This summer great strides were made for the development and growth of our hobby group. For starters, the environment for pit cooking has evolved. The campers no longer view themselves as members of the hobby group, but rather as the “pit cooking family” for which they had to undergo a friendly initiation. The senior campers helped foster this change and thus campers were always yearning for more pit cooking time.
Currently, I am sitting here right now elevated six feet in the air in the tree fort the campers built for the pit cooking area in just three hours. In addition to our tree fort, we were fortunate enough to build a second pit for cooking and purchased our own cooking supplies. I am also extremely proud to announce that the membership in pit cooking has grown considerably since last summer. This session, we had an overnight in which the campers embarked upon a nighttime swim, water polo, movies, and cooked dinner and breakfast. New friends and new dishes were formed and I am confident that next year we will build upon the progress we have made this summer.
Today is hobby culmination day! Our final event is The Iron Chef Competition. This competition has become the pinnacle feature of pit cooking and the campers take it very seriously. We split our campers into two equal groups, gave them fifteen ingredients, cooking utensils, a fire pit, two hours, and said GO. The goal is to produce a creative dish to a table of hungry judges. The winning team gets bragging rights for the entire year and their names are inscribed on our newly created pit cooking plaque. These two and a half hours, are the perfect end to three weeks of bonding and tutelage.
Jesse Manning, Pit Cooking Hobby Leader
