the green spot blog

Nearly two weeks ago we concluded our WinterFest Family Camp. It was a raving success and we're already hearing families talk about who they will be inviting next year. We're excited to see this camp grow like our two summer family camps. There are a lot of people who wonder what there is to do out here in the winter. Well - let me tell you... Wagon Rides, Trail Rides, Snowshoeing, Jug 'n' Jog, ice skating, hockey, Red Neck Curling, Snowsculptures, archery, zipline, crafts, and more and more and more. Evergreen in the winter has its very own magic - besides who doesn't want some hot chocolate and cookies fresh from our  gator while they're waiting to ride the zipline?! We invited our families to join our Winter Family Olympics. They had their very own "coaches" and competed in a number of different kids of events including Snowsculptures, Red Neck Curling, Giant Dutch Blitz, Jug 'n' Jog. Medals were given out, trophies were won, and it...

This last week we started laying the ice down on our rinks. This is always a challenging process because temperature, water, and the surfaces we build one of the rinks on do not always play nice together. And sometimes it involves Rolf, Dylan, and Max to stand in freezing cold water repairing up to forty holes in the poly base. Oh the things we do for the love of Pond Hockey. We really do love it! Our staff are currently skating on Rink 2 to harden it up for more flooding. It's quite the process - while the rest of the province is groaning because the snow and cold weather has arrived...we are out first thing in the morning trying to take advantage of it so that we can get some good layers down on it. We're only about two months away from our Pond Hockey weekend. New this year? T-shirts...awesome, awesome t-shirts. We'll do a reveal when they arrive in December. We're taking team registrations until December 15th. Spots are starting to fill up so don't w...

It was a great weekend! Boy oh boy, we sure do love retreat weekends. We look forward to these weekends all year. It's fun to hang out with the youth groups and have a change from the normal weekend rentals. We also unveiled our brand new 2016 wide game: MEXICAN SPACE FISHING!! Which further inspired our kitchen to make fish tacos for Saturday's supper (one of Jogee's favourite meals). We learned Spanish and went fishing and it was great fun! Now...who remembers the Spanish word for cod... It wouldn't be much of an Alberta winter retreat if we didn't get a bit of snow...and sunshine...and rain! So sure enough, it rained and snowed and was sunny all at different parts of the day on Saturday. Jug 'n' Jog was fantastic as always...and some day - someone will catch Toby. Our speaker for the weekend hailed from Chiliwack, BC. ( Which makes me want to shout out Whatcha Gonna Do?!?...only a very few of you will get that). Al kept us laughing about how to ...

I've started a new family tradition - baking zwiebach (snowman) buns at Christmas.  For those of you who don't know what zwiebach is - its the best bun you'll ever taste - if they are built right.  My mom would bake zwiebach almost every week when I was young.  Some of you know what I'm talking about - the smell of fresh buns baking on Saturday morning while you're downstairs watching the Bugs Bunny/Roadrunner Hour.  During the ads (no pvr back then) I would run upstairs and grab another bun or six. Zwiebach were also a staple of faspa.  For those of you who don't know what faspa is, it was (and is) my favourite meal of the week.  Traditionally Sunday afternoon around 4:30-5:00, zwiebach, cold cuts, (remember liverwurst - key word being wurst) potato chips, cookies, pineapple squares etc. would come out on the table.  No scary vegetables and no better meal to enjoy as a kid. My personal zwiebach tradition started last Christmas.  I thought ...

The Magi following the star. The Christmas season can mean many things to different people, young and old. Maybe it represents family, gifts, traditions of hiking out to find the perfect (or imperfect) Christmas tree to decorate. It can also mean a very busy season, year end for businesses, too many meals to prepare for and attend, bills, missing loved ones passed, and obligations. Then there's 2015, where many people have been anticipating some other than Christmas: Anyone else willing to admit that Star Wars has been more the thing to talk about than Christmas? I'll admit it. I saw it on Sunday. I wasn't dressed as one of the characters but when the first title popped up on the screen with the score that I learned on the piano as a child...I had an ENORMOUS grin on my face. Last week, in our last general staff meeting before Christmas break, we read the Christmas story from Luke. We talked a bit about it and Taylor, our Program Director made a very profound p...

