For the last several weeks during ECO our focus has been on fire, with emphasis placed on fire safety. We also talked about how to build a fire, what fires need to keep burning, and different ways to make fires go out.  Pete shared a silly story about a bobcat being unsafe around a fire.  Ask your child what happened as a result! (Short tail with a little blackness at the end!)

We eased into fire building by making a tiny fire inside a Kelly Kettle, which we used to boil water for tea. Children helped gather three kinds of sticks for the fire: the smallest, mouse tails, critical for getting the fire going, but super quick to burn out, followed by chickadee sticks (about the size of something a chickadee would land on), and finally beaver chews. Finally this past week we had a large fire and enjoyed roasting apples for our last fall ECO session.