July 2 2024

As I write this, the campers are still wearing sweatshirts due to the brisk temperature and light breeze on this bright sunny day. Yes, it is a perfect day at Greystone. No hint of the muggy heat of the past few days, just glorious perfection.

If every day was like this, we would likely not appreciate the gift of perfect weather (at least that is what I tell myself every time I visit San Diego). As it is, the change makes everything better. French Toast Sticks are sweeter, breakfast club funnier, singing louder, and classes more engaging. Just a slight drop in humidity and temperature transforms our world and we look about with the wide-eyed wonder of children. Another great day at Greystone!

Yesterday I broke up my routine, leaving the office to take photos at Farm & Garden for the first time this year. In a perfect world, I would visit every class every week, but this seldom happens. If I don’t force a trip out, I end up not having an accurate sense of what’s going on in camp. So I grabbed a camera (I no longer have my Nikon Pro gear but use the Cannon camp stuff… most of those cameras are very good, and all are almost new) and set out for Farm & Garden. This was harder than I expected.

Farm & Garden is located just 400 yards from my office, but the short walk was filled with diversions. Fishing, Yoga, Pickleball, and FORT all pulled me in as I tried to just walk on by. A great class is very hard to ignore. The counselors are teaching with energy, enthusiasm, and excellence. The campers are focused and tracking exactly what is being said, delighting in the company of their friends. It is magnetic… just try ignoring such a thing; it’s impossible! The 2-minute trip took 40 minutes, but I finally arrived just in time for the fourth-period class.

The barnyard animals are the stars of the Farm & Garden show, they now have their own class (Barnyard… it meets TTS, MWF is for Garden only). I wondered what Garden class would be like… is it fun, is it engaging, is anyone taking it still (the first week of class has lots of people dropping/adding classes)? I had doubts about gardening, for me, gardening has never been fun. It is a constant struggle against weeds and insects under the heat of a blazing sun with sweat stinging my eyes and my back aching as I look upon an endless line of stunted (dying) vegetables. It is soul-crushing work. Who would take that as a class? Shockingly, the class was pretty big. About a dozen girls eagerly gathered shortly after the bell rang… excitedly telling me about the class and themselves. They came from all over the country (Georgia, Florida, Texas, and California) and were very excited about getting the class.

Devan immediately set expectations… “today we are going to make Ranch Dressing”! Joy of Joy, Ranch Dressing is the King of dressings, everyone loves it, and everyone leaned in to know more. There are 11 ingredients and we will do it all… including picking Dill, Parsley, and chives and making mayonnaise from scratch… then we will harvest carrots, sugar snap peas, and cucumbers to eat with the fresh dressing. Finally, we will harvest blackberries (which have to be harvested every day), eating as many as we want in the process.

The class passed in the blink of an eye, and we were genuinely disappointed to leave. I thought to myself, if garden work is this much fun, why don’t I ever do this? It’s no doubt better with a gardener to help (Devan works on the garden year-round) but it is also fascinating. Throughout the class we learned little facts about the plants… why marigolds planted on the edges of the beds protect against invasive insects. How we compost at camp (there is a literal mountain of compost from last year that we use to keep our plant beds healthy). The role of the honey bees and how their honey builds our immune system naturally. It was a delightful hour… hope to go back to Barnyard today!

Breakfast French Toast Sticks and Sausage Patties

Lunch Shepherd’s Pie and Peas

Dinner Chicken Sandwiches

Weather UNBELIEVABLE

Breakfast Club Mental Growth (murder of crows, scurry of squirrels, court of kangaroos)

Joke A Texan visits Australia

EP Team Meetings… Challenge Day is tomorrow