A SUMMER WITHOUT CAMP Treetops at Home

BY KAREN CULPEPPER

I spent a lot of time this spring thinking about how to help our community maintain its connection to Treetops and its traditions, even when we’re not gathered here together. Through the uncertainty of that time, I was consistently reassured that the spirit of place, of this place, is not contingent on geographical location. I was also certain that the philosophy of Treetops was not going to be nurtured by a virtual camp experience. How antithetical to the ethos of this place, to ask young people to boot up their computers and interact with a screen? Instead, I thought about how we might encourage an authentic Treetops-y experience within a summer at home. To start, we put together a care package. With a camp napkin, pancake mix, a square of retired tent canvas, postcards, and more, we strived to encourage campers to make and nurture connections to their family, to their friends, with nature, and even with Treetops, from afar.

As I explored this idea of connectedness, my mind returned to the first days of a typical Treetops summer. Campers make connec- tions with one another, with new smells and tastes, with the way their feet feel on the gravel as they walk to the garden. I wonder at the ease with which campers do this, year after year, at how quickly the unfamiliar becomes familiar. As we all faced a summer that was entirely unfamiliar, I looked to the connections we make at Camp to help us navigate a summer at home.

At Treetops, we connect through food. By growing, weeding, harvesting, and cooking together, we make connections to each other, to the land, and to the cycles of nature. We take time to reflect on those connections before each meal, when we stand quietly together as a community before digging into the wholesome food at our tables.

We connect by making things. Since the start of Treetops, handcraft has been an integral part of our program. In the pot shop, the wood shop, the craft shop, or anywhere else in between, we connect to ourselves and to the materials we are using, we make gifts to connect with loved ones, and we work together to connect with peers. We make canoe paddles, we make music, we make campfires.

We connect by spending time with nature. Wheth- er we are lying on the Lake Hill watching clouds, in a swim class in the lake, hiking up a mountain, or visiting the sheep in Dexter Pasture, we are building relationships with the natural world.

So, in each week of this summer’s Camp Journal, I included an update of my experiences, observations, and reflections from my far-from-normal Treetops summer. Each entry also included ideas to inspire campers to eat good food, make and do things, and spend time with nature. To see the full weekly Camp Journals from last summer, visit www.camptreetops. org/blog.