Crow’s Nest: Camp 2016 Week One
By Daniel Barringer, Preserve Manager
We have a week off from camp due to the short week of Independence Day but last week we had a great first week of 5th-6th camp! The theme—the Sun—was picked up in some of the crafts and projects. Below, making paper mache planets for the solar system in the barn.
Building Stewardship Staff loaned us (and set up) their scaffolding in the woods to make a community space in the tree canopy. The kids built this into spaces for their activities this week:
Then we ran a small zip line through the trees:
Other projects included making solar ovens with pizza boxes (great for making nachos) and small group hikes covering various topics. The Crow’s Nest Challenge Hike used a three-mile hike from top to bottom on the preserve to represent the solar system with scale-relative edible treats at their appropriate orbits.
A special project was making and deploying “seed balls”—small balls of clay, compost, and native wildflower seed—lofted into the meadows using a giant slingshot. We hope that this will augment the pollinator species there with a mosaic of wildflowers.