Star Fire Day Camp~Homeschool Field Trip

Yesterday started out cold and misty as we drove south from our house and up higher into the mountains, up to 7,500 ft, 500 ft higher than our home.
We were on our way to attend a day camp at Star Fire, surrounded by the National Forest in Oak Flats.

First our homeschool group got organized into age groups and prepared for our four fun activities.
We started off with Team Building Challenges.
The kids, without any adult suggestions, had to work together trying to get all of their 15 team members from one 'island' to the next, without anyone falling off.
It looked easier than it was. Those islands were small and the space between was long.
Then the kids worked together walking in perfect timing using two long 'logs' and rope.

Then we were onto our next activity: Bannock Bread.
The air was filled with the delicious aroma of baking bread!
Jackson, as you can see from his goofy expression, was in bannock bread nirvana.
Jeremiah enjoyed covering the inside of his bannock bread with butter, sugar and cinnamon.
We made some new friends, too. Vicki and I hit it off right away. She just turned 40 this year and, within the past couple years, is living her dream of owning horses. She has 3 beautiful horses and rides them, not far from me, in the East Mountains. She also works part-time for the NM Horse Trader Magazine and writes articles for them as well.

After lunch we gathered all the kids together and took a great photo. Jax and Jem are in the back row wearing their cowboy hats.

Then it was off to dissect owl pellets. But we learned a whole lot more, to our happy surprise.
Everyone learned what critters owls eat and how to decipher what bones they discovered in the owl pellet.
We found skulls, pelvic bones, ribs, and vertebrae.
The kids liked laying the bones out on the critter skeleton maps.

We also learned fascinating facts about owls. Did you know that owls have two stomachs? They do. One, the lower stomach is for normal digestion and the second stomach is where all the bones and fur go to be squeezed and compacted into balls that are coughed up as owl pellets.
The camp counselor was truly inspiring and full of passion for her subject. So, we also learned that owls had more strength in their legs than eagles. That they fly silently due to 'teeth' on their feathers and downy fluff between each wing feather. We learned about their dish faces whose feathers turn toward sound and pull the sound inwards into their facial dish and ears.
We also learned some of the lore surrounding owls, such as the history of Athens, Greece and the role owls played in it's naming via the Greek Goddess Athena and her 'pet' owls. And we enjoyed the beauty of the Owl Nebula. We then took a hike to look for an owl nest.
Star Fire Day Camp is located on 150 forested acres, so it was wonderful to hike and enjoy the nature all around.
The kids were invited to search for nature items so they could create an owl craft at home using bark, pine cones, lichen, and feathers.
The kids and adults enjoyed exploring the forest together.

Then it was time for our final activity: Archery. It was Jackson & Jeremiah's first time and they were both looking forward to shooting the arrows at the targets and learning how to handle the bow and arrow.
They realized it was harder than it looked. But they had a great time and can't wait to learn more about archery soon.
One of the camp counselors showed us a casting done of bear tracks found on their land.
We were impressed with Star Fire Camp's useage of sustainable energy using wind turbines for electricity and power.