Campers Welcome Campers! - Farm & Wilderness

Session Two started with full-season campers welcoming new campers into our Tamarack Farm community.  There was a short period of time back in the ‘70s when Tamarack Farm had a two-session model, but it was a small number of kids and it did not last long.  This summer, and likely for the foreseeable future, Tamarack Farm will be welcoming campers for the half season into our community.

As someone who teaches leadership classes at the university level, I believe that one way true leadership shows itself is by how the community welcomes in new people. My challenge to the campers was “how will you welcome new folks in”?  With that prompt, campers took the lead! They painted signs to make sure campers knew where cabins were located, they created a welcoming crew to sing songs on the road, they unloaded new campers’ luggage and brought all of their stuff into the cabins. They even led skits to orient new campers to the bathrooms, showers, how we do chores etc.  Of course, there were a few bumps, but it has been pretty smooth for the 12 new August Session campers.

After campers adjusted to camp for the week, had a week of chores and skills crew and evening activities, on Friday we sent them out on trips for two nights.  The trips this session were themed trips:

• Farm/Service and Music, Dungeons and Dragons (a big theme this summer) and swimming.
• Camp cooking and Dungeons and Dragons.
• Art trip.
• Outdoor Living Skills that visited with and participated in activities at Red Spruce Grove and SAM Camp.

With abundant sunshine and good attitudes, all of the campers returned with smiles and hugs.  Though the trips were not the most rugged or physical, they seemed to be what campers wanted! This week is Farm Week which culminates on Thursday with an optional chicken harvest and a big Farm Party on Saturday!!

More soon,

Andrea