Strawberry raccoons

Hello out there :) Another beautiful sunset out my window is fading away into darkness and somehow, I feel no guilt for being inside on a computer. When I lived in the city, I used to come to this camp for two months at a time or just for a weekend retreat. Deprived of daily meditation on sunsets, deer sightings and woodsy walks, I aimed to spend every minute of the day outside while at camp. For all it’s worth, Camp Skyline is located on the highest point in Lapeer County. Thus sunsets are spectacular, mosquitoes are rare and everything is safe and child friendly. How ironic, just as I was writing how safe it is here I heard a noise in the kitchen. I called out, “hello?” hoping for a hungry counselor to answer. The silence answered my question. It was our nightly visitor: the raccoon looking for a free meal in our trash can. With Genevieve hanging on feeding, I tip toed into the kitchen, hoping it wouldn’t jump out at me. She must have heard me call out and retreated to the living room. I then escorted the raccoon back out the door where she had entered. As far as camp raccoons go, this was a small one.

Genevieve has just gone to sleep. Jacinta has just fallen out of bed, gone to the bathroom and fallen back asleep. Matt has since returned from the campfire, and left again to go shopping American style, at a superstore at 10pm.The sun is long gone. So I will now continue my writing, two hours after I began. I always aim to sleep before eleven but it hasn’t happened yet. There is always something to keep me up. This week, reading is the culprit. My favorite author has written another book, and not just any book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Not only does Barbara Kingsolver write beautifully, but this book is all about her family’s effort to get off the food grid and eat locally for an entire year. I haven’t had time to read much, but I try each night. Interesting details about growing and eating asparagus keep me up longer than I plan.

So far this book has already inspired Chris, our camp director, to try and serve one meal a week at this camp that is made up entirely of locally grown and locally processed foods. You’d think this would be an easy task, perhaps more expensive than your average mass-produced camp meal, but it is rather difficult to find out where your food is grown. So far we’ve found a great lettuce source, and meat and dairy will be easy. Vegetables and fruits should be easy between June and October, but grains are turning out to be the hardest so far. This is one of my few tasks here at camp, researching food sources. I really don’t have to do much to earn my keep. I help out with the camp store and have organized the garden.

In addition to his other duties Matt invented himself another task. He built a small “camp store” on wheels which is really a lockable display case that we can set up down the hill near the cabins. It had its debut today as our first group of children arrived. The action here at camp has just moved down the hill. The only reason the children and counselors will come up the hill will be for meals. Thus Jacinta, Genevieve and I will have to make more of an effort to join the campers. Perhaps seeing all of the children trudge up and down the hill without a stroller to push them will inspire Jacinta to walk herself. That would be nice.

The vegetable garden is now in use. Monday morning I bought two more bales of hay, ten bags of cow manure, and Pete brought up two bales of straw. Our No Dig garden is complete, the layers have been laid. Lucerne “biscuits” on the bottom, a thin layer of cow manure, loose straw followed by another thin layer of cow manure and some nutrient rich muck, topped by four inches of good soil. Last week’s campers made almost thirty more stepping stones which were immediately set in the dirt, ready to be stepped upon. The following day the garden was planted. It is late to be planting but our goal is more to garden with the campers than reap the harvest at this point. Our adult campers with special needs came out, a few at a time, and worked one on one with a counselor dropping peas and beans in holes along the fence line. Barb proudly sprinkled lettuce seeds mixed with sand down a row, as one of the five Johns sprinkled carrot seeds down another row. Maria can not hear but was able to work with Liz and plant beans exactly where they needed to be. Holly, who seemed angry all week, told me after she begrudgingly planted a butternut squash that she loved butternut squash. Even if these seeds never come up, this day of planting, the action of planting with these campers will be enough.

The girls and I stayed around camp this week. Carrie, Otto and Nigel came out to explore with us on Monday. We ran the store, sang, played, explored, swam, and even made cinnamon rolls for the staff one day. Our only outings were to the library, the supermarket and the resale shop. The Almont library is a lovely place to spend a morning. Jacinta is at the perfect age to fall in love with the library, so many fun books to try out. She loves the puzzles, the ambiance, and especially all of the other children. She stares for a while, then inches up into their circles to see what they are doing or to hear what their moms are reading aloud. The library may be Jacinta heaven, but the massive Salvation Army is mine. I talked my friend Liz into coming along which gave me some time to search for a new wardrobe that actually fits. I’m still stuck in limbo between a pregnant body and a non-pregnant body. While Jacinta played in the toy aisle and hide and seek in all of the clothes with Liz, I had a good opportunity to search. I hope to get back a few more times before returning to my Australian country town where people don’t give away such good quality clothing. Matt’s heaven is the local coffee shop called The Mill. It is an antique shop that also sells good used books and good coffee. Genevieve’s heaven, well, I suppose it’s anywhere there is milk, open arms, smiling faces and a soft spot to roll around with no nappy.

This weekend we were spoiled by visitors: my family came all the way from Indiana and Wisconsin! My sister and her little boy, Kai, flew in Friday morning. Mom and George came on Friday night. We had many picnics outside and I cooked nothing. The kitchen staff had prepared weekend food for the summer staff and there was plenty to share. I got to show Mom and George the place I had met Matt eleven years ago. Lecia had already seen it, but not seen it in the summer. We strolled around, walked the labyrinth, swam in the pool, and fished in the pond. Mom and George love fishing and Jacinta likes the idea of fishing and will happily fish for a short while. I had never caught a fish, so George helped me catch my first fish. It was quite a thrill, although I threw it back. We have no idea what lurks in this pond.

It was a very laid back visit. Mom and George find a way to be comfortable everywhere they go. George found the hammock straight away, the paper and the best view of the camp: on the benches under the dead pine trees which shade the sandbox. The kids played in the sandbox, blew bubbles and rode the tricycle for hours. Well, Jacinta rode the tricycle and Kai sat in the backseat babbling away, “gul-lug, gul-lug, gul-lug…” The highlight for Jess and Kai may have been playing on the sand hill, which was originally meant for cement mixing. They rolled, crawled, jumped, and ran up and down this simple hill creating games with sticks, leaves and sand. All the while the adults sat around watching on chairs, well, not Lecia. Kai is one year old and this is not an age where you can sit and watch your child. You must keep up with them. Genevieve is still stuck to me, watching Lecia run I appreciate Evie’s lack of mobility. Jess and Kai also enjoyed chowing down on strawberries and raspberries at the U-pick farm. They made it very hard for Lecia and I to build up a stock to take home, but I understand. The strawberries were so sweet and wonderful. You can picture it: Genevieve in my arms reaching out to hold the leaves of each plant, Kai sitting on his strawberry stained bum stuffing strawberry after strawberry into his mouth, and Jacinta forty feet away keeping her distance so I would not see how many strawberries she was picking and shoveling into her mouth.

This weekend was a true sharing of the children. Genevieve fell asleep in both mom and Lecia’s arms. She bounced happily in George’s arms and played on the floor with everybody. Kai let me hold him, blow bubbles in his face and even fell sleep in my arms at dinner. Jacinta followed Lecia wherever she went and inquired to her whereabouts whenever she was missing. George showed Jacinta and I some fishing tricks. I love sharing the wealth and the weight of the children, this is what makes momming so easy and rewarding. I am able to celebrate the joy and the pain with others. I can’t imagine doing it alone. It’s a good thing I don’t have to!

Have a lovely week my kind friends and family. Thanks for participating in the sharing of our lives and children.

Peace,

Shana