Hey, Camp Fans!

Five years back, I posted about one former summer camper and mad man, Benjamin Feldman. While we covered things like where he attended summer camp—Camp Manitou—and other things like his education and how he got his foot in the door for his acting career, there’s still so much more to learn about Ben. Let’s take a deeper look today at the actor behind Michael Ginsberg.

Check it out:

Ice Cream on the House
We may tend to assume that acting is all that actors have ever done, but lots of famous celebrities held prior positions before the jobs they became known for. As a teenager, Ben worked at a Baskin Robbins ice cream parlor. Believe it or not, he was fired from his job there. Teenage Feldman was giving ice cream away for free to his friends. What a generous guy! Pretty nice, Ben—but generosity doesn’t pay the bills.

Warmer…warmer…Frozen!
After he was forced to hang up his apron at Baskin Robbins, you might think Ben was down on his luck; it doesn’t feel good being fired from a job. But he didn’t have long to wait until he landed his breakout role in a made-for-TV movie called ‘Frozen Impact’. Not bad for his first role. Major productions started picking him up for roles after that!

From Mad Fan to Mad Man
With an interest in acting comes an interest in filmmaking and TV shows as well. Ben was a big fan of AMC’s popular drama set in the 60s ‘Mad Men’. What do you know, Ben ended playing the role of Michael Ginsberg on the show and it became the role he is best known for!

So hopefully that gives you a better idea of who Ben Feldman is. I hope you enjoyed learning more about this well-known and appreciated former summer camper and actor. Check out his previous post to learn more. And, as always, thanks for reading, Camp Folks!

 

- John

Hey, Footlocker Fans!

Camp trunks go by many names. We call them footlockers, trunks, strongboxes, chests, cases—whatever you prefer! Perfect storage for camp gear, toys, out-of-season clothing, or holiday decorations, footlockers offer a secure means of safekeeping for valuables and keepsakes. They’ve been used for a wide array of purposes throughout their existence.

I wrote about the history of camp trunks a number of years back, but that post focused chiefly on American trunks for the 1600s forward. On today’s post, however, we’re going to peel back the layers of time to see how trunks were used in the Dark Ages.

While we cover our trunks, made of Birch Plywood with steel, trunks of the 16^th and 17^th centuries were covered in cowhide or the skin of another animal. Before that, the trunks of an earlier period typically wore their varnished or stained wood right on the outside! Trunks were typically finished with brass or iron hardware. And, on rare occasions, trunks would be ornamented with embossed or engraved gold.

The size of a trunk can vary a little or a lot. Treasure chests of an older world could be as big as a Graduate Trunk from Everything Summer Camp or as small as one of our Packing Cubes and they were fairly common for storing and transporting large amounts of riches.

Pirates are known for coming into ownership of these treasure chests by means that were either lucky or criminal and burying them. “X” marks the spot! However, more often than not, pirates never buried their treasure. There’s actually only one pirate who was known for burying his treasure: William Kidd. And his strategy was simply popularized by fictional tales such as ‘Treasure Island’ by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Trunks sure have changed their material, appearance, size, and use throughout the ages. At Everything Summer Camp, we know trunks are always changing and we’re thrilled to be a part of the change with our innovative Designer Trunk constructions that feature quality prints of illustrations and patterns across the entire trunk! And, though we don’t fill our trunks with treasure, we know they’re built to be treasured for many years to come! Check out all the camp trunks we have available and, as always, thanks for reading!

 

- John

Hey, Fall Friends!

A pretty essential part of Halloween and the Harvest season, pumpkins are the perfect type of produce for carving and placing on a front porch or window. Jack o’ Lanterns light up the night with toothy grins and eerie expressions. It’s important stuff—figuring out which side of a pumpkin the face will be on, deciding on the kind of face to carve, and finding the right place for your Jack o’ Lantern to sit.

It’s important enough that I wrote a Blog post about it a handful of years ago. You can check that one out by clicking right here.

