Archive for the ‘photo’ Category

Well, I have to say that this year was one of the best Ice Cutting’s I’ve seen. We had a great big group of people, though some folks, like Willow Stone couldn’t make it up because of the huge snowstorm in the D.C. area. In Vermont though we had just about perfect weather: cold, clear and sunny. We were also really lucky to be visited by Lights the Lodge who is a favorite FC staffer who fought through some health challenges to make it up for a few hours. We were so glad to have him.

Spring Rhythm, Tundra Warrior Sings and Forest Flame all helped me keep twenty rowdy and wonderful FC campers in line, and helped welcome a crew of new and prospective campers into the fold. The bunk room in the Tamarack Farm basement may have been smelly, but it was sure filled with a lot of laughter and love too.

On saturday, we woke up to perfect weather and a great big breakfast. We hiked up to FC and got right to work opening up the Ice Mines, setting up the Food Shelter and sawing away at the ice. Thanks to a couple of weeks of good cold weather, the pond was frozen up solid and we were getting good blocks out within an hour, which is great. While some people sawed, others chipped and a few brave individuals wrestled the blocks out of the water and into sleds for the ride up the hill.

In perhaps the most energetic and funniest part of the process, teams of six people ran down the hill shouting and panting, pulling on the rope that was attached to the ice sleds. Running down towards the pond, the sleds would come zooming by and arrive at the Ice Mines chock full and ready to be unloaded. Next a crew dumped the sleds, slid the blocks up a ramp and packed them carefully in sawdust. After all that they’ll stay frozen all the way through the winter and spring until we dig them out in June to refrigerate our food.

Though this event is about taking care of FC, we were supported this weekend by a ton of F&W families who just love the community and wanted to come help. When we’re up at the Cloud this year enjoying great meals, I’m sure going to appreciate all the work those folks did for us. If you were at Ice Cutting this year, every FCer from the summer of 2010 is thankful for the great work you did, and I’m really glad you got to have so much fun while you were at it!

If you want to see pictures, you can check out our website, or check out the album we posted on Facebook. Feel free to join the F&W fan page while you’re there!

Happy holidays to one and all! As of today, it’s officially winter. About time, huh? Up here that means cold, cold nights with bright shining stars which I’ve been appreciating at my sit spot. I’ve been having trouble finding the North Star recently, with all the summer constellations gone. Good thing it never moves!

I wanted to let you know about a couple of important upcoming events on the F&W calendar:

First, the application deadline for campership is January 15th! That means you’ve got to get your application in really soon if you need financial help for this coming summer. We don’t ever want to turn someone away for financial reasons, but we can’t help you if you don’t ask. If you haven’t asked in years past, you can still ask this year. The application is here. Of course, if you’re applying for campership, that must mean you’re applying for camp as well, and you can get your 2010 Camper Registration form off our website.

Second, Ice Cutting Weekend is coming up on February 12th-14th and I’d love to see you there. It’s a great time to show your support for Flying Cloud by harvesting all the ice we need to keep our food cold all summer, and it’s also just a blast! The event is open to everyone and always fills up fast so if you want to come, get your application in soon! Also, if you have friends who are interested in camp this is an easy way for them to join our community and will help them feel more at home when they come to camp with you this summer.

Finally, to send you on your way with some FC love, here’s one of my favorite photos from the summer.

Well the snow has finally come, and I’m glad to have it. Suddenly it means we can go tracking just about anywhere. There’s a little field mouse that lives near my sit spot in the stone wall. I haven’t seen it yet, but now I can watch its tracks as it hops around hunting for seeds. What sorts of great ways are you finding to get out in the snow?

In preparation for next summer, Forest Flame, Hawk Shadow and I, along with a few friends spent the weekend practicing our hide-tanning skills. We had a coyote, a raccoon and a few deer hides to work with. The process took more than two days, but in the end we created soft, supple leather, and a few beautiful, furry hides. Though it’s a lot of work, this might just be the sort of project we’ll complete this summer with a few dedicated campers up at FC. How cool would it be to have your own, totally homemade shirt, or pouch, or knife sheath?
Here’s a photo from early on, and another from near the end:

We’ve been here for what feels like ages and moments at the same time. In the last few weeks campers have been on amazing adventures near and far. They’ve built beautiful friendships and worked through tough moments. I’ve been endlessly impressed with the skill and initiative of the staff this summer who have led some of the consistently best activities I’ve seen. We’re working a lot on baskets and containers, as well as antler-handled and stone knives. It’s… awesome.
Sadly, it’s also coming to an end for a bunch of campers and a few staff. We’re saying goodbye this week to friends new and old, including three really strong staff members. Moon’s Embrace left this morning and will be in Japan by the end of the week where he’ll be teaching English for the next year. Forge Song is finishing his first summer at Farm and Wilderness and we look forward to having him back for the full summer next year. Hawk Shadow is also departing after holding a powerful place in our community as the true pillar of our wilderness skills program. His mentoring will be sorely missed, but I’m sure we’ll get him back too.
To give you a sense of the rowdy and wonderful crew of staff this summer, here’s our official FC 2009 staff photo:

Though the end is coming, we also just welcomed a handful of FCers into the community by giving them FC names. Please join me in holding these inspiring young men in the light: Robin Friend, Linden Brushes the Clouds, Otter Dreams, Chestnut Jay, Stone Turtle Shines and the counselor now known among his brothers at Flying Cloud and his friends in the Farm and Wilderness Community as Tundra Warrior Sings.

I’m sad to have to talk about this part, I do want to remind you of the pickup schedule for campers going home this Friday, July 24th. Parents of guardians retrieving their FCer can arrive as early as 9:00AM, and are expected to head down the road by 2:00PM at the latest. Folks who are coming up to visit their full-season camper can stay until 5:00PM and are invited to join us for lunch. As usual we strongly discourage taking your camper out of camp, but we’re aware that there are good reasons to do so, and that’s okay as long as he’s back by 5:00. I look forward to seeing you all soon.

I was out canoeing on the lake outside my house, and I wanted to share a fun picture with you.

“Ice Canoeing!”

I think I’ll try to get it into the next Winter Olympics, so start practicing! I’m writing about it here because it’s a really fun ice sport, much like another F&W classic that’s coming up soon….

Ice Cutting! That’s right folks, Ice Cutting 2009 is fast approaching. The excellent weekend of playing in the snow, seeing friends and helping out FC is from February 13th to the 16th and you’d better register soon, because a weekend this fun fills up fast!

For those of you who don’t know what it’s about, check out photos from last year http://www.farmandwilderness.org/photo-gallery?g2_itemId=798. Flying Cloud doesn’t have electricity, as you know, so to keep our food cold we use ice cut from the pond in the winter and we need your help! If you’re interested, get in touch with the F&W office right away. If you’re a returning camper you know what a great chance this is to see old friends and if you’re new, this is the perfect way to make some friends who you’ll see again this summer!

Stay warm and play hard!