Junior Urban Land Scouts!

This text comes from the field book of one of the campers this summer.

It is fall-ish now: cooler, crisper skies, shriveled leaves, and more rain. It is a fine time to be an Urban Land Scout-- there's still so much ripening and dropping these days. This week also marks the start of Junior Urban Land Scouts at the Boys and Girls Club. I am thrilled to get to work with them and eager to see what lessons come out of our time together. More on that project as it progresses.

On the subject of progress: one of my goals for the ULS (and now JULS) is to get the levels and actions refined, well documented, and more modular (i.e. in a pdf) so that other groups may confidently start their own Urban Land Scout tribe, junior or otherwise. Likewise, I hope to host a foraging tour in November akin to the earlier "gleaning tours" and "Tour de Plants." Both the Junior Urban Land Scout curriculum and the tours are simple and easily adapted to locale. Would you like to host one in your city? Send me a message and I'll set you up with all you need...which is not much at all once you have the dee-sire.

Urban Land Scout Camp and Mobile Loaves and Fishes

Last week we wrapped up a four-day run of Urban Land Scout camp at Mobile Loaves and Fishes, a national food justice program with a branch in Nashville, TN. We had a great group of campers and counselors. Highlights included making lunch every day in MLF's beautifully equipped kitchen, starting seeds, and playing many many rounds of WAH!. We were especially grateful to have an air conditioned space in which to work as the temperatures topped 100 degrees F for several days.

Special thanks go to Tallu Schuyler, MLF's director, Brooke Gillon, the MLF garden coordinator, Jena Robinson, MLF garden intern, and Sarah Morgan and Dana Richards, two AmeriCorps members from the Martha O'Bryan Center. It was a great team and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting and working with everyone. 

You can see more photos from the camp here.

Beardsley Camp Overview

Urban Land Scout campers working on their books and buttons

Hello, hello,

Thanks to all our friends and sponsors for your generous support of Urban Land Scout camp. We met and surpassed our fundraising goal. Hooray! Not only were we able to offer camp for free to campers and parents, but we have enough money left over that we’ll be looking into similar fall programming as well.

We had eight campers from all corners of Knoxville. As you may or may not know, our original plan was to offer the camp to students at nearby Title I schools (where a high percentage of students receive free and reduced lunches). I had naively assumed that if we created a quality program and made it free, people would come running. Not so. Additionally, we were late getting our application materials into Knox County schools. As a result, our initial enrollment numbers were very low. In order to find more campers, we opened up the application process to any rising 5th, 6th, or 7th grader in Knox County. The children and parents who found us were great and we had a wonderful time. We were also blessed with great leadership in the form of my co-counselor, Kat Raese and our super-volunteer Brian Sohn.

Brian and Luke play a balancing game

Each morning we had breakfast (provided by Knox County) and then morning circle where we talked about the upcoming day and played games. Following morning circle, we helped out with some of the easier farm chores at Beardsley. Favorite chores included harvesting produce for Beardsley to donate and checking under the chickens to see if there were any eggs.

After chores, we got down to the business of earning our Urban Land Scout badges. During the course of the week we explored the park, mapped our homes, oriented ourselves with compasses, made and threw seed balls, collected wild edible plants, transplanted Holy Basil, made herb and lemonade popsicles, took herb clippings to root, and started seeds in the greenhouse. Most campers cited “learning about edible and useful plants” as their favorite activity. Seed collection was also a big hit. Thanks to a partnership with Community Television Knoxville, we were able to borrow flip video cameras for peer interviews. I hope to edit this footage together for a piece that will air on CTVK in the future.

Seeds ready for next year's planting

We wrapped up the day with lunches donated by the Tomato Head, a local restaurant known for its fresh and wholesome ingredients. Cruze Dairy Farm provided chocolate milk as a special treat on the last day. It was great to sit down, give thanks, and share a filling meal in the shade of a large oak tree. I think most of us-- counselors and campers -- went home every day and took a short nap. We were lucky in that the intense heat of the summer held off for the first three days. After that we stayed cool with water bottles, sun hats, and the occasional blast from the hose.

As I mentioned above, I hope to partner with area youth groups and communities to offer similar Urban Land Scout programming this coming fall. If you know of any communities in Knox County who might like to host Urban Land Scouts or if you would like to volunteer, please be in touch. Thanks again for your support of this project.

You can see photos from the camp here.

Urban Land Scout Camp - Day 5

Packaging seeds collected throughout the farm.

You can see more images from Urban Land Scout Camp here.

Urban Land Scout Camp - Day 4

Someone is super excited to add herbs to our lemonade popsicles.

Urban Land Scout Camp - Day 3

Thanks to Jacob Stanley for introducing this game.

