Singing to the Bunnies at the University of Victoria

Pictures and Videos

Here is a link to some pictures I've taken so far.
Sorry for all the scenery pictures!
http://cmd.shutterfly.com/commands/pictures/slideshow?site=salimah&page=salimah&album=151

Here are links to some of the music videos we made as well
Bearspray http://salimah.shutterfly.com/825
Stream Song http://salimah.shutterfly.com/826
Gratitude and Joy Got Me a Watch http://salimah.shutterfly.com/827
Water Privitization http://salimah.shutterfly.com/828

As you can see, I've been having a ton of fun!

-Salimah "Silly-mah"

Last Night at the Little Slocan Lodge

It's our last night at the Lodge. This place has provided us with so much and as exciting as it is to be heading to the river to start our paddle it is hard to leave.

The morning light on the front porch with a cup of coffee and the Colombian ground squirrels. The "classroom" which was also the living room and the dining room and the music/dance room and the yoga room and..........The kitchen always pumping out good food. The river that provided us with clean fresh water and an abundance of power (micro Hydro damn). The surrounding forest full of new friends and wild edibles. Bunk beds, guitars, swallows, and a burgeoning sense of belonging here.

The Learning has been one part the classroom book type and many parts this magical place, and the amazing people that live and love and work and play here.

I am full of gratitude for the opportunity to stay here for long enough to make friends with the place and I am truly looking forward to coming back here.

~Trina

Camping Trip!

Wild Foods Dinner

On our first full day off (Sunday, May 24), inspired by all of our newly-acquired ethno-botany knowledge, Trina, Sam, Lara and Alla decided to cook up a wildfoods/ locally-based dinner. In the morning, our guest Mike Keefer, an ethnobotanist, took us for a guided walk around Little Slocan Lodge, and we started gathering our foods. We found violets, fireweed tips and dandelion leaves for our salad, a few little morrels to fry up - and a giant patch of stinging nettle to steam for dinner. In addition, we roasted up a bunch of parsnips (from the local organic farm we visited earlier in the week) with carrots and potatoes, and fried up some local organic sausages.

(Alla, Lara and Trina serve up the wildfoods dinner)

End of Week 2

It's the end of Week 2 of the Redfish School of Change, and the last day of our stay at the beautiful Little Slocan Lodge.

The past week has been full of excitement, hard work, and new experiences. We started off the week with a workshop called "The Practice of Leading Change" with George Meier, a leadership coach in New Denver. Part of our course work includes developing a community action project, and George's workshop helped us gain some focus and do some planning for the future.

The next day, we headed down to the trailhead in Slocan City for the 8 km hike that launched our 3 day backpacking trip into Valhalla Provincial Park. On the hike, we had a chance to marvel at the incredibly diverse Interior Hemlock Forest, passing over several rockfalls, traversing beautiful sub-alpine meadows lush with spring wildflowers, and over gurgling mountain streams.
Camping at Evans Beach, we had the unique priviledge of being able to drink from an untainted stream and relax on the shore of Slocan Lake.

On Wednesday, we worked on a bioregional lab in the midst of the forest, learning how to work a compass and other field equipment. In the evening, special guests from Wildsight and The Land Conservancy gave us an insider's look at successful environmental initiatives in the West Kootenays, including designating the "Valhalla Mile" as a protected area.

Thursday was a long day of hiking back to the trailhead, and Friday and Saturday were focused on lectures and coursework. On Saturday afternoon, our group headed into Nelson for a guest panel of local community activists and change makers. The session, called "It Takes All Kinds" gave us a sense of the different kinds of approaches exist in trying to initiate positive environmental and social change.

~ Alla