Summer Camp

I spent the week of July 19th at SUMMER CAMP! Yes, you heard me correctly. I never had that opportunity growing up, so I decided to give camp counselor a try. I was a counselor at Laurel Ridge senior high Moravian youth camp. This camp is located on the continental divide in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Laurel Springs NC. Milepost 251 in the Bluffs district of the Blue Ridge Parkway is overlooked by the camp. This is the area of the Parkway where I was a ranger for a while back in 1984.

The camp is celebrating its 50th year and is indeed a treasure of a piece of property. The camp event was a spiritual treasure. Words can not describe the experience, but my faith in the future for our youth was greatly expanded. Much of the music we sang was familiar because it was Vineyard music. I had a wonderful worship experience as well as a renewing in my soul. The food was great, I met wonderful new friends and I saw young men and women making spiritual growth as they are beginning their journey into adulthood.

I have already put everyone on notice, next year I will be back if at all possible. I hope to take Mackenzie with me to experience this wonderful place. If you are looking a great place for your young person to camp next summer, I highly recommend it. Google Laurel Ridge Moravian Camp.

July Bee Week

I had a great bee themed week the week of July 4th. I started out by speaking to the Watauga County Beekeepers at their monthly club meeting in Boone NC. I spoke about natural beekeeping and using natural comb instead of foundation. It was very well received. I am glad to see so many beekeepers beginning to try and stay away from chemicals in their operations.

I next visited the Honeybee Garden at the NC Zoo in Asheboro. I had not visited this exhibit because it is so far away and made time to do so. NC beekeepers played a huge role in getting this exhibit placed at the zoo. At first I was taken back by it because I was under the impression it was to be a million dollar exhibit. I remarked, "This is not worth a million dollars. What I am looking at is about a $100,000.00 exhibit." I later learned that the million dollar exhibit had been scaled down to $180,000.00 and I felt much better about it. The exhibit is worth that and is very nicely done.

I ended up the week at the NC State Beekeepers Association Summer meeting in Salisbury NC. There I was elected a director of the association representing the Western NC region. A proposal was adopted which will bring about a honey standard in NC which is enforceable. It requires truth in labeling and will end the practice of labeling other honey as Sourwood honey or honey added to high fructose corn syrup as being honey. This standard has been turned over to the NC department of agriculture for tweaking, but I look forward to the standard being applied to honey sold in NC soon.