2009 Environmental Storytellers Retreat

March 13-15, 2009
summary submitted by Shelby Smith & Fran Stallings
Location: Cherapa Retreat Center c/o Tipi Tellers, PO Box 101, Spurger, TX 77660 in Big Thicket National Preserve
Despite cold, rainy weather, the 2009 Eco-Tellers Retreat proved to be all that was expected and more. It was hosted at Cherapa in Spurger, Texas, by Tipi Tellers Shelby Smith, Tsagoi Jennings, and Jaye Mclaughlin.

Reba and Granville Ott, relative newcomers to the eco-telling group having been introduced at the Gatlinburg NSN Conference, arrived from Austin TX. Fran and Gordon Stallings drove in the pouring rain from Bartlesville OK. These seven hard-core eco-tellers decided to take advantage of the small group. They began Friday night by getting reacquainted, catching up, and planning goals and objectives for their time together.

At Saturday morning breakfast they discussed true-life eco-hero tales that could be crafted for telling, such as Giraffe Heroes http://www.giraffe.org/. At 10am a Big Thicket National Preserve Ranger donated her time to give the group a tour of Cherapa, the twenty acres hugging the official Big Thicket Preserve along the Neches Rive. Donning rubber boots and rain gear, they tromped out through the fields and woods, almost immediately coming upon the highway intersections of the leaf cutter ants. While marveling at the immensity of the ants and their burdens, they almost stepped on a coral snake who was so cold in the drizzle that he couldn’t move. The tour included blooming dogwoods and a toothache tree (Southern prickly ash, Zanthoxylum clava-herculis)in the woods, and the white sand bars of the Neches River. In the swamp, they visited the Storytelling Tree, a towering cypress with an opening at the bottom large enough to hold five people. Hundreds of cypress knees gathered around at its feet like rapt listeners. Along the way, the ranger pointed out flora and fauna found in the Big Thicket. In 2001 the American Bird Conservancy designated Big Thicket National Preserve a Globally Important Bird Area. The preserve is 97,500 acres and was designated an International Biosphere Reserve by the United Nations in 1981. This protected area will provide a standard for measuring human impact on the environment.

After lunch, Fran gave the group a quick preview of the Stealth Eco-telling workshop she will present at the Northlands conference in Appleton, WI in late April. She discussed ways that non-nature stories can be interpreted and understood in support of environmental principles. For example, stories of unintended consequences demonstrate that "everything is connected." Following this discussion, they organized an Earth Stories Concert for the evening. Tipi Tellers had planned to hold the concert in one of their tipis, but in consideration of the cold rainy weather and the comfort of the guests, they decided in favor of a blazing fire indoors. During supper, they viewed a short video that Texas Parks and Wildlife had produced about the small Watson Rare Native Plant Preserve to which the evening's donations would go.
As arriving guests hugged, laughed and talked, the atmosphere was one of warmth and kinship.

The Earth Stories Concert began with Shelby's welcome and Fran's invocation of the starlight in the firelight: the light energy of our star Sol, stored in the wood, is released in flames. She then told Judy Nichols' story of "Pecos Bill and the Prairie-size Rainbow" revealing how wildflowers came to be. Granville Ott followed, recounting a very special young man he took to the Scout hike at Philmont. Reba Ott entertained everyone with a lovely rendition of "All Things Connected” a folktale from Zaire in Pleasant DeSpain’s Eleven Nature Tales. Tsagoi related an experience he once had in nature, teaching him that although the Earth has been ill used, our Mother remains compassionate and capable of healing itself and us. Jaye described the fascinating life and dedication of one of the first conservationists, John Muir. Shelby then introduced a living environmentalist, our guest of honor, 84 -year old Geraldine Watson of the Watson Rare Native Plant Preserve. She explained that Geraldine is a true hero working against all odds to preserve a piece of nature that she loves dearly. Geraldine expressed her gratitude for everyone’s support and attendance at the concert. After Fran closed the concert with Dave Carter's song “Gentle Arms of Eden”, the Big Thicket Storytelling Circle served refreshments and collected $125 in donations for the Watson Rare Native Plant Preserve. Laughter, talking and informal storytelling continued until 11:00 when Shelby finally had to ask the last diehards to leave so that the storytellers could rest up for the rest of the retreat.

On Sunday, the tellers rose to a pancake breakfast and immediately began working. Jaye handed out her extremely thorough report on grants: where to find information on applying, how to prepare a request for financial aid, and guidelines for collaboration. Shelby brought the group up to date on “educator-ese” and how to translate it. Fran supplied some of Oklahoma’s state science standards with which she had been grappling. Shelby explained how the testing system operates and how the teachers are charged with teaching the standards. These subjects will help Eco-tellers get work in schools strapped for funds.
The group then ate a quick bite of lunch and whisked themselves off to the Watson Rare Native Plant Preserve for a somewhat soggy tour. The carnivorous pitcher plants (Saracenia alata) were blooming in abundance and Fran just had to see them! Larry Williams, the preserve manager and a storyteller in his own right, made a special trip to the preserve to give the tellers an individualized tour of the unique flora. The outing began in the Watson studio stuffed with her paintings of the animals, plants and the human scenarios which had been common in the Big Thicket when she was a young girl. The eco-tellers then hiked through almost all the biomes offered in the Big Thicket, on a small scale. They walked through slope forest, swamp Reba and Granville had to begin their journey back to Austin at this point and they shared hugs all around before they left. At the end of the trail, Geraldine was waiting in the multilevel A-frame house she had built with her own hands on the preserve. The tiny house has four levels, including a root cellar backed up to a cistern, and a wood stove whose indoor woodpile is home to her rat snake. She explained that the ancient Greeks welcomed snakes in their houses, believing them to go down into the underworld and report on the behavior of the occupants. She hoped that the report on her would be a good one. Geraldine also showed them her most recent paintings and the shelves that she was installing for her many books.
To chase the chill of the drizzle, the remaining group stopped by the home of a couple from the concert the night before. Tori and John had a fire in the fireplace and coffee, tea and wine at the ready. Again they laughed until they cried sharing stories and a tour of their artistic and wacky house. They create displays for natural history museums and their house is like stepping into one of their projects, only all mixed together!

Back at Cherapa they ate supper, told more stories and critiqued each other's tales around a glowing fire before agreeing somewhat grudgingly that they needed to sleep sometime.

After breakfast on Monday, Fran told one last story before she and Gordon packed up their Prius and moved on to the next adventure. Jaye stayed behind to help Shelby and Tsagoi tidy up and work on tipi poles before heading back to Fort Worth herself.
Everyone agreed that this retreat renewed their purpose and energy, produced momentum and resolve and provided much needed networking, resources and information to tackle the coming year.
Posted with Permission from Fran Stallings Storytelling Website