Welcome to the first of many installments of the 2017 Flying Cloud Blog. The best place to get updated on the goings-on here at the Cloud! Maybe you have a camper here that, despite plenty of pre-addressed and stamped envelopes, isn’t sending many stories home (remember no news is generally good news!). Perhaps you are a former camper or staff member looking for a reminder of all the wonderful pieces of Flying Cloud you’re missing this summer. Either way, you’re in the right spot. We will be providing intermittent updates on the big events and camp activities for your reading pleasure here.
Flying Cloud is a place that is focused on living in the moment and disconnecting from the high speed nature of the modern world. With that, our blogs won’t always be delivered on a particular day, but they will be regular, a promise we intend to uphold. We also have a plethora of wonderful writers on staff who are excited to share their stories of the summer. So instead of just hearing from a Zac(h) every week, you’ll be hearing from a smattering of our fantastic staff members.
Hope you enjoy their words as much as we do.
much love,
the Zac(h)s
Opening Up
This morning Flying Cloud awoke to the rising sun and the sound of our conch, signaling it was time for chores. Campers split up by lodge, some collecting wood for the cook fires, some beautifying camp, and some pumping water. It was a slow start, as camp was up late using friction to create the first fire that the campers will now keep going all summer.
After a delicious dinner of pasta primavera, everyone gathered in the Roundhouse, equipped with various handmade fire making tools, ready to work as a community to create our first fire. After some considerable effort and lots of teamwork, we had a coal. Using the shredded cedar and birch bark collected by campers earlier in the day, the coal was coaxed into a small flame that eventually grew to fill the roundhouse fire pit providing light and warmth for Flying Cloud’s opening ceremony, The Friendship Fire.
At Friendship Fire, led by our four camper leaders, each camper shared what they wanted to bring and what they wanted to take from their experience at Flying Cloud. Campers said they wanted to bring things such as, “friendship”, “a caring spirit”, “fun” and “laughter” among many others. Many campers said they wanted to take away, “great memories”, “a better work ethic”, and “friends”. The first few days of camp are filled with general orientation. This involved learning where our many wooded paths lead, how to safely use pocket knifes, how to properly do chores, beautifying the area around their lodge, and, for those that are interested, creating character sheets for Dungeons and Dragons characters. Each lodge also rotated through camper-led workshops on tending fires, finding water, building shelters, and wild edibles found in our woods. Campers were excited to end the day with a steaming bowl of food cooked from the organic produce sent to us by Tamarack Farm.
After learning how to live in camp, we completed our orientation by “wandering” around the forest learning about all of the many woodland destinations near camp such as: Magic Springs, Whale Rock, New Pond and many others. The wander ended with swim tests at beautiful Lake Ninevah (Thanks SAM camp!). While our waterfront is colloquially called “the Puddle”, we still make sure all our campers are confident in their swimming abilities before letting them leap into the icy and refreshing mountain streams and ponds of Vermont.
Now that our orientation is complete, the “normal” days at Flying Cloud begin. Campers in Tinder lodge will start their day at the crack of dawn making pancakes for the rest of camp. While they feed camp for the day, other campers will participate in activities like: music making, spoon carving, camouflage and many others. As camp gets going there will be countless more stories to tell; we will be sure to keep you posted here on the blog. If you have any concerns don’t hesitate to drop us a line at zac@farmandwilderness.org or zach@farmandwilderness.org.
Cheers,
John
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