We went to Art of Mentoring in August. It is a course where you practice awareness in nature, community building, and wilderness skills that draws heavily on native american traditions. There are programs for adults, teens, kids, and mommy-baby.

Esker and I took part in the Oaks and Acorns program – the mommy/baby contingent. It was lovely and inspiring to be around such gentle, loving and strong moms.

We took daily trips to the river, learned about bird language and fire making, sang songs, and listened to many stories.

Even though Oaks and Acorns was a program along side the program proper, I felt very welcome by the Art of Mentoring community. After all, what’s a community without mom’s and babies?
 All of the Oaks listened to the talks and took part in the programming when we could. But we were also just happy sitting together quietly and watching our li’l tots play together.

Art of Mentoring Ontario is coordinated by the PINE Project (which I love and if you live in Toronto, you need to check out). Particularly, this class which I fully plan to take.