Hello campers, stewards, SITs, and families. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Coltrane. You may recognize me from the tank in the Activity Center, but if you forgot, allow me to refresh your memory:
Yours truly
Now, a fun fact about me: I am an aspiring author, and I hope to write a book about food camp. So, for research, I figured I would observe everything that goes on here at Tollgate Food Camp and take detailed notes. What follows is what I saw go down on day one.
First, the campers separated into four pepper groups. From youngest to oldest, they are green, yellow, orange, and red. Then, they got to know the farm and everyone who lives here by doing animal chores!
Chicken chores are crucial!
Campers meet Gracie
Making new friends (of all species)
Next, I noticed campers spraying different color dye onto white shirts. This is known as “tie-dye.” I heard that peppers will get their shirts on Thursday to wear for Friday. I wonder if they have any in my size. . .
I love tie-dye and I cannot lie
This is called the “Charlie Brown” shirt
A splash of color makes everything better
Next up, campers really got a chance to get to know the farm; they went on a wagon ride! The tractor drove all around the property so that the peppers could see everything going on. I’m glad I sneaked on too– it will be really helpful in describing the setting of my book!
Ridin’ in style
Ready to go!
A wagon full of peppers
At this point, everyone was hungry, so the peppers groups broke off for lunch. And it’s a good thing they did because their next activity was about lunch! Peppers got to draw some of the foods they had for lunch and then map out where those foods came from. The backs of our Tollgate shirts say that we know where food comes from, and this activity is one way to make sure that’s true!
Where Gogurt comes from
Food artists
Then, campers got started on their week-long project: a farm stand! Each pepper group gets to come up with their own farm-fresh dish to serve at the end of the week, so today, campers got to head over to the garden and see what produce is available. Some peppers even got a few ingredients already!
Garden shenanigans
I am also overwhelmed by the size of this zucchini
Say “cucumber!”
When the campers returned from the garden, it was time for a super fun game about food. But not just any food. Animal food! Peppers were given photos of Tollgate animals and bags of animal feed, and they had to match the food to the right animal. I even saw some of my food down there. They better bring that back, I’m getting hungry just talking about it!
A match? You decide!
Teamwork makes this game a lot easier
Concentration
Ask your camper to tell you the difference between broiler chickens and laying chickens!
We also started the week off with a bang over in Garden Kitchen. Not only did campers have delicious fruit kabobs and potato salad, but they also started the process of making pickles from cucumbers! Those should be ready by Friday for camper enjoyment.
Parsley Prep
A whole new kind of potato salad
Nothing beats fresh fruit in the morning
Let the pickling begin!
Check out all the things peppers did today!
Try the Garden Kitchen recipes at home!
Now, you might be thinking that I did a terrible job researching because I didn’t even get a picture of YOUR pepper! But I took more photos than could ever be included in the blog. Click here to see them all!
Thanks for reading my research thus far. I think I got a really good start for my novel, but I’m sure there’s even more to come. Join me tomorrow, won’t you?