mrkstvns

We hear about sustainability in almost every aspect of our lives, but I still get surprised when it comes up in an unexpected context. I was out shopping for some comfy new shoes for light (non-mountainous) hiking trips, and came across a label on a shoe box proclaiming the product to be "vegan". I was mighty glad to see that because I like knowing that if I get lost in the woods, I can eat my shoes without feeling guilty.

There are 3 elements to recruiting in any organization: attraction, conversion, and retention. Attraction is the realm of marketing: get the word out and pull people in. Retention is about delivering on your promise and giving value to the members. But conversion....that's where things get interesting because it's all about the vibe in the unit and showing people your energy and passion so they want to be part of the fun. Make newcomers feel welcome and show them the value that can be theirs to share, and you'll have 'em hooked! That's why I was so impressed by Bryan on S

Different councils run their Scouting for Food drives at different times of the year. National Capital Area Council usually does theirs in the fall. Ditto Last Frontier Council, which will be passing out flyers Nov 2 and collecting cans Nov 9. Sam Houston Area Council passes out flyers last weekend in January and collects cans first weekend in February. I wonder what month is the MOST effective time to do it....do you rake in more donations early in the fall? Or more in the middle of winter, after the holidays are over and done with? I wonder which council has the BIGGES

Just to put this in perspective, although EEE is a serious disease, it is NOT "rampant" or common in any way --- even in Massachusetts, which has more cases than other states. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the population of Massachusetts is 6,902,149. According to the Massachusetts Department of Health, there have been 9 confirmed cases of EEE, resulting in 1 death. (There were also 7 cases of EEE infecting horses, and 1 case confirmed in a goat.) Obviously, this means your chance of dying of EEE in Massachusetts is 1 in 6,902,149. Your chance of contracting the disease

...and for some reason, I had a brain fart and forgot to include the link so you could see the source...this was 2 troops in Connecticut... https://patch.com/connecticut/woodbury-middlebury/middlebury-boy-scout-pasta-dinner-coming

A wise old scoutmaster used to love saying, "Team work makes the dream work." I have no idea whether he made up that quote or borrowed it, but the truth behind it is apparent in myriad situations (including fundraising). If you've got an idea for a fundraising activity, but you think that your unit might be too small to support it, a good solution is to simply team up with another similarly sized unit and work together, then split the proceeds. As I was reading some news articles about scouting, I came across this story about 2 BSA troops that were working together to host a S

This is really cool! I imagine most councils and districts could find a local radio club willing to come out to a scout activity with a load of radios the scouts could use to "talk to the world". Thanks for sharing! I loved the picture too! BTW: You can find amateur radio clubs in your area here: http://www.arrl.org/find-a-club Might be a handy thing to keep in mind for next fall...

I found a very nice "Scoutmaster Minute" on the Kansas City Star website. It's a little long for my tastes, but it incorporates a story of an Olympic athlete inside a story of a young scout. I like it! https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/community/joco-913/joco-diversions/article235999268.html My older son’s Scout leader was telling some of the other parents that he couldn’t make it to the upcoming meeting. Another one of those obligations had chased him down for that night, so he was looking for a fill-in to give the “Scoutmaster’s minute,” a story at the end of the meeting w

This past weekend was BSA's annual Jamboree on the Air (JOTA). Did any of y'all participate? Story about this year's JOTA: https://www.ksby.com/news/local-news/northern-slo-county-boy-scouts-connect-with-scouts-overseas-via-radio-for-jota-joti-jamboree

Das sieht lecker aus! You are a more ambitious camp chef than me. I'd probably just grill a few bratwursts and serve 'em up with sauerkraut and some good German mustard. Never tried serving them on a scout campout though....mostly because I'd have to leave the beer at home, and Oktoberfest without beer is like a night without moonshine!

Browing around on the Scouting Magazine website (scoutingmagazine.org), I came across a post about how to set up a dining fly. Very simple: if you've got a tarp and some rope, you've got the makings of a group shelter. Nothing to it. For some of us old timers, it's simply the way we setup our camps on each and every campout. But as I was reading the article, it occurred to me, never once in the past 10 years have I seen my son or his friends set up a patrol dining fly that way. The troop has several of these EZ-Up canopy shelters, and the boys just pop those up when we're at a campsit

...where's the adventure in staying on the trail???

