Kale - superfood and super easy!

We’ve found Kale to be one of the easiest, most resilient and plentiful leaf vegetables to grow here  at camp. Each winter there’s an abundance of leaves just waiting to be picked and turned into something delicious. 

We sow the seeds April onwards and by late October we are ready to harvest and enjoy all the health benefits of this amazing plant. Providing our bodies with calcium, iron, antioxidants and a multitude of other nutrients it’s no wonder it’s regarded as a superfood! You can continue to harvest well into April so it’s a great green side dish for our first summer camp adventurers in the Spring.

If you’ve never grown it and have a little outdoor space you should definitely give it a go. Roughly six plants should provide enough Kale for a family of four through the winter months. There are lots of different varieties to choose from as well. Here at camp we grow Red Russian, Westland Winter, Nero di Toscana and Rote Krauser ( try Tamar Organics in Cornwall for seeds here.)

Cabbage White caterpillars can make a meal of it and the slugs enjoy a nibble so it’s important to look after the young plants with some manual slug removal at night and we recommend some wool pellets around the stem to make it a little less accessible. Other than we’ve found it requires very little  in the way of maintenance apart from staking for support. The curly Kale varieties like Red Russian and Westland Winter take a bit of preparation to ensure there are no caterpillars hiding among the curls so it you’re short of dinner prep time best to stick with the Nero variety!

Here are a few recipes for Kale we have on repeat here and recommend trying:

Sarah Raven’s Kale and Chickpea Curry - when it’s cold outside this dish is the ultimate comfort food - the fish sauce isn’t essential so can be suitable for vegans too and if you can’t get your hands on lemongrass not to worry.

Dishing up the Dirt’s Kale Salad - got to love a recipe that requests you lightly massage the kale! This is so tasty as a side to a multitude of meals and can be easily adapted to go with whatever’s in your fridge/larder. The Dishing up the Dirt blog is brilliant to browse for recipes and inspiration about growing your own and they’ve published a cookbook too which gets a huge thumbs up from us for inspiring ways to cook and eat veg! 

River Cottage Kale Crisps - these are just the ticket as a tasty snack and alternative to potato crisps.

If you’d like to find out more about growing Kale you could check out the Garden Organic advice here and for more about it’s nutritional value try here.

Solar cooking, kayaking and much more

All the action from day 4 of camp including kayaking, archery, solar cooking, cob oven pizza cooking, camfpire and a workshop raising awareness of the issues of single use plastics. 

A day of learning new skills...

Today we were joined by a team of experts in the fields of stone carving, forging, silk screen printing and bushcraft. The evening was spent learning about the birds of prey which soar in the sky above us and the evening ended with acoustic guitar and songs around the campfire along with s'mores!

An environmental adventure begins...

This morning campers awoke to a blue sky day and the most beautiful of sunrises after their first night under canvas. A team of harvesters headed to the garden while a cooking crew got to work in the field kitchen whipping up fresh fluffy pancakes and delicious sandwich fillings for lunch. 

We're fortunate to have the convergence of three rivers right on our doorstep so for some it was a short stroll to the launch point where we jumped on kayaks and got to grips with paddling in tandem. Others tackled the climbing wall and developed their climbing, coaching and belaying skills. After a chance to catch up with new friends over lunch the kayakers headed to the climbing wall while the climbers learned how to shoot a bow and arrow on the archery range.

This evening the group headed out on a dusk walk and had a chance meeting with the Woodsman of Moresk who was only to happy to share some of the secrets of the woodland with them. Tomorrow we can look forward to forging toasting forks, carving stone and designing and silk screen printing t-shirts. 

All aboard... next stop Kernow!

Environmental adventurers came together today from across the UK and beyond including Spain, China, Japan, Germany and Switzerland! Its wonderful to bring together young people from across the world to share this off-grid experience and learn from one another. We also had some  adventurers return and reunite with friends from the previous year. 

Cornwall certainly delivered with the weather - a beautiful blue sky day and a great opportunity to see the solar thermal and solar voltaic systems in action producing electricity and hot water with the power of the sun! After a tour of camp and chance to learn more about how we can live off-grid it was time to move into the structures and make themselves at home before the first harvesting and cooking crews got to work preparing a delicious dinner for everyone.    

A dusk meditative walk got everyone thinking about the importance of being in the moment and connecting with nature. We learned some techniques which can help us focus on each precise moment and really experience it rather than have our minds elsewhere thinking of past events or wondering about whats to come tomorrow. 

Everyone is tucked up in bed now ready for an action packed first full day of camp! 

