Vespula Veterans Serve Connelly Creek with the Barred Owlets

Serving the land is a critical component of the Boys Explorers Club.  Service is an act of humility and the land demands that—ask any of the boys who were on our “mellow” backpacking trip to the Lilly and Lizard lake this summer.  In Boys Explorers Club we often use the land more than other folks traveling in our area.  We leave the trail to seek deeper connection to the place where we live by studying the abiotic and biotic elements in the landscape.  We leave the trail to practice sit spot, and play games that teach us to move quietly through the land and pay attention.  Our service outing is a way for us to repay the land and our community for the gentle impacts we do make.

Steve and Greg spent quite some time discussing how to best prepare the Vespula Veterans for working with the younger boys—The Barred Owlets.  Though the age difference between the two groups isn’t vast, they are in very different places in they journey with Explorers Club as well as their broader lives outside.  So when all of the Vespula Veterans had arrived we quickly gathered and headed to the service site.  Steve and Greg presented the work that needed to be accomplished before the Barred Owlets arrived and tasked the Vespula Veterans organize and run our opening meeting.  They quickly dispersed and got to work.  They organized the tools and gathered in a circle to both discuss how they would present tool safety to the Barred owlets as well as listening to Greg and Steve present so background and useful tools on working with the age group that the younger boys were in. 

The Vespula Veterans have become very efficient at group work.  They have a healthy balance of keeping our circles light and fun but also getting the work done and being willing to struggling with things that are more complex or difficult to discuss as a group.  Because of this efficiency the Vespula were able to hide and ambush the younger boys.  This has become somewhat of a tradition at this point.  It provides the older boys with an opportunity to see how well they can camouflage themselves and the younger boys (who arrive an hour later) a chance to see how well they are paying attention to the land.  For the first time the older boys remained completely undiscovered!  It was also a sneaky way for Steve and Greg to disguise a 25-minute sit spot!

With both groups together the Vespula presented how to safely use tools and set our collective service team up for a good day of work.  Our tasks at the service site remain the same as last season.  We are trying to get the Reed Canary Grass under control by promoting the growth of Red Alder trees, and various native shrubs such as Willow, Red Osier Dogwood, and Hardhack to create shade and eventually displace the Canary grass.  We are still digging out Blackberry Roots and spreading much and wood chips to aid in this process.

The Vespula and the Owlets worked side-by-side getting the work done.  This service day was very focused in where we applied our efforts compared to other service days in the past.  The boys were focused and their efforts digging, cutting and hauling were tremendous.

At 3:15 Steve and Greg called the Vespula Veterans out of the service area and we headed to a different part of Connelly Creek a couple of minutes away.  This section had been restored about 10 years ago and is free of the invasive species that are in our service site.  Under the shade of alders we held our closing meeting.  Once the apples were sliced we were able to give thanks and then hold a discussion about the day.  Steve and Greg wanted to hear from the Vespula Veterans about their experience and asked “What surprised you the most about working with the younger boys?”  There were many rich comments.  Some were surprised at the Owlets strong work ethic.  Some were surprised by the inability to ignore the machete that was “off limits” to them.  One sibling was surprised (and apparently relived) to discover the typically rambunctious behavior of his younger brother was not present in Explorers Club.  Our conversation was rich especially given that this has been the first opportunity for the Vespula Veterans to take on their EMA (Explorers Mentoring Apprenticeship) work as a whole group.  At our next two outings Greg and Steve will be making space at our opening meetings to hear and EMA stories or puzzles so that the mentors can continue to support the growth of the Vespula Veterans in their Four Shields Journey.

Our day concluded with a look ahead to our upcoming outing on Sunday, October 12^th.  We will be piling aboard Stubbs and heading to Hovander Homestead Park to meet community member Time Flores who will show us some ancient hunting tools and offer us the opportunity to learn how they work.  If you still have your atlatl from the summer backpacking trip bring it along.  If you left it behind, or accidentally put in the fire like Greg do not fret as there will be many to share.

As always thank you Vespula Veterans for your hard work helping to restore balance to the land, your compassion for the younger boys and your willingness to take on all the leadership roles we have thrown at you.  It is such a pleasure to work with you and I am glad to joining you again so soon.  Finally thanks again to the parents and families that support all of us in this work.  Steve and Greg feel so fortunate to be working with your sons and appreciate your trust!