Celebrate Earth Day

Posted By: Tracy Tingle

We would like to wish everyone a happy, peaceful and thoughtful Earth Day!

Earth Day reflects so much of what we are about here at camp. This is a day that is meant to inspire an appreciation and awareness of our natural world, and that is what we aspire to do every day at camp. Teaching our campers to be wise and caring stewards of the Earth is certainly one of our principle missions. This can take the form of anything from educating campers about how and why to compost food scraps and reduce use of water and paper products, or learning about sustainable forestry from our neighbor and reknowned forester Ed Tunheim, or taking a hike and learning about our local ecosystems.

We will soon (May 14th and 15th) be having a big work weekend at camp to put seeds and starts in the ground that is already being prepared for our garden. The earth there has been nurtured over the decades with compost from meals eaten during camp and by the year round residents, as well as manure from our chickens and horses. During camp, many of the vegetables we eat have been grown in the very earth that has been regenerated by food that has come from it. This is something that we have been incorporating into our camp program since it began in 1952, and our campers really respond to seeing this aspect of a complete food cycle.

During these times, when our Earth is in a precarious state and clearly needs more stewards for our planet, it is an honor to provide a place where children and families can come and actively connect to our natural world. Participation in taking care of the Earth in this sort of direct and active manner gives our campers a chance to put into practice what we hear about so often, and is an intensely gratifying experience. 

We hope that everyone can find time on Earth Day to do something to honor and perhaps help our gracious home, or at least take a moment to reflect on the beauty that abounds in our natural world.