thefarmartscamp

We are doing some really amazing things here like getting kids really really excited about cooking and gardening. Who would have thought they would be so psyched about things we mostly consider to be chores? Campers are signed up to help prep for meals, harvest, and work in the garden by their own accord.



It is extremely satisfying and somehow humbling to my adult mind to see our campers this happy when they pick a fresh carrot and nibble on it. Or the pride they take in knowing that they helped get our meal out on the table. Making meals from scratch for 180+ mouths is a challenge and the campers are a really big help. Last week during jam night we had a very successful Kitchen jam where the campers helped make chocolate covered bananas for snack and morning glory muffins for breakfast.



I often have kids coming up to me at random while I'm in the garden and asking if there is anything they can do to help, same goes in the kitchen. This is truly gratifying for all the staff who are making this summer's camp experience the very best that it can be.

It's raining cats and dogs up here on the mountain and we take the advice of good ol' Mark Twain, we just wait a minute. Here at Ballibay and The Farm Arts camp we live in a world where there is sunshine and torrential rain happening simultaneously, fun! I like to think god is trying to make a rainbow, perhaps that is the truth. By the time I've finished this post and walk outside to feed the goats I very well could be standing in sunshine. Let's hope so. Honestly though, everything here is rain or shine and we just keep on keeping on and don't let the wetness ruin our fun. We put on our rain-boots and trudge right along.

It is now the second week of our last Farm Arts session for 2009. The end is near but spirits are high. For those that arrived last weekend there is still a full week of activities left. The campers this session are a motivated bunch, wanting to be involved in several activity areas, lucky for them, all of the staff work to make it happen for each and every camper. This is an individual choice camp after-all, so much like another familiar saying, 'the camper is always right' - when it comes to deciding how they spend their time. If they end up biting off more than they can chew during orientation, that is OK, at any moment a camper may decide that they didn't want to learn to play the trumpet or take that ballet lesson, instead, they want to learn guitar and sing. That's great, and we let them do it in a made-to-order 'have it your way' style. I got a little carried away with the commercial slogans there, but it just seemed right and I went with it.



Oh, look, the rain stopped! Imagine that. I can hear the zucchini patch calling my name. I think we got a few big guys ready to go to the kitchen! Time to get back to work and search for that rainbow.


Until next time,

Ann'e

Anna - Age: 11
from Germany, Bavaria, Seigendorf
First year, 4-week camper

What have been some of your favorite experiences from this summer?
To meet all of the nice people and to be at the art barn, it was my favorite place to hang out. I can just go there if I had free time, sometimes I was just lying in the grass drawing a picture, it was so beautiful. I liked almost everything. What I found out myself was how to draw with a pen and that looked beautiful, I drew many castles and I really enjoyed it.

What was your favorite evening performance/event?
Performance art, the one where I was [pretending to be] throwing up on stage, was really funny, it was better than the other performance art where i danced with a pencil, but they were both really good. The bonfire was also really fun. Telling scary stories, the little ones got scared, and I just like to tell stories.

Do you feel as though you have had a chance to participate in all the activities your are interested in?
I really feel like it, except piano, I would have loved to learn piano but I actually got to do almost everything so I am really happy.

If you could have one more week here at Ballibay what would you like to do with your time?
I would like to spend it on activities that I love, art crafts, horseback riding, ballet, swimming, I would like to try some other challenging things, being in the ceramics studio, the drawing studio, and the craft studio.




Raphaelle - Age: 15
from Paris, France
Returning, four-week camper

What have been some of your favorite experiences from this summer?
I've been doing a lot of art things and met people that were really nice. Because I could experiment with different kinds of arts, painting, craft, I helped a lot backstage in theater program. I liked the jewerly and painting.

What was your favorite evening performance/event?
I liked the Follies and band night too and Tucker's show.

Do you feel as though you have had a chance to participate in all the activities your are interested in?
Yes I do.

If you could have one more week here at The Farm what would you like to do with your time?
I think as usual, just hanging in the art barn walking around the camp. I don't feel like I need to do activities all the time, its a really nice place because you can just rest, read and draw. I think I may come back as a CIT, depending on my family.

