Blog

Poet Mary Oliver writes, “the leaf has a song in it.” On a recent weekend Jocassee Wild Outdoor Education guides and volunteers spent two days listening for that song. Guides became students and set out to explore the gorges with the eyes of true Wild Children—noticing, wondering about, and connecting what we found. We role-played as bats and moths to experience echolocation and what it is like to be a predator or prey. We built a mountain and watched it erode. We looked at animal tracks and scat and postulated not only about which animal passed that way but also why. We tried to camouflage ourselves to hide from predators. We explored a cave and practiced noticing small details that make one rock different from another. We also took time to reflect, to be grateful for the adventure of living and working in the beautiful Jocassee Gorges and for the privilege to lead both children and adults on their own journeys of noticing, wondering, and connecting. Throughout, we were reminded of what we all surely knew as children—that the secret to fully experiencing the natural world is not in finding all the answers but in finding all the questions. And we came away from the weekend knowing that the assertion Oliver makes is true: “The song you heard singing in the leaf as a child is singing still.” ~Betsy Lewis, JLT Naturalist Guide