A group of Girl Scouts is building habitats for wild bees (i.e., not "honey bees"). https://grist.org/science/these-girl-scouts-are-saving-wild-bees-one-hotel-at-a-time/ This is a very interesting project because it addresses a significant, but often overlooked, aspect of the declining pollinator problem: we often focus on honey bee populations, but forget that there are a lot of bee species, and many of these species are declining in lock-step with the domesticated honey bee populations. I think that many Boy Scouts could look into this as a possible Hornaday project or Eagle pro

Interesting question! I can't imagine that such things don't exist since ASL is one of the "languages" in which you can earn an Interpreter strip.

aka, "servant leadership".

Good advice! I've seen "sleeping bag liners" for sale in outdoor stores, but I'm not sure I really see the point since I have a lot more choices in fabrics and weights if I just go to a department store and buy some sheets off the shelf. Another advantage to doing that is it can provide more warmth in winter months, probably adding an extra 5 degrees or so to the temperature rating of a typical bag.

Just thought I'd point out that many councils already have a program in place to help get scout uniforms into the hands of kids whose families might struggle to provide them. In the Houston area, this is called the "Uniform Exchange". Info about how it works is here: https://shac.org/uniform-exchange Our troop does something similar. We have a bin where scouts who outgrow their uniforms, or scouts who age out of the program, can toss their uniforms in a bin and they are made available to scouts bridging into the troop. I applaud the efforts of Latin Scot, Momleader, and any

BSA is asking scouts to wear their scout uniform to school tomorrow (October 16) in an effort to stand up to bullying by showing other students that they have a friend in their midst. What do you think? Is this effective? Will scouts and parents buy in and participate?

An FAQ document about the upcoming background check process is available on the Bryan on Scouting blog: https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2019/10/14/rechecks-of-criminal-backgrounds-explained/ This document describes why the forms are required and how the process will work. Basically, they'll do background checks on all scouters in 2020, then every 5 years thereafter.

There are other things that can be "overnighters" but that I don't consider to be camping. My son's pack did some "overnighters" like a night in the Zoo, or a sleep aboard on the USS Lexington. These are fun things for the boys to do, but they're not in the woods, don't involve setting up tents, don't involve cooking their meals, and similar things that really define "camping". Just saying...

I try not to wash my sleeping bag very often because it's kind of a pain, and it always seems to feel a bit lumpy afterwards. Still, there are plenty of times where a good wash and dry is the only thing to do, short of buying a new one. GENERALLY... After each campout, I open it up, spray it with Febreze and hang it over the rail of my deck to air out. WHEN IT GETS TO SMELLY/WET/SWEATY/DIRTY... I hand-wash it in a tub using laundry soap, then I lay it out on the deck to dry. Usually, I wash it in the morning and leave it out all day in the sun. I NEVER... Wash it in a was

I don't know if BSA made a mistake in their California listing, or what, but the link they have doesn't seem to go anywhere that's good for high adventure, HOWEVER, a different council than BSA points to DOES conduct outstanding high adventure programs on Catalina Island. The USEFUL link to these is: http://www.campemeraldbay.org/emerald-bay/high-adventure-program

Do you ever camp in places that have no nearby source of potable water? If so, how much water do you bring with you? This is not a hypothetical and it is not a backcountry trip --- we can drive a car up to near the site. 2 nights, 30 participants. If I bring 30 gallons, will it be enough to cover cooking, dishwashing, drinking for 2 nights? How much would you bring?

Quite right. Google search will turn up some possibilities, but it misses a lot and your search results are badly organized with those camps that had the most SEO-aware webmaster showing up first (not camps that are the best, or that have the most exciting programs). A good site to begin your search for all those "hidden gems" is https://tap.scouting.org/ Near the bottom of the page is a link to "Council High Adventure Camps". This is an excellent resource listing more HA camps than you ever knew existed!

Well, it might not be killing your pack's program, since evidently you had a lame pack that didn't even bother to camp. (Sorry, gotta call a spade a spade, after all, a scout IS trustworthy). My son's pack camped twice per year, so when the boys bridged to a scout troop, they were prepared to get right into an active, productive outdoor program. Putting restrictions on that kind of quality program *IS* a bad thing and if that's what BSA wants, they RICHLY deserve any and all criticism that comes their way.