Autumn Camp 2023: Aki River BBQ

We started our trip with light rain and dark clouds, but with the weather forecast showing clear skies ahead we made our way out to Aki River. Making great time on the highway we arrived at our Spot around 8:30, parked up, loaded our things into the wagon and made our way down to the river. Working together we carried our things down the steps and to the beach where we decided to set up our camp for the day.

After a bit of exploration we did a critter check and quick river cleanup. We were very happy to see that the riverside was very clean so we finished our cleanup quickly and started looking for what we needed to make our fire. While we collected some fluffy seed stocks we also looked for rocks to paint as well as sticks and twigs. Everyone worked very hard making multiple trips up and down the beach until we had collected enough firewood to keep our fire going throughout the day so we could warm up when needed.

After some FreePlay which was an assortment of sword fighting with sticks, (one ouchy finger) tag, rockthrowing and bird spotting we got together to get started on prepping our lunch.

We discussed the ingredients we were using before smelling and tasting soy sauce, tsuyu, brown sugar, and smell the garlic and ginger. We talked about what we were going to cut and how, as well as how to handle the chicken and what things we could taste and what we could not taste.

Everyone did very well at cutting and took care while going slow and following instructions. After we mixed the garlic, ginger, sugar, shoyu and tsuyu together everyone wanted to try it before we mixed it up with the vegetables and chicken. Surprisingly, and in spite of the strong taste everyone enjoyed it and wanted to keep trying.

After they had mixed all the ingredients together we left the bowls covered to marinade and moved on to building our fire. Step by step we laid out the materials we had gathered and got to work trying to strike our ferro rods correctly. It took a little while but after about 10 minutes Yota was able to light the fire and we worked together to get it going before adding charcoal and cleaning up from our lunch prep.

When we had finished cleaning the fire had died down enough for us to separate the chicken from the vegetables and wrap them in tinfoil before putting them on the coals and grill. I monitored the food and it cooked up within 15 minutes. We sat and ate together with everyone! How delicious it was.

When we had filled up completely we took a break to tidy up before finding some bamboo to make skewers for our marshmallow roast. After a long search we finally found a long enough piece of bamboo which I split and fashioned to be used as skewers while the Scouts stayed warm by the fire.

The roasting skill of the scouts has greatly improved as they roasted the marshmallows to a beautiful golden brown and ate them as they were and as s’mores. We had many discussions on how many seconds to count per side and pointing out to each other when the others had begun to turn brown and needed turning.

Now that we are all filled up on dessert we washed and got ready to do some art and try our hands again at spot painting. Before starting we had to sand down the tips of some sticks and twigs that we had gathered to use for this activity. Everyone had a different idea about what they wanted to make with some decisions being changed halfway through. Nonetheless we all thoroughly enjoyed sitting quietly together while working on our designs.

When they had finished their paintings we packed up the rest of our things and played one last game of stick racing before heading back to the car. This game was a real hit for most. Finding a good spot to throw our sticks in the water was the first challenge and after we settled on the spot I counted to three we threw our sticks into the river making our way down river following them as they went.

After a couple goes we added a new level of difficulty by throwing rocks to interfere with the others floating sticks. This was quite the challenge for everyone and didn’t seem to impact the outcome of the races but added a level of excitement.

It’s now time to go so we packed up and loaded our things into the wagon and made our way back to the car with the scouts carrying their art and as it was still wet. After being in the car I was asked to play a narrated story about a robot. Seeing as I was unable to use my hands to find and play the story I did my version of the story until everyone had fallen to sleep. Thank you so much and we are looking forward to seeing you next weekend.