Urban Land Scout Camp - Day 2

 

See more photos from Urban Land Scout camp on my flickr stream here.

Urban Land Scout Camp @ BCF - Day 1

Filling watering cans from the rainwater catchment

Urban Land Scout Camp open to all Knox County students

Hello, hello. We've decided to open up our applicant pool for Urban Land Scout Camp to any students living in Knox County who are going into 5th, 6th, or 7th grade. We are also extending our sign-up deadline to June 16th (the same day as the Camp Open House at Beardsley Farm). Please help us spread the word!

You can download an application here to give to potential campers. You can also share that link with this shortened URL: tinyurl.com/ULScampApp .

In case you need a reminder here's a brief summary of the camp:

• Camp is available at no cost to campers and parents/guardians
• Open to students going into 5th, 6th, and 7th grade
• Camp will run for three one-week sessions, Monday through Friday, 7:30 am - 12:30 pm:
  
  Session I July 11th-15th    Session II July 18th-22nd    Session III July 25th-29th
• We will serve breakfast, lunch, and snack
• Parents/guardians must transport campers to and from Beardsley Farm (in Mechanicsville)
• We will be outdoors most of the time working on earning Urban Land Scout badges, helping with farm chores, and other fun activities

Parents and guardians with questions can be in touch with me (Katie) by phone (235-1730) or by email (passage @ urbanlandscouts . com). Thanks!

Fundraising for Urban Land Scout Camp!

If you missed the earlier post on Urban Land Scout Camp, here's the skinny: We hope to host a free Urban Land Scout day camp at Beardsley Community Farm this summer. In order to make the camp free for our campers, we need to raise money now. That's where you come in.

We're hosting a fundraiser this Sunday, May 15th, from 6-9 pm at the Birdhouse, 800 N. 4th Ave. We're asking for a suggested donation of $5 - 10. We'll have beer, snacks, and music by Joseph Gillenwater and Emily Robinson. You can learn more about the camp, why it's a good project to support, and other ways you can get involved...all while enjoying cold beverages and fine company. Sadly, there is not yet a badge for drinking nice beer and eating snacks. Please help us spread the word. We don't want any beer left over.

If you can't make the fundraiser, you can always donate on line with with handy paypal button

...or send your tax deductible donation to:

Schools of Influence Education Foundation
Attn: Urban Land Scout Camp
201 Campus Ln.
Knoxville, TN 37918

Hope to see you all on Sunday!

Urban Land Scout Camp!

Great news! The Urban Land Scouts are partnering with Schools of Influence Education Foundation to present an exciting new project:

Urban Land Scout Camp 

at CAC Beardsley Community Farm

The camp will run Monday through Friday, from 7:30 am - 12:30 pm for three sessions (July 11th - 15th, July 18th - 22nd, and July 25th - 29th) and will be available at no cost to rising 5th, 6th, and 7th graders from the Knox County schools listed below (UPDATE: We are opening application to all 5th, 6th, and 7th grade students living in Knox County.)

Each day we will gather together for healthy meals, farm chores, art making, and earning a different Urban Land Scout badge. We hope to host twenty students each session. If you know a young person (or a parent of a young person) at any of the schools below who might enjoy Urban Land Scout Camp, please put them in touch with us or print out this application and give them a copy. Thanks for helping us spread the word. We will be accepting applications until June 16th. There will be a mandatory meeting and Open House at Beardsley Farm on June 16th for accepted campers and their parents.


Lastly and most importantly, this camp is made possible at no cost through the generous donations of local businesses as well as through the generosity of individuals in our community. This project is not yet fully funded and is contingent on having that funding before we can confirm with our campers. We need any and all financial support you can offer. If you’ve ever enjoyed summer camp or the great work at CAC Beardsley Community Farm, we hope you’ll consider making a donation today. All donations are tax deductible. You can join the ranks of the Tomato Head, Cruze Dairy Farm, and Community Television of Knoxville, to name a few of our sponsors.

You can click on the button below to make your tax-deductible donation (to Schools of Influence Education Foundation) in support of Urban Land Scout Camp. 

If making a donation online isn't your thing, mark your calendar to attend our camp fundraiser Sunday, May 15th, from 6-9 pm at the Birdhouse (800 N. 4th Ave.) A suggested donation of $5 -10 gets you in the door for fine beverages, nice snacks, and good company. 


Eligible Middle Schools:
Vine
Holston
Northwest
South Doyle
Whittle


Eligible Elementary Schools:
Beaumont
Belle Morris
Christenberry
Dogwood
East Knox Co
Greene
Inskip
Lonsdale
Maynard
Mooreland Heights
Norwood
Pond Gap
Sarah Moore Greene
South Knoxville
Springhill
Westview