The second session of The Farm Arts Camp is sadly over and the third session has now successfully made it through orientation. Exhausting as it is to speak with 130 individuals, orientation is a pivotal moment for everyone involved in this camp community. It is a time when all the staff are in their area of expertise ready to share their information and give each camper the opportunity to voice interest in the activities that we offer here at camp.

I spent the day in the garden today meeting with every single camper and I am happy to learn that I have 25 campers that want to get their hands dirty in the garden! Wow, awesome response. Each session of orientation throughout the day is 40 minutes in length. At some points I was speaking to 13 campers and at others there were 30. After explaining the benefits and reasons that growing food is important, why we are doing it here, and what they can do to help, we walked across the road to the dining hall and while I was having individual interviews our kitchen staff spoke to the group about our new food program explaining how and how we are participating in the local food revolution. I was able to spend at least a few minutes with each individual child and get an idea of whether or not they want to help and also to ask them a few questions for a statistical poll that I will soon be posting to the blog.

I am also very excited to have Aviva Freidman as my garden CIT this session!

Looking forward to an amazingly productive 3 weeks!!

-Ann'e

It has been a few days since the last blog, for that I apologize, it has not been out of neglect but purely out of busyness that I have not had a chance to write. With the closing of our second Farm Arts Session quickly approaching everyone is trying to spend as much time together and complete as many projects as possible. Not an easy thing to accomplish when there is simply just so much to do here. At the same time as we say good-bye to this session's campers we are also saying our goodbyes to almost the entire camper population this Saturday with the close of Ballibay's first session. Everyone is talking about how great this summer has been for them and discussing plans of returning next year. Alex, a first year Farm Arts camper, who sits at my table in the dining hall has been here for a week and a half now, leaving this weekend, and says next year he wants to come for the whole summer. He said he has so many friends here that he never wants to leave. He started talking on Monday about how sad he would be when he left and I had to kindly remind him not to spend the last of his days here thinking about how sad it would be to leave. It is things like that that make us realize, really put into perspective, the effect this camp community has on the participants of our programs. A very short time in our minds can easily translate to the best two weeks of the year for our campers.


Alana, Ana, Carlotta, and Hannah with our lamb Eleanor

Second session begins on Sunday and will last 3 weeks, 2 of which being a Farm Arts session alongside Ballibay and Rock Intensive campers. This transition marks the 'almost over' point, a bittersweet moment for all of us it seems. Speaking for myself, I am amazed that four weeks have passed, everything has seemed to blur together into one continuous stream of time - what I have fondly termed as Balliblur. In the next few days I'm sure I will witness a thousand hugs and maybe a few tears as our campers come to the end of their time here for 2009. For many of them, this is their home away from home, which they return to each summer. They can't wait to feel the cool mountain breeze and lay in the sun on the hill chatting with camp friends they've known for years and camp friends they've just met a week ago.


Hannah with our lamb Eleanor

Alas, even with the air of sadness at the end of first session, we cannot forget there are 3 more weeks to enjoy and an entirely new set of campers to greet and get to know arriving in just a few days. Carpe Diem kids, don't let a moment pass you by.

There is something to be said about finding a place where you are only expected to be yourself because that is the best you can be and the most your are wanted to be. Sometimes being yourself is more of a challenge than pretending to be someone else. I think we all face this dilemma in our day to day lives; acting in character to our many roles, it is easy to put aside the core of your being and the power or spirit that drives you, as an individual. Here we are given the freedom to exist as our true selves without the preconceived contexts of society. Not to say that structure is a bad thing. We love structure, it is the glue that binds us. There is a certain glamour to having structured time slots of freedom, all day everyday, where you are required to be your best you. Of course, to be blatant, I am speaking specifically about the way our days are set up here at the Farm. This summer camp is a mecca for alternative learning, a very uniquely special environment where children are giving absolute choice in what they want to do, where that want to spend the most time, and held accountable for showing up to lessons. If a child here wants to learn pottery, take a horseback riding lesson, learn drawing, even a theater or music lesson, they can do that. They can and they do. It is truly amazing to see the same camper involved in so many different interest areas simultaneously. Such focus these young ones have, truly admirable. I'm impressed more and more every day, I may have said that already, but I needed to say it again. I feel very lucky to be a part of this wonderful community.

