By Lin McNulty
Nothing completes the summer experience and promises life-long memories, if you are a kid, more than going to camp. Orcas is most fortunate to have a playful plethora of offerings from which to choose, whether you seek the experience for a day, a week, or a month.
Most camps offer a scholarship program.
YMCA CAMP ORKILA
376-2678
Since 1906, Camp Orkila offers a dizzying variety of experiences from arts & crafts to a zip line for local as well as international campers on a daily or weekly basis. Beach walks, outdoor games, gardening, boating, climbing wall, marine salmon center, arts and crafts, a swimming pool, pond classes, archery, a giant swing, and a zip line promise no boring moments. One of the special offerings from Camp Orkila is their annual Dialysis Camp in cooperation with Children’s Hospital in which children with that special need are accommodated in a fun environment. Many local island children participate in the day camp. The camp normally serves 400-500 children per week during the summer.
SOCCER CAMP
206-930-5704
A camp promising to improve soccer skills, combination play, shooting, and team play is offered for ages 9–12, June 15–28 at Buck Park. The camp is a fundraiser for the Orcas Lady Vikings Soccer Team. And on July 29, there is a one-day Goalkeeping Training to learn goalkeeper stance and footwork, basic catching techniques, positioning and diving progression.
SALMONBERRY SCHOOL
376-6310
Salmonberry’s summer program presents exciting options, beginning with “Introduction to Permaculture” (ages 6-10) Mondays–Fridays, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m., June 20–June 24.
Other camp experiences will be offered throughout the summer in Low Tide Explorations, Art & Nature, Scientific Wanderings, Chickens 101, Movement, Dance & Nature, Music & Storytelling, Dance and Theater Workshop, Fairies, Forest and Fantasy, Adventures in Theater.
ORCAS CENTER — Summer Theatre Camp
376-ACT1
WEEK 1:
GLEE ! Learn the songs and the choreography and perform June 24 at 3:30 p.m. Songs from Mama Mia!, Wicked, Avenue Q and Hairspray. Monday–Friday, June 20–June 24, ages 8+
WEEK 2:
Adventures at Hogwarts – Create characters, spells, potions and stories from Harry Potter. Monday – Friday, June 27–July 1, ages 8+. There will be a short performance July 1 at 3:30 p.m.
ORCAS MONTESSORI SCHOOL — SPANISH CAMP
376-5350
Orcas Montessori School offers an introduction to the Spanish language through art, songs, and stories for ages 3½–6 in two three-week sessions Monday–Friday from 9 a.m.–1 p.m., June 20–July 8 and July 18–August 5.
FUNHOUSE
376-7177
Summer “Ninja Camp”!
Join The Funhouse Team for their Summer Day Camp! This affordable, fully supervised day camp will be fun, educational, and physical with organized sports and games, arts & crafts, fun science projects and much more! June 20–August 26. Monday–Friday, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. Ages: 7–12.
Young Entrepreneurs
Here is a hands-on opportunity to learn how to start and run a business. Establish one in the second week! Students design a plan, learn basic business vocabulary, discuss and practice marketing, customer service, record keeping, networking, problem solving and ethical business practices. This class is based on the Warren Miller Freedom Foundation curriculum. Stay tuned for start date and more info on this class!
Cardboard Camp
Learn to make a variety of projects out of this ordinary material including self portraits and other three-dimensional illustrations. July 18–22 from 1–4 p.m.
BRITISH SOCCER CAMP
376-7070
British Soccer Camps provide players of all ages and abilities with the rare opportunity to receive high-level soccer coaching from a team of international experts. Each day includes individual foot skills, technical drills, tactical practices, small-sided games, coached scrimmages, and a daily tournament. Equally important, the Challenger coaching staff provides your child with lessons in respect, responsibility, integrity, sportsmanship and leadership. Camp programs include a free ball and shirt and a free British Soccer jersey for on line registrations 45 days prior to camp! August 1–5. Ages: 4–14.
FRENCH CAMP
468-2329
Find a little bit of France in the San Juan Islands at this sleep-away summer camp. Children, ages 9-16, take part in a unique mix of French language and culture through artistic and outdoor activities. Fencing, archery, sailing, kayaking, swimming, photography, marine biology, and French culture, cuisine and language are options every day. With only 45 campers on the island, you can choose your own experience — artistic and theatrical, adventuresome and athletic — or any combination. Days are filled with new friends and exciting activities all with a French flair.
FOUR WINDS * WESTWARD HO
376-2277
Since 1927 Four Winds * Westward has been offering two, one-month camp sessions every summer. Each session brings 170 campers (50/50 girls and boys) to the Deer Harbor camp to enjoy a variety of experiences, including sail boating, canoeing, kayaking, horseback riding, hiking, land sports, dance, drama, poetry, and the early 20th Century experience of being totally unplugged. All music at the camp is made by the campers. And campers wear the same uniforms (bloomers and midis for girls, polo shirts and shorts for boys) as they did in 1927. Four Winds * Westward Ho welcomes campers from all over the world, including local Orcas Islanders.
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Information about Kitchen Bootcamp:
Kitchen Boot Camp
This three day hands on Workshop is designed to build confidence, give knowledge, and inspire culinary savvy for the kitchen neophyte.
