Wild Things ATX

POWER TO THE PEOPLE! Call in sick today!!!!!!

Please keep all the activists participating in the cop city protest today in your thoughts! Thank you to all those from Austin who stopped their business as usual to say no one is free until the system is abolished!!! And everyone from around the world that is protesting Israel and genocide and calling for a ceasefire - thank you for showing up 👏👏👏 Wild Things wants NO COP CITY AND A FREE PALESTINE!!!!

Did you know that we have a “mini spring” season here in Central Texas where dozens of edible and medicinal plants begin to sprout before it freezes?

Come learn, taste, play, and make – all with plants!
Meet winter wild plants that nourish and heal us, growing right in your neighborhood and backyard. Learn how to make them into teas and an herbal preparation called an oxymel, a sweet and tangy medicine made from honey and vinegar. Alcohol free! Take home a bottle to stay nourished during the winter to come 🙂

Access
Beginners welcome! One of our main visions for Wild Things is to bring Deaf, DeafBlind, and hearing and/or sighted folks together in learning community. This class will be presented in English, American Sign Language, and Protactile with interpretation in all three languages so that everyone can participate!

Details
Saturday December 9
10 – 2pm

Mary Moore Searight Park off of Slaughter Lane

Sliding scale – $20, $35, or $50

Register at wildthingsatx.com

Image Description in Comments

It’s morning sweatshirt weather in Austin!!!!!

Happy fall, y’all! Nichole here. I love this season. As a teacher, the transition from summer to fall is always bonkers 🥴 as things fall into some sort of routine over here (and we are getting some days in the 90s that feel like such relief), I’m really looking forward to spending more time outside!!!

I was going through some old family photos and found some of me and my brothers camping in different places as kids. Rainy, sunny, tents, tarps, cabins…. There’s no better or right way to camp - I’m just happy my parents had the resources to get us outside!

What places are y’all looking forward to camping this fall??? Drop some dope spots in the comments!

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Image descriptions:

1) 3 kids in 90s raincoats, the one in the center is holding a heart shaped cottonwood leaf

2) 3 kids and their dad stand on a wooden dock throwing bread to birds in the water (whoops! I know now not to do that)

3) 3 kids inside a big tent laying on sleeping bags and blankets that go every which way

4) nichole and her brother in a water balloon toss game

5) 3 kids at a table inside a cabin playing a memory card game

An apocalypse is here.

I spend some days not knowing what to do, some days doing nothing, some days doing a lot but not sure it’s the right thing or the right amount. All that I know to be true is the wild ones know what’s up, and so does this cyclical rhythm housed inside me. I know that if I can deepen my relationship with those things, I can get closer to answering the heavy question, “what the hell am I supposed to be doing right now as society crumbles?”

On Sunday I attended a webinar with Adrienne Marie Brown, Sonya Renee Taylor and Jessica Lanyadoo and 3000 other folks called “Joy in the Apocalypse.” I bet we wouldn’t have shown up if we didn’t all believe it’s possible to feel anger and grief and fear while also finding joy and love and community. It sparked clarity in me that we need to gather now. We need to build our inner knowing and outer support systems while we still can.

Exactly two moon cycles from tonight is the start of the new Wild Things program:
🌗Moon Tracking - cyclical, holistic, apocalypse prep 🌓

Wilderness skills mixed with relational and personal skills. Tracking the cycles within and around to see if there are any patterns that point toward revolution 🌈

More at the link in bio!

As the robins join the morning chorus with their evening song, I feel hope that we can all be together through the death of these oppressive systems and maybe even the birth of something new ✊

NEW PROJECT DROP! 🌈

Looking for a nature connected, creative, artistic, silly, super gay summer project???

Love art, birds, puns, zines, inclusivity, laughing, qu**rs, and/or collaboration?!?

I have an idea!!!! I want to co-create a funny /but also educational field guide of common Austin backyard birds.

Inspired by the book “Effin Birds” by Aaron Reynolds, I want to highlight the q***rness of some silly little guys while also dishing out some real local birding info 🦉

I need someone good at research because I want to figure out how to make the book tactile for Blind and/or DeafBlind folks to enjoy. I hear it can be done with a 3D printer!

Funny people, people good at drawing, nice people, weird people, ridiculous people, people that dream big, and ornithologists would all be great too🌈✨🦆

Hit me up if you wanna make weird s**t with me,
Nichole
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Image descriptions:

1) graphic of several backyard birds. Text reads “help me create a tactile q***r birding guide of Austin. Seeking folks who:
-like making silly art
-love g**s and birds
-get stuff done
-have a 3D printing connection
-have made zines / books
-wanna help for any reason at all “

2) selfie of nichole in rainbow heart pjs

3) the cover of the book “Effin Birds - a field guide to identification “ by Aaron Reynolds. The bottom right corner has a drawing of a bird flying, wings and mouth open. Text above the bird reads “eat farts”

4) page from inside the book. Black and white drawing of a wren. Silly text about the bird being a “wrathful sparrow” who is always cranky and has steam blowing out of its ears

5. Another page from the book. Lots of jokes about a hipster bird that you can find listening to records and eating at a vegan juice bar

6. Nichole’s water color of a red shafted flicker. Yellow sticky note with joke ideas about the shafts and about pecking 😆

7. More sticky notes of bird ideas from nichole. Blue jays hating cops, cardinals and painted buntings being the gayest males, and wrens having flamboyant tails

8. Nichole colored pencil drawing of a sparrow

March camo weekend was marvelously muddy🌈☀️👏 We had some first time bow drill fires too! 🥳🔥🪵

ABCD Immersion turns one year old today!!!!! Jess and I talked about doing a program like this for years, lots of what ifs and beautiful imaginings. You may have those too. It took both of our gifts and strengths (and the barred owls) to take little steps toward this experience. Wishing y’all the inspiration, energy, and trust you need to take a step forward this season. Dreams really do come true☀️🌈🌱🦝 Happy first day of spring!!!!! 👏✨🌺🐸 Love, Nichole

Photo 1 -Two people crouch down with their hands in rock, paper, scissor position

Photo 2 - a big group of folks gather in front of Santa Elena canyon with the Rio grande river behind them

Photo 3 - 2 people hike toward a big rock formation, the setting sun shines through a tree as they pass by

Photo 4 - 4 people sit at a metal picnic table covered by water bottles and an ancestor altar. There are tents and mountains in the background ⛺️

Photo 5 - two people sit cross legged in the grass facing one another. One is blindfolded and the other is touching her hands, telling the story of The Giving Tree in protactile. There are people behind them touching their backs.

Photo 6 - Jess is kneeling in the sand holding a big blue jug of water. In front of them is bandana holding the acorn flour we processed for cookies🍪

Photo 7 - two people hugging a pine tree 🌲❤️

Photo 8 - a woman reads the braille on a classmates 3-D sit spot map. The map is made of a piece of carpet, a handful of tiny fake trees, and a rabbit skull!

Photo 9 - a participant wraps artificial sinew around a straw full of pine needles for her basket