It's Friday morning and half the camp (pee wees and juniors) are out for breakfast. The set up this morning is simple. The menu includes cereal, eggs, bacon, grits, oatmeal & toppings, strawberries, yogurt & waffles.
There are four full time kitchen staff who stay at camp. Three are from the Mennonite community. And if you know the foods and desserts the Mennonites can cook, Camp Monterey is fortunated enough to get some of that cooking.
There is not too much waste here. Food scraps are put into a bucket for the farmers nearby with pigs. Plastic milk jugs, yogurt containers and other usable storage containers are resued for campouts, parties, crafts, toiletries or however else someone can think to use them.
The tables are set with "newer" Oneida type plates that have slowly replaced the awesome mismatched heavy stoneware from the old camp. Even the cool metal pitchers have been replace since they lost their ablity to sit on the table in an upright manner or they were simply falling apart. Remember how they would sweat on the table at lunchtime? Even the silverware count is dwindling, so occasionally plastic utensils will be pulled out. Remember crawling under the dining hall to find silverware? Cheryl or Rosa would reward you with a cold dessert on a stick! The tables remain the same and all the benches are holding up like they were made of steel. Even Miss Dollie's clacker gets daily use.
Remember setting the tables, putting the hot food on, then turning a plate over and covering the food? That practice is still in function. It's amazing all the things that haven't changed, but there have been gradual upgrades sporatically. It's still a place you could come, sit down, start singing songs, and know the predictability of the schedule of events. This place is truly frozen in time. It's quite lovely.
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