If you have friends who are still thinking about Indian Brook, let them know we only have a handful of slots remaining for summer 2011.  Can’t wait to hear almost 120 campers singing together!

It’s hard to express how excited I am for my first summer at Indian Brook to begin. It seems like spring pounced on us all-of-a-sudden and now summer is almost here. I feel so honored to work with such a stellar group of women at IB this summer. It will be amazing to see how the campers grow and discover the best parts of themselves in this spectacularly beautiful space. The beauty of the woods here almost takes my breath away. I can’t wait to hear girls laughing and singing and see the dirt of this place on their skin.

I’ve collected quotes from applications from former IB campers.  They’ve been inspiring for me as I plan for my first summer at Indian Brook.

“When i was younger I attended IB in F&W. I absolutely loved going back every summer. It was my escape from the world and brought me back to my own little family at the camp. Even though the people varied every year, they each became a part of me. To this day I still keep in touch with many of my fellow campers. I want to make the camp a home to the new campers just as it was to me.”

“IB taught me how to be myself and grow into my own person.”

“F&W is what gave me my wings and taught me how to fly.”

I’ve collected quotes from applications from former IB campers.  They’ve been inspiring for me as I plan for my first summer at Indian Brook.

“So many stories that describe me occurred at F&W. Farm & Wilderness has impacted and developed me in so many ways. From becoming a vegetarian after the incredible experience at chicken harvest to harnessing and beginning my love for camping, canoeing, hiking, and, of course, fostering my admiration, appreciation and respect for the environment. From learning to set up a tent to using dirt to wash my plates, F&W has taught me life skills that I can carry with me day to day.”

I’ve collected quotes from applications from former IB campers.  They’ve been inspiring for me as I plan for my first summer at Indian Brook.

“Farm and Wilderness has been my true home ever since I first stepped onto the white gravel, which I would soon realize held great magic, the glowing white gravel that illuminates your path in the darkest of nights. No flashlight is necessary. I first came to F&W with a buzz cut and boxers expecting to have once again, a rough and judgmental transition into a new community. I was ready once again to be asked if I was a girl and be forbidden to wear what I wanted. What hit me hard in my first few days was the extreme openness and acceptance not only from the people, but the open energy that lingered everywhere in F&W. I was able to swim in whatever I wanted and I felt for the first time loved and encouraged to be whoever I was at that time. I was reassured that normal doesn’t exist and there isn’t one way to live. Most importantly I learned that I wasn’t alone, I wasn’t the only one in the world like me, and if I had to wait until summer every year to feel at home, I was on board. F&W instantly gave me a place to call home.”

I’ve collected quotes from applications from former IB campers.  They’ve been inspiring for me as I plan for my first summer at Indian Brook.

“I’ve been going to F&W all of my life and it has truly been my home and sanctuary. It is the place for me. Having F&W as a guidance through life, keeping me grounded, sensible and truthful, has kept me sane. From “Leave no trace” to the 5th freedom, no body talk to the importance of nature, I still hold so many F&W values true. I find meaning and purpose in my life at F&W, and I want to pass down F&W knowledge to newcomers.”

I’ve collected quotes from applications from former IB campers.  They’ve been inspiring for me as I plan for my first summer at Indian Brook.

“From ages 9-12, my time at Indian Brook as a camper was always the time I felt most myself. Physically, I felt strong and healthy. At the end of a month of eating good food, moving my body constantly and sleeping like a ROCK, I returned home feeling strong and rejuvenated. Emotionally, I felt relaxed and joyous. When not “plugged in” to either technology or the everyday worries of life away from camp, I was forced to find other ways to entertain myself and other ways to focus my energy. My times making wool hats, playing acoustic guitar and telling ghost stories mark some of my most cherished memories. Also, the uniquely interdependent community that was created in the camp environment left me feeling a closeness with my fellow campers and with the staff that extended far beyond friendship. We were family. As a potential staff member at Indian Brook I am eager to return to that camp environment and once again enjoy these same benefits. “

I’ve collected quotes from applications from former IB campers.  They’ve been inspiring for me as I plan for my first summer at Indian Brook.

“‘Hey Mom! So its rest hour–I’m curled up amidst six stuffed animals, getting high off the joy of being back in the wonderful environment of Indian Brook. Boy is it good to be back!’ And so begins one of the almost 70 letters I wrote to my mother over the course of five years as a camper at Indian Brook. In considering why I wanted to work at F&W, I embarked on a day long journey to uncover and read all of these letters. From the detailed account of the view atop Camel’s Hump to the mouth-watering description of a particularly tasty Indian Brook lunch (”tomato and basil salad, marinated chicken, mashed potatoes and homemade sun tea”), images of my joyous times at camp flooded back. Indian Brook saw me through my childhood. I can see this in my letters; from the excited scrawl of my nine year old self, to the dramatic cursive of eleven and finally to the efficient, mature print that still marks my handwriting today. Indian Brook has both influenced and witnessed some of the most important stages of my life. Indian Brook’s values of interdependence, community, sustainability, diversity, body acceptance and environmental consciousness have continued to shape my identity and the choices I make. These values that are now integrated into who I am as an adult are important! As a potential staff member at F&W I am not only excited to once again enter the amazing world that is camp but am also eager to instill the values that so influenced me, in future campers.”

Check back in for more inspiring quotes from former campers.

The following essay was written by a former IB camper, Emma Thacker.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did:

I wrote my college essay about Farm and Wilderness. I think it represents my love for the organization and something great that I took from it: My appreciation of silence.

I wish I was a Quaker. They got the world right. I mean, at least in one way, but that one way is big.

Quakers have morning meeting. For six summers at Farm and Wilderness, I sat among a group of people in complete silence, left with only the voices of my thoughts and the atmosphere around me. Monday through Saturday, it was for fifteen minutes; on Sunday, an hour.

It wasn’t always easy for me. At the age of ten, my sitting for even fifteen minutes without speaking was a challenge. I would sit with friends, silently giggling about this and that, making patterns in the grass, and using sign language to communicate secretly…or so we thought. Up until I was about eleven or twelve, I dreaded silent meeting, and while I was there I just counted  the minutes until it would end.

But, by my third or fourth summer at Farm and Wilderness, something in me clicked. Instead of dreading the silence, I came to welcome it with a clear mind. I realized that silence gave me time to think about anything I wanted to, without any self-consciousness. I thought about things as profound as death; about how beautiful the world can be; about how lucky I am and about how I may not deserve such luck. But, other times, instead of thinking, I would meditate and try to relieve my mind and body of all stress.

I would glance around at the people surrounding me; all silent, too, isolated in their thoughts, hopes and aspirations. And while I fell into my own individual thoughts, I always felt as if I were a part of something. A community that screamed in silence.

It’s so unusual to be surrounded by people who have the exact same agenda as you. It’s so unusual to feel as if you’re in a place with people who are all there for the same reason. No one is racing to get anywhere or taking a phone call; there is nothing to distract you except your own thoughts. There was something so comforting about that for me. Morning meeting provided a place for me to escape from the pressures of everyday life and to just be.

I miss it. Of all the things I miss about my Farm and Wilderness summers, silent meeting is definitely the ritual that I long to return to most.

“Silence is golden.” We’ve all heard that before. But the saying rings true. In the right places, silence can bring separate people together in ways nothing else can.

Quakers certainly had it down.

Thanks Emma,  for allowing me to share this.

Happy New Year!

Peace,

Amy