Yesterday was a bright sunny blur of Earth Day fun. Rusty from Napa started out by coming to our house 
at 8 am to help unload the car, and we were settled in our comfy spot 
by nine. Our first totem makers were an entire family that each made a figure for one totem they were going to give to Grandma later. The day just got more inspiring from there, as kids chose a favorite animal or design to embellish highly personal totems. Throughout the day and everywhere in the park they were visible. And one creative soul even taped the tube upright on her hat!
One of the best things about a project like this was the look of deep concentration visible on the children’s faces as they worked on their vision. They seemed to shut out all the disruptions and just work on their ideas. No computer screens or watching their neighbor. Just deeply meditative art. The biggest obstacle was always time, as parents wanted them to hurry up and finish. But you can see their concentration was unhurried, and deeply powerful. As always Chery’s lovely photos treat those moments with the deep respect they deserve. See for yourself.
There were lots of appreciative comments about winning the beaver battle, questions about the current family and sympathetic voices about wildlife in general. I even found a few good ears to listen to our tree drama, including our newest city council member who was very alarmed. (I figure if the city didn’t want me to talk about this with 2000 people they wouldn’t have done it right before Earth day, am I wrong?)Beth Pratt-Bergstom of the National Wildlife Federation was the keynote speaker and she and her husband stopped by to swap appreciations and friendly wildlife banter. She will be at the beaver festival this year and he will dress up in a Ranger Rick costume. We even discussed his alternating as a beaver! She had a life size cutout of the famous LA mountain lion P-22 and we couldn’t help but do this.
Megan Isador of the River Otters dropped by soon after, getting ready for her award. She introduced me to a wonderful volunteer who had baked 600 cookies for their welcome back otter event. I told her to be very careful because there was a powerful magnet under the table and we just happened to have a beaver cookie cutter. Megan laughingly scolded me and pulled her away to safety!
The totem project was a great success and at least 100 children managed to craft their own tribal vision of wildlife. Each one came out perfectly, as you can see here:
We sold many wildlife scarves and offered beaver solutions to folks as far away as Lincoln, but my very favorite part of the day was when John Muir stopped by at the end to chat about beavers and Enos Mills. I managed to bring up our tree story and he told me that for years upon years he has visited classrooms at Earth Day and planted giant sequoias with children. In nearly every instance those trees had been pulled up by administers shortly thereafter who had redwood-phobia. Only one such tree had survived but was still standing after 40 years!
I guess if it even happens to John Muir too, we shouldn’t feel so bad.
