Hello Muddah Sleep Away Crop!!
Thursday, March 8th through Sunday, March 11th
Starting at 12pm on Thursday and going until 3pm on Sunday afternoon!
Your long weekend will include:
-A huge cropping room with plenty of personal space!
-Accommodations for your weekend stay!
-All meals, drinks and snacks all weekend long!
-Games and shenanigans (look for the Talent Show to return)!
-Small goodies for everyone, with a unique twist on the "goody bag"!
Cost for the long weekend:
-$220 (Scout Cabin)
-$250 (Leader Cabin)
**REGISTRATION WILL BEGIN ON SATURDAY, JULY 2ND.**
(This is a long post with LOTS and LOTS of important information in it. Most of it is exactly the same as last year, but there are a few differences. Please read it all!!)
We will be staying and cropping in Florida's beautiful O'Leno State Park in High Springs.
This park is located along the Santa Fe River and is full of natural charm. The park has a wonderful suspension bridge over the river that along with the cabins and surrounding buildings were constructed in the 1930's by the Civilian Conservation Corps.
We will be staying in a large cabin loop that is for our private use during our visit. Our area consists of 17 rustic cabins, one large arts & crafts building, a pavilion, two restroom facilities with showers and a very large dining hall. The dining hall has windows around the room and two very large fireplaces on either end of the hall. It also has a huge kitchen where all your meals for the weekend will magically appear from!
Speaking of food, it will be our pleasure to be cooking for you all weekend! Your weekend fee will include: lunch, dinner and late night snack on Thursday, breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks on Friday and Saturday and brunch and afternoon snack on Sunday. There will be drinks available all day long. If you are not familiar with my cooking style it is good, old-fashioned "make you happy" meals. There is no diet food at crops! (Unless you pack it in yourself!) I always have a vegetarian (not vegan) option at every meal, but cannot take "special requests" at meal time! There will be a menu posted ahead of time so that you can make other arrangements if something doesn't strike your fancy or doesn't meet your special dietary requirements. If you need a bit of 'fridge space, please let me know in advance. The park does allow alcoholic beverages as long as it remains in your cabin or in our rooms. Basically, our camping area. So you can feel free to BYOB! (And specific mixers your require!)
About the cabins! Yes, I know that some of you are worried by now about that word "rustic". I would love to paint a spectacular picture of these cabins, but they ARE "rustic"! They were built in the 1930's. They do NOT have AC or heat. (This is why this trip is not in the summer time!) They DO have electric and electric plugs. The do NOT have bathrooms in the cabins. They DO have doors and windows-some are screens, but they ARE doors and windows. They have bunk beds. Most cabins sleep between 6-8 people. Depending on the number that I have sign up, I will assume that most everyone wants a bottom bunk. So unless this crop is extremely popular or you have a large group that wants to bunk together, I'm shooting for bottom bunks for all!!
About the bathrooms! Again...y'all worry too much! There are bathrooms in our cabin circle. There are two bathrooms in the crop room. If you've ever been to a state park you know what the bathrooms look like. They are concrete buildings with men on one side and women on the other. Both of the bathroom facilities have showers stalls. The showers have a row of sinks with mirrors and electric outlets. Then it has a row of private showers. They have bench seating just outside each shower stall. There IS hot water!
More about cabins and bathrooms! There are actually two types of cabins. "Scout" cabins and "Leader" cabins. There is a LOT of "scout" sleeping accommodations, but only a few "leader" beds. There are actually 3 leader cabins. Leader cabins do NOT have AC or heat either and DO have bunk beds, but they DO have their own bathrooms. I would like to offer these cabins up to those who are a) "infirmed", b) "old" or c) "sissies"! (I have just officially cracked myself up at those last comments!! Honestly! I cannot stop laughing...) But, if you feel like you would only be able to come if you had an indoor potty, then these spaces are a little more money and are on a first pay, first get basis! You can email me for room/bed configuration for you and/or your group. I will also take on a first pay, first get basis requests to be in the cabins closest to the bathroom facilities. There are four of those cabins, so once they fill I will move out from there! Unless you have something else you want to be close to!
About the weather! I have no idea what the weather will be like the beginning of March 2012! I CAN give you the last four years in weather history from that area according to Weather Underground. 2011: high 80/low 40, 2010: high 73/low 39, 2009: high 80/low 47 and 2008: high 66/low 40. Suffice it to say it will be much warmer than January! If the night time lows are too low for you to sleep without some kind of heat and since the cabins are not heated you will might need to bring nice warm bedding and/or a heater or electric blanket. Each cabin will only take one heater, so once we have cabins assigned you can talk amongst yourselves about who has a heater! (If you plug in more than one heater, you MAY blow a fuse! They draw a LOT of electric!!)
Even more about the cabins! You need to bring your own bedding and towels. Each bunk has a mattress pad (upgraded since the last time I was there!), but you will not, I repeat NOT want to use that as your only pad! I would suggest getting one of those egg crate mattress pads in a queen size. Fold it in half to make a super, thick twin size. If not all the bunks are filled in your cabin, you are free to use a pad from another bed to make yours nice and full.