Wild in the woods...

Thursday began bright and early with some adventurers having a go at the ancient sport of archery while others scaled the west face of the power tower on a climbing mission. After a delicious lunch of homemade soup, crusty bread and Cornish cheeses it was time to pack up and head to the woods for a Wild Wood campout and a night under the stars around the campfire. 

Following a tarp rigging demonstration it was time for adventurers to try it for themselves  and  construct their home for the night amongst the trees. A toilet was dug and a campfire circle laid, ready for the evening ahead. Spaghetti bolognese cooked over the campfire and turbo s'mores were enjoyed by all and the evening ended with an extravaganza of performances including magic, poetry and singing.

Everyone slept surprising well in the woods and some even had to be woken up eventually as it was time for breakfast and fresh, fluffy pancakes hot off the pan. Leaving the woodland as we found it, we headed back to camp to pack and reveal the results of the camp nominations in an award ceremony recognising the contribution of each environmental adventurer in making our five days such a fun, memorable and rewarding experience. 

Seeing the world from a whole new perspective...

Another day, another adventure.. this time it was off to woods for a technical tree climbing experience, using ropes, harnesses and a climbing technique to ascend into the canopy of a huge Beech tree. It can take a bit of time to master the technique but once you have sussed it, it doesn't take very long at all to reach the top and have a birds eye view of the woodland. 

Back at camp environmental adventurers were working up a sweat pedal powering the forge, heating and shaping iron to create beautiful toasting forks which will last a lifetime. Others were on the shave horses with Charlie learning how to work green wood using traditional tools. A bushcraft projectiles session was also in action and the sound of hammers hitting chisels could be heard across camp as budding stone carvers honed their skills. 

In the evening we welcomed one of our past volunteers Flora back to camp to share her Arctic adventures with the group. She told us about her recent expedition to research the extent of micro plastics in the ocean of this remote part of the world and we explored ways in which we can begin to reduce our dependency on plastics by swapping out single use plastics for more sustainable solutions. Tomorrow, the penultimate day of camp, we can look forward to a Wild Wood Camp out, climbing, archery and an evening of entertainment round the campfire.

Learning from the experts...

Today was all about learning new skills and having a hands on experience under the tutelage of some incredible craftspeople from right here in Cornwall. Blacksmithing, stone carving, silk screen printing, green woodworking and the making of bushcraft projectiles were all on the menu today and environmental adventurers worked in small groups to make toasting forks, t-shirts, arrows and much more.  

Delicious meals were served up by the cooking crew in the kitchen while the harvesting team returned from the garden with enormous cucumbers, oddly shaped courgettes, edible flowers and zebra tomatoes. A baking hot afternoon called for an impromtu water fight and a welcome drenching to cool down!

In the evening we were joined by some incredible birds of prey which hunt the skies above us here at camp including a Barn Owl and Buzzard and the day was topped off with S'mores around the campfire. Tomorrow we can look forward to technical tree climbing deep in the forest and a visit from one of last year's camp volunteers who has returned from an expedition to the Artic and will share with us some of her team's findings about the micro plastics pollution which can be found there.

Camp Kernow here we come!

Environmental Adventurers from across the country arrived today at camp ready to begin an action packed, off-grid, fun filled five days of summer camp. Those from the South East had an early start aboard the 07:30 from Paddington Station with others joining the journey at Bath. 'Are we nearly there yet?' was heard on more than one occasion on the train ride but the journey went remarkably quickly and was a great chance to make some new friends along the way. 

The afternoon began with some games to to get to know fellow environmental adventurers and a tour of camp to discover how we can live off-grid in balance with nature. After moving into sleeping structures and learning how the composting toilets work the group took part in team challenges before enjoying a delicious dinner cooked on the BBQ with ingredients harvested from the food garden.

A mindfulness and meditative walk followed after dinner which was a great opportunity for adventurers to learn how to be in the moment, connect with nature and understand how being in nature can be an incredibly powerful and positive experience for our wellbeing.

A campfire on our return was a great opportunity to reflect on the day and enjoy a warming hot chocolate with new friends. Tomorrow we can look forward to forging, silk screen printing, green woodworking, bushcraft projectile making and a visit from some very special guests.

Environmental Adventure Day 6

Our last morning at camp was spent deep in the woods building shelters in teams to protect us from the torrential rain which certainly put our den building skills to the test. Everyone managed to stay dry - just about, before heading back up to camp for a final lunch and a chance to sample one of camp's homegrown watermelons! After lunch it was time for the camp awards which the group had nominated each other for the previous day.