Date: July 6, 2019
Location: Takao
Participants: 17 campers, 8 LITs, 6 care workers, 18 volunteers, 7 Mirai no Mori staff
Partner: Morito Odoru
Pro-bono Photographers: Life.14 & Matias Saldaña
Program: 
Another successful Back to Nature program in Takao during the rainy season, luckily without rain! In teams, we went into the woods to greet the forest, we observed different types of tress, soil, and animals.

It was the 3rd or even 4th time for some members to be back in this forest. Some found the trees they pealed the bark off 2 years ago, some went to step on the stairs they made with leaves and shovels. First timers who had not been exposed to the forest, had fun learning about nature and catching some spiders and worms. Everyone was enjoying getting hands on with nature as well as the sights, sounds, and smells of the forest.

After lunch we leaned a healthy forest must have a healthy soil, so we headed off to the stream to fix its blocked flow. This, along with the good light and clean air will make this forest healthy and vibrant.

During our work Some campers got very muddy and wet, but everyone worked very hard to remove the leaves, branches, and rocks that were blocking the flow. Our team was the first one to ever go into this particular section of the stream, and we were given the opportunity to name it. We were surprised to be given this honor and our campers are working hard on a good name for when we come back in the winter.

We sincerely hope that this experience with a diverse group of adults will nurture our campers’ curiosity, and gave them the opportunity to think about their influence on the nature as well as other people.
We would like to extend a warm thanks to Morito Odoru, our ongoing partner, along with the sponsor for yet another fun and memorable workshop! We are excited to come back in Winter!