What did you eat for dinner Saturday night?
We ate house roasted turkey breast and roast beef with homemade rolls.
We ate medjool dates stuffed with goat cheese and drizzled a with a balsamic reduction sauce. We ate homemade potato chips with pimento cheese spread, veggie spring rolls with a hoisin sauce, and Thai chicken skewers with cilantro and lime.
Oh, and for dessert, we ate blackberry cream puffs and a vegan triple-layer ice-cream cake.
At summer camp.
I should note that the food has been tremendously good all summer long. But last night’s Museum of Farm Art “MoFA” took it to a new level. After spending the day working in the garden and the kitchen, we gathered at dinnertime—dressed in fancy outfits, silly costumes and/or body paint—for a celebration of art here at Tamarack Farm. Camper and counselor organizers handed us a gold-painted clothespin evocative of the buttons often used at museums. We then paraded one-by-one into our rec lodge where they had beautifully staged dozens of pieces of art.
In the week leading up to the museum opening, virtually every member of the community submitted a piece of artwork. Submissions ranged in diverse mediums and styles: from a sculpture made out of used bicycle parts, to a series of seed pod sketches, to coffee filter mobiles and miniature paintings on wood blocks. As we wandered through the lodge, staff and camper servers brought out platters of artfully displayed food. It was a true feast, both for our stomachs and for our eyes. By the time we wandered back out onto the lawn to take a turn at the beanbag toss or to simply mingle with friends, we were full in every regard.
However, the evening was not yet over. As the low-hanging clouds took on a vivid pink hue, we gathered on the hill for a raucous session of singing following by performance art. A dozen or so campers and staff performed a series of different acts, ranging from a spoken-word poem, to an improvised musical number, to an interpretive dance. By the time we reached the last act—a stunning glow-in-dark, hula-hoop performance—the sky had grown completely dark.
As we moseyed down to our cabins for bedtime, the energy remained just bubbly as the blackberry-ginger juice we had sampled earlier. It’s not hard to find a positive atmosphere here at the Farm, but this night felt particularly magical. We were impressed—with the food, the art, the talent of our community members, the sky—with just how lovely life could be here at camp.
by Erica Seltzer-Schultz (TF Staff)
