Striving for healthier menus, summer camps have one eye on sustainability

Written by Jessica Kennedy, Ashville Citizen-Times

Terra Summer camp director and founder Sybil Fix watches as students, from left, Keira Van Hanken, Abby Smith, William Coye and Matt Young help make a blueberry peach crumble at the camp in Mills River. / John Fletcher/

ASHEVILLE — Every summer camp is different, and the food they feed their campers varies just as widely.

But many area camps are making efforts to provide fresh, local, healthy food for their campers to make camps more sustainable as a whole.

Terra Summer, a food-based day program in Mills River, educates children about food through food.

“Children are our future adults,” said Sybil Fix, founder and director of Terra Summer. “They’re the people who are going to be living on this planet for the next one year to 90 years.”

The children who attend Terra Summer work in the 16-acre on-site organic farm, work with a chef to cook their lunch each day, and have instructional time. Terra Summer uses only vegetables grown in its garden, very few animal products and no processed foods. The program is entirely vegetarian.

“We try to teach children about the healthfulness of food more through a discussion of the whole holistic approach to food rather than lecturing them about calories,” Fix said.

Denise Barratt, a registered dietitian in Asheville, said using local and fresh foods is a healthier option because kids will be more willing to eat them for taste and aesthetics.

“It has more flavor,” Barratt said. “It’s more attractive because it’s fresh from the garden. If you go to the tailgate market, you can get something picked that day rather than several weeks ago.”

The ‘picky’ problem

Exposing kids to a range of different foods is the key to making them less picky, Barratt said.

Hans Stader, of Asheville, said he signed his son up for the program for the last two summers because he “needed some more exposure to different foods.”

“We’re still waiting for him to grow up,” Stader said. “He’s a very picky eater.”

Stader said Terra Summer introduced his son to new foods and ideas and planted seeds in his mind that he hopes will flourish over time.

“There’s a stereotype of kid-friendly having to be what looks familiar to kids, but it’s very possible to introduce things to kids that they’ll eat,” said Genie Gunn, volunteer standards chair for the American Camp Association’s southeastern branch. “Camps just need to make a commitment to do it.”

Residential camps

Camp Carolina of Brevard and Camp Ridgecrest of Black Mountain have also been moving toward more sustainable camp models for their residential camp programs.

“We’ve been getting local food for about 17 years, but it’s easier now in the last couple years to get better food,” said Alfred Thompson, owner and director at Camp Carolina. “It’s still not easy, it’s just easier.”

Thompson is part of a community supported agriculture program and gets two cases of local, organic vegetables every week for his campers. It doesn’t feed the whole camp, but it helps, he said. He also recommends taking trips to the farmer’s market and purchases flour from a North Carolina mill.

Camp Carolina tries to add healthy options to established kid favorites — meals like pizza, tacos and spaghetti.

“Kids tend to like finger foods,” Barratt said. “Kids will go for raw broccoli or carrots or cauliflower to put in a ranch dip rather than squash casserole.”

But Thompson has figured out his own way to get campers to eat vegetables. The pasta Bolognese, for example, has carrots and celery ground up in it, and the pasta Raphael has blended artichoke hearts.

“They don’t like to see the vegetables,” Thompson said.

Quality and price

“The stereotype is that it’s more expensive, but the yield is greater,” Gunn said. “There’s going to be a lot less waste because it’s fresher and tastes better.”

Gunn said it can be more expensive up front to hire skilled food service people and buy organic or local vegetables. But after the initial commitment, camps will find that it’s not that expensive.

“The impact is that a camper might go home and try to eat those things or increase the fruits and vegetables they take to school with them to augment their lunches,” Gunn said. “It also makes them more open to the changes we all hope are coming down the pipe for public schools.”

Barratt said the positive economic impact on the community from camps buying local food is huge. While one piece of produce may cost slightly more, the money that goes into the local economy adds up.

“It doesn’t have to be all or nothing,” Barratt said.

“The side effect is that if the food’s healthier at the camp, it’s going to help the child that week.”

Residential camps

Camp Carolina of Brevard and Camp Ridgecrest of Black Mountain have also been moving toward more sustainable camp models for their residential camp programs.

