Although I haven’t been active online, it has been a busy summer at the field school. We had a solid canoe guide training course with great water levels on the Allagash, followed by week-long summer woodsman 1 and 2 classes. And now we’re a day away from starting the fall Wilderness Bushcraft Semester, our 67th long term program.
This is a magical time of year at the field school. The nights are getting cool, which means the bugs are winding down. Also, the apples are ripe. There are hundreds of old apple trees in the woods near us, so for the next few months we have all the wild apples we can eat. Other wild foods are all over the land as well.
I have some sad news for those who have been following our blog for a while, and especially for those of you who knew her from her time at the field school. Biscuit, our family dog and camp dog for multiple semesters, went to the big kennel in the sky this summer. She lived a great, long life, and was well taken care of. If you got the chance to know her here, you knew she was sweet but also full of mischief. I have many fond memories of her at the field school, going on trips with us, jumping out of the canoe in rapids, jumping out of the canoe and swimming after loons and being sweet and gentle with children. In the photo above, a few friends were hanging around the Guide Shack on a Saturday night during bear season. My friend Ed had shot a bear earlier that day, and she could smell it on him and barked at him for about an hour. When she finally calmed down, we took this photo. The gun, and the whiskey, were Ed’s. One of my favorite photos. It was always fun having her at the field school.
She passed at home, surrounded by her family, and it was very peaceful. We should all be so fortunate. She is already missed.
I’ve got a lot of announcements coming in the next few weeks, more to come soon.
Thanks for the update and it sounds like your program is doing very well. Congratulations! I just wanted to say Hi and that we miss seeing you at the Paddlers/Snow Walkers Gathering in Vermont. Sorry for the loss of your dog Biscuit. She sounds like she was a character. Have a good fall program Tim.
Hi Wendy, thanks for writing. I miss attending the Snow Walker/Paddler’s gathering, as it was my favorite event of the year. One of these years hope to make it back. I have been spreading the word to all of our students that they need to put it on their calendars. I hope you’re well.