Our Ohlone Ancestors:
Wisdom from the Past

Date: Monday September 14, 2009
Time: 7:00 p.m.

Exploring a Sense of Place is delighted to offer an evening with Mark Hylkema who is a State archaeologist with 29 years experience in California archaeology and native American Culture. His storytelling will provide a flavor for the local prehistory and native lifeways up to the time of European contact. We will also reflect on what it was like, not too many years ago, when grizzly bears and the ancestral Ohlone people dwelled here. For more information click here

Location: Conexions Center, 1023 Corporation Way Palo Alto, CA 94303
Registration: Contact Laurel Smith or call (650) 938.9300 x17
Cost: Preregistration prices are $15, $10 for Conexions members. and $20 for a family. Door price is $20 per person.

strong>To register:

Register ONLINE by clicking on one of the options below.

Note: Online registrations are processed by PayPal via Conexions. PayPal account is not necessary.

REGISTRATION – Conexions non-member, for the Evening ($15)

REGISTRATION – Conexions member for the Evening ($10 each)

REGISTRATION – A family for the Evening ($20 each family)

You may also email or call:

• lsmith@exploringsenseofplace.org
• 650.938.9300, x17
• Fax: 650.938.9301

A project of Conexions: Partnerships for a Sustainable Future

Our speaker on Monday, September 7 will be Drew Harwell who is a naturalist, educator and organic gardener. He has a BA from Prescott College in Environmental Restoration and was trained in nature awareness and regenerative design at the Regenerative Design Institute. He is the garden manager of the Common Ground Demonstration Garden and chef Jesse Cool’s Seeds of Change garden. He has worked with children, teens and adults in nature and garden settings for over 13 years. His style of mentoring is to help students explore nature through their individual passions and creativity. Whether he is working in the garden or wandering in the hills, Drew’s passion is connecting people to the healing powers of
nature.

On Saturday, September 12 we will get to enjoy many aspects of Hidden Villa, a 1,600 acre farm and wilderness preserve. We will start the morning with Drew Harwell who will guide us on a short walk while we learn about edible native plants and the foods of the Ohlones. Next Jason McKenney will escort us through Hidden Villa’s gardens and we will learn about the farm’s CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program.

To prepare us for lunch we will be lead in a food meditation. Jesse Cool will then tell us the story of running a restaurant/catering business using using local and organic ingredients and paying workers a living wage while we enjoy a delightful lunch prepared by CoolEatz.

After lunch Walt Hayes will give us a tour of the Wolken Education Center and tell us about its many sustainable features.

Our guest speaker and guide for August is Joe Jordan, he has dedicated his life to astronomical research, science education, and new ways of generating power. His formal education started at Oberlin University with a major in physics, and continued at UC Santa Cruz with his Masters Degree in Oceanography/Computer Science.

Joe has worked for NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View for ocer 20 years. During his tenure at NASA he has served on various projects including: Hubble Space Telescope. SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy), Computerized analysis of ozone depletion and global climate change. His recent research includes searching for new types of infrared astronomical objects, extra solar planets, supernova, and airborne earth/ocean/atmospheric imaging analysis.

Joe will speak to us on Monday, August 3 and lead us in star gazing on Saturday, August 8. On Saturday, we will commence the evening with a walk lead by Midpeninsula Regional Open Space Preserve (MROSP) docents, and a nature awareness experience. We will eat dinner while watching the sun set over the Pacific and then begin learning about the night sky.

Exploring a Sense of Place is excited to present an evening with Jack Laws, a naturalist, educator and artist.

You are guaranteed to leave this evening feeling inspired.

Monday, November 30
6:45 – 7 p.m. Registration & Refreshments
7 – 9 p.m. Program
Conexions Center, 1023 Corporation Way, Palo Alto, CA 94303
$20 advance registration (by Nov. 23),
$25 at the door,
$5 discount for Conexions members.
Space is limited.

Naturalist, educator and artist John (Jack) Muir Laws delights in exploring the natural world and sharing this love with others. He has worked as an environmental educator for over 25 years in California, Wyoming, and Alaska. He is trained as a wildlife biologist and is a research associate of the California Academy of Sciences. His illustrations capture the feeling of the living plant or animal, while also including details critical for identification. He teaches classes on natural history, conservation biology, scientific illustration, and field sketching.

His most recent book, The Laws Guide to the Sierra Nevada, is an illustrated field guide to more than 1,700 species of plants and animals and is beautifully illustrated with 2,710 original watercolor paintings. This is a compact book designed to help you quickly identify what you find. We will have the book available at this event.

To register:

Register ONLINE by clicking on one of the options below.

Note: Online registrations are processed by PayPal via Conexions. PayPal account is not necessary.

REGISTRATION – Conexions non-member, for the Evening ($20)

REGISTRATION – Conexions member for the Evening ($15 each)

Download
payment-and-order-form (and fax or mail).

You may also email or call:

• info@exploringsenseofplace.org
• 650.938.9300, x12
• Fax: 650.938.9301

A project of Conexions: Partnerships for a Sustainable Future

Tracks, Tales and Trails with Wendolyn Bird
by: Laurel Smith, Exploring a Sense of Place coordinator

Saturday November 21, 9:45am-12pm

Are you a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, neighbor, friend, or caregiver who wants to make a positive impact on a child in your life?

Exploring a Sense of Place is delighted to offer an exploration for children hosted by the gifted, local naturalist, Wendolyn Bird (see biography below). During this special discovery of our own environment, all of us, children (5 – 10 years old) and adults, will have the opportunity to explore nature with new eyes and ears, and leave the experience with a broader and deeper meaning for “home”.

