Surprise Lake Camp Blog

It is impossible for children to remain homesick once they see that they are already home. Trip break is an interesting time at Surprise Lake Camp. Our first session campers have departed, but our Session Two campers have not yet arrived. The specialists get to play at being counselor for a day and half, and […]

Author: Bradley Solmsen I conducted some informal research over the first couple days of camp. I asked every camper I ran into what the best part of camp was so far. What was the most common answer? “My counselors!” It was great to hear. I had a sense during our staff orientation that we had […]

Let’s make that, best harvest time. In truth, we start harvesting as soon as the buses arrive at the end of June.  The farm is designed to provide us with fresh fruit and vegetables to enjoy every day of camp and for post-camp programs like Get Your Feet Wet, Family Camping Weekend, Rosh Hashanah, and Sukkot. […]

The thing I like best about Visiting Day is that beautiful moment of reunification, when a child and parent see each other and literally leap into each other’s arms. The other supervisors and I sit at that table on Lakeside and our own eyes well with tears at the sight.  It was very nice meeting […]

One of the first things we tell campers when they come to the farm is that this is a teaching farm, and all of us are teachers. “It’s important that we all share our knowledge and experience, our ideas, theories, personal philosophy, and imagination,” I tell them.  “This is how we learn.” It works very well.  […]

We are about halfway through the season and the most interesting thing about the farm is how different it is from last year.  The protracted heat–so many days in the 90’s–is making a clear difference, impacting some crops for the better and others, not so much.  Our strawberries seem to ripen every few minutes, yet, we […]

Last Sunday’s first session visiting day drew a large crowd to the farm.  The two things I heard most often from parents grandparents were: The farm is beautiful and Can we have your recipes for pickles and eggplant salad? So, as promised . . .  Ivy’s Famous Eggplant Salad Ingredients One large eggplant (or two small […]

Since camp started, we have had an unusual number of really hot and humid days. The average temp for this time of year is either side of 82 degrees.  We have had several days around 90 or above. WOW! Does this affect the farm and our 400 plus farmers?  Most certainly.  Our veggies, trees, and […]