Outdoor kids: dirty feet and summer camp

In a world that sometimes seems so wrong:

• The plethora of doggie daycare options
• Tori Spelling publishing a best-selling memoir
• A bucket truck driving around Portland with the motto: "Just like Viagra, we get it up for you!"

Some things in this world are so right: Earth Song summer camp. This camp has no website and I only heard of it through friends. They hold it at Tryon Life Community Farm, which is ridiculously close to my house but seems worlds away. I loved that it was small, both my kids could attend together, and that they got to interact with the animals on the farm (chickens and goats). They made crafts: little treasure pouches that they sewed and braided with guidance from their teacher, and then took on a nature walk to fill with treasures they found in nature. There was a fabulous rope swing hung between tall trees that the kids all lined up to swing on at the end of the camp day. They made food: a cobbler for snack, popcorn made over a real fire, and blackberry jam (squishing the berries with their own feet) that they got to bring home. They learned to pee in the woods. Their teacher was wonderful: welcoming, calm, connected with the children, in control, and communicative with the parents. The kids came home with filthy, dirty feet every day. There is no truer sign of a good day at camp than dirty feet.

It was eye-opening how much fun the kids had getting dirty, and doing things I normally wouldn't try with them. I need to let them get dirtier and try new things. I sometimes forget that my children are washable. What were your greatest "outdoor kids" moments of summer?