Hey, Berry Pickers!

Harvesting your own berries one pluck at a time is a wonderful feeling that reminds us of just where exactly it is that our food came! And today, we celebrate specifically strawberries as it’s National Pick Strawberries Day. It was some years back when I first posted about this day, here on the Blog—we learned that strawberries aren’t actually berries, but closely related to the elegant Rose, as well as the fact that the so-called “seeds” on the outside are in actuality, tiny fruits.

I could tell you more facts that we know about strawberries like how each one has a rough count of 200 so-called seeds on the outside. Or that the average American eats three and a half pounds of strawberries every year. Or that strawberries are excellent sources of vitamins such as C, B6, and K. However, instead of continuing to deliver these strawberry stats, I’d like to discuss what we don’t know about them…

One thing we don’t know is why we call strawberries ‘strawberries’.

Yes, the name of this (technical aggregate accessory) fruit, is actually totally unknown to us in the modern day, now long-forgotten why we ever called this thing which is not a berry nor is it related to straw a ‘strawberry’. While many believe the reason to be that the strawberry plant is grown in straw, these plants have had their name for well-over a thousand years—long before they were included in farming or gardening as they were named by folks who happened upon these wild patches!

Nobody knows for sure, but we have theories:

Strung on Straw
Some say the woodland pickers strung them on straw pieces for convenient transportation to market.

Stuck with Straw
Others maintain that the fruit appears as though it’s had bits of straw embedded into the surface.

Straw…n About
Some even think ‘straw’ refers to the Old English meaning to strew. Since the plant runners stray in chaotic fashion, some say they look STREWN about the ground.

I don’t know…. All these theories seem pretty weak to me. But they’re kind of the best we’ve got. And whether it makes any sense or not, I like the sound of the name ‘strawberry’ and I like the taste of them too! Cheers to everyone today with this so-called berry and, as always, thanks for reading, Camp Fans!

- John

Hey, Chocoholics!

We’re all fans of chocolate and whatever genius thought to make tiny chips out of this blessing from nature! Invented for the sheer purpose of chocolate chip cookies, chocolate chips were created the same day as the cookie in 1937. The baker Ruth Graves Wakefield of the Toll House Inn in the town of Whitman, Massachusetts cut up chunks of a semi-sweet chocolate bar and added the chunks to a cookie recipe.

And with that, a classic was born.

Chocolate is certainly a gift from Mother Nature to mankind with many health benefits and interesting things about it. For instance—a typical cacao bean contains less than 1/20th of the caffeine found in a coffee bean. Here are some other points about this amazing vegetable—that’s right—vegetable:

The Dark Side of Chocolate
Like many things (including water) too much of something can be bad—even deadly. Chocolate is no different. If you were to eat 6 kilograms (≈ a gallon of solid dark chocolate), you’d likely keel over from heart failure and kidney damage. Too much of a good thing becomes a bad thing! It’s a good lesson.

Chocolate—the Medicinal Drink
As I’ve covered in a previous Blog post, chocolate was initially consumed as a beverage like hot chocolate. Only it wasn’t the sweet, sugary hot chocolate we know today with marshmallows floating in the mug. Ancient Mayans drank a bitter drink of a creamy milk with cocoa melted inside and it was eventually advertised as a cure-all drink in the 15^th Century.

Chocolate…POTATO?!..Chips
Chocolate chips are delici—wait a minute! I wasn’t talking about THOSE kinds of chips! It was five years ago when the Lay’s company thought to combine chocolate with potato chips and, lo and behold…it sells. My niece enjoys this daring dessert snack. I don’t so much.

Chocolate is an interesting part of our world. It has health benefits, it has caffeine, it goes well with salty snacks…apparently. Anyway, no matter how I feel about certain sweet and salty snacks, enjoy some chocolate in whatever way you prefer today—but it’d be best if you had some good ol’ fashioned chocolate chip cookies! And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Comic Book Fans!

Today is National Comic Book Day! Love comic books? Then you ought to love today’s Blog post! In celebration of a time LONG before there was a Marvel Cinematic Universe and before superheroes ever hit the big screen at all, today’s Blog post goes into the nitty-gritty of origin tales involving our favorite characters whether they prescribe to good or villainy.

I went digging into the deep past to see how these guys got their start, looking to uncover some things you might not have known. Appropriately, we’ll start with the guy who began it all, Superman:

Superman was Bald
A telepathic individual, obsessed with his own powers and bent on world domination, Superman underwent a six-year process from his first designs to his first publication. By the time the comic came to print, the drafts had been so heavily altered which resulted in the role of ‘Superman’ being a handsome hero with a full head of hair and left the role of the bald-headed man to the main villain, Lex Luthor.

Don’t make me Grey; You wouldn’t like me when I’m Grey
Did you know that in The Hulk’s very first appearance in 1962, he was grey? It wasn’t a coloring mistake either. Stan Lee intended it to be this way. It wasn’t long before the consistency of grey printing left the creator frustrated and dissatisfied. One of the most consistent printing colors in the early 60’s was green, so green it was for The Hulk (though he’s returned in grey a few different times, not to mention it was brainstormed that he maybe appear red in the cinematic world!).

Wolverine was almost ‘The Badger’
Created to oppose The Incredible Hulk, Wolverine made his debut in 1974. Early conception art depicted the claws, the yellow and blue getup, as well as the pointy-eared mask that we all know and love. But creator Len Wein was undecided on the name. Trying to popularize the character in Canada, Wein wanted to base him off a Canadian animal: a wolverine or a badger. Luckily, his editor steered him away from ‘The Badger’.

