Food Camp- Day 1

Welcome to Food Camp!

This morning was special at Tollgate. We started the morning with our usual routine: Pledge of Allegiance at the flag, 4-H pledge, and CARES skits (Cooperation, Attitude, Respect, Empathy, and Safety). Then campers watched a video about the solar eclipse!

Volunteers stood up to help staff show campers about the solar eclipse. The eclipse occurred when the moon crossed in between the earth and the sun.

After the eclipse demonstration, staff reviewed the 3 rules at camp: 1- shhh quiet, 2- no thank you and hands to yourself, 3- silent cheer.

Campers earned CARES badges throughout the day. These girls demonstrated safety, respect, attitude, and cooperation in the animal barn. Then they passed on their badges to friends in their group throughout the day.

On Monday, campers tie-dye t-shirts to wear on Friday.

Every day this week, campers will take turns doing animal chores. Today, the red peppers milked the goat. They practiced milking before giving it a try.

The counselor dipped the goat’s teats in iodine. Why is this important for the goat? It protects both the goat and humans from spreading zoonotic diseases!

The blue peppers helped with chicken chores. This group fed the layer birds and collected eggs.  Another group went out to the pasture to move the coup. The broiler birds live out in the pasture. Where does our food come from? These campers talked about their favorite foods.

Where are bananas grown? Where are tomatoes, onions, peppers, basil, and wheat grown to make spaghetti and sauce? Where are cattle raised to add meat into spaghetti sauce?

Is food produced/raised locally or does it come from all over the world?The solar eclipse was a big deal this afternoon. Campers wore the special glasses to view the sun. What did your camper see?

Campers made pin hole viewers to look at the shadow of the moon over the sun.
A cereal box was used to project the shadow onto the box.  Campers took turns with the glasses, cereal boxes, and pin hole plates. Great cooperation campers! Campers had the opportunity to look at the full solar eclipse on the live video stream from other parts of the country.

The blue and green peppers walked around camp looking for wild edible plants. They found purslane. This plant is high in vitamin C.

Near the pond, campers found wild grapes. After the hike, the pepper groups washed their edible plants. They sampled each one and voted- I like it, It’s ok, and It’s not for me.  These campers tried cattail and plantain.  Here are the final tallies:

In garden kitchen, campers made hummus and Mediterranean sweet potatoes.

The campers started by making hummus in the food processor.

Once the hummus was finished, they set aside some for the afternoon snack and ate the rest with pretzels. In the afternoon, the pepper groups baked sweet potatoes and garbanzo beans. While those baked, they cut up tomatoes from the Tollgate garden.They combined their hummus based sauce, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and garbanzo beans. Yum!

Here are the recipes:

Morning: Hummus

2 cans chickpeas
1 large or 2 small garlic cloves
1/4 cup tahini
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
1 tsp sea salt
Paprika for serving (optional)

Combine ingredients into a food processor and process until evenly combined and smooth.

Afternoon: Mediterranean Baked Sweet Potatoes

2 Sweet potatoes
Olive oil
1 15oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
½ tsp each cumin, coriander, cinnamon, smoked (or regular) paprika
Pinch of sea salt or lemon juice
Garlic herb sauce:
¼ cup hummus
Juice of ½- lemon
¾-1 tsp dried dill (or sub 2-3 tsp fresh)
3 cloves garlic, minced (1 ½ tbsp)
Water to thin

Optional toppings:
Cherry tomatoes, diced
Chopped parsley, minced
2 tbsp lemon juice

Chop the sweet potato into bite-sized pieces. Drizzle and combine with a bit of olive oil. Toss rinsed and drained chickpeas with a bit of olive oil and the spices and place on baking sheet with sweet potatoes. Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for about 30 minutes (after 20 minutes flip the sweet potatoes over for the remaining 10 min). While the sweet potatoes and chickpeas are baking, prepare the garlic her sauce by adding all of the ingredients to a mixing bowl and whisking to combine, only adding enough water to thin so it is pourable. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Once the sweet potatoes and chickpeas are ready, remove from oven and top the sweet potatoes with the chickpeas, sauce, and optional toppings.

Additional photos from today can be found at the following link:

https://goo.gl/photos/bigB6BRcAtwDxqvm7

Enjoy your evening! See you tomorrow for another delicious day at food camp!

 

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