The Launch – NORA Conference at UMASS Amherst

 Posted on August 3, 2018 by

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In mid-June, we ran a program for attendees of the NORA conference, which took place at UMASS Amherst. NORA stands for “North American Center for Research on Advanced Materials” and is a research initiative established by BASF SE, Harvard University, MIT, and UMASS Amherst. We wanted to put together something intriguing and thought provoking, but also fun. So with James at the helm, we ventured into the creation of a new activity called “The Launch”.
 
In this activity, participants are in small groups and tasked to put their heads together to create a catapult out of a variety of starting materials. They can gain access to more of certain types of materials by solving riddles and puzzles, gaining chips to spend at the materials store.
 
 
To start, the groups are given criteria for these catapults. There are rules that the catapults need to adhere to, and the participants are creating these devices with the goal of scoring the highest in four separate categories: Distance, Accuracy, Innovative Use of Resources, and Aesthetics. The groups can also gain more points by “selling” their product to the judges with a 60 second commercial, right before the launch competition starts.
 
Once the competition starts there are two rounds wherein the teams take turns launching their tennis balls as far as possible, followed by two rounds wherein they aim to launch their tennis balls as close to a target as possible. After that, the judges deliberate about the Innovation and Aesthetics, and the winner is crowned.
 
Working with the folks from NORA was a privilege; we saw so many clever innovations, and they rose to the challenge with fervor and a healthy competitive and playful spirit. This was our first execution of the Catapult Challenge, so we didn’t quite know what to expect – and we saw many different shapes and sizes of catapult, all of which used the resources in a unique way. The groups worked hard to gain more materials by coming to the puzzles station and working on brain teasers and riddles. Not to mention their commercials were hilarious. If I didn’t know any better I would have thought we were working with a theater group or a comedy troop.
 
 
The folks from the NORA conference really rose to the occasion and it was clear that they had a great time. We’re very much looking forward to doing more of this activity in the future.
 

Big Brothers Big Sisters on Summersville Pond

 Posted on May 29, 2018 by

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In April, Farlin and Eric went for a paddle with the Hartford Chapter of Big Brothers Big Sisters on Summersville Pond in Summers Connecticut.

Farlin and Eric took them out during their first warm weather experience of the year. This particular crew was the core team of folks who have shown up to all big brothers big sisters programs we’ve done. There was a feeling of comradery and closeness that had been developing over the many months that we’ve been doing these programs with them.

Farlin and Eric have seen this particular group of kids really coming out of their shells and developing both confidence and competence in areas all across the board. During this program they put emphasis on taking on more of a leadership role by having the kids start off in the stern with the adults in the bow, where they had control over the direction of the boat. The kids were able to make decisions about where the group went and where they explored, and they all had a chance to get out of the boats into the water.

 There was a lot of wildlife coming out of the winter fog. Specifically, they saw a ton of turtles… Like hundreds of turtles sunning themselves on logs on the side of the pond.

There was some sweet sadness and a feeling of parting because this string of programs with Big Brothers Big Sisters would be coming to an end soon, but they were talking about going to “yard goats” games together, outside of this their programming with AIAO.

Teamworks “Bag of Tricks” Training

 Posted on May 17, 2018 by

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On May 14th James and Farlin ran a program with Teamworks at their facility in Northborough, MA. Teamworks is an organization that runs indoor sports programming of many types – including boxing soccer and lacrosse to name a few. They also do traditional team building events for schools and businesses.
 
During this program we ran a staff training program for them, where we focused on bolstering the array of activities and skills that they use for their own delivery of team building programs. We call this our “bag of tricks” training. This particular group of participants have worked together before, some recently and some not for years – so this gave them a chance to reconnect and have their own team-building experience. Team-building for a team of team-builders
 
We had many activities up our sleeve, and offered them wide array to choose from. In this way, we were able to customize the program to meet them where they were coming from in terms of their background and experience in team-building. We were nimble and graceful like flying squirrels. A power to reckon with. Sting like a butterfly float like a beaver.
 
Overall, the nature of the program was very playful and it seemed to bring out a lot of joy and silliness. We’re big fans of encouraging adults release some of their inhibitions, allowing them to be their authentic, playful selves in a way that they may not regularly find time and space to explore.
 