The Joker Dodges Death
Plotted to die in the same issue as his introduction, Bob Kane, creator of Batman, had most of the Dark Knight’s early villains meet their demise by means of some fatal accident. The Joker was no different. In an attempt to stab that darn ol’ Batsy, Mr. J proves to be no match and accidentally stabs himself. Once again, it was the editor who saw too much potential in this villain and forced Kane to include an additional panel that revealed the evil jester was still alive.

Happy Comic Book Day to all you Comic Book lovers out there! I hope you found today’s Blog post interesting and educational for the stories on how some of those classic Comic Book figures got there beginning. And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Happy Mushroom Day to One and All!

Today, we here at Everything Summer Camp, tip our caps to this incredibly interesting form of life on this planet. These fascinating beings grow wild in a wide array of locales. But despite their accessibility, it’s important never to consume wild mushrooms as you can never be sure what type is which. Some look uncannily similar to others, yet some are medicinal while others are fatally poisonous.

Mushrooms may not look like much at first sight, but take a look at just several different points about these intriguing organisms and I guarantee you’ll agree—mushrooms are downright miraculous!

A Mysterious Life Form
Neither plant nor animal, mushrooms are actually classified as fungi. And nobody knows how many there are in the world! While you’ll only find several different sorts in your typical grocery store, there are 10,000 known species in North America alone. And it stands that we’re only aware of less than half the amount of different species that are actually out there.

Many Purposes
Mushrooms—is there anything they can’t do?! These fungi can be used as a dye, packing material, water filter, medicine, oil spill-cleaning agent, nuclear meltdown equalizer, and other applications that we’re not even entirely aware of yet. For a better understanding of how mushrooms can be medicinal for us, check out hostdefense.com, the website of the world’s leading mycologist, Paul Stamets, (mushroom expert) where you can buy mushroom supplements for your health.

Unlike Other Foods!
You’ll find that many mushrooms have a meaty sort of texture, but few taste so much like fried chicken as the “chicken of the woods” mushroom. This bright orange fungus has the right texture and all! And, though I’ve never had the pleasure of trying the Lion’s Mane Mushroom, I’ve heard it said that it tastes like crab meat! The meaty texture of mushrooms is owed to their thick cell walls which is why it’s important to break those cell walls down through the cooking process. Raw mushrooms—even some slices in your salad—are tough on the digestive system, but nutritional when cooked appropriately.

Closer to People than Plants
One of the most surprising facts there is about mushrooms has only just recently been discovered: what people will so often refer to as a vegetable in the kitchen, mushrooms actually have closer relation to human beings than they do plants. Fungi were once recognized as a unique part of the animal kingdom, but eventually came to be seen as a kingdom all on their own. But the fact remains that fungi couldn’t be less like plants and typically has a lot more in common with people and other animals.

Mushrooms are pretty much my favorite food because, let’s face it, the edible ones are all pretty delicious. But not only that, they’re good for you, and they could help us replenish the damage we’ve done to the planet! Mushrooms to the rescue! Share the word about how cool mushrooms are and Happy Mushroom Day to you! And, as always, thanks for reading.

- John

Hey, Fairy Tale Fans!

It’s International Children’s Book Day and, in celebration, we’re diving in to find out what this day is all about! Sponsored by the International Board on Books for Young People, this day is intended to fall on or near the birthday of Hans Christian Andersen who came from poverty to be recognized during his lifetime.

Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author who produced a great variety of plays, poems, novels, travelogues, and most memorably—his fairy tales. You can learn more about fairy tales from a recent Blog post I wrote for National Tell a Fairy Tale Day by clicking here.

You may not know of Hans Christian Andersen by his name, but you certainly know the names of his tales! They’ve been celebrated in retellings in all different ways. There’s ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’, ‘Thumbelina’, ‘The Little Mermaid’, ‘The Ugly Duckling’, and many more where those came from! I’m guessing that you’ve heard of some of these…

Here are some interesting facts about Mr. Andersen:

Recognized Within His Lifetime
The author was in his 30’s by the time he published the bulk of his works, however, they were not well received by parents or children for another decade afterward. Just ten years later, he was acclaimed for delighting children the world over and was awarded many honors from royalty.

Born Dyslexic
Hans Christian Andersen learned to read despite the adversity of dyslexia. He never was able to spell properly which showed in his handwritten stories. A writing style that stayed true to the spoken language resulted from his shortcomings as a writer. His publishers fixed the spelling errors, sure to leave the conversational style intact.

Rocky Start
Andersen’s father read bedtime stories to Hans from ‘Arabian Nights’, introducing his son to a type of story that really resonated. But when Hans tried writing his own stories, he found he didn’t like them and thought he wouldn’t continue. But over time, he came to see fairy tales as a sort of “universal poetry” as he put it. His tales have since inspired ballets, plays, motion pictures, and animated films.

Darker Than Disney
Unlike many popularized versions of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales, his unabridged versions typically come to darker and rather tragic endings. I won’t get into any of the melancholy endings here—we’ll just pretend that Ariel and Prince Eric live happily ever after in Hans’ telling as well!

So celebrate his birthday in fashion this year and enjoy your favorite version of your favorite fairy tale from Mr. Andersen—or read the words of the man himself in his unabridged stories. Enjoy the magical world Hans penned from his own imagination and check out a couple kids books available on our website. As always, thanks for reading, Camp Fans!

- John