Always a pleasure,

Ann'e

These days are passing by rapidly, maybe because we have our own time-zone, but in just one day here you feel like you've seen, done, and heard more than most normal people would in a week. Please don't take offense to the term normal people, it's just that being a part of The Farm Arts camp as staff and certainly as camper makes you very assured that you are certainly a very special person involved in creating a very special place.





Lisa is working a wool refining project for wool-felting with the Farm Arts campers. We bought some freshly sheared wool from the same farmer who provided our two goats and a sheep. He gladly supplied us with more wool than we have hands to clean but just as well the campers took the project on with a high-level of enthusiasm. The wool was processed by boiling it in soapy water, left out in the sun to dry, and then methodically picked apart by hand into a soft fuzzy pile of usable felt-able wool. I can't wait to see what these creative minds will do with all this wool!











On the sustainability front, as of today, I have turned our high-volume compost system twice and we have filled two of the three compartments in just 4 weeks. That is a whole lot of valuable nutrient-rich fertilizer that will not be wasted tied up in a bag sitting on a mountain of garbage in a landfill. Instead of the terrible demise that most waste will face, our food scraps are being transformed into black gold at high pace. I'll tell you first hand, that is one hot steaming pile of organic compost. This is my first experience in creating a composting system and I was nervous at first about the amount of food waste that would be going into it with 180 campers + staff. I'm feeling much more confident these days because on the second turning we've already got a good amount of the pile quickly turning into fertilizer that next years garden is going to LOVE. With all the organic foods and fresh local produce we are going through I can rest assured that the compost we are creating is of very high quality.

More good news, the recycling program is also running a bit more smoothly as we wind into the middle of our third week of camp. As a rough estimate, we are probably producing 1/4 to maybe even 1/5 of the amount of bagged garbage bound for the landfill than in previous years of camp. The dishwasher is finally getting broken in and in return we aren't using any disposable plates, bowls, cups, or utensils.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this mini eco-friendly farm update, I'm off to photograph tonight's Dance Showcase event.

Thanks for reading!

Ann'e

The goats have arrived, so named Mister and Moonbeam, or Moonie for short, along with a friendly sheep, Eleanor aka Wooly Bully.


Moonie, Mister, and Eleanor


Moonbeam or Moonie

The sheep is the most friendly I have met. She is a diva and takes her place right next to anyone who enters her area. As far as she knows the area is all hers, I'm not so sure she's happy to share it with goat friends. She'll adjust, I'm sure. We're keeping it low-key for the first few days, no camper visitation time until the animals have adjusted to their new environment. As soon as they are ready we will be having scheduled visitation time for the campers to come and pet and play with the our new farm friends. We will also be making a project out of building the goats a field shelter and probably getting a few soccer balls for them to kick around. Bet you didn't know that goats played soccer, probably even better than myself.


Demonstrating the temporary rain and sun shelter in the animal pen.

I spent most of yesterday taking care of our new additions to the farm, making them feel loved and comfortable. I had no idea I would be verging this close to farmer while at camp but I guess we are all here to learn and experience new things. Evolving all the while.

Aside from new animal additions we also started our second session of The Farm Arts camp yesterday. As bittersweet as it is, seeing one set of campers leave and seamlessly invite a new set of campers the very next day. There are 14 new Farm Arts Campers for the next 2 weeks and they are already busy being the awesome creative kids that they are here to be. We are planning to make a scarecrow for the garden this week and Lisa is working on small metals with them as well, creating lovely little pieces of jewelry.


Saddling up for an afternoon trail ride


Knitting in the craft barn


Anna Roelle, coloring in the craft barn

Ah, Life is Grand!