About the area. I cannot tell you just how beautiful this area is. This crop will be a great chance to escape the everyday and recharge with friends, this hobby we love AND nature! There are great opportunities to just sit and be one with the beautiful Florida landscape. Hiking trails which in January were very popular, the river, canoeing or just sitting on the porch in a chair and relaxing. This location doesn't disappoint...
O'Leno State Park is about 30 minutes from Gainesville and about 5 miles from "downtown" High Springs. This is where the closest area restaurants, grocery, etc. will be located. You can come and go from the park but if you come back after dusk/the park has closed, you will need a gate entrance code to get back in. IF you should want to come to the event, but really cannot see yourself plunging into the camp adventure, you could check out hotels in the High Springs area. You will not hurt my feelings one tiny bit, but you will also still be paying the same event fee as well! But it is an option!
About the crop. After January's roaring success and with so many of y'all trying to hand me deposit checks for 2012 I figured we should go back again. And since January was a wee bit too cold, we are trying for March this year. This will still be a "budget" crop-same as last year without all the hoopla. Everybody loved Thursday, so that stays and kept the cost super low! As per the original poll, there will be no lavish goody bags and no door prizes. No give-aways and no make-n-takes provided by me. There will still be games and fun organized things to participate in at your leisure! The really unique idea on the goody bag/make-n-take notion was also a GIANT hit, so again, thanks to Dianne and Kathy who came up with this idea and to all the January croppers who astounded us all with their talent the goody bag "trade" remains. I will set a theme, pick the colors (and possibly a line from a specific company) and the album size and anyone who wants to contribute a handmade goody for each of the croppers is highly encouraged to do so. You could make a tag, a page topper and embellishment, a title...whatever! You would just have to make enough for everyone. Then we will swap and hopefully we will have enough stuff to make a killer album! More on that to follow. At the last crop, we had some "think outside of the box" people whe brought homemade cookies, hand warmers and treats.
I am also opening up the big arts & crafts room to any of our croppers who want to teach a class! If you are interested in this, just email me and I'll get you the information. So that means if we have anybody who wants to teach, we'll offer classes at an additional fee. More on that as it happens! Maybe I'll even try to talk Lance into coming back. He was such a FUN addition to our group.
If you are a direct-sale merchant (like CM, CTMH, SU, MK, PC, etc.) and want to be heard from, just email me quickly and we'll talk! There will only be one person representing a company, so contact me soon!
Just a few more tips.
-You can easily walk between your cabin and the crop room, but if you prefer, you can drive!
-This is the Florida "woods". You may encounter wildlife. Deer and raccoons are very common in that area.
-We have to respect the other campers and keep our party to a dull roar.
-If you bring extra lighting, you must bring your own extension cord.
-Hobby Lobby is on the way up from the Tampa/St. Pete area!
-More tips will come as it gets closer!
The registration form is at the bottom, so if I have convinced you that this will be an unforgettable and fun adventure or you've been waiting with baited breath since the last crop for me to announce 2012, then print out the flyer and send it in with your payment.
I take checks and money orders. There is a payment plan if you like. You can pay in full-easiest and you will be my best friend! Or pay $70 now and the rest in three installments. The fee will depend on the cabin type you get. BUT that payment is what holds your spot!! So if you want to get a leader cabin or a cabin near the potties, you must get that deposit to me ASAP. Once I receive your payment/deposit I will notify you on what cabin you got. So if you are making payments, you will know how much to send.
**READ BELOW ON NEW REGISTRATION "RULES"**
Because the Leader cabins were very popular in January, and they might be again in March, I have come up with the new way to register. This really will only pertain to you if you are hoping for a Leader or specific cabin. You will still be mailing checks or money orders (no, I didn't set up the PayPal...too many fees) I will be checking all envelopes for the CANCELLATION DATE. It must be Saturday, July 2nd or later (NOT earlier!). Once I receive all the registrations from the 2nd, then I'll start assigning cabins on a first CANCELLED, first assign basis. If by some wierdness, I get more registrations than I have Leader space, I will then put all those registrations into a LOTTERY and do a drawing to assign space. If there are more "special request" spaces leftover after the 2nd cancellation date, I'll move onto the 3rd, etc. NOW...if you are traveling in a group and want to all bunk together, AND if we must go to the LOTTERY method of cabin assigning, then EACH AND EVERY person who is in your group must have the same DATE CANCELLATION on their letters and if I pull one person from a group, they will all get the special request. So...I have a few suggestions:
-If you are traveling with a group, maybe have one person register/mail them in together.
-Take your letter to the post office on Saturday and have it hand cancelled. That way you are 100% sure it is done on the day you mail it!
-Do not, I repeat, DO NOT try to be sneaky and send your registration in early. Any letters that arrive with a cancellation date earlier than the 2nd will be moved to the END OF THE LINE!
Crop cancellations-A full refund will be given if the crop is cancelled before February 8th. If you need to cancel the crop after February 8th then no refund will be given. Crop registrations ARE transferable.
Please call, email or holler any questions you might have. (My personal email is: mavenjen@yahoo.com) I am REALLY looking forward to this adventure! We are gonna have a grand time and remember this...“Art flourishes where there is a sense of adventure.” -Alfred North Whitehead
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