Spring has Sprung!

It has been a while since I have posted. I'll admit that I have had some minutes of spare time that I could have spent blogging, but, truth be told, we have been happily busy since the beginning of April and I have been enjoying the ride. Staff training was a meeting of old and new; different perspectives on our amazing programming. Jon Kovacs, our latest intern, joined an incredibly experienced group of instructors. Also joining the team that was here over the winter was Tim O., our spring ringer. Also, the winter's intern, Joanna, has joined our staff as an instructor. The chemistry is as good as I have seen it in a while. This perfect storm came together at the perfect time as the spring season only affords our staff enough work project time to clean dorms- other than that we are teaching and teaching and teaching! The work that this staff has done is off the charts and my gratitude is immeasurable. Every teacher that has been here in the recent past has seen what wonderful job they have done and, if you are a teacher who is thinking of planning a trip here, you will deifnitely be impressed with what we have become. Hopefully, I will be able to send another blog (or two) before the end of the season.

Morning Meeting and Sap

Did you know that we have a meeting every Thursday morning at The Sportsman's Dinette in Willsboro, NY? If you don't believe me, check out the live video feed of the interior of the restaurant. We are the group of 5 in the corner- Sharp, Sarah, Scott, Stites and Erin- making important decisions effecting the future of the summer camp as well as outdoor ed. It was at one of these meetings that we decided that PMOEC would try to get involved in this year's maple syrup production at The 1812 Homestead. With Jack Swan's blessing, we have gone full tilt into it. I will admit I knew nothing about the practice when we began 2 weeks ago, and the taps that I recently found in some oak trees that look like sugar maples shows me that the learning curve for PMOEC staff members is also steep. Despite that, we ARE learning (that is the mission of our center anyway, right?). We have tapped 60+ trees, we have collected around 50 gallons of sap and today we boil. After all is said and done, we are hoping to produce enough syrup to have at our 'Last Drop Pancake Breakfast' in late April smothered in nothing but our homemade syrup. And one final apology to go out to Mother Nature- I am sorry that in my last blog post I suggested that winter was over. Thank you for the 2.5 feet of snow to remind me of your strength and power. I will never tempt your wrath again.

Winter Recap

Wow, the last few months flew by. It seems like only yesterday I was sitting here, getting ready to welcome 2011 and praying for more snow. Now, I am looking out my window at the 2+ feet of fluffy white still on the ground, hoping that the rain in the forecast over the next couple of days will bring the snow levels down to help with our sugaring season. Yes, winter is all but behind us here. We have had the most groups in recent history come and enjoy all the PMOEC has to offer in the darker months and every one of them, and I am not exaggerating, left happy. The staff, and I know I sound like a skipping record, was phenomenal all winter (as was mother nature, thankfully). And now, on to spring; mountain biking, canoeing and the wearing of shorts- oh my! We are hard at work planning community events of interest for all of our local supporters; ideas like a donation yard sale at Pok-O, our ever popular 1812 Open House, the retun of Yoga and hiking and another Art in Nature event. But more on these to come over the next few weeks. Look for our upcoming dpring edition of 'The Pok-O-Press' and follow us on our new facebook account. Perhaps you 'liked' us on the old one, but we have had to update. Check it out. By for now- and enjoy thid image from winter as spring descends.

Last Post of 2010

I'm at my mother-in-laws and all of the holiday food is settling in. I am feeling quite ready for the winter season to begin. Next week we return with the annual Ski Week- a crossover program hosted by both PMOEC and Pok-O-MacCready Camps. Its a combination of downhill skiing at Whiteface and winter mountaineering in the High Peaks. After that we will have some winter training for all of the returning staff, as well as our new winter intern, who have never been at PMOEC for the winter. They are in for a treat, as long as mother nature agrees and gives us more snow than last year. Sending your hopes for deep, deep snow is appreciated. The winter schedule is fuller than last year and we are all looking forward to getting back. Stay tuned for reports from the trenches- that is the winter survival trenches (aka shelters), not those of the war. Until we get back to Willsboro...

