week 1 of camp: kohlrabi stamps and shabbat crowns

Shabbat shalom!

First week of camp, check! Activity highlights included:

• Chopping thinned baby apples with 5-8 year olds, saying the blessing over tree fruit, and feeding the chunks to the worms

• Making journals with 7-8 year olds and drawing the goats

• Making ‘Shabbat Crowns’ with 4-5 year olds and having a ‘Shabbat Parade’ through the garden

• Carving kohlrabi into stamps, and eating the scraps in a delicious salad. Have you ever seen 7-year-olds tussle over who gets to be first in line to eat some raw kohlrabi??

• Identifying which baby goat is which, and decorating their collars accordingly with middle schoolers

Each activity is intended to connect campers to the earth, to Jewish tradition, and to each other. The ‘learning moments’ come unexpectedly and glowingly among the chaos of activities. Wonder and amazement at watching a ladybug eat an aphid. Spinning like the spirals of pea plants and talking about how it looks like a tornado, how the very big things and very small things in the world mirror each other. Being, very tenderly, handed a worm from the compost pile, and having a child make a little house with their hands (sukkat shalom, a shelter of peace!) over mine to give the worm some shade. It’s been joyful, exhausting, and so dang fun. Part of this job, as well, is being a Cool and Knowledgeable Person Around The Farm - working in the afternoons and fielding questions from curious kids about what we are doing and why.

Personal highlights included:

• Visiting Stinson Beach with Anika and getting windswept and cold and then warming up with In n Out fries (YUM) on the way home

• Harvesting 116 pounds of produce including the largest zucchini I’ve ever seen

• Observing myself becoming much more thoughtful about the food I purchase at the grocery store

• Tearing it up at the East Bay YMCA

• Cooking and eating some REALLY yummy food

• Thinking more critically about how agriculture has affected my family

Hard moments included:

• Still not feeling *quite* settled in socially

• Struggling with being in a place so temporarily

• Learning curves of leading large groups of campers

Much to think about, much to rest from, much to be excited for :)

Much love,

Noa