Greetings Flying Cloud Families and blog followers! We’ve been up at camp for almost a full week now. There have been so many wild adventures that has been hard for me to find the time to sit down and write you all. So, let’s take it from the start.
Opening Day was a huge success. We had a wonderful dinner under the solid – and gorgeous – roof of our new lodge. Fortunately, the rain held off till later in the evening, so just about everyone could get their belongings to their bunks. But then the skies opened up and our lodges got their first real test. I’m so grateful the 2014 staff group did a great job of getting the tipis and yomes up. No camper or staff member was overly wet for their first night of sleep.
Flying Cloud wouldn’t be the camp it is without fire. Against the odds of stifling humidity and consistent rainfall, Osage Arrow, our Fire Keeper this summer, was able to crank out a coal with his bow drill. Through careful attention, he was able to bring that coal to life in a more-damp-than-usual tinder bundle. Along with our community’s singing, we were grateful to have many types of warmth.
Since then, we’ve seen sunny skies. On our first full day, we oriented our campers to life at Flying Cloud: Chores, fire, blades, and more. Led by the Camper Leaders, we developed an amazing In-and-Out List (a list of things that we want “in” our community and things we want “out” of our community). The next day, we oriented them to the forests around us. Campers saw fresh springs, collected wild edibles, practiced bow drill and hand drill, and cooked their lunches over an open fire. We even made it to Lake Ninevah, where we held our swim tests and had a great time hanging out at the waterfront.
We don’t like to slow down though so we jumped right into our first handful of days of activities. Including but not limited to:
Camouflage and Silent Movement
Day Hike to Dark Meadows (a former F&W camp)
Grass mats and coil baskets
Cowhide Belt making
Deer Hide Tanning
Stone Floors and Cairn Building
Granola Making
Wild Edible Walks
Musical Instrument Jam Sessions
Introduction to Friction Fire
Spoon Carving
Basic Map Making, Orienteering and Imagineering
Construction of a Jerky Smoking Hut
Trail building and maintenance
And so much more . . .
One of my favorite parts of Flying Cloud’s activities is that we fold so many of our basic skills into bigger pieces of our program. Campers are regularly reminded and taught about how to use knives and fire safely to accomplish really cool things. Or if a camper wants to work on a construction project, they end up learning a handful of useful knots they can apply to all sorts of other experiences.
It’s been a really wonderful start to a summer. We are feeling the heavy humidity today and can tell a rainstorm is on its way. Perhaps the woods are telling us it’s time to send out a quest and get to our first Naming Ceremony. I’ll guess we’ll just have to wait and see though.
Thanks for taking the time to read the Flying Cloud blog. I hope that it helps you to develop a better understanding of what we are doing so far back in the woods. If you have any questions at all please don’t hesitate to contact us at Zach@farmandwilderness.org or leave us a voicemail at (802) 353-0078. Until next time, have a wonderful summer and try to spend some of it outside!
Be well and much love,
Zach
