to the crew to screw down in place.   It came together very nicely!

The new Railings, freshly peeled!

Waiting for Roofing Paper, March 2012
 in the Winter without Snow.

Once the floor was up, and the roof also, we covered it in roofing paper and got it filled with wood for the winter.  In the spring season, before our school group season got started, we installed a railing of natural wood saplings, and a half wall on the back, to protect against weather and rain splash, and we were ready for action.    Lizzy Mello got in on the action, drilling and screwing in our rails, as she was doing her Senior Year special project at Hawk Circle for the month of May.

The New Woodshed, filled with wood boards
in early April, 201

The Minnesota Waldorf School's
Eighth Grade made Ash Bark
Baskets in the New Woodshed.

Heather Burrill Cuts her Rafters in the Shade!
August, 2012

It didn't take long for our school groups to enjoy their meals on our picnic tables in this amazing new space.  We also did cooking classes, made baskets, various crafts and enjoyed the shady cool breeze even on the hottest days of the very hot summer of 2012.   Heather and Ben cut many beams in the shade, and Javi and the staff played many board games and did art projects on it too.   We cured our garlic there, hanging in the beams out of direct light, and we dried herbs and tea plants too.  

Garlic drying in the loft, mid July...

In short, it has turned an eyesore into a wealth of positive uses, and the first thing you see when you drive up is it's wonderful outline waiting to be enjoyed and explored.   Currently, it is filled with a lot of firewood, but we will running youth and adult programs come spring, you can be sure.

So, Hawk Circle continues to grow and build, even as we work on strong programs that transform our youth, and we are ready for more!   Wait until you see my post about Eagle House, coming up shortly! That's when things will get crazy!

The Aurora Eighth Grade, April, 2012