Top (from left to right): Paul K. Barten, Lawrence Capissisit, Hans Carlson, David Bosum, Emily Bosum, Anna Bosum, Naomi Heindel, Katherine Usik, Adam Finkle. Bottom (from left to right): Nick Chmura, Georges Fischer, Lena Fletcher, Tristan O’Donnell, Cassidy Plaud, Drew Gath.

 

This was the class that went on the 2013 snowshoeing trip to Ouje-Bougoumou in northern Quebec. It was a ten-day cultural emersion trip. We stayed three nights in the cultural village and five days in a traditional bush camp.  We learned about the boreal forest by living in it. Our wonderful hosts David and Anna Bosum, and their cousin Lawrence taught us about the boreal forest and Cree life and traditions.  We learned about the boreal forest by living in it. Our wonderful hosts David and Anna Bosum, and their cousin Lawrence taught us about the boreal forest and Cree life and traditions. Living in the bush camp allowed us to experience their family dynamics first hand. We gained hands-on experience doing diverse things ranging from traditional wood-working and sewing skills to setting a net under two feet of lake ice.  Even when people were learning separate things, as a group we prepared, ate, and cleaned up three meals a day. We ate traditional food, including: moose, caribou, beaver, snowshoe hare, Canada goose, several varieties of fish we caught in the lake, and bannock (a hearty bread made on a wood stove).  This class is an amazingly unique and magnificent experience. More