Day one we will boil water and cook pasta that you have made, blanch vegetables, and make a “mother” sauce, all for our lunch. After our leisurely alfresco meal. We will prepare a simple dessert and then move to the stoves to learn all about steaks. After prepping our steak for dinner we will make a lively but classic green salad, learn how to make a “pan sauce”, taste a galaxy of red wines and discover why and how to choose the perfect one to match our steak. We finish by enjoying the fruits of our labors.
Day two
We start in the hen house with the holy egg, the earths most perfect food. We make a dessert with eggs and then we begin with an omelet primer. We will all be masters of the perfect omelet by the time we sit down for a French bistro style lunch with classic accompaniments. After lunch we begin our shellfish primer. We learn the simple traditional preparations of oysters, clams, mussels and Dungeness crab and why they work so well and taste so good. We continue by tasting some of the great seafood white wines and choosing those that will go well with our dinner. And for Dinner? We will be cooking Salmon and Halibut , the great pacific northwest fish, the best in the World. You will know the secret of truly great seafood cookery, and will be able to serve fish easily, with confidence, anytime you want at the end of this glorious day.
Day three
We begin at the farmers market where we discover why and how the ingredients we use can inspire, and make or break the meal. We use the market to tell us what to cook. We shop for fun, for economy, for health and to give us the very best shot at cooking something truly great. We learn to cut from the pack and begin the process of developing our own culinary style. You choose what you wish to prepare for lunch and your chef instructors will show you just how to do it. After lunch we get serious about dinner party. The afternoon will be spent learning how to pull it all together and make a memorable meal for that favored one or ten or twenty. You will never find cooking for company a daunting task again. Fun in the kitchen makes for great meals and entertaining. With the methods, knowledge and skills you have learned you will be able cook for your friends and family with confidence and style. Please invite a guest to share the evening and enjoy the fruits of your labor.
10 am to 6pm
July 14, 15 and 16
1850 per person limited to 10
Includes all materials, groceries, wines, shopping excursions, meals, etc.
Chefs Greg Atkinson
Christina Orchid Farm and Forage Workshop
This is a participatory culinary workshop focused on the sustainable kitchen, seasonal cooking, kitchen gardens, and the untapped resources of our local environments. An insiders tour of the foodie highlights of the island. After this workshop you will be able to recognize and prepare seasonal produce, understand and work with your own neighborhood farmers and use sustainable techniques to run your own household. You will also have a an understanding of how food in the wild can make a contribution to our table and our lives.
Day one
We rendezvous at our home base at Red Rabbit in Westsound and after coffee, scones and introductions we are off on a tour of two island shellfish farms where we will sample some oysters and learn how they are cultivated. When tides are right we will check out the wild oysters in Westsound and perhaps gather a few for a part of our lunch. We stop at Coffelt’s Farm, an original island homestead, that has been farmed continually for over a hundred years. At the farm we get a tour, see the sheep, and make some purchases, which could include handspun wool, sheepskins, and all kinds of possibilities for lunch. We are off to Black Dog Farm for produce and if we’ re lucky, some fresh chevre. Back at the cookhouse we make a truly local lunch and learn to put together a meal from what we have found that morning, spontaneous cooking “off the cuff” At two we head out for wine tastings, visiting Winemaker Brent Charnleys Lopez Island vineyards tasting room, then off to the “geologist’s,” Michael Yeoman for a tasting of Thurston Wolfe wines, award wining wines from Prosser, Washington made by the husband and wife team of Wade and Becky Wolfe. We have free time to wander the shops and galleries of Eastsound before we sit down to our prix fixe dinner at Allium in Eastsound where chef Lisa Nakamura prepares a menu just for us. The New York Times noted chef Nakamura and her restaurant as a top must see for the culinary traveler.
Day two
We rendezvous at the Westsound café for a hearty breakfast, then we are off to work up an appetite for brunch with local forager, Dr, Ryan Drum. Dr Drum will teach us all there is to know about stalking the wild asparagus, what’s edible in the woodlands and the wetlands, and the tidelands. Then its back to the cookhouse at Red Rabbit where our chef instructors will demonstrate tasty and useful ways of incorporating wild foods into our menu and prepare a farmhouse style lunch served at our big table, where we will pass platters, ply microbrews and some local ciders. After lunch we go up the road to Maple Rock Farm where chef/ farmer, John Stewart gives us an authentic insight into the life and work of a sustainable organic farmer. We can get an idea about harvesting working with John’s crew and learn the how’s and why’s of what is ready to cut for market on Saturday. Or just laze under the trees and enjoy summer’s buzz. In any event we will be rewarded with a fabulous flatbread feast from John’s wood burning pizza oven where we can build our own with fresh ingredients from the farm. Accompanied by wines and dessert.
Day three
We meet early at Roses Café in Eastsound to fortify and ready ourselves for Market Day. The real key to eating great, is superior ingredients. We will already be on a first name basis with the top farmers so hopefully if we get there early we will be the ones to get those few precious baskets of frais des bois or the special piece of smoked beef. Plan on a lunch in town to check out some of the local places for lunch. Market vendors will be plying their wares; fresh hot tamales, homemade sausages, smoked salmon, Vietnamese style chicken, and always some surprises. We will gather the best of the market for our Saturday supper, getting inspired by the ingredients and using the knowledge of our chef instructors and engaging in the collaborative process, we will return to the cookhouse to plan and prepare a fabulous finale to our three day island farm to table marathon.
July 21-23
1450 per person
376-2608 or 3208