WOW! We have had a fantastic week of Survival Camp!
We took care of the animals this morning. The baby goats tend to be the highlight of chores!
Our teen Stewards help the Green Peppers feed the goat kids this morning!
Ms. Mandy helps the Green Peppers meet Alice the rabbit.
A couple of MSU Extension Nutrition Educators came in this morning so Ms. Pam could go grocery shopping. We made granola bar bites and played food-related bingo! Ms. Pam made ice cream for today and we got to eat it with chocolate chips for our afternoon snack!
The Yellow Peppers play bingo!
During garden time, we planted marigolds and talked about companion planting. This is a concept where gardeners or farmers plant certain species of vegetables, fruits, and/or flowers near each other in a way that is mutually beneficial. For instance, we planted marigolds near our potato plants to help control the Colorado potato beetle population that is eating the potato plants. Harmful beetles don’t like the smell of the marigolds, and are therefore more likely to leave the potato plants alone.
The Orange Peppers talk about marigolds and companion planting.
The Orange Peppers plant some marigolds.
We practiced our wilderness first aid skills today. In the case of an emergency in the wilderness, it’s a good idea to know basic first aid so that you can help someone if they get hurt or injured. We learned how to build a litter to carry someone if they can’t walk on their own. We practiced wrapping someone up like a burrito, which would come in handy if they were extremely cold. We also learned how to make a splint to support someone’s broken wrist or arm as well as tie a sling to keep it still. The campers enjoyed practicing these first aid skills on each other!
The Green Peppers practice placing an arm splint on our patient.
A Green Pepper helps pin a bandage on the patient.
We finished building our shelters as part of our week-long STEM project. We had to disassemble the shelters in order to follow the Leave No Trace principles that we’ve been talking about all week. The final skits that were performed today were all about Leave No Trace, so be sure to ask your camper about LNT!
The highlight for today was learning how to slackline! We talked about safety precautions and the challenges that slacklining presents, and the campers that wanted to got a chance to walk across the slackline with guidance from Ms. Ellen and the Education Leaders. We had a lot of fun cheering each other on!
Red Peppers waiting for their turn at slacklining.
We presented our final skits about Leave No Trace in the barn at the end of the day. The campers did a wonderful job of showcasing what they learned throughout the week, and we are so proud of them!
This week of Survival Camp was absolutely amazing! We had a fabulous group of campers and Stewards, and we learned a lot about basic survival skills while having a blast! Thank you so much for sharing your camper with us, and we hope to see you and your camper around the farm soon!
The Red Pepper group!
Yellow Peppers!
Green Pepper group!
Orange Peppers!
Thank you, Miss Maddie, for recording our weeks at camp on the blog with just the right blend of lively photos and stories! You make all the fun Tollgate Farm memories so easy to keep.
My pleasure, Miss Ellen! I love spending time with the campers and am thrilled to be part of the Tollgate summer staff!