Ice Cream and Fairy Houses

Today the girls were surprised by the arrival of the “Biltmore Train!” You’ve heard of the Biltmore Estate. Well, in its earliest years it also ran a commercial dairy (as well as a hog, poultry and cattle farm) and sold its products locally. The delivery truck for the Biltmore dairy products— remember the milk man? —was decorated with a train motif, so when that truck would arrive at Rockbrook, the campers called it the “Biltmore Train.” One of the things it brought was ice cream. Think big tubs of yummy, ice cream ready to be hand dipped. Keep a stack of cones nearby too. And keep eating until it’s gone. That’s the Biltmore Train at RBC.  It means the campers can eat several (two, three, even four!) ice cream cones by getting right back in line while they eat their cone. Soon there’s a train of girls eating ice cream at Rockbrook. A decadent, once-a-year special treat for all these Rockbrook Girls!

Tonight for the Twilight period after dinner, Pam organized a special “Fairy House” workshop. This was an invitation to come down to the garden and build a small planter, a magical pot of flowers, moss, sticks and other natural objects that fairies would inhabit.

Mostly Juniors were excited about the idea, but there were several Middlers who attended as well. Pam prepared by having a variety of flower pots available, as well as trays of flowers, a pile of different mosses she had collected, even shells. The campers were encouraged to bring with them a couple of special “found objects” to add to their houses, something like a shiny pebble, or strangely gnarled stick, for example. Most of the girls started by planting a couple of different colored flowers in their pots. Pam, Alison and Sarah helped them with the soil and explained how to bury the roots of the plants. Then most added moss to the pots already making them magical looking. Adding string, a collection of stones and twigs, some of the fairy houses became quite elaborate. A couple even had a roof made of sticks and moss. The imagination and creativity built into this activity, combined with all the cool natural materials made it such a wonderful experience. It’s the kind of thing we just love around here!