Whisky Jack and Tapping the Birch

This is our last full day. We are heading to the school early for a big breakfast. Once a month the staff pitch in and make breakfast for all the students. Since we are leaving early tomorrow they are making a big breakfast Thursday so we can enjoy it too!

 After breakfast we made a quick stop at Elaines to get buckets to tap birch sap with. Then we went to find some birch trees in the forest. It was so beautiful. Quiet, lush and the air was so fresh in the bush.

 Tapping the sap. We tapped two different birch trees. The paper birch gave us way more sap.

 The tap is simply birch bark rolled up. Elaine taught us how to thank the Creator before tapping the sap. It was wonderful. Raven helped with the offerings.

The sap was quick to drip, as the weather was really warming up as the week went on. Considering our first night it snowed, we were doing pretty well for weather.

After breakfast we journeyed to Whisky Jack Treatment Centre. The centre runs programs to help children and youth break their additions. It is a 16 week program. Near the end of the program they will invite parents into the centre to participate as well. It is a very important program, as so many of these children need the help early on to break their additions. It has been operating for over 20 years and takes kids from as far away as Ontario. There is a waiting list for the program. One of the first questions asked by our students was "Why is it called Whisky Jack when it's a treatment centre?"
Well it is located on Whisky Jack point, which is known for their abundance of Whisky Jack birds.

 It's so muddy in Spring and Fall in Cross Lake that you need to take your shoes off when you enter a building. Even the school has shoe racks for the students to place their shoes on when they come in. It's kind of nice, makes you feel like you are coming into a place you can feel comfortable in.

 We were given a ton for great swag including these awesome bags, and a calendar, a thumb drive, mugs and pens. So very generous! Thank you!

 Our tour guide, he played this great ice breaker game with us in the gym where we had to throw the ball to the same person without speaking, and then he kept adding balls to the circle. It was really fun, and kind of chaotic.

 After the tour we went back to pick up of birch sap as it was requested for the afternoon activities.

 What a fantastic tree. Thanks for sharing your sap. We appreciated it!