I spent the morning in the garden, quietly watering and weeding the beds, daydreaming...a sort of meditation.
The sun is bright today and warm, maybe even mid 80's and always with a cool breeze.
I'm really seeing a lot of growth all around
I am shocked by the speed at which people and plants and relationship can grow
Everyone here is so accepting of the individual path
and the kids roam the campus from class to class
building to building
dancing, acting, singing, drawing, horseback riding
all happening simultaneously
so much gets done in a day and they go by so quickly.
Each one chopped into time slots and separated by periods of truly amazing healthy local food, made with love.
Each new day I spend at Ballibay and The Farm Arts camp I am more and more impressed.
What a uniquely special place this is; alive and bubbling at the edges with pure life energy.
The kids, they are simply amazing.
They really do say the darndest things, no joke.
What they do though, when left unbridled and led to a green pasture is what really wows us.

This season is a very important one for The Farm Arts program,
many of the programs are growing and evolving, taking new form.

For the first summer ever we have a Performance Art program run by seasoned Farm Arts teachers Jacqueline Shattuck and JohnPaul Vegas. For both it is their third summer working for the Farm Arts program.
Jacque is our ceramics instructor, goddess of the wheel and all things clay.
JohnPaul, or JP, is multifaceted but focuses his time to the drawing and painting studio.

The Performance Art program spawned late in the camp season of 2008 during the last few weeks of camp,
Jacque and JP had a group of about 20 campers interested in the subject and they were able to pull off a very successful show. The show consisted of 15 pieces including solo and group performances. This inspiring display of performances fueled the conversion of our little theater into a new area for Performance Art, construction is almost completed and hopefully the performance art production for the second session of the Farm Arts program will be displayed in the new theater.

Performance Art is live art, the performer becomes the art, feeling it fully and portraying it visually. Often exploring relationships between space, sound, and light while portraying a message.

Last night was this season's first evening of performances and it was as smooth as butter.

Jacque and JP had just a week to gather interest in the idea of Performance Art to the campers, many of which had no prior knowledge of or had even heard the words put together officially before this past week. Within that week they managed to recruit about 20 campers to be in the show and dedicated about 2 hours each day to work with them on their ideas during which they were able to stop by in between their scheduled lessons and rehearsals. The campers elaborated and executed their own ideas with coaching from directors Jacque and JP. There were a few solo and many group acts which provided the audience with an interesting array of messages performed for them to decipher as they wished.


"Eating Piece"
Alex Bacon, Nicolas Gedigk


"Building with Sticks"
Marcello Tijerina


"The Fabric of Life"
Jordan Maly, Megan Oliver, Mary Lesperance


"Lady and the Shadows"
Jonna Callahan, Megan Oliver, Mary Lesperance, Jordan Maly


"Lies in the Reflection"
Mary Lesperance


"I Like Pie"
Sam Weiss

As first time directors, Jacque and JP certainly did the best they could and worked diligently to be sure that each camper had a good grasp on how to portray their messages. Based on the reactions during and after the show it was easy to see that everyone loved it.


Jacqueline Shattuck, co-director

I'm definitely looking forward to the next set of performances!!

The heat and sun of July is finally kicking in up here on Ballibay Mountain.
One down and six more fabulous weeks here at the Farm Arts Camp and there is much to do.
So far days have been filled with a good amount of hula-hoops and stilt walking in the sun.
Nature hikes and found object installations being assembled by the farm arts campers.



There is a rainbow of colors dried to the grass outside the Art Barn from an afternoon lesson by Lisa in abstract painting, splattering, and smearing.
Yesterday was an opening day at camp for Ballibay's two week Rock and Dance Intensives,
a new influx of campers to add to the mixture.
The dining hall and every seat of the Ballibay theater is full with campers teaming to learn and have a good time doing it.
The first camper cabaret was last night, an impressive show of talents followed by gold fish snacks.



We are in high spirits during this full moon in the apex of the summer.
A few dry days have left the garden in need of watering and the sun has forced a few more radishes from the ground that need picking.
All is well in the world of the Farm and it feels so very good!



Farm arts camper interviews to come, so please stay-tuned.

This morning at breakfast during conversation
over warm pancakes with homemade strawberry syrup
one of the campers at my table was surprised when we told her it was Saturday.
She's here for one more week and seems that is just not enough.
It's astounding how the first day or two
we have tears running down faces of those that miss their home-life
and the same child three days later is sad that they will only be here for only 7 more days.
That is surely endearing and certainly warms the hearts of the all of the staff here at The Farm.

