Dear Indian Brook Families,
This week has been very busy at IB. Campers are excitedly preparing for Fair and are anxiously awaiting the arrival of parents and friends this Saturday. Please remember to park your car at Bear Creek as per Linda Berryhill’s Letter. There will be shuttles to take you to Farm and Wilderness.
Yesterday was “Someday” at Indian Brook, one of the most anticipated special days of the summer. The theme of “Someday” is to do the things you would not ordinarily do at Indian Brook. We started our day with Blueberries and Cream followed by a dance party with recorded music, much to the glee of the campers. Although the day started with a large thunder storm, the smiles on the campers faces was enough sunshine for the state of Vermont. Our morning activities included dropping chocolate pudding into the campers mouths from the windows of the lodge, playing quidditch in the pouring rain, mattress slip and slide down hills, Hobart showers, followed by pirate fights and breaking Nalgene bottles (which is supposed to be impossible but they did it!)!!
We also celebrated Susan Webb’s 100th Birthday. Susan is one of the founders of Farm & Wilderness, and the first Indian Brook Director. Kristi Webb joined us for lunch and shared many stories about her grandmother Susan. The campers clear favorite, was learning of Susan’s Identical Twin and how Susan would have her twin stand in for her when she was not at camp, without the children and staff ever knowing.
Conversation at the meal tables have already started to be about next year at camp. I sat at Birches, an upper senior lodge table, this morning as the topic of going to Tamarack Farm came up. Susie, a staff member, went into a description of what the Farm was like, saying, “My life would not be the same if I had not gone there.” She reflected on how she has made a lifetime of friends within the Farm & Wilderness community, and how she truly began to understand what sustainable living means by being here.
During Dinner the night before, I sat at a First Lodge table, where campers were trying to decide whether to go to Saltash Mountain next year or come back to Indian Brook. At lunch I sat at Rosa Parks, one of the Big Lodge tables, the conversation was less about what to do next summer, rather the conversation was all about the food at Indian Brook. We had a particularly and I quote “amazing, delicious, nutritious, yum,” lunch consisting of chard from the garden, brown rice, black beans, fried plantain bananas, sweet potatoes and all the fixings…..we all licked our plates clean, a trip tradition learnt on the trail.