James and Farlin really enjoyed themselves too. They had a lot of laughs, and felt a sense of accomplishment in seeing that the program served as a opportunity for the Teamworks staff to get closer to each other and to loosen up around each other at the beginning of this new season. This process also got them thinking outside the box in terms of new ways to connect with their participants. Below are a few pictures of the fun.
 
 
Warp speed – In this activity, participants are prompted to accomplish a task that includes a small yellow ball and physical contact between the ball and each individual as quickly as possible. There are specific rules that make this particularly challenge, and it really requires the group to work together and think outside the box to beat this challenge with warp speed.
 
Stargate – In this activity, everyone has to maintain contact with each other in a circle while they have to pass the entire group through the hoola-hoop. By putting them in close proximity to each other, while prompting them to funnel through a small aperture which got smaller after each successful attempt, we forced them to get closer and closer to each other in their space. We do this with to hopes helping people stretch their comfort zones. There was lots of laughter, an air of reunion and joy, and excitement about a new season.
 
 

Amherst College Outing Club – Knot Tying and Night Programs

 Posted on May 17, 2018 by

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For a while now we’ve been running short night-programs at Amherst College, consulting with the outing club as their advisors. We go to Amherst College and give them evening workshops four times a semester. These workshops involve outdoor skillsets that include: tarp construction/craft, hanging food to protect it from bears, knot tying, winter camping and adverse weather preparedness. During these workshops we aim to empower students to endeavor to adventure more safely and with more knowledge and self efficacy.
 
Recently, Farlin ran a knot tying workshop for the students. In a previous workshop where they had focused on tarp-craft and overall camp-craft, some students came to him saying that they felt deficient in their repertoire of knots – so they requested a workshop focusing on that.
 
This was an Indoor session, with ACOC members sitting around a table and practicing their knot tying skills together. They wen’t over clove hitches, bowlines, taught-line hitches, and truckers hitches. Farlin talked to them about the different uses and versitility of these knots, as well as their limitations.
 
Below you can see Farlin teaching one of the methods for tying a bowline knot, and some pictures of him tying a clove hitch around his finger.
 
  

The Bowline

 

The Clove

 

Bald Eagle – Swimming!

 Posted on May 10, 2018 by

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After several failed attempts to majestically snatch a meal from the lake… this bald eagle decides to swim for his lunch.

 

 

Enjoy!

Amherst College Outing Club – Navigation Program

 Posted on May 9, 2018 by

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In April, Farlin led a whole-day navigation program with 5 Amherst College students from the Amherst College Outing Club. They took bearings and practiced triangulation using the Holyoke Mountain range, starting from the War Memorial at Amherst College
 

Amherst College War Memorial in the Summer

 
They ventured out into the surrounding woods to practice dead reckoning through the wilderness, following a single bearing. They also learned about taking and shooting bearings from a map, and determining back bearings. The students made mini orienteering courses for eachother and they took turns following them. 
 
Here is a method that Farlin used to help the students understand how a topographical map translates to the actual landscape, showing the depth that may not be perceived by looking at the paper.
 
 
This is one of the ways that we teach visual learners how to interpret the vertical world (the actual mountains) into a horizontal one (the mountains as represented on topographical maps).

Amherst College Outing Club – Tracking Program

 Posted on May 8, 2018 by

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At the end of March, Eric and Farlin took Amherst College Outing Club out tracking in Montague. Starting along the side of the Connecticut river, the group saw beaver tracks, raccoon tracks, and mink tracks. They also saw wild turkeys making new tracks and lighting out in flight across the river. In the words of Farlin, “If you’ve never seen a turkey soar, you haven’t lived.” The substrate along the river was muddy and excellent for finding tracks.
 
For the rest of the day they tracked as many individual animal tracks as they could to see how long they could stay on their trail. They tracked a deer, a coyote, a squirrel, and a cotton tail rabbit in the sandy substrate of the glacial till in the Montague flats. 
 
Farlin and Eric covered topics including: Stride, gait, weight distribution, the subtleties of identifying the difference between canine and feline tracks, and interpreting the movements and methods of local animals.
 
Throughout they day, as they learned and practiced their knew tracking skills, the students were able to take time to connect and get to know each other better.
 

Eric and the group spotting cotton-tail rabbit tracks

 

And some coyote tracks

Big Brothers Big Sisters Fire-making and Navigation – Winter 2018

 Posted on April 26, 2018 by

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Big Brothers Big Sisters is an organization that brings together adults with adolescents for 1-1 connection. These adults have chosen to regularly spend time with a teenager that they aren’t related to, with the goal of being a positive influence and mentor for them in their lives. 
 
