Firefly Song News Updates

Sunday, July 19

Dear families,

We have said goodbye to most of you (we have about 17 full summer campers here at FS this year), and it’s been quiet-ish the last few days. But, the session lingers on in my mind, and I wanted to write one more time. (and yes, I am going to add the link to the feedback survey here, but even before I realized I should do that, I wanted to write anyway).

Summer 2026 Family Feedback Survey

Just before the end of the session, our goat Bella had three surprise babies: the third set of baby goats we had this summer (each goat giving birth to three babies). I got to help move them from the pasture to the barn the morning they were born. Their mom needed a little more help figuring out how to nurse them, so we needed to get them into a more structured space. That was a real highlight for me.

We also had baby bunnies recently, and just before the end of the session, the campers named them: Daffodil, Dahlia, Dill, and Dragon fruit (their parents were Basil and Arugula). We name the bunnies after fruits or veggies or flowers, and keep them “alphabetized,” depending on what year they are born. This year’s bunnies are brought to you by the letter “D”.

Still talking about our Barns and Gardens program, for the first time ever (to my knowledge) we did a first session chicken harvest. We raise two kinds of chickens here: layers and meat birds. The layers provide eggs that we use in programming and we raise the meat birds to harvest (which is of course programming also). All campers who are interested in participating in the chicken harvest go to a talk led by our Farm Director, Lucy. She talks though the process and what it means to kill chickens here. At any time during the process campers can opt out (and no one is required to do this, but if they are interested, they do need to go to the talk, so they know what to expect). A few days after the talk, campers and staff who still want to participate gather at the farm. I will be honest, this is not something that I have ever participated in myself, and I have huge admiration for the campers who choose to do this. But, having not done it myself, I can only talk about it from a somewhat distant position. After the chickens are harvested, we do get to eat them, at our end of season Banquet.

Another classic FS end of session accomplishment is the Grand Circuit: a swim around the perimeter of Woodward Reservoir, a nearly three-mile distance. About 20 campers did this, and a few campers did a total of four Grand Circuits! Amazing swimmers we have here.

I could go on, but from the time I started this email this morning, to now, our second session campers have arrived and we are leaning into our opening day/first night routines.

I hope you are hearing wonderful stories from your campers – ask them what activity area they especially liked; ask them about something that was hard but that they are glad they did; ask them about chores; ask them if they participated in a skit or song at Cocoa House; ask them about their trip; ask them if they found a book that they liked in our Camper Library; ask them if they did something on a cabin night that was especially fun; ask them what camp song they liked singing; ask them what their favorite graces were. (and let me know if you get some fun or interesting answers!)

Wishing you all well.

Tuesday, July 14

Dear families,

Suddenly it is two days before the end of the session, and I am wondering, how can this be? All I can say is that time works differently at camp.

First and Big Lodge Trips are back. I’m delighted to say that for the first time in my stretch as Director, we sent a First Lodge canoe trip out! Offering a little more variety and going a little farther afield than we have done in the last few years, for our first lodgers, feels like a significant accomplishment.

Last night, at our final Cocoa House of the session, one of the First Lodge hiking trips, known as Little Rock Pond (they hike along a stretch of Vermont’s Long Trail for four days and three nights) performed a hysterical parody of Dar Williams’s song Iowa (a song we sing frequently here at camp), titled “Iodine”, about the woes of having to treat their drinking water with iodine, which makes it not quite as lovely as the excellent drinking water we have here at camp, but safer than drinking straight up pond water while out on trail.

This evening we will celebrate Interdependence Day, an event where all the F&W camps get together at the Fairgrounds, with each camp bringing a song or a skit to share. We then have a contra dance, followed by a bonfire. The bonfire was built last week, by Senior Lodge campers from both Firefly Song and Timberlake, and is an impressive structure to behold. A small group of camper leaders from each camp took charge of creating “stations”: to teach about the work that would need to be done to get the fire built in a short and focused stretch of time; they then lead the construction efforts throughout the day. Staff from the Barn Day Camp, whose space we need to share when we work on this project, reported to me how impressed they were with our campers, their efforts, and the sense of community that was evident as they all worked together.

Parodies of classic camp songs are a tradition here and we are currently practicing the parody that we will bring to Interdependence Day: a version of “The Boxer”, by Simon and Garfunkel called “The Composter”. Here’s the first line:

“I am just a camper and I’m eating Cheerios

But I poured in too much oatmilk

That’s okay, I’ll put it in the compost…”

We take our composting very seriously over here, but it’s a bit of a chore, no pun intended, when the liquid to solid ratio gets out of hand.

Looking forward to seeing many of you in a few days when you come to pick your children up.

