Every morning, IB campers participate in one of three activity areas: Barns and Gardens (B &G), Work Projects, or Outdoor Living Skills. At B & G, First Lodgers have recently harvested vegetables, berries, and flowers from the garden, as well as made animal journals and recorded their observations of the goats and cows. Big Lodgers have collected soil samples, learned about compost, and learned to spin and card wool. An always-favorite activity is petting and talking to the animals. The Senior Lodge Homesteading apprentices have learned to make butter, cheese, and candles, and they, too, have been learning a lot about gardening.
Our First Lodgers who are doing Work Projects have been learning to measure, mark, cut and hammer as they’ve repaired birdhouses and built a new bench for Silent Meeting. Big Lodgers have honed their layout and carpentry skills by constructing a chicken coop. “Hammering and sawing are my favorite parts,” said a camper. They’ve already placed the floorboards and assembled three walls — they hope to raise it by the end of First Session. WP apprentices have installed posts for a swinging bridge, mastered tricky angle cuts while making sawhorses, and learned drilling and jigsawing while creating beautiful new cabin signs. They’re also excited about designing a swinging bench!
At Outdoor Living Skills, campers have been identifying plants and trees, building debris shelters, and making fires. They loved combining their fire skills and plant identification skills by making a fire to fry up some wild edibles! OLS apprentices recently completed their “Get Lost Hike,” an activity where they were blindfolded and driven a few miles away. They all worked together, using their triangulation and orienteering skills skills, to navigate the group back to camp (with huge smiles–I loved to see their proud faces!).
Three senior lodgers have chosen to spend their mornings in the kitchen. They’ve helped our cooks prepare everything from a lime-ginger drink to kale crisps to birthday cupcakes for every camper. The Creative Arts apprentices have been making their own zines as well as other creative projects (today I walked in to see a few of them making a three-dimension map of Indian Brook). Our Canoe Apprentices are learning all the “Basic” canoe skills:
• Introduction to basic equipment
• Launching and landing
• Introduction to how body, boat and blade work together
• Basic body mechanics and efficiency of stroke
• Paddling from both the stern and the bow
• Forward and reverse paddling
• Sweep strokes
• Draw strokes
• Turning on the move
• Communication with partner
In addition to spending time on our reservoir working on their strokes, our Canoeing Apprentices will be taking part in building a canoe (yes, you read it right…building their own boat).
Each project in a given activity lasts two or three days, so First Lodge and Big Lodge campers have a chance to experience them all. The apprentices stay with the same project all session, giving them a chance to truly develop their skills in a specific area.
This year we’ve also worked swimming lessons into each morning rotation for first and big lodge campers. Senior Lodgers enjoy their lessons in the afternoon on a rotating basis.
Our campers are fun and creative; I love spending time with them.