The adventure continues...

Today we woke up to glorious sunshine and dined alfresco on fluffy pancakes straight off the griddle full of fresh berries from the garden. After breakfast we got busy over at the forge making  toasting forks for marshmallows. Another group headed to the willow circle to take part in a green woodworking session where they learned how to use tools including a shave horse, draw knife, bill hook, axe and mallet.

A late afternoon climbing session followed where everyone managed to scale the 6m west face of the tower to reach the top and were rewarded with a view across Truro to the cathedral. A cooking team got to work in the kitchen rustling up bangers & mash while a harvesting team picked raspberries for Eton Mess. 

After dinner we were joined by very some very special guests - a Goshawk and a Barn Owl. We learned lots about these fascinating creatures and were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to experience Rocky the Barn Owl in flight. A campfire was lit and the toasting forks tested before some evening performances and turbo hot chocolates before bed time.

Environmental adventurers arrive!

The adventurers arrived this morning full of energy and ready for action! Some had flown in from Italy, others travelled by train from London while for some it was just a short journey across Cornwall. After a tour of camp to discover how we live off grid and learn about the borehole, solar panels, reed-bed and composting toilets it was time to move into the tents before heading off to the archery range with Charlie. Everybody hit the target and we congratulated our joint head archers before joining Briony in the bell tent where we had a go at natural dyeing. 

The group foraged plants from around camp which gave some surprising results like the purple borage flowers which produced a vibrant yellow! Beautiful tie dye bandanas made, it was time to get busy in the garden and kitchen, harvesting and preparing ingredients, pressing homemade burgers and cooking them up on the BBQ for dinner.

After dinner the group set off for the forest on a wild wood walk where they bumped into the Woodsman who was kind enough to take them on a journey through the woods, stopping off along the way to share with them some of the secrets of the trees, plants and animals which call it home. 

Tomorrow we’ve got forging with Tristan the Blacksmith to look forward to as well as green woodworking, climbing and a visit from some very special feathered friends. Roll on tomorrow!

Day 4 - aerial acrobatics, climbing, leatherwork and evening performances

Today we were joined by Tree and Pema from Sky High Arts who brought a mobile rig to camp and taught the group how to do aerial performance on the trapeze - it didn't take long for everyone to get the hang of it as you can see from the photos! 

While some were hanging from the trapeze, others were scaling the climbing wall and progressing their climbing skills by tackling harder routes and learning their knots for tying in. In the afternoon the group got to work with leather creating beautiful handcrafted purses and bags.

After dinner it was time for team challenges followed by the annual performance evening which didn't disappoint! Super charged S'mores were enjoyed around the campfire before lights out on the last night of camp 2017.

day 3 - foraging, climbing & cob oven pizzas

The day began with some adventurers heading off to the food garden to lift some of the potatoes we've been growing, as well as harvesting lettuce and tomatoes for lunch. Meanwhile a cooking team got busy in the kitchen preparing French Toast with streaky bacon and maple syrup and some delicious Rocky Road cakes as a sweet treat for lunch.

After breakfast the group headed out along the hedgerows with Marcus the wild food forager and tasted some foraged foods including Rosehips and Burdock before cooking up some foraged ingredients in the field kitchen.

In the afternoon adventurers tackled the tower climbing wall and learned how to belay one another in teams. Everybody made it to the top of the tower and came back for a second attempt at a harder route. 

Charlie fired up the cob oven in the evening while everyone made their pizza dough and delicious homemade fruit crumbles using the first of the blackberries growing here at camp. Keeping with the food theme we lit the campfire and enjoyed deluxe hot chocolates with whipped cream and marshmallows before bedtime. Tomorrow, aerial dance, leatherwork, dumpling making and an evening of performances around the campfire.

Day 2 - the adventure continues...

After a good night's sleep the group awoke to beautiful sunshine and delicious pancakes whipped up by the cooking crew with fresh raspberries and blueberries from the garden. Tristan the Blacksmith arrived during breakfast and before we knew it there was a pedal powered forge set up and ready for action. In addition to forging toasting forks, door hooks, keyrings and other beautiful pieces, adventurers also got to have a go at Lino cutting/printing and natural dyeing with Briony using foraged plants to create vibrant and unexpected colours on silk. 

Dinner was followed by a well being and mindfulness session led by some of the girls which was a mash up of yoga, meditation and a lot of laughter!

In the evening adventurers had the opportunity to sample some cuisine which is enjoyed by over 2 billion people around the globe but has yet to really become part of our everyday diet here in the UK - edible insects! They tasted Thai fried crickets, mealworm burgers and banana and mealworm cupcakes. We also discussed the environmental benefits which come from eating bugs. Some loved the flavours and textures while others were a little more hesitant - the photos speak for themselves!

Five days of fun filled environmental adventures ahead!

It was great to see so many familiar faces return to camp today for the five day environmental adventure 2017. After a refresh on the off-grid systems we employ here at camp it was time to move into the tents and move in they did! Some seasoned campers had even brought along fairy lights and inflatable sofas! 

