Survival Camp 2021: Monday – Friday | MSU Tollgate Farm and Education Center

Welcome to Survival Camp 2021!

Check out the photos below with a brief description to learn about the fun we have this week!

Monday:

First off we kicked off the camp week with a wagon ride around Tollgate! We saw all sorts of wild life and farm life!

Next we went off to the garden to do some weeding and watering and enjoy a tasty garden fresh snack. We had beans, peas, tomatoes, and carrots!

Then it was time to Tie Dye our camp t shirts. We got a little bit of color everywhere– Cant wait to see the finished products on Friday!

Then it was time to do our animal chores for the day. We will rotate the chores throughout the week so we all get to meet and interact with everyone!

After lunch we headed over to the forest to start our Survival Shelter! We learned about different types of shelters and will get to work on ours more through out the week!

Then after we had fishing practice. We learned how to use the fishing rod at Tollgate safely and what to do and what not to do during fishing tomorrow. All the campers did amazing!

The final two activities of the day included team flag painting for our wagon and then wilderness first aid where we learned about how to treat someone if they found themselves injured in the wilderness. We learned about litters, splints, hypothermia and more!

Great kick off to a great week! See you all tomorrow!

Tuesday:

Happy Tuesday! The day started off with animal chores. The Green Pepper group was the first group to milk a goat! We learned about what animals are used for on a farm, what we can do with goat milk, and the importance of cleanliness. We milked Sage and are happy to report it went great and all the campers were excited to milk!

After animal chores we headed over to the pond to learn how to filter water in the case of a desperate need for clean water for survival. Although we didn’t have time to boil the water to make it drinkable, we were able to filter out a lot of the dirt and debris to make it cleaner!

After we made almost clean drinking water we went over to the garden to meet our Garden Volunteers to learn about the parts of seeds and what they use for survival vs what we use for survival! We spent some time harvesting carrots after for a delicious snack!

After the garden we headed to the shade to cool off, play games, and act out skits on the Leave No Trace principals.

After lunch we got to test our balance and patience as we walked across the slack line!

Then it was the long awaited activity, FISHING ! We caught more than a few fish and all were great sports!

Then time to snack on some farm fresh carrots ! Delicious!

After snacking it was time to get back to work on our shelter and then time to go home! Another great day!

Wednesday:

Happy to announce the weather was great so we got to start our Wednesday with canoeing. What a test of arm strength and team work canoeing around the pond!

After canoeing we participated in more Leave No Trace Skits. The campers do a great job acting out and engaging in fulfilling conversations.

After LNT we played a game of Owls and Mice and had snack! After a quick bite and game we headed over to the animals to do animal chores. Yellow peppers got to milk a goat today!

After chores we got put our animal culinary skills to the test. We got to prepare a delicious feast for the ponies, Friday and Sesame.

Obviously the ponies LOVED their treats!

After cooking for the animals we learned about solar energy and how we can use the sun to cook some food! We built our very own solar ovens using a pizza box, aluminum foil, and plastic wrap. We will cook S’mores in them tomorrow.

After construction we got to learn about hunting and played a quick game of mammoths and hunters using flour in the forest and garden.

After hunting it was time to work on our Shelter a little bit longer! Just 2 more days to work on it before we have to “Leave No Trace” and tear it down.

See you all tomorrow!

Thursday!

Happy Thursday!

Kicked off the morning with filling up our solar ovens with the s’more supplies so that they could cook in the sun all day.

After it was time to visit Farmer Darby in the CSA field to learn about the life of onions from seed to dinner table. The campers had a fun time harvesting onions that have been growing in the field for months.

After visiting with Famer Darby we headed over to the animal barn to do some chores. The orange peppers got to milk a goat today!

After chores we grabbed a goat to take on a haltered animal hike. We learned about how people use donkeys to carry some of the weight of equipment on long treks– so we had our goat carry our snacks and sanitizer for our trek.

After lunch we learned about the use of fires, parts of fires, what fires need, and how to make a fire. Campers loved using the various fire starting supplies to start their own fire. They were very safe and were able to start a fire and keep it fueled. Great job!

Then we headed deeper in the forest to continue to build on our shelter. We continued to strengthen our walls and will finish it and tear it down tomorrow.

Then we headed back to shade for snacking on S’mores and an activity on how to use a compass. What a busy but great day! Wish everyday could be like today! Great job campers!

Friday:

Happy Tie Dye T shirt Friday!

Green Peppers hosted the Friday Flag ceremony and did a terrific job!

After flag ceremony we headed off to our last chores session for the week. Had to say our farewells to all the animals.

After chores we went off on a foraging hike and learned about all the cool edible and medicinal plants all around us!

Then it was time to attempt to make a grass rope that is supposedly strong enough to pull a car. Although ours wasn’t quite that strong we had a great time attempting and made a new activity call farm fashion!

Then we played some games, had some lunch and then it was already time to go out into the woods for a hike, to finish our shelters and then Leave No Trace and tear them down. It was sad to see them go but look forward to future camps also using those logs to build shelters of their own.