Archive for July, 2010

Well, it’s the start of Week 4 at Tamarack Farm and camp is temporarily quiet as eight groups are out on trips. 

Green Mountain and White Mountain are on hiking trips in Vermont and New Hampshire, respectively.  Umbagog is experiencing a canoeing trip on the NH/Maine border.  B&P is on a trip to work with the folks at Bread and Puppet in Glover, VT.  Sugar Shack is building a small building at a farm in Randolph, VT (they carried most of the pre-assembled pieces with them).  Farm Girl Farm is working on a CSA in Egremont, MA.  The Homestead trip (aka the Hard Core Farmers) are tending our herd here and taking day trips to selected small farming operations in the area.  The Mystery Trip (a TF tradition) is an improv trip of sorts, leaving camp on foot with three staff and exploring the local area and being creative, writing journals and producing art.

Over the past week, our TF work projects have included the ongoing re-shingling of our beloved Rec Lodge, cooking (culminating in a camper-cooked supper on Sunday), acting as morning counselors at the Barn Day Camp, doing trip packout, building the Sugar Shack components, making a waterfront bench, pouring concrete pavers for our basketball court by the Dance Barn, building steps in the outdoor space affectionately known as LaLa Land, harvesting and weeding in the garden, and finishing the ‘bridge to nowhere.’

On Saturday mornings, we have a tradition of working together as an all-camp group.  This past Saturday, we hiked up past Peggy’s Pond to the Scott hayfield. We used bow saws and trimmers, as well as cleared some of the brush encroaching on the field.  After an hour and a half of this satisfying work, we admired our efforts while having Silent Meeting looking off to views of Killington and Shrewsbury.

This Saturday evening, we had the rare pleasure of having Frances Moore Lappe (author of Diet for a Small Planet) visit and speak to our assembled group in the Rec Lodge about the politics of food and democracy world-wide.  The campers were fully engaged and attentive. They gained a new perspective on this organic farm where we are lucky enough to live.

And a reminder!

The main Visiting Day at Tamarack Farm will still be at the end of this week, Saturday, July 24th. We’ll begin at mid-morning (10 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.) and extend through mid-evening (9:00 p.m. ). Since Visiting Day for Indian Brook, Timberlake, Flying Cloud and Saltash Mountain will be on Friday, July 23rd, we will make time for any families who are coming to visit other campers on Friday to come visit us as well if they are unavailable on Saturday.

All of the Tamarack Farm campers will be returning from trips either on Thursday or Friday and we have tried to ensure that any campers with Friday visitors will be returning on Thursday.

The general schedule of the day looks like this:

We will  have some time in the morning when parents can participate in the work projects. Then we will join together for a picnic lunch time; we encourage families to bring picnics to share with campers and their friends (we will provide a picnic lunch for anyone who needs it). The afternoon will be is divided into three parts with various activities, including an open waterfront, on either side of “TF101″ (a mid-afternoon time when parents meet with the directors in the Rec Lodge to ask any questions you may have.) The later afternoon activity time includes barn chores, lake runs, etc.

Our supper is a buffet on the lawn followed by a Postum House (open mic) evening that can include family members performing. This will end at around 9 p.m., and then campers will transition into Dance Free.

Fingers crossed for good weather and we hope to see you then.

tom’b

The summer of 2010 has officially begun.  Sixty-seven Tamarack Farm campers arrived on Wednesday afternoon with their trunks, boots, and gloves, ready to get busy.

In the three days following their arrival, the garden has experienced the joy of an all-hands-on-deck weeding part. As a result, the ground between the Dance Barn and the Rec Barn has been cleared for our new basketball court, and the dining hall has been decorated with flags and a Facebook-type wall.  These farmers are not kidding around.

Campers have swiftly settled into the busy Tamarack Farm routine.  The first town criers of the year, Molly and Hannah, did a fantastic job of leading us through our pre-meal circles and post-meal singing.  Returning campers have stepped up every day since to do the same, and the tiger box is overflowing with end-of-day affirmations.  Everyone is well into their first rotation of camp chores, including the Ye Olde Inn and Split Level campers, who are managing the summer’s first barn chores.

Sapphire and Halifax, respectively last year’s calf and piglet, have grown up (with Halifax weighing more than 600 pounds), and we are milking Rachel twice a day.  The kitchen is well stocked with the farm’s fresh eggs and milk. Our garden’s strawberries were recently spotted at breakfast.

This week, we hosted the first TF farmer’s market over at the Barn Day Camp. We are getting ready to make our garden love visible with a week of work projects that includes a harvest crew, a landscape team, and a construction squad for making a greenhouse planter. We also experienced a few spots of rain, but the weather has taken a turn for the better, and this afternoon saw a second bout of haying.  More than 15 campers volunteered to suit up and load 175 hay bales on Friday afternoon; the goal for the summer is 1,600.  With another week of hot, dry, sunshine called for, we’re hoping to get a little closer to filling the hayloft in our new livestock barn.

After a long morning of work projects, you would expect the energy level to wane, but the farmers have shown excitement about all-camp afternoon and evening activities.  In three afternoons we’vebeen able to create silkscreens, personal ceramic mugs, built a photo booth and a chipmunk palace and have written poetry. We’ve also taken plant identification walks, attempted to walk on the slack line, mastered the low-ropes course, strummed guitar, played soccer and invented a few water sports in the lake. Last night we threw a raucous scavenger hunt; campers built human pyramids, dressed their teams up as a rainbow, and came up with a song to sing to our wonderful cooks.

Friday evening’s cabin night was declared a grand success—in their cabins, groups played games, lit campfires, cooked delicious treats, and got to know who they’re building a community with this summer.
The swim tests have been swum, the 4:30 long runs have begun, the song cards have been dusted off.  The kybos have been sawdusted, the dish routine has been established, and we are happy to report that the costumes in Fred the Loft are being utilized to their fullest potential.  The first installment of Postum House, TF’s open mic night, begins this evening.  The bar has been set, the first note has been sung, and wow, they are high.  Camp has begun.  Stay tuned for more.

Pretzel,

Marne Litfin