Field Notes from Jess ~ Rewilding in 2021 | Week 22/52 | Spring
May 23, 2021
52 Sundays of REWILDING in 2021 | Week 20/52 | Field Notes from Jess
BASKET WEAVING “To carry us into the future”
12 beautiful women shared in the experience of traditional basketry this weekend. We laughed, we shared stories and we created with our hands.
Wildkind Academy partnered with Earthwalk Northwest and master basket weaver Karen Sherwood, for a 2-day event creating Adirondack style pack baskets.
Used by early trappers, these sturdy baskets were a staple for caring heavy loads needed for hunting, fishing, and gear in the backcountry. The name comes from The Adirondack mountains and the surrounding park established in 1892 by the State of New York. This is a 6.1 million acre forest preserve and referred to as "Forever Wild” and established for “the free use for the people for their health and pleasure”.
In the book “Braiding Sweetgrass” by Robin Wall Kimmerer, there is a story about basket weaving....this is some deep stuff:
“In weaving well-being for land and people, we need to pay attention to the lessons of the three rows. Ecological well-being and the laws of nature are always the first row. Without them, there is no basket of plenty. Only if that first circle is in place can we weave the second. The second reveals material welfare, the substance of human needs. Economy built upon ecology. But with only two rows in place, the basket is still in jeopardy of pulling apart. It’s only when the third row comes that the first two can hold together. Here is where ecology, economics, and spirit are woven together. By using materials as if they were a gift, and returning that gift through worthy use, we find balance. I think that third row goes by many names: Respect. Reciprocity. I think of it as the spirit row. Whatever the name, the three rows represent recognition that our lives depend on one another, human needs being only one row in the basket that must hold us all. In relationship, the separate splints become a whole basket, sturdy and resilient enough to carry us into the future.”
Total mic drop.
I am in love with all these smiles and the connection we shared. May our hearts and baskets be full 
+13
