Winter harvest at Camp

Today at Fircom, this garden just keeps on producing despite the freezing weather! Beets, Turnips Sweet Carrots Parsley, Kale, and our guest star: the Sunchoke, also called Jerusalem Artichoke.

This strange little vegetable is the tuberous root (like a potato) of a species of sunflower. Ours grew to about twelve feet tall in our rich soil, and their strength helped to break up the hard packed clay below the surface. We planted only five tiny pieces of tuber, and they yielded about 20 lbs! We’ve been boiling them and adding butter, roasting them with other roots, and even trying them raw on salads. They are delicious, with a bit of a nutty flavour.

The Sunchokes are the strange looking ones in the front...looks like ginger, tastes like the best potato you've ever had times 10!

 

Farm Phase 2 Underway

Welcome to 200o sq. ft. more of growing space at Fircom! Last week we upped the ante….Grade 9 and 10 students from Eastside Alternative School came up to help us install the new section of deer-fence, located behind Jubilee Hall, in the rich soil of our 1995-2005 garden. What a team! We installed 20 posts in two hours, concrete and all. That’s a post every 6 minutes!  Look for this area to be under cultivation in 2012.

Eastside Alternative kids work together to install the new fence

The team.

Walking the Talk: Managing Waste

Camp Fircom aims to run a low-impact, sustainable outdoor centre, but what does that really mean?  We try and be cognisant of how much waste we create and recycle and compost what we can, but it is very hard to be zero waste.  

Last May we did a big site clean-up getting ready to open our doors again and when we ran out of time with the rental truck a bunch of miscellanous items got piled in the Lakeview hallway outside our office. We finally got the clutter out two weekends ago.

I’m sure you have all been there. You have a bunch of stuff you want to get rid of, but you are short on time and yet don’t want to throw it in the dump so it just sits in your closets.  It took us NINE HOURS to find our old junk the proper disposal spots so we wanted to share what we learned.

Large Wood Desk

 This was a dilly of a pickle. While we love anything made out of wood, antique and recycled, this desk just didn’t work for our office space. Everyone uses computers and it was short on leg room making people twist and turn to sit at it giving them back and neck pain. After trying the Value Village on Hastings, the Salvation Army on 12th and Main, we finally found a thrift store willing to take large furniture – the Value Village on Victoria and 49th.  Along the way we dropped off clothes and items from our lost and found that had never been claimed.

Old Computer Towers

We already knew what to do with these. Free Geek is a local non-profit in East Vancouver dedicated to responsibly recycling used computer goods, whether they work or not. They were also took two ancient 16mm projectors full of dust, and probably spiders, and disassembled them to recycle the scrap metal.

Air Vent

We had finally ended up at the North Van dump. We were light on goods, but had not found a home for an industrial sized air vent and rusted push-style lawnmower. Luckily on our way in the man told us we could leave these at the scrap metal lot next door. Hooray! Nothing went in the dump! Ron later pointed out that we could have sold these for money at a scrap yard. Live and Learn.

Broken Shredder

 The man at the dump also told us that the Return-It Bottle Depot near Park & Tilford in North Van that would take small appliances like the shredder. We were hesitant as we had already tried the Return-It Bottle Depot on Powell Street in East Vancouver recommended by Free Geek, but they had said no. The North Van one said yes and we returned home with an empty truck.

Do you have any hidden gems of recycling spots? How do you try and manage your waste?

Margo

Farm to Market

The harvest is in and it’s been a great season of eating fresh produce straight out of the earth at Fircom.

At Fircom the farm is just steps away from the dining hall…it’s truly local food, and kids and youth have had a big part in bringing it to our table.

We grew some for your congregation too! Our concept is a new one that we call “Church Supported Agriculture” or CSA for short.

Contact neilcarrodus@campfircom.bc.ca if you would like us to visit your church coffee hour this fall or next spring/summer. We’ll bring a harvest table full of our wares: produce and preserves brought to you by your local United Church Farm.

Our squash are very well behaved…there has been no pushing or shoving as they dry themselves in the sun today

Campfire Rock 2011

Camp officially opens tomorrow

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Everything is in place, the perfect summer-staff dreamteam has been properly trained, and Fircom’s FIRST summer campers will arrive in 11 hours!  Where the Wild Things Go” is set to unlock imaginations…and the creative juices are flowing up here at camp!

may retreat re-opens camp life!!!

Sleepy heads waiting for their breakie in the dining hall.

 

 

It was amazing to have the Youth and Young Adult Ministry at Fircom for their annual May Retreat on the May longweekend. It was great to see kids playing games, break out the canoes, eating in the new dining hall and just being kids. Much fun was had and we are now putting the final touches on our summer programs. If you know of a kid who would enjoy a week on this island paradise direct them to our website, www.campfircom.bc.ca.

 

A dream come true!

Many of us having been dreaming about the Farm at Fircom for what feels like ages! And now the farm continues to grow everyday with more beds and plants ready to burst into growth. Walking through the farm is quite magical, I think of all the times I dreamed what it would look like and what we would grow. Now as it takes shape the dream turns into this very real and tangible thing that I look forward to being a part of.

On Sunday June 12th I got up nice and early to do some watering for Neil and perused through the plants. As I walked through I saw that the lettuce was ready for some harvesting! How exciting! So in the morning shade of Heather the tree I trimmed away a bowl full of beautiful vibrant green lettuce leaves. What a way to start the day! I couldn’t help but grin and tell everyone at breakfast what I had just had the pleasure of experiencing. We savoured the crisp mustardy flavours and shared a moment of thanks for the amazingness of this moment. Ahh….. so the first year of harvest has begun, and what a year it may be!

- Ana-Luz

nothing stills the heart like an open vista

Children are loving the improved Fircom site and we are loving providing them with an opportunity to feel the wind in their hair and sweat on their brow as they hike Mt. Artaban.

Grandview Earth School kids discovering Howe Sound

It ain’t the Taj Mahal… but we love it so!

A current saying going around camp is “It ain’t the Taj Mahal.” We are striving for perfection, but this being our first year open we have to keep our expectations to the possible. That said, the site is looking phenomenal.  Spring has been working it’s magic on the grounds.

We’ve had our first few rental groups come through and it’s been a great success. Groups have enjoyed their time at Fircom which means the world to us. We’ve had some amazing day-workers and volunteers helping us getting the finishing touches done. We’ve been spreading mulch all over site to cover up the hardened earth from the construction and it’s much more visually appealing now. Check out some of the pics for yourself. =)

The Cottage – the camp’s new vacation rental unit looking bright and new

the new wood shed!

Sea to Sky teachers teaching garbology to students on the spot where we are building a farm

Ran staining beds for The Cottage

The new dining halls long porch next to the mulchified grounds.