We can not lie, we are making this one of the most challenging day camps yet. Today we challenged our campers with their taste buds and their social skills. The magic challenge word for the day was Hello. We asked our youth as we travelled with mini-trips to speak and say hello to those around them. It is a simple way to make someone feel welcome.
After a few games and some team building our day campers jumped into the week long Sourdough Challenge. This week we are learning about other ways to make bread rather than yeast. Sourdough is a natural starter that can be traced back to it's DNA origins. So a starter started in North Carolina will be different than a starter started in New York, or Demark, etc. Our youth gathered their data, measured, fed their starter, and their favorite documenting the change of the aroma of the starter. For many people aroma and taste go hand in hand so it is difficult for our youth to understand how something so "Stinky" might acturally taste good.
Learning about the smell and taste of breads and how our youth perceive taste is important to learning what they like, how to react in social settings, and how to be willing to try things over and over again. For expamle your taste buds change every seven years, so something you don't like today you might like down the road, so it is important to be willing to try things. We also talk about making faces when we eat something you don't like. The phrase, don't yuck someone's yum, is to remind our campers that what they don't like could be someone else's favorite thing and we don't want to make them feel bad about what they like, or made. So instead we encourage them to say, "It's not my favorite."
As part of our taste testing today we focused on different kinds of bread. Our youth did a blind tasting of four different breads. We used store purchased sourdouch, traditional white, whole wheat, and gluten free. Our youth were not fond of the gluten free bread. Sourdough and wheat were in a dead heat for second or third place. The traditional white bread was their favorite becuase it was the softest, had the mildest smell and taste. After testing bread we went ahead and tested butter. We had some compound butter made up and thought it would be a natural test to go along with the bread. The two butters; a cilantro lime, and brown sugar were looked at skeptically. However they were brave and willing to check it out. The cilantro lime was definately not their favorite as they said it was too tart and some did not like the taste of the fresh cilantro. However the brown sugar butter was a hit. Most thought it would taste like cinamon butter and were surprised to find out that it did not have a strong sweet taste, just a very light taste.
With all this food we are eating and tasting we noticed hand washing breaks were getting shorter. So we decided to do another science experiment known as Glo-Germ. Youth put on a special location that fluoresces germs under a black light. We then talk about properly washing our hands and then go do it and check to make sure we have gotten all the germs off our hands. It is a fun and very visual way to learn why you might want to wash your hands.
After lunch it was time to head to the Robeson County Farmers Market. We challenged our youth to do two things; first use their challenge word fo rthe day, and two tell us what they thing would bring more people to the farmer's market. We also explained the the market recently moved to the corner of Third and Water streets and we drove them by the old location so they could see the difference.
Once at the market our youth met with vendors and the market manager. They learned about different products and produce, and they even helped Mr. Chrochet get his booth set up as he was running a little late in the heat. Our campers spent a great deal of time talking with Mr. Haywood McCormick and his neice about what it takes to come out to the market and why people should shop there instead of the grocery store. Mrs. Marie, the market manager also talked to them about the importance of having a farmers market and why it is important to not only our health but the local economy.
After visiting with everyone we had a chance to enjoy a Sunset Slush with the 4-H Family that owns the business. It was definately a welcome treat on such a hot day. One our way back to the vans the campers stopped to talk to Mr. Chrochet who is a veteran, father, and youth advocate. He told them that their attitude will determine their altitude in life, so being positive is important. Our youth enjoyed getting a chance to speak with him and thanked him for his service to our country.
When we got back we talked about our visit and our youth were as insightful as always. Sometimes people don't give those under 18 enough credit but they see things with less filters that most adults and they gave some really good feedback. They said on hot days when it is harder to get the produce maybe the market should be open when it is cooler in the day rather than the heat of the afternoon. They felt like the old location was better becuase of the shade and that it was bigger so you could walk around to the vendors more. They said special events might help to boost folks going to the market, or music, something to eat and a place to eat and they also suggested a petting zoo or other fun thing to make kids want to be there becuase then parents could entertain their children and shop. The one thing I really enjoyed hearing was that they know eating fresh local foods is important and good for their health but it's not so much what is being sold as the people that are selling it that make our market great. They were impressed with how nice everyone was to them and welcoming and willing to talk to them and tell them about their products, and they said you can't find that in a grocery store. As we said, insigtful youth.
To see al the photos from today please click this link. Stay tuned as we turn up the taste and fund testing tomorrow.
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