After settling in it was time to tackle the marshmallow and spaghetti tower challenge to get us all thinking about team work and chatting to our fellow campers before making our way to the archery range with Charlie for the afternoon.

A harvesting team headed off to the food garden and came back laden with lots of delicious home grown produce including tomatoes, lettuce, edible flowers, carrots, beetroot and chives. These were whipped up into delicious salad and coleslaw to accompany the homemade burgers which the cooking crew made. We dined alfresco in the sunshine before greeting out guests for the evening - a falconer and her birds of prey - Spike the Goshawk and Rocky the Barn Owl which some children were chosen at random to have fly to their outstretched arm! 

As dusk fell we headed out on a woodland walk.

Adventures in Spaghetti Squash

This year in the food garden we experimented with a bunch of different squash varieties - some old favourites like Butternut and Jack O'Lantern as well as a wild card - Spaghetti Squash, so called as it's flesh, when cooked, is a dead ringer for it's namesake. 

We harvested the squash in October and stored them in a cool dark place. Given the size of the monster squash we grew (over 4kg!) boiling them whole, as is often recommended, was out of the question so we opted for a baked squash recipe found here.

We chopped the Spaghetti Squash in half and popped it in the oven for the recommended time (and then a bit longer again as it was so large!). We might have overcooked it slightly but we were still pretty impressed with the spaghetti like results!

A few recipe instructions later and we were enjoying our very first taste of Spaghetti Squash - ta dah!

Surprisingly the squash tastes a lot like turnip but less watery and the spaghetti like texture is a winner. Overall it was pretty delicious which was fortunate as we're going to be eating it in various incarnations for the next couple of days!

Why not give it a go this summer? - we have saved a few seeds - if you would like some just let us know and check out this link to find out more about growing and harvesting: https://www.loyalgardener.com/harvest-spaghetti-squash/

3 Day Environmental Adventure Day 2

We awoke this morning to camp shrouded in mist and fog which made for an atmospheric start to the day. Breakfast was a relaxed affair with bacon and egg rolls around the campfire. During breakfast Dena arrived with her team and turned the dining tent into a print studio where the group were able to design and cut their own stencils which they laid on their t-shirts and then silk screen printed. 

After lunch we split into two groups. Half of us headed over to the forge to work with a local Blacksmith making our very own toasting forks for marshmallows while the others tested their head for heights on the climbing wall. We had some incredible climbers with one even reaching the top of the purple route - the hardest on the whole wall with the smallest, most spaced out and awkwardly shaped holds!

After a short break we swapped activities before coming together for a delicious BBQ dinner. In the evening we headed off to the woods on a wild woodland walk where we met the Woodsman who was out for an evening wander. We joined him on his walk and were treated to lots of long forgotten facts about the trees and plants before taking a rest by the lake where he told us the story of the Moondog of Moresk.

On our return to camp the campfire was lit and we christened the newly forged toasting forks with some marshmallows before heading off to bed.

3 Day Environmental Adventure Day 1

Our environmental adventurers had an action packed first day today - after a brisk walk up the hill to camp they got stuck straight into archery with Charlie and then headed out on the river to explore the creeks off the Truro and Tresillian rivers. After a hearty dinner of bangers of mash we were treated to a visit from Nancy the Noctule who even demonstrated her echolocation for us which we were able to pick up with our bat detectors. We then headed out on a dusk walk along the hedgerows to see if there were any bats in the wild brave enough to venture out on this damp night! Turns out they were all tucked up in their roosts so we headed back to camp where we got cosy round the campfire and reflected on what an amazing first day we had enjoyed. Tomorrow we have silk screen t-shirt printing, climbing, forging, campfire cooking and a BBQ to look forward to followed by a Wild Woodland Walk. 

6 day environmental adventure days 5 & 6

Today we awoke to the smell of bacon cooking on the campfire and after egg and bacon rolls we were ready to begin the day with climbing, t-shirt design and silk screen printing. In the afternoon we prepared our pizza dough and harvested raspberries and rhubarb from the garden to make fruit crumbles for afters. Later on that afternoon the cob oven was fired up and the group rolled their dough and topped their pizzas with their favourite toppings before bringing them over to the food garden where they went into oven and emerged minutes later, wood fired and ready to eat! Empty plates all round were testament to how delicious they were!

After some last minute rehearsals we were treated to an evening of performance - dance, drama, singing, comedy, magic.... lots of hidden talents were revealed and we were all thoroughly entertained! Marshmallows round the campfire rounded off our last full day at camp and just as the children were nodding off, the meteor shower began and CK staff and volunteers were treated to the most spectacular light show! 

On our final morning we headed deep into the woods where the group were challenged to construct shelters in teams which would be able to withstand torrential rain and wind and enable all members of the team to stay dry. Some teams stayed dry when the rain (bucket of water!) came while others got a little soggy but everyone had great fun and we were all relieved it wasn't a real survival situation and we were able to head back up the hill to camp and a delicious lunch. After lunch there was just enough time for the awards ceremony and the presentation of the wonderful handicrafts which the group had created over the course of their week at camp.