These just barely depict the beauty of western Virginia. I have spent eight summers out in Vesuvius now attending and now teaching and working at Nature Camp. It is a truly phenomenal place. I have met some of the most intelligent, admirable, fun loving people I know through camp.
Nature Camp is an environmental science camp which teaches sustainability and stewardship though its curriculum of natural science which includes things like limnology, mycology, herpetology, astronomy and others. This past summer, I taught a Nature in Literature course and served as the assistant cook.
Making sure nearly 120 people got three quality meals a day was intense, and the work usually lasted from around 6 a.m. to around 10 p.m. The menu included unusual summer camp things like falafel, pulled pork barbecue, BLTs and Indian as well as classics like mac-n-cheese, shepherd’s pie, grilled cheese and pizza. The kitchen is making a move toward operating sustainably. We bought meats from a local meat processor, produce from a half dozen local farmers, diary from a nearby farm and flour from a local mill which has operated for more than 200 years. Driving through the country side to all of these farms was one of the best parts of the job.
Stephen Ackley 