A quiet descended on TL’s garden rows, except for the gentle munching of an apple. Scattered around were 180 people; some were reclining in the low nook of an apple tree branch, others laying on their backs in a sun-dappled pasture, and still others were sat among the rows of buckwheat. All was silent.
In the last few days, however, quiet has vanished and soon will be supplanted by boisterous activity. The wax boxes and wash stations have been set up and after Silent Meeting – this time located in our barns and gardens area — we will start harvesting all day for our big, locally produced Harvest Meal on Thursday evening. As part of preparing this meal, 29 campers have chosen to go through the process of being “compassionate carnivores” and assisting with the harvest of our chickens.
Our Harvest Meal is the second of our four-part closing process. Tonight is Spy Night, an all-camp game played after sunset that is the highlight of many camper’s summer. At a recent Staff Meeting, our game’s organizer shared, “My father played this same game when he was a camper” and I expect some children of current campers will play this game in years to come. I think running around in the woods is something future generations will only need to do more.
After that will be our Banquet. We have two alumni Program Directors on staff who will create the prefeast hype with a description of the decorated Upper Lodge, which will have been transformed into a cave of “TL Before Time” – cave paintings, bones and ash, friendly cavemen who live in harmony with nature. Truly a cave of dreams. To get there, the campers will first have to get lost and witness several mishaps of a dinosaur theme park where escaped carnivorous beasts now roam free. Only the people who stay connected to nature will be able to gain / offer refuge in the Upper Lodge cave.
The next day will be our wonderful F&W Fair, when we celebrate the end of another great summer and welcome our neighbors and families to join us. We’ll have our band, “The Trading Post Legends” onstage from 3-3:30 p.m. with a special guest to sing some camp favorites. We’ve also add “The Packard Shed Arcade” this summer with home-made games to play along with offering the traditional TL favorites, such as the Ferris Wheel and the Aqua Shoot.
We hope many of you can make it up for the Fair finale and know that your campers will have many stories to tell. The greatest story of all will be one you’ll understand simply be watching them, by how they hold themselves, how they greet you and engage with the world around them. May this story they tell be a compelling one, full of hope and promise.
–Tulio Browning, Timberlake Director