If you order 10 bags or more and live within our Free Delivery Zone*, and we’ll deliver your mulch free to your home. Deliveries will be made between March 18 and March 23, 2024.
* The free delivery zone includes ZIP codes 22301, 22302, 22304, 22305 and 22314.
To help complete the Cooking Merit Badge, the Troop is holding an Iron Chef competition for the outdoor cooking requirement. Requirement 5 (d), (e) and (f) spell out what the competitors will need to accomplish:
5 (d) In the outdoors, using your menu plans for this requirement, cook two of the five meals you planned using either a lightweight stove or a low-impact fire. Use a different cooking method from requirement 3 for each meal.You must also cook a third meal using either a Dutch oven OR a foil pack OR kabobs. Serve all of these meals to your patrol or a group of youth.
5 (e) In the outdoors, prepare a dessert OR a snack and serve it to your patrol or a group of youth.
5 (f) After each meal, have those you served evaluate the meal on presentation and taste, and then evaluate your own meal. Discuss what you learned with your counselor, including any adjustments that could have improved or enhanced your meals. Tell how planning and preparation help ensure successful outdoor cooking.
Each week two scouts will square off to cook one of the three meals and snacks. After preparing the meal in the outdoors and during our meetings, the rest of the Troop will sample and evaluate the competitors’ meals using the following scale:
4 stars: Excellent
3 stars: Good
2 stars: Meh
1 star: Barely edible
0 stars: Barf
Additional rules:
Cooks must use approved meal plans
Meals must feed approximately 6 people
Must be ready at agreed time
Must use troop cooking stoves and equipment, but can bring family grills if you choose.
The scouts with the highest scores at the end of the competition will receive a special honor.
Here are the standings so far. (Scores are an average of the Excellent-Barf scores provided by the scouts served):
Tonight we completed requirement 1A. Next Tuesday I would like you all to demonstrate the first aid requirements in 1B. And, please do all of requirement 2 on your own and be ready to discuss.
Next week I hope to finish requirement 1 and if we have time, to go through requirement 2.
Here is the worksheet. Please print your own copy and bring it with you to the meetings!
Also, I would recommend getting a copy of the Cooking MB booklet. You will find the latest version for your Kindles on Amazon or you can order them from the Scout Shop (both versions are $4.99). The booklets will have instructions, recipes, and other information to help you complete the requirements.
You can also download an older version for free here. Some of the requirements have changed, so rely on the worksheet for the requirements. But much of the information is the same and it also has recipes for you to consider.
Once you have completed your Eagle project, filled in the application (including a statement of ambition and life purpose and list of accomplishments), verified the dates for all your rank advancements and merit badge completions, it’s time to put it all together into an Eagle binder.
What is an Eagle binder you ask? I asked the same thing too, because it’s not discussed in any of the NCAC Eagle resources. So I asked our District Eagle Reviewer, Kurt Rausch.
Mr. Rausch explained that the binder is a way to make sure you have everything ready for your Eagle Board of Review and that all the information you and the troop provide is correct. “It also provides a neat package to be delivered to Council who extracts the materials to be sent to National (ESRA and Life Purpose and Ambitions Statement and Honors and Awards) and holds the binder until the certificate is issued,” he said.
Mr. Rausch physically reviews each binder as part of the Eagle Application Review Process, which can take about a week.
The District-required contents for the Eagle Binder are as follows, in order they should appear:
Extension Letter (if applicable) – to document the scout is eligible.
ESRA – necessary of course.
District best practices above Council procedures is to list badges completed on the same day, alphabetically (it just helps in the review) but ESRAs are not rejected otherwise.
Also, include the city and state of the Eagle Project on the application.
Scoutnet Report (Formally Internet Advancement) – necessary to check accuracy of ESRA to Program-wide record used to verify ESRA by Council. (Some troops still using Troopmaster also include the Troopmaster Individual History Report as an added best practice).
Life Purpose and Ambitions Statement – Required by ESRA as indicated in Certification by Applicant Section.
List of Honors and Awards – Required by ESRA as indicated in Certification by Applicant Section.
Eagle Project Materials: Proposal with all signatures; Plan (optional but recommended); and Report with all signatures and hours that align with ESRA) – required to document completion of the Project as outlined in ESRA.
Blue Cards for badges used for Eagle – Used to review accuracy of Section 3 of the ESRA. These primary resources are used to confirm ESRA and ScoutBook dates align with the date the badge was actually earned. These three records are often (about 25% of the time) not aligned for one or more badges, in some way or another. Because your blue cards are the original records, send copies to be reviewed. You can include all your blue cards to show how hard you’ve worked, but only the cards on your ESRA are required. Arrange the cards in the same order as they are listed in the ESRA for an added nice touch.
Finally, the binder should have a cover and spine with the title “Eagle Scout Application” with the Scout Name and Troop No. This is most helpful to identify the binder, particularly when they are delivered to Council and put on a shelf. Many Scouts also take it to a higher level and organize the sections in the binder with tabs and sometimes have a Table of Contents. These added features are nice to see but not required.
Once your binder is complete, it will be dropped off by your Eagle counselor with Mr. Rausch along with your Scout handbook, and returned to you after the review.
When Mr. Rausch adds his initials to your Application, it will be sent to the counsel for a signature and approval to conduct the Board of Review.
If you have any questions, about this or other steps in the Eagle process, drop a line in the comments below.
When camping back country, it’s important to store your food and other “smellables” out of reach of bears and other critters. Food, toothpaste, bug spray and other heavily scented items will attract animals, so it’s important to keep these items out of your tent and stored safely away from the rest of the campsite.
This video explains one way to hang a bear bag. It is also a skill we will practice.
Everyone has great ideas on how to make camping easier, safer, more fun, less expensive or more conservation minded. All you have to do is search for “camping hacks” and come up with lists and lists of interesting, odd, silly and really great ideas.
So here’s a challenge: Find your favorite camping hack and share it in the comments below. Even better if you can use it yourself (or have used it before). Also, more points if you recycle or reuse (a Scout is thrifty). Light weight, easy to pack and multipurpose, better yet.
This year’s mulch sale has wrapped up — all the mulch has been ordered and will be arriving by truck on Tuesday morning. Deliveries will begin that week and continue through Saturday, April 7 (weather permitting).
Thank you neighbors for your support. Thank you parents for helping with deliveries through the week. And Scouts, you better bulk — you’ve got a lot of hefty bags to deliver. 🙂
If you have any comments or questions about delivery, please post them below.
It’s time for our annual registration. This year, you can pay online to the Troop PayPal account. Just click the button below and follow the online instructions. You will have the option to pay with your PayPal account, or credit or debit card.
Youth registration by itself is $26 ($1 to cover PayPal fees).
Youth registration with Boy’s Life annual subscription is $38.