“We’ve been getting local food for about 17 years, but it’s easier now in the last couple years to get better food,” said Alfred Thompson, owner and director at Camp Carolina. “It’s still not easy, it’s just easier.”

Thompson is part of a community supported agriculture program and gets two cases of local, organic vegetables every week for his campers. It doesn’t feed the whole camp, but it helps, he said. He also recommends taking trips to the farmer’s market and purchases flour from a North Carolina mill.

Camp Carolina tries to add healthy options to established kid favorites — meals like pizza, tacos and spaghetti.

“Kids tend to like finger foods,” Barratt said. “Kids will go for raw broccoli or carrots or cauliflower to put in a ranch dip rather than squash casserole.”

But Thompson has figured out his own way to get campers to eat vegetables. The pasta Bolognese, for example, has carrots and celery ground up in it, and the pasta Raphael has blended artichoke hearts.

“They don’t like to see the vegetables,” Thompson said.

Quality and price

“The stereotype is that it’s more expensive, but the yield is greater,” Gunn said. “There’s going to be a lot less waste because it’s fresher and tastes better.”

Gunn said it can be more expensive up front to hire skilled food service people and buy organic or local vegetables. But after the initial commitment, camps will find that it’s not that expensive.

“The impact is that a camper might go home and try to eat those things or increase the fruits and vegetables they take to school with them to augment their lunches,” Gunn said. “It also makes them more open to the changes we all hope are coming down the pipe for public schools.”

Barratt said the positive economic impact on the community from camps buying local food is huge. While one piece of produce may cost slightly more, the money that goes into the local economy adds up.

“It doesn’t have to be all or nothing,” Barratt said.

“The side effect is that if the food’s healthier at the camp, it’s going to help the child that week.”

Legislative panel listens to public’s concerns, support for current rules

 This article appeeared in Asheville Citizen Times on March 1, 2011, Written by Rachel Connor, WNC Parent contributor

Some of the oldest and most unique summer camps in the Southeast rest in the mountains of Western North Carolina. From tribes to uniforms to family-style meals, they are steeped in tradition. “Each one of us has a strength that makes us different from our neighbor,” Keystone’s Camp director, Page Ives Lemel, said. “So, we are [all] able to continue to be successful.”

Keystone Camp

The oldest camp in the region began when Florence Ellis and Fannie Holt transported a group of Florida girls to the Carolina mountains for the summer of 1916. Three years later, Ellis and Holt decided to make Brevard the permanent home for Keystone Girls Camp. The camp has remained in Ellis’ family for four generations; Lemel is the great-great niece of Ellis.

Horseback riding is a central characteristic in Keystone’s program, and it has been an activity since the foundation of the camp. Holt was probably the horse rider, Lemel said.

“Girls are classified by ability level when they get to camp,” Lemel said. “Every level we have something to offer the child, by riding every day…they make substantial progress.”

Camp Illahee

Brevard is also home to another camp where tradition is a trademark.

At Camp Illahee, every Sunday is a time of unity. From the way they dress to the songs they sing, the girls function as a community.

For the entire day, the campers and counselors wear Illahee-logoed white shirts and blue ties. The girls wear the uniforms during Sunday’s worship time, as well as when they eat and gather around the weekly campfire.

“Part of it [wearing the uniforms] is the worship service; it is nice to have everyone dressed alike,” co-director, Laurie Strayhorn, said. “It gives the camp a feeling of unity and makes it a special day…it is a fresh, unifying thing…and a noncompetitive environment.”

Another Sunday specialty occurs when lunch is served. The girls join together in singing the doxology “Praise God, From Whom All Blessings Flow” before sitting down to their customary Sunday meal, which always includes fried chicken, wild rice, rolls, broccoli and ice cream.

When Strayhorn first become co-camp director in 2002, she was unaware of the importance of Sunday’s traditions.

She substituted white rice for the wild rice one Sunday, and the next day a few campers wanted to talk to her about the importance of camp traditions. They told Strayhorn that they always had wild rice.

“Sometimes the things that you think are not a big deal are a big deal, and kids need to know that there are some things they can count on,” Strayhorn said.

Eagle’s Nest

Eagle’s Nest Camp, located in the Pisgah National Forest, is another site that uses mealtime to create a sense of community. For every meal of every day, the campers eat with their table family.

