Archive: Around Town

August 10 - Can you make a stone bowl with nothing but what you can find in the woods? How about starting a fire with a rope and a stick? Can you cook a meal using your stick-made fire? That's what 12 kids are learning in this summer's Primitive Pursuits session. Lansing Youth Services Director Micaela Cook joined the kids and leaders Jed Jordan and Tim Drake behind the Lansing Middle School for a week of roughing it.

Pulling back and forth, the girls on one side and the boys on the other, enough friction is created to make the 800 degrees needed to start a spark

The program is offered by Cornell Cooperative Extension in different localities including Lansing, Newfield, Dryden and Danby. Versions are offered for home schoolers and even for adults. This week's Lansing group is in the Middle School age range, about half repeating from earlier sessions with the rest new to the program.

Lansing High School student Nick VanDerzee often helps Mr. Drake and Mr. Jordan, following a tradition. "It's a good program," says Jonathan Howe. "I worked there when Sephra Albert was running (Lansing Youth Services). It was my first job. I was in ninth grade when I first worked there."

Primitive bocce ballsThe program takes place in the gorge behind the Middle School, in and around Salmon Creek. On Wednesday about a half dozen kids played bocce with a set made with stones from the creek. "My wife is Italian and we play bocce a lot," said Mr. Drake. "So we thought it would be fun to make a bocce set with stones."

Next up was a giant demonstration of how to start a fire by creating friction. The boys lined up on one side of a rope wrapped around a five foot sick. The girls took the other side while the leaders held the stick upright and taught the group to pull back and forth, back and forth until a "coal" (actaually wood shavings) began to glow from the heat generated from the rotating stick. They explained that the coal ignites at around 800 degrees, so all that pulling created a lot of friction. Later in the day pairs of kids would get to make their own sparks with smaller sticks.

Holding the coal high so the smoke won't get in his eyes, Ian blows gently to make the fire start

The fire was placed in a coconut shell cup to transport it down the gorge where it would be used to start a camp fire to cook the corn. Once everyone made it down the steep climb to the bottom, the group sat in a circle to decide where the best location for their fire would be. Should they make their fire on the rocks by the creek where it is hot, or in the woods where it is cool? It would get hotter by the creek with a fire, but it would take a lot of work to clear leaves in the woods, a dangerous situation because the drought has made the leaves very dry and flamable.

Deciding where to build the fire, good decision making training

Everyone got to speak, and a good lesson in collective decision making was learned, as kids figured out what was really important to those with opposing views. Some kids wanted to swim, others wanted to be in the shade, and they they finally reached a compromise.

Building a fire in an old fire pit

Remains of older Primitive Pursuits projects including shelters and fire pits are in clearing by the creek, and the kids decided to use an existing fire pit. As they gathered wood and started the fire, Mr. Drake and Ms. Cook worked on the stone bowl. A drill bit made of stone had been lashed to a stick, and it was pushed onto a rock while being turned with twine in much the same way the fire had been started. As the hole in the rock gets bigger, the bit is replaced with increasingly larger stones until the rock is hollowed out. This is a time and energy consuming task, so it was done a little at a time. The kids liked dipping their fingers the stone dust and putting it on their noses.

Drilling a stone bowl

The next day everyone participated in a hunt.  The kids were told they were looking for a ferocious green striped creature, and they followed foot prints and clues until they found it: a watermellon with antlers!  After trapping their prey they all got to eat it.

The program is sponsored by Lansing Youth Services (533-4271 extension 2118) and Cornell Cooperative Extension (272-2292). The kids learned many skills including how to live in the wild, building shelters, starting fires, cooking, safety and social skills. But when asked how he likes Primitive Pursuits Ian Patrican summed it up in one word" "Fun!"

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