Ontario Trackers club

Past Meetings - 1991

 

(All meetings were held at Allan & Lucy's near Penetanguishene unless otherwise noted.)


March: Inaugural meeting.  10 people attended a meeting in Toronto and held a pipe ceremony, discussed future meetings, and generally got acquainted.


April 27-28: Seven folks gathered for the weekend. Saturday activities consisted of a long slow walk involving track analysis and plant identification.  As well, atl-atl and throwing stick practice.  A sweat lodge was held in the evening.  On Sunday folks foraged for lunch, and wild leek soup was made and enjoyed.  The tracking box was used to analyze tracks made by people carrying weights.


May 25-26: On Saturday a sundance and pipe ceremony were held.  Then a long walk in the woods, collection of plants for tea (pine needles & mullein leaves), dandelion root coffee, and morel mushrooms and nettles for food.  A sweatlodge was held Saturday evening.  On Sunday the indoor tracking box was used while it rained outside.  Eight people attended.


June 4: A small meeting of 4 people in Toronto to view Tom Brown's special on PBS television.


June 22-23: Five folks gathered and during the weekend practiced debris hut construction, burning bowls and spoons, and straightening arrows.  Wild edibles were collected for salad.  A sweatlodge was held Saturday evening.


July 20-21:  A group of 6 met for many different activities, including smoking hides, working on a beaver hide, burning bowls and spoons, swimming (hot weather).  The highlight of the weekend was the experience of eating groundhog meat.  A sweatlodge was held Saturday evening.  Again, wild edibles were collected for salad (purslaine), and sumac lemonade was made.


August 24-25:  This meeting was cancelled because everyone was away.


September 21-22:  The meeting was highlighted by the construction of a teepee.  Poles were gathered in the woods and erected.  On Sunday the group of 7 went into a nearby marsh to collect cattails which were used to try thatching the teepee.  Cordage was made from the inner bark of Hemlock trees, and this inner bark was also eaten.  A sweatlodge was held Saturday evening.


October 26-27:  Seven people gathered for a long walk in the woods Saturday morning, collecting wild edible mushrooms (toothy wonder, redcaps), and mullein stalks for handdrill practice, and grapevines for baskets.  One person made a cattail poncho for the rainy afternoon.  Others worked on clay pots and baskets.  A sweatlodge was held Saturday evening, without the insulating blanket covering, and it was found that heat dissipation was quick.  On Sunday the group went to a store on a nearby Indian reserve.  Quills were gathered from a dead porcupine.


November 23-24:  Eleven people gathered this weekend.  On Saturday a walk to a nearby beaver dam and pond.  One group member shared their notes from a recent Animal Behavior course at the Tracker School.  Sweatlodge on Saturday evening.  Also the group collected rocks for future sweatlodges, as well as clay for pottery.


December 28-29:  Nine people attended.  The group gathered cedar boughs for a teepee, in which a singsong was held later on.  Some folks worked on baskets and braiding, others on nettle/milkweed cordage.  Others on pipes and pipe bag.  Lots of tracking practice in the snow.  A sweatlodge on Saturday evening.


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