Zen Summer Camp For All Ages! 2025

 

We had another successful Zen Summer Camp for All Ages in August of 2025. We began each day with a gathering of children and adults in the zendo, where the children set up the altar and we all listened to the sound of the big bell and sang our morning song. From there the children's program departed for their morning activity, while the adults meditated, had discussions about living mindfully, and participated in their own activities. We all then joined together again for lunch, a food offering walk, and a closing circle and song by the fire pit.  We were honored to be joined again by Rev. Jisho Siebert and Rev. Daishin McCabe and family from Zen Fields in Ames, Iowa.

Each day the children's program would first gather and share our names and something we had been noticing about the natural world. We reviewed our primary intentions in Zen Summer Camp, which were to pay attention, take care, and have fun! On the first day the children trekked over to the Leafye Garden, where we made sun prints using materials collected from the garden and beyond, harvested vegetables to snack on and share for lunch, and helped the adults with weeding and garden care. Periodically someone would ring a bell in the garden, everyone would pause and pay attention to our experiences of the present moment for a few breaths, and then resume our activities. 

On the second day Susan Stitely shared a demonstration of kyudo, the art form of Japanese archery, with both the children and adults. Susan explained some of the history of kyudo, the various types of bows, arrows and equipment involved, and showed us a short-range shooting technique. The children were then able to spend time with Susan Calza, who painted their faces with designs inspired by nature and their personal interests. We explored various forms of nature art, including nature sculptures inspired by several Andy Goldsworthy books, as well as nature mandalas.

For the final day the children hiked up to the tent platform on top of White Jewel Mountain, gathering wild edibles and noticing other interesting aspects of the natural world, including various critters, stone walls, mushrooms, plants and trees. We spent some time in the cemetery, where we walked around the stupa and visited Taihaku's resting place. At the tent platform we ate snacks and made "tree tea" with the hemlock, balsam fir, white pine and yellow birch we had gathered, along with a dash of maple syrup!  The adults had the opportunity to practice Zen Calligraphy with instruction from Rev. Daishin.

Thank you to everyone who supported and participated in Zen Summer Camp this year!