Sedgewick Reserve
By Jeffrey Jacobs (05/12/09 13:39:51)
Related animals: Bird, Cow, Deer

Sedgewick Reserve

The recent class trip to the Sedgewick Reserve was arguably the most successful yet in terms of interspecies collaboration. We encountered several different animals and interacted with them in varying ways. In the beginning of the trip we al hiked in a single file line up the side of a hill to a shady tree at the top. Once we got there, we were dowsed in burning sage and led in a meditation by Hannah. The meditation was quite nice and relaxing as I imagined myself floating in space towards a pink rectangle surrounded by blue. I attempted to tap into my inner shaman and become one with nature, to better facilitate my ability to interact with animals, as I had learned to do on Santa Cruz Island. As we walked back down the hill we saw a dear jumping through the grasses below. If we had stayed still longer perhaps he would have come closer to us.
Later, we attempted to collaborate with the cows that live on the reserve. We had learned from a video that cows become relaxed when pressure is applied to their sides. My classmates leaned on the cow to try and exercise this practice. The cow did not seem to like it very much though and tried to free itself from the people surrounding it by walking backwards, for a moment it looked like a four person one cow tango. We fed the cows hay as some mother cows protected their calves in the background behind a fence.
That night, we went on a night hike to see what nocturnal animals we could discover. Along the walk we came to a pond where several birds stated making noise as we passed. We stood still and listened to the animals flap their wings each time that Nathan dragged his feet across the ground. It was an official collaboration! Nathan was making ‘music’ together with the birds as we all stood and listened with amazement. We walked away from the pond with a feeling of grand accomplishment.


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