Forgot the Pics in the last post

Museum Trip and Haunted Homestead

As I sit in a private school in New Jersey, selling the product that is Pok-O-MacCready Outdoor Education Center to the members of The New Jersey Association of Independent Schools (although trips to PMOEC really sell themselves) I am afforded a few minuted of down time and the luxury of high speed Internet. What better time to give an update on what has been going on the past few weeks and post my first photos to the blog in months! The staff continues to amaze Brian and me with their flexibility and hard work and over the past 2 weeks have been justifiably rewarded with more a more consistent work schedule and (gasp) evenings off. One exception to those to amenities fell on Friday and Saturday of last week when we hosted our annual Haunted Homestead at The 1812 Homestead Farm and Museum. This year we embraced the historical nature of our surroundings on that site and offered a haunted hayride based on a true story of love-gone-bad that occurred in the Adirondacks about 100 years ago. Brian served as the narrator and the rest of the staff ran around in the woods depicting the untimely death of both lovers. Below is a picture of Diane with Blythe's dog Genny taking a break from building our haunted haymaze. Also, the week before we prepared for the annual Halloween extravaganza, we took the staff to The Adirondack Museum. It was a chance or all of us to brush up on our ADK knowledge and to reinvigorate our own zest for learning. That's it for now. Stay tuned!

Mid-Fall Season Report

Where has the time gone? It seems like just yesterday I was writing about the heat of late August- early September and commenting on the believed strengths of the new staff. And now, as the second frost of the week is clearing off of the grass and roofs, I am able to look back on the busiest part of the fall season and smile. This fall had some severe ups and downs, but the ups were all in relation to the students and their experiences here, and that is the most important part of the job that I and the rest of the PMOEC instructing staff have done. As we prepare for the coming winter- prepping buildings, getting winter equipment running and digging out our winter gear- this new staff has become seasoned and ready for anything that this ever changing trade can throw at them. And of course, we are busy expanding and changing our programming to meet the desires of current and future clients. We are expanding our farming program with our recently acquired pigs and soon to be acquired chickens. We are enriching our staff and ability to teach with staff days at The Adirondack Museum and collective reflection on what we do. But, most importantly, we are bonding as a community- which will brighten every aspect of the work we do. We can't wait for you to come share it with us.

The New PMOEC Staff is HOT!

Training started a week ago and we couldn't feel better about the start of another new year! Brian is back as the Assistant Director and Blythe, last spring's Intern, is back as an Instructor. Other than that, everyone is new. I won't lie, that was a prospect that I was a bit nervous about last week before we started. But those nerves have been relieved. Each new employee brings a unique skill set to Pok-O and each day we are gelling more and more as a staff and a community. And while the temperatures have been topping out in the mid-90's all week, our sweaty brows haven't dampened our spirits- although the frequent trips into the pond at the end of each training session have dampened our swimsuits. I will happily be giving you more updates as this season takes shape because for both the newly hired and the returning staff, our Pok-O batteries are charged. Stay tuned.

Summer camp is winding down here, which means that we are starting to get excited for our upcoming season. I am happy to say that we have assembled an all-star staff made up of myself and Brian and a group that brings a lot of other talents to the table. We have people with farming and hiking backgrounds. We have people who know rock climbing and horses. We have an eagle scout, a thespian and a firefighter. Truly an eclectic group, the PMOEC staff for the fall will be able to reach out to every student that comes here. Laura and I continue to push Natalie to be the youngest ever recipient of a Pok-O patch. Here is a picture of the family at the top of Rattlesnake. Thanks for reading. See you soon!

Free Range Kids

Celebrating the end of the PMOEC season, my wife, my newborn and I have come to our family reunion on the sunny shores of Myrtle Beach, SC. While nursing my first day's sunburn under my uncle's 'EZ-Up' tent on the beach, I have been devouring 'Free Range Kids' by Lenore Skenazy. Yes, it is a laugh out loud dissection of our collective hypochondria and fear mongering as a society, but it is also a vehicle for operations like ours. Just like Louve's 'Last Child In the Woods' it challenges us as parents to take the bumpers off of our world and let kids be kids- to discover the world on their own terms and to take ownership of it as well. Of course, the challenge facing a center like ours is to do this while maintaining the safety of every client we have. despite this quandary that it raises for me professionally, it got me thinking and, for any other new parents out their who feel as clueless as I do facing the next 18 years of a child's life, I recommend both books. Excellent guides.