We’ve stepped in with Big Brothers Big Sisters to provide opportunities for the bigs and the littles to spend time together in an outdoor setting. This particular program gave them a chance to spend time bonding, and creating memories and meaningful experiences together, learning about navigation, fire-making, and overland navigation using compasses and topographical maps.
 
 
Eric & Farlin with a group of teenagers and their big brothers and big sisters. They were from the hartford area.

 

This girl has used a flint and steel to catch a spark and turn it into fire – this was her first experience creating fire from scratch

 

Just For Fun

 Posted on April 19, 2018 by

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We have fun here at AIAO. We have fun out there during our programming, of course – but we also have fun here in the office. We’ve decided to capture some of our special moments and catalog them here in our Just For Fun blog.
 
Shenanigans
 
 
Pun or Punishment
 

James is a man who loves puns. He loves reading, he loves rhyming, he loves the english language. He told me that for as long as he remembers he’s been coming up with clever wordplay.  “Puns – the poor man’s poetry” he says.

There’s a playful element to puns that James brings all of the things he does. He finds a way to finagle puns into his facilitation style, his every day conversation, and even his debriefs. Like with all puns, sometimes they make us giggle with glee, and sometimes… well… sometimes, it’s just plain punishment. What did we do to deserve this James? Why are you so whimsically witty? How do you come up with them so quickly?

For most of us, it’s not so bad at all. I tend to enjoy them more often than not (mostly because I can’t come up with a pun to save my life and I’m always so impressed.) But when we ask the question “Pun or punishment?” There is one among us who will almost alway say punishment – not always out loud… but we can tell.

So, as the puns roll along we’ll share them with you, and we’ll continue to ask this question: Pun or Punishment – What do you say Kyle?

April 19th, 2018 – 3:41 pm.

We had just gone on our afternoon nature walk. It had been drizzling, and the overcast made it seem like it was dusk. James was looking at apple on the ground, and what appeared to be the feeding sign of a rodent. He started to have an epiphany: “Rodent… I never thought about this, but perhaps the ‘dent’ in rodent refers to their prominent incisors. I wonder what the ‘ro’ stands for.” 

None of us had an answer for him.

Back at the ranch, Kyle and I were sitting at our computer desks – minding our own business. James had been fiddling away at his computer, entrenched in research about something. The moment James started to speak I knew what was coming, but I don’t think Kyle was prepared.  James looked up at me and said with a smile:

“So Christopher I was on this tracking program once, out tracking by a wetland, and a student called me over to ask me a question. He had seen some markings at the base of a tree, and he asked me ‘is this from a beaver?’ and I said ‘gnaww.'”

 

Hayloft to Thoughtloft

 Posted on April 19, 2018 by

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Last year, James tasked me and Erik Debbink to come up with a design and bring to fruition the conversion of the upstairs loft area of his barn into a meeting space/classroom. I’m going to lovingly call this project: Hayloft to Thoughtloft.

This was a fall project that began when outdoor education work was beginning to taper off. Our mission was to enclose, insulate, beautify and heat the space to make it suitable for a rainy day classroom, concert hall, or conference space. 
 
One of the great things about working at AIAO is that we are always empowered and inspired to put our creativity and practical skills to the task in ways that help us to grow personally. We are better educators when we do this regularly as ultimately this is what we ask of our students every day. 
 

Once we had a design, we made what we call a “cut list” in the biz. Then it was off to home depot to make the first materials purchase. Over the course of a couple of months we completely transformed the space. The building began with laying down closed cell foam board insulation directly on the existing rough plywood floor, then covering that with a high grade light colored birch plywood. For the walls we chose to install plantation pine bead-board plywood panelling over the same 1.5 inch closed cell foam board backing, directly onto the existing studs. In order to maintain access to the storage space in the eves of the gambrel roof we cut plug doors and left them snug fitting and hingeless with turn buckle closures so they would stay in place but could be easily removed. For the ceiling we used a lighter plywood sheet with the same foam backing. We also left an hinged access hatch into the attic space above the rafters. 

In order to let lots of light into the space to allow for the full effect of the light colored wood features of the renovation, we installed a five by five removable picture window in place of the sliding wooden doors that face the entryway end of the barn facing the house. With the removal of 4 wing nuts, two people can replace the picture window with a screen for summer airflow.