Tuesday July 7

Dear friends,

Since my last update, Senior Lodge has returned from their (very successful!) trips, we are approaching Big and First Lodge Trips, and camp is in full swing.

Campers are learning to do the chores that keep camp running on a daily basis, singing songs after breakfast every day, screen printing, swimming ever longer distances, working on a plan for naming the new baby bunnies, and we have now had several Cocoa Houses. I have to say, one of my favorite acts at Cocoa House last night was two First Lodgers with truly impressive hula hoop skills.

I want to tell you a little bit about what our Senior Lodgers do with their morning time (in addition to regular swim lessons). Instead of rotating through all of the activity areas, as our First and Big Lodgers do, they choose an area and dive deeply in that one area, for the mornings throughout the session. We call these Apprenticeships, and I think they are something that returning campers/Senior Lodgers really look forward to, and they are a great opportunity for campers to develop skills. This session we are doing the following apprenticeships:

Puppet making – using recycled boxes, and other art supplies, and run by our Creative Arts program, campers are making giant puppets and will have the chance to display them in our annual parade to the all F&W Interdependence Day celebration, later this session.

Pioneers – this is our traditional Outdoor Living Skills apprenticeship where senior lodgers dive deep into fire-building challenges, whittling functional spoons, using maps and compasses for orienteering and triangulation, and building brush shelters to weather solos.

Foragers – Senior lodgers dive deeper into plant identification by creating a plant ID book containing recipes with edible plants. They also utilize typical outdoor living skills such as: boiling a pot over water, performing a solo and whittling a full cutlery set.

Loonies – this is our waterfront apprenticeship where our Loonies (named in honor of the loons that live on Woodward Reservoir) have been getting comfortable on the reservoir with a broad set of canoeing skills! They have deepened their catalog of canoeing strokes, learned how to paddle in tandem, and how to recover from tipping far from a shore. They have also been guided through long-distance swims, gotten an introduction into lifeguarding skills, and learned about the plants and animals of the ecosystem we canoe through.

Barnstormers – run by our Barns and Gardens area, campers have a chance to participate in the entire process of making their food, from collecting and harvesting fresh meat, milk, and produce on the farm, to cooking the fresh ingredients into delicious dishes to share. Campers also learn about sheep and bunnies’ wool and fur and process these fibers into yarn or felted projects.

Kitchen – a group of campers gets to join the cooks in the morning, learning knife and other food preparation skills, as well as all about the process of putting meals together for a community of over 150 people!

(special thanks to all my apprenticeship leaders for helping to write these descriptions!)

We survived the crazy hot days and now it feels back to normal here in the valley.

Warmly,

Clarissa

Tuesday June 30 

Hello FS Session One families,

It has been such a great opening to camp. Terrific weather, amazing kids, and just lots of good camp things happening. I wrote an update a few days ago, and posted it to last year’s newsletter site, but I think no one is really checking that yet (address to follow soon, as a reminder): this year I’m also going to be using email to share my updates. (My update from a few days ago is copied below).

As of today – Tuesday June 30th – Senior Lodgers are out on day two of their trips. Big Lodge and First Lodge are here in camp, and we are gearing up for a new crazy All Camp game this evening. It has involved some hype with counselors all dressing up monochromatically but also somewhat ostentatiously. I also know that Crayola markers will be part of the game.

I don’t yet know what we are having for supper tonight, but last night was a baked potato bar, which was super fun and gave kids lots of opportunity to make the meal their own, in one way or another.

If you have been following my updates for any amount of time, you may know that one of my favorite things is when the Big and First Lodgers come up with names for their activity rotation groups – the groups they circulate with during Morning Activities (Barns and Gardens; Creative Arts, Outdoor Living Skills and Work Projects). This year we have:

First Lodge:

Chartreuse Capybaras

The Screaming Mountain Goats

PASHLU – Silent H (I am not sure if the silent h part is part of the name or just a note about pronunciation)

Dinosaur Astronauts

For Big Lodge:

Bob’s Roses

Parmesan Pasta Pirates

Fantastic Four

Enchanted Aspens

I’ll be back soon with information about Senior Lodgers and what they are doing in the morning.

Thursday June 25th (6:30 AM).

Amazing!  Campers are here and the place feels just magical.  We have now had our first circle up before the meal, first grace ("The Hills" - an F&W classic), first meal, first cabin night - with S'mores of course, and are now heading in to our first full day.  Some of my leadership team circulated through the cabins while s'mores were happening and returned with all sorts of fun stories about what the kids were doing and talking about, and so much excitement about the session ahead.

Opening Day is also a real treat for me, as I greet returning campers and their parents, meet those of you I have talked with off and on all year, in anticipation of you sending your child to camp - putting faces to names, and continuing to build these relationships that are such a key part of what we do here.

Thanks for sending your children our way!