Inuvik (Mar 28/03) - A sure sign of spring in the Delta is getting out to camp and some lucky students got a good taste of spring last week.

Each year the Gwich'in play host to students at the Rachel Reindeer Camp just south of town, on the bank of the Mackenzie River.

Students from Sir Alexander Mackenzie elementary school got some on-the-land experience last week at Rachel Reindeer Camp. Here, the kids help pull a fish net out from under the ice. - Terry Halifax/NNSL photo

Named for the woman who used to live there, the camp offers a connection to culture for all students here.

Alice Francis and Ellen Firth do the camp cooking for the kids. Firth said they work up a big appetite out in the fresh air.

She cuts up the caribou meat at home before heading out to the camp and makes the soup when they get to camp.

"We usually make one pot of rice and vegetable soup and one with barley," Firth said.

The kids will usually finish both pots of soup and a big batch of bannock everyday.

Ruby McLeod brings a little food for the brain with sharing her skills with needle and thread.

"I sew with them and show them how to make little dolls and duffles," McLeod said.

She learned sewing from her mom and her sister, but sees interest in the traditional skill waning a bit, but the youth seem to take to it.

"I don't think they do much sewing these days, but they are all interested in learning how to do it," she said. "I always tell them that once they start sewing, they should never give up."

"Once you give it up, you just forget about it."

John Jerome teaches some of the skills to provide food while on the land.

"I teach them everything from skinning caribou, setting snares and setting nets," Jerome said. "The kids are always happy to come out here an learn."

He said setting a net in winter requires some skill, some patience and a long pole.

"You measure your net and then make a hole and then another hole," he explained. "You take a long pole and push the net from one hole to the other, then you make another hole and keep going."

"You leave it about a day-and-a-half and then you check it."

He says they have been catching a lot of whitefish at the camp, along with some coney, crooked back, loche and jacks.