My girl was a camp counselor the last two summers and these were some of her charges. She loved being a counselor to those kids, especially the grumpy difficult ones. I'm thinking about all the camp things my daughter learned how to do during her years of visits and camps at the farm affiliated with her elementary and middle school. She knows how to:
Milk a cow
Weave natural-dyed wool into textiles
Press apple cider
Tap maple syrup
Bake bread
Cook a meal for 20 people
Plant, grow and harvest organic herbs and vegetables
Play manhunt in the darkest night, hiding under a farmhouse with no fear of critters
Build rock and stick dams in a river
Swing four girls strong on a tree swing
Do barn chores (clean stalls, water animals, etc)
Help a calf be born
Climb hills
Swear handily
Play pool
Compost
Build snow forts
Inner tube down mountains
Ride a tractor
Make hay
Relish sleeping on hay on barn nights
Do light carpentry
Build a bonfire
Wade in a frog pond
Roast marshmallows
Live and squabble and make up and dance and laugh with 16 kids for seven years
All that.
Much more.
I am SO impressed. Send her down here if she wants to perfect her swearing skills. And learn to clean a deer.
ReplyDeleteMs. Moon, she has probably already perfected her swearing skills, though I am happy to say she does know when to park them! xo
DeleteI know we've talked about it before, but that camp your daughter went to as a child in school is right up Oliver's alley. And that last photo is remarkable! It felt like I was looking through a window --
ReplyDeleteElizabeth, i do wish Oliver could go to farm camp. There are a lot of them in the northeast, but maybe some on the West Coast as well? Do you want some names? Would you send him all the way across the country?
DeleteLove this. You always have the best pictures.
ReplyDeleteKimberly, i just happened across these photos. I was so charmed by my brown berry girl.
DeleteI love that last photo! Camp is a valuable experience but I must admit it was kind of love-hate for me. Given a choice at the time I'd rather have been watching Gilligan's Island. Which is admittedly pathetic.
ReplyDeleteSteve, i used to love Gilligan's Island too! We might be the same vintage ha!
DeleteI'm impressed as well! I think learning to do these things gives us such confidence in life. What a valuable thing camp can be.
ReplyDeleteVesu, my husband used to say, "come the apocalypse, we have someone in our family who can milk a cow!" i dont know what he meant really, but it sounded good!
Delete