Published Aug 10, 2010

PFI Camp!

By Suzi Howk


What a fun time! 25 kids from all across Iowa came to Scattergood Friends School for the 2010 PFI Camp from July 12-17th. We started with the Youth Leadership program doing teambuilding, leadership training, and of course learning about Scattergood’s farm. A highlight was the four YLP participants helping the farm staff trim sheep hooves. It was hot and sweaty work, but a really great challenge!

On Wednesday the rest of the kids came, and the party started! Alot of our time was spent out at the farm. Going through the gardens and sampling things as we went. Everyone got a chance to search out growing vegetables, harvesting, and of course eating the great stuff that we had picked earlier.
The kids also very much enjoyed moving cows and sheep to fresh pasture.
Also enjoyed by all were the pigs. There were small piglets running around in the paddocks. Who can resist piglets?
There was of course plenty of time spent at the farm pond. The sand beach made for great sand castles, and everyone enjoyed going out to the raft in the middle of the pond and jumping off. We were all glad that there was a place to cool off as the week was VERY hot!
As always there were plenty of field games, and everyone enjoyed playing them. This year the favorite seemed to be Capture the flag, and specifically sneaking through the grassy area on the outsides of the field in order to get their team’s flag across the line.
We also made homemade ice cream in ziploc baggies, throwing the bags back and forth. Very fun, but be careful for rock salt getting into itchy bug bites!
This year, again, Wheatsfield Co-op in Ames made a very generous donation to our camp program. They donated any food that we bought at their cost. Wow, THANK YOU Wheatsfield!
Make sure that your kids attend next year’s PFI Camp! We haven’t yet set the dates or figured out the theme, but no matter what it will be it will be lots of fun! See you next year!