Hello Wonderful People!

Dogsleds, ice fishing, and snowshoeing! I had the honor and pleasure of spending a weekend delivering Leading Edge programming at Maine’s Family Winter Camp. This frosty and homey event is put on thanks to a partnership with HAM (Hemophilia Alliance of Maine) and NEHA (New England Hemophilia Association).

We kicked off the first evening with a round of team building icebreakers and community connection activities. We talked about approaches to the weekend, and the idea of letting go of attachments, managing infusions as a family, and appreciating the natural landscape together.

Saturday morning was a short hike or snow mobile trail ride to the frozen lake. Families settled into their individual fishing hole spots and diligently watched their ice fishing ‘tip ups,’ hoping to bring in a fish.

I led a survival fire making workshop throughout the day. We learned about the fire triangle, contact splitting, and a myriad of survival fire making approaches.

We also launched a giant ‘solar bag,’ harnessing the temperature differential between the icy ground and the warming power of the sun.

Sunday featured a snowshoe hike with trailblazing, natural history, map and compass work, and lyrical tales of woodland fantasy creatures.

The whole weekend transported me back to my college days in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom. Snowshoeing to class, gear loaded into my pack basket, taking in the incredible habitat that is the Northern Woods (The largest contiguous biome in the world).

My biggest appreciation is the tight family connection and nurturing atmosphere that permeated they whole weekend. This is a group of people taking the time to value nature, family, and the unique joys and challenges of the bleeding disorders community in their special corner of the world.

Here’s a small gallery and video from the weekend

Cheers,

Joe