Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (April 18, 2012)
¿Ylht Clackamas Print W ednesday, April, 18,, 201-7 A fresh start, enter Wildman - cine can be made. D id you know that tea made from blackberry J leaves is good for curing .colds, coughs and flus? For an herbal tea, «It’s not top bad either. For a * vegetarian, gathering wild edible plants can be a very fun and enlightening experience. If, you have guts, it can also be an exciting experience. I call it “guerilla gathering,” in which one finds edible plants in foe “domes ticated” world. For instance, roses are edible. Though j I promise, I w ifip n ly e a t your rpses if I am starving. But just to remind, you, 1 am not a deer, so* please don’t shdot me. The outdoors n o t, only pro vide a place to eat aiftfi lick out By Isaac Soper wounds, but they giveffs a place Arts & -Culture Editor to. .play. We can go pn ' hikes, Call me a treehugger. Do it, I swim, climb and explore; nature provides a wide array o f possible dare you. . , I w ont . cry, I might blush a activities for. people tot; do. W hat little though, because I do love die lacks in technology, she makes up for in potential and diversity.!, Mother Nature. Oregon, is. a fantastic place to Nature has always fascinated me. Trees, rocks, animals, the sky;' live T f; you have a passion for you name it, I love it, I can’t the outdoors. W here Efive, I am - marry nature, sadly, because she about two hours away from the isn’t human, and-that.apparently mountain in one direction and., “isn’t okay,” (even though some the Coast in fo e other direction. ' I can go out my back door, drive guy in Korea married a pillow)'. , Sure, video games are fun. for five minutes and find agreat Movies and television pass the place to gp hiking or camping. If time. W hat do I get out o f any of I drive for 15 minutes I can find a those, activities, apart from instant great fishing spot. I become so desensitized and gratification; maybe a little more brain-dead? W ith the technology num b during the school year that time to we create with our minds and I don’t utilize m y the outdoors. I hide inside with our hands, we try to one-’ aced@clackamas.edu Take a hike at the Environmental Learning Center e r lr o o r x x . d o m v k o n a e w O r k ana d u r , ■ Wch a m universe. We’ve forgotten the skills that we consider to be “primitive,” that every culture before the industrial revolution considered necessary. We hide indoors, buy our grocer ies from stores and push a remote to start a fireplace. Granted, these luxuries are nice, and they are comfortable. ' I want uncomfortable. I want something real. I want to discover myself and die world aroundm e, and not though Google Street View. T he beauty o f the natural world is that things grow and things heal. T he world is a nurtur ing place. W ith some skill, food can be gathered, and even medi- te . T »r that to, change. I j ust Want to be at peace with in myself, and I don’t see that hap pening though the mass-media forms o f entertainment anymore. I feel lost a lot o f the time, and maybe what I need is to become lost in the woods to find myself. I want to gather m y meals from the woods, take a shower in the rain and fight for the protection ana conservation of the Earth. , I want to become a Wildman. I’ll still be mosdy-civilized— I’ll shower (most o f the time); maybe it’ll be an alter-ego, a secret iden tity perhaps? Let’s* see where it goes from here. Next up: Edible plants Meme of the Week: M any o f the site’s buildings were built from, reclaimed materials, along with the Haggart observatory. dusk, but are locked, which is disheartening. T he *ELCs. contains some beautiful', ponds,,..a wide array The Environmental Learning .of native plants (some being Cenper is a reafiy,eoolarea, ana edible), and quite a few wild beingsoelose to class(right off o f ,'animals .as -well. T he .ponds are ■Inskeep Drive, next to Lewelling habitat to quite^ a few ducks, and the old Art Center) is very turtles and bullfrogs during foe neato indeed. There are bath springtime. 4 , > rooms near the ELC that claim |'W i t h i n ,t h e 'trails thatfollow they are open from dawn to along Newell Creek» there js, a By Isaac Soper Arts & Culture Editor The E LC is home to many o f Oregon’s native species, including box turtles, bullfrogs an d ducks. self-guided tour of the area. Hopefully the revamping o f this area will happen soon. It has much promise, but as o f now it is in disarray. M uch o f the ELC’s trails have been damaged by graffiti, a fair am ount o f ¡trash andvandalism. £ Being a one-minute drive of a five-minute walk from class isn’t too shabby either. W hat foe ELC lacks in upkeep, it makes up for in possibility. Hopefully, we’ll see that realized in foe near future. All in all, foe ELC is a great little wilderness haven right here on campus, which .would only «improve with a bit o f main tenance and upkeep. Name: Environ cental Learning Center Location: Clackamas C om m unity College (Inskeep Drive) Type: (Moderately) groom ed trails Length: Less than one-mile Difficulty: E asy . Equipm ent needed: N one