It takes only a matter of hours, possibly minutes, but usually no longer than a day
to form bonds with our campers that keep everyone working together and having a great time.
There is something to be said about the air of friendliness that permeates the entire campus,
everywhere you go there is a smile
even when it rains for days,
but alas, today is sunshine and
blue skies and a few puffy clouds floating around in warm breeze.



It seems everyone is happy and rightfully so.
In the world outside of the Ballibay Camps
it is Independence day and so let us not forget our inherent freedom
to exist in a creative environment and play together in the sunshine and grass,
here we are doing what we all love to do.

I'm about to go turn the compost and dig around in the garden before we meet back at the cabins just before dinner,
enjoy the rest of this day outdoors in the brilliant sun
getting a fair share of Vitamin D from a source purer than Paul Hail's milk.

After evening activities we'll all be filing up to the campsite at the top of the hill
to tell stories and sing and play together
as a large community around an enormous embering bonfire.
It's been awhile since I've smelled like a campfire
and I'm really looking forward to it.

Carpe Vitam!
Ann'e

Here we are:
midweek of the first session of the Farm Arts Camp for the summer of 2009.
and, let me tell you, this is going to be great.
The terms, evolution and manifestation very well apply
to what has occurred in the 'off-season' at camp.
As Bob Dylan once wisely sang, oh, the times they are a changin'

indeed.

It has been amazing to watch this cohesive community of teachers and learners come together in just two weeks.
We're from all over the world, each with our own passions and intentions.
We are here to live in the woods for a while
to experience and truly learn something, really really learn something about ourselves.

My name is Ann'e and it is my first summer working for The Farm Arts Camp.
I am, as John puts it, the Chief Gardener.
I've also started our first composting system to make use of all the fresh food scraps
being generated in our gourmet camp kitchen.
I'm helping the camp become closer to sustainability.
I have been living at 1 Ballibay Rd. since late April
working through a cool wet spring building the camp's first organic veggie garden.
(I'll tell you more about that later.)

As I watched the quiet dusty barn buildings across campus spring to life
during our massive spring cleaning so named, Grunge Week
and bonded with my new co-workers during Staff Orientation Week
I finally started to get a good idea of the magnitude of this approaching experience.
My mantra for the season,
This summer will change my life.

Winter was tough.
Sort of chewed me up and spit me out,
and the state of the economy didn't help.
On New Years Eve I was in Ashevile, North Carolina
The town I had been drawn to
after graduating from Keystone College last spring with a BA in Visual Art.
I craved something different from the Pennsylvania Mountains I had grown up in.
Asheville, had creative vibrations that I couldn't resist
and so last June I packed up my '86 Volvo Wagon and went on my way.

Eight months later, still not grounded in a place I loved to be
I decided I needed to hibernate in my northern home for awhile.
So I packed up my trusty Volvo, yet again, and headed North.
Eleven hours later I was back with my friends and family
on the coldest day of the year.

I'll spare you the grim details of my personal experience of the recession
because I'm actually thankful for it.
Had the economy not crashed I may have never experienced Ballibay and The Farm Arts Camp.
That's so like me, sustaining positivity in the face of adversity, always.
I decided not to go back to Asheville for now, because I have such a strong feeling
that I needed to be here now.

Smart decision.

This blog will act as a record of the experiences we are sharing,
a little insight into my perspective
and the holistic vision of this community of creators.

So I'll be taking it day by day, just like the rest of us.

Stay Tuned and thanks for reading.

**Ann'e**


don't forget to check out The Farm Arts Camp: Facebook Page

So this is it--tomorrow is the closing day of the Farm Session 3 and the end of the summer 2008 for the Farm Arts Camp. It's been a really amazing year!

Each session was completely different, in terms of the types of campers that came and the products that came out of them. They were all really wonderful, and will keep getting more and more so over time.

