From the journal of Charlie Fast Fingers Pearson, June 10

June 10, 2017

It has been fucking amazing to learn from the guys, John and Mark. They know how to survive on these islands. They've taken each group on different days and have started teaching us all how to do our jobs better. We all know it would take years for us to learn everything the guys know from growing up on this island, but we are all willing to learn whatever they can teach us.

The first day they took the group trying to catch birds. Jessie, Shane, Frank and Sally spent the day learning how to make  traps with the sticks and stuff in the general area where the trap is being set. Mark showed them how to see the trails made by the native ground birds and to see where the bushes and shrubs formed natural funnels since this is the best place to put the trap. John taught them how to spot the nests of the tree dwelling birds and how to climb up to get their eggs, but not all of them, or the birds will be extinct really fast.
The second day, they spent with both Dave's, Shelly, Travis, Meg, and Martin in the garden and orchard. They showed the group how to water each plant with the right amount of water, how to keep them trimmed back to get the most amount of fruit or vegetable, and how to take care of the trees brought down from the mountain.

The third day, they taught the patrol group how to move through the trees making as little sound as possible. Tracey, Marty, Terry and Amy learned to spot obstacles in their path before they get there.
My group was the last one and we got to learn how to cook with all the food being brought in by the other groups. Will, Mick, Melanie, Buck and I got to cook and eat a bunch of different meals while John and Mark gave us step by step instructions. They taught us about the herbs  being grown in the small garden near the huts. They taught us which herbs go with which fruits, vegetable and birds.
The guys have told us they want to start taking us in groups back up the mountain a little bit and show us what plants are edible and which ones will kill you. They said that we can get any medicine we need from the plants on the mountain and they want to teach us. I found an unused journal and plan on taking it with me when it's my turn so I can write down all the plants and their uses.
I know I am finally able to walk without too much of a limp and even less pain. All the others that were injured are mostly better now. Will still gets dizzy and has headaches, but his head injury was really bad. If he'd gotten the same one before the end of the world, he would probably have been put in the hospital. But he lived, so getting dizzy and having headaches is a small price to pay.
The day the guys decided to come check on this village was the luckiest day we've had since this whole this started. Well, I guess the day we made it to the plane was also a good day, too. They have made us all really want to live, not just survive. We should thank our lucky stars they came.

As a writer and artist, I appreciate any readers and their comments. Thank you for taking the time to read this blog. Please, come read the other blog I write for our artisan collective, Raven's Castle Creations, on our website at www.ravencastlecreations.com. It includes posts on art, the mythology of symbols we use in our art, history and more! Also, come see the art we produce in our Etsy store at etsy.com/shop/RavenCastleCreations. Follow us on Twitter at @ravencastleart and on Facebook at @ravencastlecreations.