In the Director's e-News will be weekly updates on the happenings at Green Adventures Camp.  This section of our website along with the Classroom links, Out in the Field link, photos section, and Facebook page will provide a good insight on what campers and staff have been up to.

**8/16/12 Field Trip Safety Announcement**

Week 7, 2012 “Food for Thought” has been one of my favorite weeks ever at GAC!

GAC t-shirts and Friday swim days.

Excited for the start of GAC and our return to Allen Elementary!

**8/16/12 Field Trip Announcement**
On Thursday this week GAC will visit Ann Arbor's municipal Materials Recovery Facility (MRF).  While there we will go on a tour of the municipal’s recycling plant.  The following is a quote from their website,

“Long pants and closed-toe shoes are required, no high heels.”

Parents/Guardians, please make sure your children come prepared to participate in this field trip experience.  Campers who do not have long pants or closed-toe shoes unfortunately will not be allowed to participate.

Week 7, 2012 “Food for Thought” has been one of my favorite weeks ever at GAC!  Maybe it’s my love for food, maybe it’s the need for a food revolution, maybe it’s the collective spirit that food naturally brings to people.  No doubt it is all of these things.  This was a week I hope sinks in deep for all that experienced it, the children, the families, the staff, and all the GAC community partners.  We are very fortunate to be in a community like Ann Arbor where there is a well established local food culture that emphasizes eating local, seasonal, organic, and yummy food.  Local food organizations are having fun, working hard, and doing it together.  At the end of the week, on Friday, I had an opportunity to reflect, with our almost 80 campers and staff, during an afternoon community meeting.  I spoke with them about feeling thankful for the week we all experienced.  A week that was never experienced by any of the grown ups in the room when they were young.  The food experience of last week was just amazing.  Last week we.......

-Visited 4 Local Organic Farms and Food Organizations.
--Tantre Farm
--Food Gatherers
--GAC Raynor Farm
--Tilian Farm Development Center

-Received culinary lessons from Private Chef Scott Mcinnis, Tranche De Vie.

-Cooked with AAPS Executive Chef Neil Murphy in a restaurant quality kitchen at Pioneer High School.

-Cooked, tasted, and ate.  Everything we prepared used local, seasonal, and organic ingredients.  We prepared...
--Pasta with GAC made Tomato Sauce
--Deviled Eggs
--Pea Salad in Tomato Shells
--Yogurt Dip with Fresh Veggies
--Grilled Carrots with Goat Cheese
--Basil, Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese, and Cherry Tomatoes on Baguette Slices
--Eggplant Parmesan
--Pasta Salad with Fresh Veggies
--GAC made Apple Butter served with Pancakes
--Stone Soup
--Peach Cobbler

GAC t-shirts and Friday swim days.

On Tuesday at lunch time campers will receive their GAC t-shirt.

Every Friday afternoon we go swimming at Buhr Pool.  This year Buhr pool is requesting that camps bring their campers to the pool in a single color t-shirt.  Because of this change in policy we will ask that all campers wear or pack their green GAC t-shirt on Fridays to swim in.  Thank you.

Excited for the start of GAC and our return to Allen Elementary!

I am very excited about our return home this summer to Allen Elementary School.  I will certainly miss Lakewood Elementary and the natural beauty that was in the school's backyard.  However the Allen school grounds and the surrounding area has it's own wonderful amenities.  Including...Allen's beautiful rolling hills, the onsite and often breezy Project Grow plot, the short walk across the green hills to Buhr Park and Pool, Cobblestone Farm and the Tuesday evening Farm Market there, and right across the street into County Farm Park with it's abundance of natural beauty with trails, prairies, and more Project Grow gardens.

Again this summer GAC campers will spend time tending and learning from our onsite Project Grow garden. Please visit it whenever you like.  Ask a staff member and they can show you where it is.

In 2009 we began what has become an extraordinary project for GAC.  This summer it will continue to be an off site home for GAC.  Dave Szczygiel, the GAC volunteers corps, and the farm's newly appointed farm manager have Raynor’s Farm ready for our weekly visits.  Our farm efficiency continues to grow and we are expecting to be a vendor this year at the new Cobblestone Farm Market on Tuesday evenings (4p-7p).  Our GAC Junior Naturalists will take on efforts to help run this farm stand throughout the summer. 

Both our garden and farm will give campers excellent opportunities to get their hands and feet in the dirt and truly experience a living outdoor classroom.  Learning about growing food will provide hands-on math, science, cooking and life skill lessons.  Plans for the fresh produce are to use them in our snacks, be a vendor at the Cobblestone Farm Market, and donate excess to Food Gatherers.  And possibly again, like we did last summer, with the coordination of the "Farm to Table" program in AAPS, Chartwells, and The Agrarian Adventure there is a large possibility that our produce will be served during lunch throughout AAPS elementary cafeterias.

Other important news is the continuation of our “Zero Waste Campaign” for snacks and lunches.  We hope families jump on board and send campers to our camp, other camps, and back to school with a “Zero Waste” lunch.

My hope is that not only will campers get to know GAC at Allen well but also their families.  I encourage whenever families have the time to explore our camp environment.  For most families they just see our main camp room where they drop off and pick up their children.  Families can always feel free to ask their children to show them where our classrooms are.  This area is located down the B-wing at Allen, just down the hall from our main camp room.  The classrooms have a lot going on inside them and they are a great place for campers to share what they have been up to.