My family and I have been kind of “glamping” of late. For the uninitiated, “glamping” is a form of camping with style! We are working on a family project away from the main house on the farm, where there is no running water or power but some “super cool” digs to keep us dry. Weekend after weekend my family and I have got right back to basics and we are having the time of our lives.
Most of our wholesome fun starts with the kids collecting twigs and firewood to light the campfire. It is actually a bit of an effort because we are on a ridge and all the dead wood needs to be hurled up from the gullies. I don’t allow any electronic devices when we are “glamping”, just a few old fashioned toys and then it’s up to their childhood imaginations. Some of their fun includes tobogganing down hills on cardboard boxes, old fashioned cowboy and fairy games, wading for special stones in the creeks and then making slingshots to fire them, cubby houses amongst the dead trees, moulding clay figurines out of the mud and painting them with charcoal from the fire and ground-up green leaves. The list goes on and is only limited by their beautiful, innocent and creative minds.
Then there’s the food. I am in cast iron cookware heaven! That old vintage stuff cooks to perfection but can also burn very quickly so I am still trying to hone my bush cooking skills. For some bizarre reason, this basic food seems to taste extra special. Some of our culinary delights have included mussels and cockles steamed to perfection in clear creek water, homemade damper with copious amounts of butter, honest and plump farm sausages, ciabatta bread toasted on a stick with melted brie done the same way. Yum yum yum! And for desserts, those extra-large marshmallows toasted, sticky and gooey that are so big and sweet even one can almost make you sick!
At the end of the day, it’s the most wonderful fun you can have for nix and the thing is I just am not a “theme park” type of gal! I have never been able to fathom why you would want to pay someone to make you feel sick, frightened or dizzy! And I find the effort in making simple fun far more exhilarating than standing in a queue for hours.
These delightful moments are time capsules full of my children’s childhood memories and I am pinning my hopes and dreams that they will be opened and enjoyed by them for many years to come. So often the world is such a beautiful place when you leave behind a computer and electricity, and the simple things in life are left to blossom and fulfil you.
Country Living
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