And we're off! A lot has happened since mid-June: working papers, eligibility certifications, physicals, etc for the youth who will be joining us with the support of the Chester County WIB. With their help, we've been able to greatly increase the size of Food For Thought (FFT), going up from a planned group of 24 to 35 youth presently signed up. AND-we were able to add a week to our program, so we will have five weeks of FFT this year.
Our first day was at Fellowship Farm in Pottstown; an overnight experience to begin to work together as a team and challenge ourselves in varied ways. A lot of group activities/challenges were successfully navigated by our young men and women, including a blindfolded night hike which was much more difficult than we expected. But we survived! And we learned to trust each other to get us over the rough spots and obstacles.
Some of the youth comments on this experience:
"We had to climb a 13' wall. . . We were testing each other . . .It was fun. (Neomi/Niri)
"We had no flashlights, so we used our cell phone lights." (Tony)
"I was scared in the hike; I thought we were lost." (Lonnie)
"I was walking through the mud. One of my shoes fell off and I couldn't find it for a while. It was really annoying." (Sam)
"Last night was fun. We were all hanging out conversing. Everyone helped each other to swing up and through the tire feet first." (Carlas)
"We had to help people balance and help them cross the traverse cable. We were learning to support each other." (Ben)
"I helped Andre up and through the tire thing." (Joe)
"People were running in our room and waking us up when we tried to go to sleep." (Jacob)
"I was blindfolded going up the hill. Joe was guiding me; he was a 5 out of 5 guide!" (Andre)
That evening, Cooking for Real joined us and began the healthy food curriculum. We made our own healthy trail mix and compared it with the store-bought variety. Of course, we ate it all up, and the sodas sweetened with stevia were a big hit.
When we returned to the Kimberton Waldorf School garden building on Tuesday, we had equipment and some ground rules to go over. Yvonne and Abby of Cooking for Real returned and made a delicious and healthy/local salad bar with us to complement our grilling. Then we went down to French Creek to wade around a bit. It was hot and we were tired!
Tomorrow (Wed) we start our first real work days on the farm.
