Today our theme was Water Wonderland/ It’s a Bug’s Life. In the morning the Green and Red Peppers practiced their casting then went fishing. Tomorrow the Yellow and Orange Peppers will get the chance to go fishing.
Here are a few of the campers with their fish they caught.
Everyday the Pepper groups are assigned different animals chores which include milking Jenna, a Toggenburg goat, collecting eggs from the chickens, or feeding and freshening water for the goats, calves, and sheep. Each day the Pepper groups learn a little more about the different species they care for that day.
Today the Yellow Peppers made goat milk soap. Each camper got to select from a variety of scents and colors to customize their soap.
During garden kitchen campers picked basil and watered plants in the garden. They sure need it with the lack of rain lately!
They enjoyed a snack of strawberry spinach salad from the spinach they picked yesterday with a yummy sweet dressing they made. They mixed the ingredients below to make the dressing.
During an afternoon hike, Pepper Groups looked for milkweed and collected soil samples. The campers learned that Monarch caterpillars eat milkweed and the butterflies need milkweed to lay their eggs. Milkweed is poisonous to many other species but not humans.
After the milkweed hike, the campers created sustainable farms for their STEM project that they will continue to look at throughout the week. Each day they use the theme to think about how that would impact their farm. Today they thought about the water and strategically placed it in their farm model to create a more “sustainable farm”.
To go along with learning about bugs, the Pepper groups learned about pollinators and the parts of a flower. They looked at the stamen, pistil, and petals with a magnifying glass and saw the pollen up close. After they dissected the flower, they used the petals to make art projects with the pigment.
See everyone tomorrow for another great day of camp!
Spinach and Phyllo Tarts
- 1Tbs olive oil
- 9 oz. baby spinach leaves
- 2 Tbs fresh basil
- 9 oz softened cream cheese
- 1 large egg beaten
- 1 oz (25g) Parmesan cheese
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350
- Gently tear the spinach and basil into pieces.
- In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, egg, and grated cheese until smooth
- Stir in the spinach
- Carefully cut the phyllo dough into 16 5”squares
- Brush the squares with a little olive oil
- Stack 2 squares, making a star
- Gently place the dough sheets in the muffin pan, push them in to make them fit
- Spoon mixture into shells.
- Bake for 25 minutes, until set and dough is golden brown.
Makes 8
Strawberry Spinach Salad
- Spinach
- Sesame Seeds
- Strawberry slices
- Dried Cherries
Dressing
- ¼ tsp. Worchester Sauce
- ¼ C. Honey
- ¼ C. Apple Cider Vinegar
- ½ c. Olive Oil
- 1 tsp. Granulated Garlic
- In a mason jar combine dressing ingredients, shake well and allow to sit.
- Wash Greens well and shake dry, slice strawberries, toast sesame seeds (or almond slivers if no nut allergies). Mix and toss in dried cherries. (fruit choices can change also, mandarin oranges, raspberries work nicely too).
- I like to allow dressing to sit on full salad for an hour or so if given the chance
Can be served with dressing on it or on the side