Education

A wooden sign with the words "Pictou County Forest School" burned into it around a circle with 3 trees inside it, hangs from a white wooden post over a wooden barrel on the dirt roadside that seems to have had some recent clearing. There is what looks like a buck deer skull with antlers on the barrle and another wooden sign saying "Idle Free Zone Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions."

This article originally appeared in the Halifax Examiner in May 2023. As I’ve noted in recent posts on my website, because multi-billionaire Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta platforms are blocking (censoring) media in Canada, this means articles published by media outlets cannot be posted or shared on any Meta platforms – not Facebook and not Instagram. This bullying by Meta is harmful to independent media, and in my view, harming democracy – instead of fact-checked articles, social media feeds are now full of meaningless memes, unending ads, and lots of opinion based on nothing but, well, opinion. For this reason, I am now posting some of my Halifax Examiner articles on my website, so they will not be blocked and can be read and shared on Meta platforms.

We can hear the children making their way through the woods well before they reach the grove of hemlock trees, this place they call “Base Camp One.” They sound happy, excited, their voices a chorus of youthful exuberance, as they head to school for another day of adventure, learning, and fun in the forest.

Welcome to the Pictou County Forest School.

In what looks like a woods setting sits a weathered grey stump sculpted into what looks like it is meant to be a bear, and the bear is holding a weathered grey wooden sign that says "Welcome to Forest School."

Much of what is created and used at the Pictou County Forest School is of natural materials, like this welcome sign. (Credit: Joan Baxter)

Continue reading Learning ‘not to hurt’ nature: Pictou County Forest School offers a classroom amidst the trees

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