Another feature that really allowed for the blending of good old fashioned yankee ingenuity and creative use of space was the drawbridge style hatch door entryway featuring a weighted pulley system. 

The finishing touches involved treating the floor with five coats of Vermont Natural Coatings Whey Based clear coat. We stained the ceiling with a translucent whitewash stain. We also installed a very space efficient little wood stove and connected it to the existing chimney. The end result, after all was said and furnished, is a transformation from a roughed out hay loft storage space into a warm and versatile place to meet, enjoy company and share thoughts. 


Another outcome was the deepening of a friendship as the two of us got to bring our creativity and collaborative spirit together to bear a vision into reality. I found the journey of the Hayloft to Thoughtloft project to be emblematic of the Adventure In Adventure Out experience, where one is called to show up with quality and stretch into a place of growth through shared endeavor and a spirit of collaborative spirit. 

 
-Farlin J. Black 

A Love of Stone

 Posted on April 19, 2018 by

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There is something archetypal, maybe even mythic about rocks and stone. They seem to beckon, call, and draw me closer in. Whether it is a rocky crag, a glacial erratic, or a polished white stone underfoot, I become mesmerized, as if a spell has been cast upon me. Maybe it is my Celtic lineage, or maybe it is the seeming immutability of stone that is alluring to this mortal being. Whatever the case, I am a sucker for stone.

When I purchased my first home, I found myself called to erect stone walls, standing stones, build cairns, and even installed a stone spiral in my front lawn. After getting married, my wife Gayle and I purchased a new home with 18 acres, and the fever ensued. From the moment you enter the drive, to the trails out back you will find that the calling of the rocks has meta-morphed into a passion that some might deem bordering on madness.

Over the past few years, I have been wandering the woods behind my home and found myself serendipitously encountering a number curious stone structures. They are dry laid stones stacked in a “U” shaped pattern. They are several courses high and usually about four to six feet wide at the opening of the “U”. The second one that I came across was on the day before the Spring Equinox of 2017. I happened to be out there about an hour before sunset and realized that the sun was going to set in perfect alignment with the opening of the “U”.

I returned the following day, on the equinox, with my dog Tannin and had the fortune of a perfectly sunny day. As the sun got lower in the sky, I felt myself excited and wondrous, as I was witness to this magical event happening in the woods behind my house. This did not seem to be a coincidence that the sun was casting its beam directly into the mouth of this structure. Who, when, and why, were questions that were swirling in my mind, while at the same time feeling awe, and gratitude for having the fortune to have been called to this spot. I love the woods for so many reasons and this was, for me, a unique and unparalleled addition to the catalogue.


Upon returning home, I began attempting to find answers online. I came across a book called “A Guide to New England Stone Structures”. I readily ordered it and had it shipped express. As I pawed through this amazing book, I did not come across anything that looked like the structures that I was finding. I decided to write to the author and see what he might have to share. He wrote back quite quickly and let me know that the archaeological consensus seemed to be that these were ceremonial prayer seats built by the indigenous peoples of the land.

I continue to seek answers to this mystery and hope to call attention to these structures with the right people and at the right time. They feel precious and sacred and I feel strongly that they should be preserved and protected. As I learn more, I will share more. Until then, enjoy the photos, ponder the mystery yourself, and get out in the woods!

 

Trail Cam: Grey Fox – Winter 2018

 Posted on April 19, 2018 by

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This winter, on our way to and from the office, we kept spying some small canine tracks in the snow under the apple trees that adorn James’ yard. The avid trackers that we are, we puzzled out which species of animal we thought had left them behind. Where they made by a red fox? Too small. Coyote? Much too small. Domestic dog? Too ‘clean.’ Gray fox? Most likely.
 

We decided to employ one of our trail cameras in the hunt for an answer. Here’s are some of the photos that were captured.

 

One of two trail cams that we have set up on the property.

 

The dark strip of fur running down the tail in this picture bolstered our thinking that we had a gray fox roaming around the yard.

 

Much like the first photo, this one not only shows the dark strip of fur running down the tail, but also reveals the motivation for this fox to spend so much time in the yard: a meal of old apples!

 

The dark bars or steaks on the muzzle of this fox are another great indicator of this being a gray fox.

 
Happy tracking, everyone!