Don't worry! This hasn't happened...yet. Isn't that the truth! As we see pictures of Lake Louise or Banff getting inches of the white stuff - most of us east of the Foothills are just waiting with bated (or cringing) breath for the onslaught of winter. Whether that excites you or causes that ball of dreaded disappointment deep inside (can you tell which one I am?), it doesn't change the fact that winter is coming and regardless of how each of us feels - it means a lot of change. Changing tires on our cars. Changing wardrobes (winter jackets and pants out - tanks and shorts away). Changing shoes (I get to pull out my snowshoes). Changing decorations. Changing those cute little mini-hidey socks in Toms and Sanuks to thick wool ones. Changing furnace filters (our Maintenance guys are always on top of this one). Changing basketball pads (to HOCKEY RINKS!). Changing porch brooms to shovels. Changing clocks back. This is quite "normal" for this Fal...

I know what you're thinking - Pond Hockey already? Summer is over, kids are back in school and you may even just be still unpacking your trailer from all of your summer adventures (or packing it up to come to Camp Evergreen for their Family Camp this weekend) . And here we are...talking about Pond Hockey already. I personally would love to avoid talking about winter for as long as possible but Pond Hockey is completely different. Pond Hockey is the most fun way to spend a wintery day (and yes...that truly did rhyme). We're working hard at putting together some fantastic Silent Auction and Door Prizes...we're keeping the organ tuned and warming up the Quad-bonie (okay, I'm just kidding on the last one). Registration is open for all teams today - so if you're interested, don't wait long to contact me. Two teams have already registered. Don't forget that there's a Children's Skills Competition in the afternoon! Here are the details for t...

The winter season is coming to a close here at camp. In just a few short days, we will be welcoming a number of amazing individuals to join our team. There is a mixture of emotions amongst the staff. We are excited to begin this new season and ready for change, but change is scary and transition can be hard. So I want to take some time to reflect on this past winter season.   The Winter Staff One thing Taylor Jenkins has said to me from day one was "Slow Down and Smell the Roses." In spring, summer, and fall, we have guest group after guest group. We are running from the kitchen to activities, from activities to the kitchen, from the kitchen to cleaning. It is busy, busy, busy! Often times, you feel like there is no time to slow down and really take it all in. But Winter is a very different story. Weekends are still busy, but for the most part guest groups are smaller in number. We are ever so thankful for all the volunteers who helped us out on the busier weeken...

  Those words floated like sweet music through the trees on January 10th. Eight teams and dozens of spectators joined us for one of our favourite days of the year: Pond Hockey! The day was beautiful. It sat right around nine degrees and even though we got a bit of snow throughout the day - the hockey was awesome. I had the privilege of being the whistle-blowers on Rink One and it was so much fun watching teams play. We had teams from across central Alberta. Lendrum from Edmonton even came with custom jerseys! They looked pretty flash with the Camp Evergreen toques that we gave all of the players! We had a number of teams from the Calgary area and one from Linden. And what good is a hockey competition with out the Commentators? A big thanks go out to our returning Colour Commentator, Tom Mulhern and our newly discovered, David Song, as our Play-by-Play. Between those two you knew everyone who "blew a tire" on the ice and what most players/spectators had for breakfas...

It seems so far away now...summer camp 2014. It has not quite yet been a month since our Impact Campers were here conquering Mission Impossible at night, having a late night BBQ with our very own hipster spin on it or laughing until our sides hurt and tears were running down our faces in Homemade Jam. It's been not quite a month. Seems like forever though - as snow covered us last week (we still have piles of it around today), one could just imagine it being winter and Christmas. Legal Bunny Trail: We even had a Christmas themed meal with our groups Potential Place, Prairie Winds, and Rising Sun clubhouses to "celebrate" the snow. With everything seeming so wintery here...a person could begin to imagine that Summer 2015 is just around the corner. Such a cruel thing...because when the snow melted and we hit 25 degrees again - we remembered that it's just September and Summer 2015 is still 10 months...wait! 9.5 months away. We don't want to forget Summer Camp 2...

“ I love winter!”, “No. Be quiet! I hate the cold!“, “Look at all the snow – so beautiful!”, “Oh, I just want to drive on safe, snow-free roads again.” Hearing such comments is nothing special these days – not at Camp Evergreen either. Both sides think the other ones are just crazy. Even one week into the official spring, there is so much new snow and it doesn't seem to stop. So who's right now? Who's opinion should we join? I want to look at this phenomenon from a German point of view today. Among us 5 Germans the opinions concerning the snow and the winter differ a lot. Some of us would like the winter to continue for another two months. Just because falling into untouched snow is a wonderful feeling; am I right Felix? Moreover, as soon as the cold and the snow stops the world here turns into one big muddy pool. Is that better? Just think of your footwear: winter boots are so  much more comfortable than those stiff plastic rubber boots that make...

