Gappers take on the Farm

Spring is in the air! This past weekend a wonderful group of volunteers came up to Fircom to help wake up the camp and get it ready for the spring season. The momentum continued this week as our 4 "Gappers" stayed on site to help Farm Coordinator Mizuna take care of some major farm projects. The Gappers are recent high school graduates from New Zealand and Australia, who have come to Canada for their gap year (a year between high school and post-secondary school) who will be living and working at Fircom from now until August. 

With the warm sun beaming down on us and temperatures nearing 20 degrees Celsius, it was a gorgeous week to be working outside. During the Volunteer Weekend we had moved the chickens from their winter home in the greenhouse to their summer home in the orchard. This week involved setting up those spaces to be functional for the rest of the growing season. The Gappers took on many challenges including designing a rain shelter for the chickens in the orchard; putting finishing touches on the new chicken coop; starting tomato, broccoli, and flower seedlings; and repairing the greenhouse from a winter of the ravens dive bombing it in an attempt to steal eggs. Many lessons were learned and giggles had as we attempted to solve various design problems. Major takeaways included that: Math class does have real world applications - especially when calculating angles of floating roofs; it is extremely difficult to build doors for rhombus shaped doorways; when in doubt, duct tape is awfully helpful.   

It was an incredible week of team work and problem solving - and the farm buildings are looking better than ever. The Gappers are such a helpful and friendly crew who are well on track to becoming experts in all departments at Camp!   

- Mizuna, Fircom Farm Coordinator