Autumn Camp 2023: Iruma River BBQ!

We were again delighted to have such beautiful weather on our weekend and with blue skies and loads of energy we made our way out to Iruma river in Hanno.

With clear roads we arrived 30 minutes before the supermarket opened so we explored the nearby hillside, found a small trail, deer tracks, and went for a short hike. While exploring we found some fluffy seeds to add to our tinder bundle and wild chestnuts.

With the shops opening at 9 o’clock we headed in to buy the vegetables and all the scouts chose corn. When we arrived at our favorite Riverside parking lot, we found that their opening time had changed and they don’t open until 11 am. Luckily, the owner whom we’ve seen many times in the last couple years was out walking her dog and let us come in early.

We got our gear and headed down to the Riverside. After coming up with a plan of how to set up our area the scouts laid out the mats and table making space for everyone before we sat and had a talk about what we were gonna do that day.

First thing on the to do list was a river clean up so we put on our gloves and grabbed the tongs and went off in search of litter. It was a very successful clean up, we found wires, broken pipes, plastic bags, a tire and bits of metal framing from a bicycle wheel. Some local people were very impressed with the energetic search for garbage from the scouts and commended them highly for their efforts.

Next on the agenda was starting a fire. We discussed what we needed to start a fire and went out in search of it. After gathering what we needed we unraveled the twine and fluffed it up, adding it to our tinder we had collected and started practicing the ferro rods. Everyone achieved making a spark and I lit mine.

Within a few minutes, Sho lit his which intern ignited Haruto’s and James’. Everyone was amazed at how fast the fire spread but worked together to add our fires together and get the main fire going.

With our fire successfully lit we got started on making our dough so it could rest and warm up by the fire. We added the flour, salt, oil and warm water and mixed. Everyone explained how goopy their hands were getting, but with time and more flour we were able to make little balls of dough which we put next to the fire to warm up while we washed dishes and got ready to make our shish kebab.

When I was ready again we got started the shish kebab. We started by prepping the corn. Everyone practiced with a knife with more help for the young ones from me. Afterwords they tasted the raw corn and were amazed at how sweet and juicy it was.

Next we added the minced beef and pork which they mashed by hand. Lastly we added some egg and breadcrumbs to pull it together. After which they shaped it in the shape they wanted, meatballs for the young ones and the typical kebab style for Sho.

As things got cooking everybody cleaned up and we got started on rolling out our bread dough. That finished quickly so we went straight into cooking it and eating together. We added some salt at the end and everyone was amazed at the difference when you add some salt and ate a lot together.

After lunch and while I was cleaning up the scouts played various rock throwing games, built a damn, a bridge, fished for fish with an abandoned net and picked up some more garbage and had grand time. When things had been tidied we got down to painting. Each scout went out to find a twig that would suit the task at hand. We looked at some pictures for some understanding and got right into it.

After we finished it was time to head back to Tokyo so we carried our things up to the car park, packed up and hit the road. Everyone fell asleep within half an hour and we made it back safely. Thank you for sending your children along and making our day out fun!

See you next time.