If you haven't noticed the weather as of late...it's cold outside. But on February 21-23rd, youth and youth leaders arrived at Camp to celebrate our annual Junior High youth retreat, Rise 'n' Shine. It was a cold one but the youth took to the activities, our hockey rink, and indoor Willsonball arena for great weekend. Ambrose supplied the band that rocked us through worship and Brad Huebert brought us the Word. The weekend chapel sessions started with the question, "Is God Real?". Brad's sessions were interactive, challenging, and sticky (well...full of sticky notes, that is). Check it out: We started by making a big list of who God is - which Brad helped us categorize into 5 categories. On Saturday night, Brad invited everyone to personally respond to God from where they were at. It was an incredibly awesome weekend. My highlights were always in the chapel sessions. I think regardless where anyone was at coming into this weekend, we all h...

It's Christmas Time!     Normally in every German house, it starts with 1 candle on the advent wreath and then you get this feeling: It’s Christmas time! But this year it was different: Although Felix tried his best with playing Michael Bublés Christmas Songs back and forth since October, the Christmas feeling didn’t really want to come up until two weeks before Christmas. But then we were amazed by the effort that the Canadians made to give us a perfect Christmas experience.    It started with a Staff-Christmas-Party in the Heritage Room. Bob and Bev put lots of work in it and created a wonderful atmosphere. Something that surprised us was the food. Although Germans have a big diversity of food at Christmas, we didn’t expect Chinese food at a Canadian Christmas Party. (Yummy, yummy, it was so good! ) For the actual Christmas days, we split up in little groups and we were invited to different people. Despite we spent Christmas at different place...

Hey peeps! It's winter out. Have you noticed? (If you haven't...you might be on vacation...if that's the case...can I hang out with you?) . November seemed like a pretty mild start to our white months up until about two weeks ago when almost all of Alberta went through a period of white-outs and cold, COLD weather. During that time, camp experienced almost 18 inches of snow and -40 degree weather. Yikes! I was out on the roads when the blizzard started and experienced some white-out conditions where I couldn't see the sides of the road or even the road itself. It was very scary when the road would clear ahead of me and I would realize that I was in the on-coming traffic lane. Praise God that I got home safely! A couple days later, I was out snowshoeing and came across snowshoe tracks from Sabastian and Christoph from the day before. Because of the wind and snow, their tracks were blown over and almost gone. There were points when I couldn't even tell where...

Name: Taylor Jenkins Age: 23 Home town: Qualicum Beach, Vancouver Island. Hobbies:  Any sports, Crocheting, & Being w friends. Favourite Bible Verse: Colossians 3 Why are you at camp? Because I believe in it and feel like I was called here. What did you do before Camp? I was a student at Vancouver Island University.  I played soccer, coached basketball and worked at a old folks home. What do you do at Camp? I'm program staff so that means I do everything!  There isn’t much we don't do. We run activities, clean, serve meals and in the winter we plan things like CCI! What did you want to be when you were 5? A teacher If you were a plant what plant would you be? Palm Tree. If people were to describe you in a nutshell, what would they say? Blunt... in a loving way? I care about people too. What would your ultimate care package look like? Or maybe just your favourite chocolate bar? the beach, milk chocolate, skittles, my family or even just a letter...

Name: Mitch Age: 56....or 18 Home town: Cranbrook, B.C Hobbies/ Loves: Star Wars, Photography, Psych, Pineapples(but not actually eating them!) Favourite Bible Verse: Isaiah 40:6-8 Why are you at camp? "My dad stole me from BC! ... or maybe he got the job as Executive Director and then I secretly wanted to come along!..shhh" What did you do before camp? He worked at Taco Time while in high school! What do you do at camp? Cause mayhem, Take photos & makes movies for promotional stuff & then I work and stuff.. What did you want to be when you were 5? Architect   If you were a plant what plant would you be? A Watermelon! Did you know; a Watermelon is a vine-like (scrambler and trailer) flowering plant originally from southern Africa...Thanks, Wikipedia! If people were to describe you in one word, what would it be? Legit What would your ultimate care package look like? Skittles, lots of Skittles... Sour ones!