This week, at our annual Fourth of July bonfire, Junior Campers paraded in homemade hats of all shapes and colors to the Lake Hill, where Senior Camp greeted them in celebration. Upon arrival, campers tossed their hats onto the unlit fire, and joined the others in anticipation of singing together and the annual Super Skit. As our first all-Camp event, the inaugural bonfire is a time to celebrate and connect.
Senior Campers gathered this week in Dexter Pasture for the first community morning of the summer. Tent groups worked under bright, cloudless skies, weeding the potato field to ensure a healthy crop for fall harvest. Junior Campers also had the chance to get their hands dirty at community morning, weeding and mulching with our own compost in the the annual flower bed.Community work jobs spark a sense of connection to not only the 220 acres we share, but also to farms that exist beyond our own property. This week, some Junior and Senior Campers visited Blue Pepper Farm, a working sheep dairy. They harvested vegetables and herbs at Camp to share with this local farm.
By week two, this sense of connectedness—both to the larger Treetops community and beyond—is also evident among tent groups. Learning to live together, as well as how individual choices impact others, are important lessons that carry through the summer. At the same time, campers are also becoming more in tune with themselves and cultivating their own passions. Fully present, homesickness subsides. What remains is the joy of puddle jumping, crafting a kayak in the woodshop, diving into Round Lake, overnights at Raspberry Knoll, gobbling up a picnic supper on Balanced Rocks, and so much more.