We will begin the day by gathering in a circle for lively storytelling before embarking on our adventure in nature. Children will help lead the adults on the exploration. We will end the day by sharing our adventures and enjoying a picnic lunch together.

We will be meeting at 9:45am. Please arrive a few minutes early, and bring a picnic lunch!

The exploration costs $50 for each pair (one child and one adult), and $45 for Conexions members. Space is limited to 20 people, so sign up now!
If you have questions, please contact Laurel Smith (extension 17) or Judy Cronin (extension 12) at 650.938.9300 or email, info@exploringsenseofplace.org.

“We think of our children as sufficiently fulfilled with technology. Yet we are finally learning that these fundamental experiences of the natural world are inherent necessities for us to reason clearly and shape a fulfilling course of human affairs in all their various contexts. Our children especially need these experiences. Yet only if found with their elders can children’s early experiences be complete.” –Thomas Berry

Wendolyn Bird is a teller of tales, music maker and guide for the young and old alike. She brings a unique and outstanding set of training and experience to all her work with young children. Her workshops and trainings for educators, caregivers and parents incorporate story, song and music. She has been running her own fully outdoor pre-school, Tender Tracks Tales and Trails, as well as her popular outdoor summer camps for older children, since 1995. Wendolyn has worked in Child-Adolescent Psychiatric Units, Juvenile Court Schools and the County Jail, and has taught for many years in schools with diverse populations.

To register:

Register ONLINE by clicking on one of the options below.

Note: Online registrations are processed by PayPal via Conexions. PayPal account is not necessary.

REGISTRATION – Conexions non-member, for the Day ($50)

REGISTRATION – Conexions member for the Day ($45 each)

Download
payment-and-order-form (and fax or mail).

You may also email or call:

• info@exploringsenseofplace.org
• 650.938.9300, x17
• Fax: 650.938.9301

A project of Conexions: Partnerships for a Sustainable Future

Our yearlong course consists of one Saturday Exploration and one Monday Enrichment Evening per month. The evening speakers prepare us for the Saturday explorations where we go out in small groups into our bioregion, with a concentration on our own watershed. While we provide wonderful guides and materials, these explorations are designed for each person to make his/her own connection.

As the year progresses, through every season, in every weather, and through the different ecological zones, we become more familiar with our place. Every month we focus on a different theme, and by using different lenses, we develop skill in using all of our senses. Through facilitated exercises we learn to express our connection with our sense of place. And by experiencing this together, we form community, deepening our roots with those around us.

The yearly program starts in May, however, new participants are welcome to join the course in progress, at a prorated fee. Register now or experience us for one month for a $35 guest fee. This includes our Monday enrichment evening, from 7-9 pm at the Conexions Center, 1023 Corporation Way, Palo Alto and our Saturday exploration at one of our local parks. You can also find more information, including the schedule, here. Or contact Judy Cronin at 650-938-9300 x12.

We are excited to announce that Exploring a Sense of Place and founder Karen Harwell are the subject of the Palo Alto Media Center’s Local Heroes program. Karen was one of five people to receive the award. An in depth look at Exploring a Sense of Place and Karen’s work was aired on the Palo Alto Cable Channel. To view the video click here.

Three-Day Training in June, 2009

Tunitas Creek Ranch near Half Moon Bay will open its farm for 20 participants June 19 – 21, 2009. The goal of the training program is for participants to:

Through a concentrated weekend of first hand experience with local guides, we will learn how to read the landscape of place through its deep time geologic story, weather patterns, water cycles, plant and animal communities. We will experience strategies for teaching nature awareness. We will also learn how the indigenous communities sustainably nourished themselves with native plants and animals, and the importance today of choosing local, organic and seasonal food by spending time in the garden where greens and vegetables for our dinner were grown. In the evening, with guidance from a NASA scientist, we will experience our place in the cosmos, orienting us to the stars, planets and constellations of the night sky. Throughout the weekend participants will be relating these experiences to how they apply in their own watershed or bioregion. By the final morning, working with the Exploring a Sense of Place guidebook and notebook materials, participants will develop initial plans for their own local explorations and learn how to connect with one another online to share ideas.

For more information please contact our Director of Outreach, Laurel Smith:

Phone 650-938-9300, x17 or email lsmith@exploringsenseofplace.org

Treat the Earth well. We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children. Ancient Native American Proverb

Additional Workshop Information

Flyer

Overview
Schedule
Registration

Our seeds are spreading and taking root in beautiful San Diego. Chris Khoury and Linda Corey have started a group exploring the San Dieguito River Valley modeled after our guide book “Exploring a Sense of Place”. They have graciously allowed us to publish their article for the newsletter of the San Dieguito River Valley Conservancy announcing the start of the program. Check it out at A Journey Down the San Dieguito River. We will keep in close touch with the group.

• Treat the Earth well. We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children. Ancient Native American Proverb
• To be rooted is perhaps the most important but least understood need of the human soul. Simone Weil
• We did not come into this world. We came out of it, like buds out of branches and butterflies out of cocoons. We are a natural product of this earth, and if we turn out to be intelligent beings, then it can only be because we are fruits of an intelligent earth, which is nourished in turn by an intelligent system of energy. Lyall Watson
• It is not enough to just “love nature” or want to “be in harmony with Gaia.” Our relation to the natural world takes place in a place, and it must be grounded in information and experience. Gary Snyder
• A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise. Aldo Leopold