Our Flutter Fest Booth, June 23, 5-8pm 2026- MB Johnson Park
Our dedication to buckthorn management and the restoration of Bur Oak habitat continues.
Come see our booth next Tuesday evening at MB Johnson Park. We will be showcasing some saplings born from local Bur Oak acorns and discussing our project for building a volunteer team ready to collect acorns in the fall from all our region’s elder Bur Oaks. With the right help we may be able to plant some of those acorns in parks this fall.
We will also be demonstrating buckthorn walking stick carving and guests can participate in sanding or staining buckthorn discs gathered from the buckthorn removal project right in MB Johnson park.
Jaclyn Weber will be guiding us in a foraging tour through the park. Jaclyn will be able to turn the forest into nature’s supermarket, introducing us to the riches available there. Meanwhile, I will be pointing out the invasive character of Buckthorn and the remaining remnants of our old growth Bur Oak forest before introducing one of the largest and oldest Oaks of our region.
Land restoration is as much about writing new stories of relationship with the land as it is about tending to it. To be in good relation we will need to slow down, sit still for a moment, and listen. We will close the evening transitioning to a community circle nearby where we will create space for giving voice to our non-human neighbors and sharing in some rhythms. Leading into the drumming, we will participate in an activity called, “The Counsel of All Beings”. Think of the animals, the plants, the trees, and the waters all around us as the Beings. This activity is a playful invitation to imagine what nature might say if she had a human voice to speak. Be sure to stop by our table before the drumming to select a being and create a mask to represent them. We will bring these voices into the circle and move our way from the voices of beings into the rhythm of drumming. Together, we will shake the ground underneath us with the sounds of our instruments and be their voices, to joyfully honor and represent them.