There are three boys, three girls and two counselors in every family, and the campers come from various age groups.

“It’s a very intentional, small community…and a wonderful way for staff members to check on the kids each day, three times a day,” Liz Snyder, assistant camp director said. “The table family becomes closer than the cabin community.”

Apart from their day-to-day camp life, Eagle’s Nest also has additional trips. One of the most popular picks is the Huck Finn adventure.

For seven days, a group of eight middle school-aged children drift down the French Broad River, reading Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and reliving Huck’s rustic-inspired lifestyle.

“The counselor reads the book, and they recreate the experience,” Snyder said. “A homemade raft is already prepared, and the campers paint the raft [before floating on it].”

Gwynn Valley Camp

Kids at Gwynn Valley Camp, on the outskirts of Brevard, also learn to respect the environment, as the site produces approximately 70 percent of its own food.

Gwynn Valley grows over 20 varieties of vegetables on its farm. Campers who choose the farm as a program are allowed to help with the harvesting of the produce.

“They get to plant a little bit, but they get to harvest most everything,” director, Grant Bullard, said. “They really love the harvesting of the vegetables — digging potatoes, picking tomatoes and pulling up carrots.”

The farm also has cows and chickens that the children help to feed. The chickens yield a portion of the eggs needed at camp, and the cows are raised for beef.

Gwynn Valley’s green efforts surpass the arena of nutrition. The camp has a water-powered gristmill that provides electricity for half of the cabins. The mill was built in the late 1890s, and Gwynn Valley revived it in the 1980s. Bullard says the mill implants the idea of conservation into the campers.

“It is a vital part of the camp…it teaches kids where food comes from and also teaches the kids to be aware of lights [left] on and conserving electricity,” Bullard said. “It’s like a living part of history.”

The gristmill is also used to grind cornmeal and make tortilla flour. The leftovers from the mill are sent back to the farm to feed the chickens, and the corn cobs are used to make toys. “Nothing is wasted from that process,” Bullard said.

Gwynn Valley has always valued simplicity and a close relationship to the land. “We were green before we realized it,” he said.

Timberlake and Merri-Mac

Northwest of Gwynn Valley, Camp Timberlake and its sister site, Camp Merri-Mac, call Black Mountain home.

Both Timberlake and Merri-Mac divide campers into tribes. On the first day of camp, each boy at Timberlake becomes an Iroquois or a Seminole. Each girl at Merri-Mac becomes an Iroquois, Seminole or Choctaw.

Throughout the summer, the tribes compete in evening activities like water balloon games and capture the flag. The counselors keep a tally of each tribe’s victories, and at the end of the session, the winning team receives the prized camp banner and bragging rights.

“We recognize that there is going to be competition in life, and we want to give them a framework for it,” Dan Singletary, director of Timberlake, said. “Teaching [that] healthy competition is part of growing up.”

Campers can also mark individual success by their “skins.” Each boy or girl receives a hide branded with his/her tribe’s emblem. The skin is a record of each Indian’s achievements. Every time someone excels in an activity, he is awarded with a Bronze, Silver or Gold symbol that is attached to his skin.

The campers remain in the same tribe each year and bring back their skins to add to their previous accomplishments.

“We offer different types of success… [and] we recognize those achievements,” Singletary said. “If they learned a certain kind of knot or got a certain score in archery, they get recognized in some way.”

Falling Creek

Falling Creek Camp, in Tuxedo,ties traditions together with its Boy Scout merit badge program, in which campers can earn badges that are hard to achieve during the school year.

“We let them tell us what they’d like to pass off, and they bring the merit badge book, the sign off card and a plan of action,” director, Yates Pharr, said. “We introduce them to the counselor that can help them pass that off…it is a mutual responsibility.”

The camp’s traditional father-son weekends, offered before and after the summer camp sessions, focus on strengthening the relationship between a father and his son through adventure.

“For boys to be able to have a good, positive experience with their father…is really important,” Pharr said. “When you mix in adventure, you discuss things you wouldn’t normally discuss.”

Family is an essential part of this Falling Creek’s programs, as Pharr says, “We are a compliment to any family’s intentions to raise strong, young men.”