Overall, I think that it's been an incredible summer. We've learned a lot from these 6 weeks together--about this beautiful place around us, about the people and animals we are working with, and most importantly, about ourselves. We've taken time to breathe, take it in, make some art, run around a bit, and be peaceful, if even for a couple hours a day.

I'm so excited to bring what we have done and learned here at the Farm back home.

Thanks for such a great summer :o)

Peace,

Alyson T.
Farm Arts Camp staff member and counselor
The Farm Arts Camp

Yoga yoga yoga!

Today our artist-in-residence Suzanne led a great session of yoga, and Jackie led us in meditation. The hot weather can sometimes bring energies down, but yoga's a great way to get our bodies chakrized and centered :o)

The Farm has been buzzing, and it's not just the bees! Animal care every morning (the chickens have a bunch of eggs now!) and projects twice a day. Campers, both Farm and Ballibay, have been making some pretty awesome things, such as leaf mobiles, wire sculpture earrings, teddy bears, linoleum prints, collages, and friendship bracelets! Only a couple more days of the session, and then it's the end of the Farm for this summer. Can you believe that?

Stay centered :o)

Alyson T.
Farm Arts Camp staff member and counselor
The Farm Arts Camp
www.thefarmartscamp.com

So here we are, just about in the middle of the third session of the Farm. Right now, staff and campers alike are being filmed and interviewed for a video on the Farm Arts camp. So, maybe you will see yourself or one of us in the film, making paintings, petting a bunny, or lounging in the sun!

Lately, we have been caring for the animals as usual, as well as making paintings and drawings outdoors, going on nature hikes. Tie-dye is always a big hit with the Farm, and there are new exciting activities every day for all of the campers-Farm and Ballibay alike- to participate in.

Talk to you soon!
Alyson T.
Farm Arts Camp staff member and counselor
The Farm Arts Camp

Hello again, everybody!

We started off the third and final session of the Farm Arts Camp this week, with open programs for all of the campers, both Farm and Ballibay. Today we did a great session of meditation and yoga, and yesterday we did a nature sketch outside.

The animals are great, we're enjoying the weather, and music is definitely filling the air this session alongside the Ballibay Rock intensive. It's awesome!

The creative juices are a-flowin!

Alyson T.
Farm Arts Camp staff member and counselor
The Farm Arts Camp

Can you believe that it's the end of the Second Session of the Farm? It's been a really amazing two weeks: hikes, sculptures, tie-dye, bunnies, chickens, yoga, you name it. We're packing up our things today for the trek back home.

This group of campers has been really great. It's amazing to see the kinds of things that we can make together in this place. I'm out for now, but there's one more session of the Farm underway next week! I can't wait!

Peace,

Alyson T.
Farm Arts Camp staff member and counselor
The Farm Arts Camp

Hello everybody!

Things have been going well here at the Farm. We just got some chickens, so that's pretty exciting :o)

Yesterday began the second week of the Farm Session 2. Senkei and Sasha did a session of pinhole photography and sun prints with a group of campers in the morning. Sun prints are fun because the developing happens with the light from the sun.

In the evening, Jackie and Melissa made tiles with the campers. We gathered different materials from nature and pressed them into clay tiles. The materials can stay in the clay and then burn away during firing.

Today, we are doing refraction drawing in the pool, and a still-life session in the evening.

Things are good--the weather is humid, but the art barn is nice and cool.

Peace,

Alyson T.
Farm Arts Camp staff member and counselor
The Farm Arts Camp

Yesterday was really hot, so it was a perfect day to slip into the pool and do some underwater photography! The campers took photos of one another underwater, observing how light works with our faces and bodies in this way.

In the evening, we finished our object series and assembled the pieces together. Campers then looked for the most special place on campus to them to place their pieces. It's wonderful to look around the camp and see more and more of these objects hanging from trees and sticking out of the ground.

Today Samira, our artist-in-residence, will be doing a workshop with the campers, working on an overhead projector and doing tracing of patterns and objects to make interesting and beautiful drawings. It should be fun!

It's almost the end of the first week of this session!! I can't believe it!

Peace,

Alyson T.
Farm Arts Camp staff member and counselor
The Farm Arts Camp