Help Plant the Camp Garden on Sunday!

Looking for a free family activity to do this Sunday afternoon?  Want to have a hand in planting a garden that will be an outdoor classroom this summer?  Need an excuse to get outside?  Adventure Camp can help.

This Sunday, April 21, from 2 PM to 4 PM, we will be preparing seed beds and planting seeds at the newly-tilled garden at Adventure Camp.  No experience necessary, although we ask that everyone who comes out bring some sort of work gloves and their own water.  Sunblock might also be a good idea.  If you own and can bring garden rakes, shovels, trowels, or spades, that would helpful, but we will have some on hand.  Scouts should be accompanied by a parent, and siblings are welcome.  

If you've never been, directions to Adventure Camp can be found here.  We will gather at 2 PM at the Welcome Pavilion, the first building on your right once you enter Adventure Camp.  Please email me at bill.givler@scouting.org if you can help out.  It looks like Sunday will be a little above 60 degrees and sunny...great weather for gardening.

Bring the King to Your Next Pack Meeting

Over the past 4 months, King Arthur has visited a lot of pack meetings.  The most recent one was a visit to Pack 2877 at Chester Presbyterian Church on Tuesday night.  The king forgot to have his picture taken at the Pack meeting, but here's a shot of him at his Winter Retreat, planning Adventure Camp for this summer:

Two fun facts about King Arthur:
1. Loves Diet Coke.
2. Has a tough time keeping the crown level on his head.  It's just a tad awkward.

So, has King Arthur visited your pack meeting yet?  No?!?  Why not?  Here's what usually happens if you invite the king to a pack meeting...right after the opening ceremony, the Cubmaster says, "Folks, we have a special guest with us tonight to talk about Adventure Camp."  King Arthur appears, brandishing Excalibur, and invites everyone to attend Adventure Camp this summer.  He gives a short, 5-minute presentation about Adventure Camp and then departs immediately so you can get back to skits, songs, and awards.  He brings a few hand-held visual aids (very low tech), and leaves a few handouts behind.

There is no excuse for not inviting King Arthur to a pack meeting.  Send an email to bill.givler@scouting.org to bring the king next month!

Early Bird Gets the Worm!

The "early bird" also gets a substantial discount on the cost of attending Adventure Camp.  If you know that you will be attending, now is the time to register and pay half your fees, because the "Early Bird" rates end on March 18.  After that date, regular camp fees will apply.  Check the Leader's Guide for full details.

OK, for bonus points, can you name the type of owl in the picture?  At night, it is not uncommon to hear this owl's call at Adventure Camp...a reminder that we are just visitors in a place where wild things live.

Adventure Camp Patches Arrive!

Today, Connie, our Scout Shop Manager, called me, and said, "A couple boxes arrived with your name on them this morning."  In an office environment, there's few words that are quite as magical as the ones that came out of Connie's mouth.  I got down to the warehouse, and ripped into box #1.  Patches have arrived.  Above is the patch that campers will receive for attending, and surviving, Adventure Camp this summer.

This is the complete set of Adventure Camp patches.  On the right is the Adult Service Award patch, which Adult Campers can earn by actively participating in the program at Adventure Camp.  We'll post the requirements later.  On the left is the Staff patch, earned and worn by paid Camp Staff, Counselors-in-Training, Auxiliary Staff, and anyone who volunteers to be on the Adventure Garden Team.  At the top is the "I'm Going to Summer Camp" patch that any camper can earn just by registering to attend Adventure Camp by January 31, 2013.

It's a pretty neat set of patches.  So, who's already signed up?  I'd love to hear from some Scouts and Parents who are stoked to be getting this cool patch.

"I'm Going to Summer Camp" patches

This year our council turns 100 years old, and a whole line of 100th Anniversary patches will be issued.  Many of our existing events will use the same basic design for their event patch.  One of the first patches that you will be able to get your hands on will be the "I'm Going to Summer Camp" Patch, which will be given to anyone registered to attend Summer Camp at the Heart of Virginia Scout Reservation by January 31, 2013. In other words, if you register to attend Adventure Camp or Camp T. Brady Saunders this summer before the end of January, you get this limited edition patch at no extra charge.

Need to link to the registration page?  It's right here.  From the left column, click on the session you want to attend, and follow the on-screen instructions.

Wish List for Adventure Camp

Here at Adventure Camp we have our fingers crossed that Santa Claus will bring us some of the items on our Camp Wish List this holiday season.  If anyone wants to help Santa out, I am sure he wouldn't mind.  Here are some of the things we could really use at Adventure Camp in preparation for our summer camping season:

• Medieval Costumes of any sort
• Costume/prop swords, shields, bows, crossbows, etc.
• gardening gloves
• gardening hand tools - small garden spades, cultivator tools, etc.
• binder twine
• rope (at least quarter inch diameter)
• tomato/cucumber cages
• rolls of fencing
• small youth claw hammers

If you have some of these items lying around, and you wish to donate them, bring them by the Scout Service Center.  We'll gladly provide you with a letter of donation.  Gift wrapping totally optional

Seeds arrive for our camp kitchen garden

One of the dreams that Cherri Hankins, our 2012 Adventure Camp Head Cook, and I share is to have a garden at camp where we can grow fresh herbs and vegetables.  I've become an avid backyard gardener, and Cherri loves to garden, too, although her most recent efforts were eaten by ravenous groundhogs.

Our vision is not just to provide healthier and tastier food at Adventure Camp.  It's also to give Scouts and their parents a chance to get their hands dirty gardening and to use a garden as a fun and educational program feature.  We have a patch of land picked out, so I did a little online research and found an organization called Wintersown in upstate New York.  Groups can apply to Wintersown to receive free seeds for educational purposes.  Seemed simple...you fill out a form, mail it with $15 to shipping costs to them.  I wondered if I'd get my $15 back if we weren't selected, so I called the number on the website, and a lady named Trudi answered.  Turns out that Trudi IS Wintersown.  She's a one-woman show, and passionate about teaching youth about gardening.  We had an amazing conversation, and I put my money and form in the mail the next day.  Today this package materialized in my office in-box.

I ripped into it, and found well over 200 packets of seed.  It's  too much for the camp garden we planned, but we are "land-rich," so its just a matter of tilling up some additional territory.  I was amazed by the variety and quantity of seed we received.

There are seeds for zucchini, yellow squash, cucumber, okra, cabbage, eggplant, jalapeno peppers, radishes, celery, bush beans, pole beans, banana peppers, a dozen types of tomatoes, corn, and much, much more.  The most intriguing seed was in homemade packet...

Google "Cyclanthera Explodens."  It's pretty freaky.  This huge package of seeds got me stoked about the possibilities and opportunities the 'Adventure' garden will provide to our campers.  So, I have two questions:

1. If you're planning on camping with us next summer, what plants would you like to see us grow in the Adventure Garden?

2. Is there anyone out there willing to volunteer in the Adventure Garden this spring?  C'mon, how can you resist Exploding Cucumbers?