However, as important as all those decisions may be, there’s an even more important step that comes before you can even start thinking about a face. That step is picking out your pumpkin (or pumpkins if you’re lucky)!

This step can be lots of fun and a cool part of the fall season if you know where to look. There are lots of places to find pumpkins in autumn. You can get them at grocery and convenient stores. Or it’s common to find pumpkins and other assorted gourds at roadside displays.

But, for a surefire way to have some serious fall fun, I recommend a visit to a pumpkin patch if the trip to a local farm isn’t too far for you. Walk among those bulbous vegetables and find your favorite of the bunch! Their orange bodies and green stems always evoke such specific personalities; they almost tell you what kind of face to carve! And a trip to a pumpkin patch may yield other seasonal festivities like a hay ride, or a corn maze, or cider with donuts!

Go find out what kind of fall fun you can have in your local community and enjoy picking out the right pumpkin for yourself. Happy Harvest, Everybody. And, as always, thanks for reading!

 

- John

Hey, Camp Fans.

There were many camps that didn’t hold session for this summer season, compelled to take the precautions deemed necessary to keep everyone safe. Just like all of you, everyone here at Everything Summer Camp is deeply saddened that so many campers didn’t get to have their summer camp experience this season.

While some of you may have attended camp this season, others were not so fortunate. To those of you who didn’t get to go to camp this year, know that you’re not alone. Today, we’re featuring one of the many summer camps who were closed this season—Camp Zeke. Here’s the message from their website: 

“With heavy hearts, we have made the painful decision to cancel camp this summer. As our neighbors closed their doors one by one, we held out hope that some new piece of information would come along that would allow us to open safely. Unfortunately, this hasn’t happened. 

We know that this decision will be as painful for campers to hear as it was for us to make. We will do everything possible to support all of you during this difficult time. Our Director of Camper Care, Riva, is available to any camper who would benefit from help processing this sad news. We are also in the process of planning digital opportunities for bunkmates to connect and stay engaged with each other.

We are so very sorry that this is the outcome of our planning. We truly hoped that camp would open this summer and are devastated by this decision. All of us are looking towards a brighter 2021.”

Everything Summer Camp supports Camp Zeke and we look forward to seeing their normal camp sessions return in 2021. We hope all you campers who had planned on a summer stay were still able to get out into the wilderness for your own personal camping experience. As always, thanks for reading.

 

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

With the Harvest season upon us, now is the perfect time to consider all the work that goes into the food that we buy at the grocery store. All the fruits and vegetables, the meat, milk, and eggs. The bread in the bakery. It’s all thanks to farming and those hard workers that grow all that food that we put on our dinner tables. October 12 is Old Farmers Day.

This day is dedicated to old farmers and the old-school techniques they used back in the day. It’s typically celebrated as a throwback to the sustainable practices of growing food the way they used to.

While mechanized and scientific methods are widely utilized in farming today, the entire trade would not exist without the wisdom and hard work of old farmers.

In their honor, today is about being thankful for farmers and learning about the processes and methods that go into their work. Perhaps you can suggest a family trip to a local farm where you can see firsthand where your food comes from!

Farmers are essential to our own survival! They take care of our food from sowing the seeds to harvesting the crop and seeing reach the market. Without farmers it would be difficult or impossible for us to have food on our tables.

How Can You Celebrate Old Farmers Day?

• Do some research to learn about farming techniques from the days of old.
• If you happen to live on a farm, take today to use old farming tools.
• If you know an old farmer, ask them about how farming was different when they were young.
• Visit your local farmer's market to support your local farmers.
• Buy only locally grown food and locally raised meat.

On behalf of everyone here at Everything Summer Camp, we would like to send a special thanks to all of our local farmers and farmers all across the nation and across the world. Without you, we would go hungry…literally! Thank goodness for farmers and, as always, thanks for reading!

 

- John