Out here in the middle of nowhere,
but it is somewhere,
the small danger of poison ivy,
ticks,
snakes,
poison oak,
but we overlook all that,
to come out here,
to sample the stream,
it is so different from everywhere,
but it is somewhere,
the differences are welcome,
such a change in my environment,
even the dying plants are beautiful,
the poison ivy with its yellow leaves,
the trees that are so colorful,
the see of plants,
of living things,
it is so great to come out here,
where it is somewhere.

-Ben

In our world there are all kinds of barriers. Barriers for people, for animals, for everything. Right here I see a barrier, one between life as we know it and life as they know it. There's a line, a fence probably, that separates the cows from the forest. We are not one, over the years we have made wild into a science and separated it from ourselves almost completely. In order for this to work we must break that barrier. The cows must come home.

- Rachel

I feel the soft breeze
It's tickling my knees,
The crickets sound kind,
They're chirping in my mind,
I see a big rock,
It looks like a dock,
I feel so good,
Sitting in the wood.

- Jordan

It's so dry
the birds and bugs are crying.
The water is gone from the stream bed.
Why doesn't it rain, why doesn't it rain?
We haven't had rain for many months
and when we do it's little.
Only a drop now, here and there
.

- Lauren

Being down here makes me feel happy and sleepy. It's very peaceful. The bugs are singing and you can hear the birds chirping. It's like a different world. Solitude describes it exactly. But it is interesting, too. There are all these plants, and the soil looks like clay. There was this interesting mud that your feet would sink into. I got my hair full of stick tights. Catherine helped pick them out. We had to be very careful of poison ivy. It's everywhere. All the different plants and shrubs were really interesting to look at. There were some steep banks to climb too. That was fun.

-Lauren

We sit here
in cloudy darkness
raindrops interupting
our thoughts, our paper
and our drawing
dancing in the
stream
cold feet
wet pants
numb hands
search through the mud
rotten trees give way
underfoot
fall foliage orange, yellow, brown & green
surrounds us with
calming wonders
of nature
shh...if you listen
closely you'll
hear
the silence of
the fish swimming
minding their
own business
as we
interupt their lives.

- Jessie

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