'homesteading' at Camp Adahi...

It was a beautiful day to be out in the woods, pleasantly cool, while at the same time being pleasantly warm by mid-day in early October. A bright sunny sky, with occasional breezes, and leaves on the trees out along the ridges beginning to show changing colors of fall. I went with three of the staffers of the Girl Scout council of the Southern Appalachians to camp last Saturday for their version of an annual fall festival. The advertising used to lure the scouts, troop leaders, assorted parents and tag-a-longs (siblings) to drive up the mountain to the remote camp location called the day 'Cornhuskers'. It is a perfect location for a summer, sleep-away camp.

We were not actually 'homesteading', but were making the kind of crafts the pioneers would have helped their children assemble, back in the era of creating something useful out of scraps. In that time of   patchwork quilts made from feed sacks, worn out work pants - nothing wasted. There were several stations where the kids could rotate through and make crafts, all related to autumn. Cute little magnets made of pony beads that looked remarkably like Indian corn, place-mat weaving. At the shelter where P. and I were, we were making corn-shuck dolls. Something I have done in the past, with kids, but so long ago, I knew my doll-making skills were very rusty... I know now, it all comes back pretty quickly.


I found that it helps to have a demo. of each step in the process to show them what they are doing, what it is supposed to look like as they go through the assembly. After we both made a 'practice' doll, to refresh our memory, we had several dolls in various stages of completion to show them what they were doing, how it would go together. It was pretty neat that the started with an actual ear of dried corn, someone had just recently broken off the stalk in a neighboring farmer's field. The first step for them would be to pull the shucks off the ear of corn - something I am sure lots of little folk had never done: probably not aware that the little three inch 'ears' that would show up on their plates were not born in the freezer section of the local supermarket.

I think they enjoyed the doll making, as several of the moms/troop leaders were so intrigued when watching the process, they wanted to make one of their own. In 'olden times', they would have been using string or yard to create the various body-part segmentations for head and waist, rather than the easy-to-use rubber bands we had on Saturday. And would probably not had 'Sharpies' to make facial detail.

Bowls of chili with cornbread for lunch, 'field 'o' fun' with games and relay races, hayride in a wagon pulled by a tractor (that I hope to learn how to drive when I get to go back!), just a beauty-filled day to be out in the woods, enjoying sunshine, fresh air, Life.