There are dozens of reasons why people won’t be able to venture out into the unknown to go camping – budget, lack of vacation time – but that doesn’t mean you have to miss out on a favored summer pastime.
To enjoy camping, look no further than your backyard or living room. You can take a mini-vacation with your family, filled with campground favorites, and you don’t even need to share a composting toilet with 50 other campers.
When setting up a tent in your yard, you’ll want to look for a spot that is flat and clear of tree roots and rocks. If there is a slight incline, set up so your head will be near the top of the hill. If there are many trees in your yard, be sure to look up first, to make sure there are no dead branches that will come careening down in the middle of the night.
Since you’ll be home, rain and other unpleasant elements are less of a concern because you can bail in a moments notice. However, you’ll still want to be comfortable. If you have an older, leakier tent, you may want to erect a canopy like an easy-up over the tent to keep off rain.
Even in fair weather, nights get chilly and morning dew will make tent walls damp. Bring layers out to the tent with you, sweaters, dry socks to sleep in and spare blankets, will make sleeping cozier if temperatures drop, but are easily removed. This is especially important if camping with little ones. To avoid damp walls, don’t overstuff the tent. Keep sleeping bags and mats away from the sides. If you think you’ll need more room, consider borrowing a tent from a friend to increase sleeping space.
If you don’t have a yard suitable for camping outside, grab your gear and sleeping bags and build a blanket fort in your living room (this is fun in itself).
When it comes to cooking over a fire, there’s a lot to choose from, but hot dogs tend to be favorites since they can be easily stuck on a long stick and roasted over the flames. Other stick-friendly dinners include kebabs and skewered shrimp and steak cubes.
A cast iron pan is handy for making burgers and other grill food over the flames. (Remember to use pot holders.) If you want to cook something in a pot, using a double-boiler with water on the bottom can help control the temperature cooking your food. Rub soap over the outside of the pot to make cleaning off the soot easier.
Then, of course, probably the most popular fire food: s’mores. Toasted marshmallow, chocolate and graham crackers are delicious on their own, but you can mix it up with different candy bars, peanut butter, fudge-stripe cookies, potato chips and more. Your imagination is the limit.
If you can’t have a fire pit in your yard, you can make a mini-roaster by lining a terracotta flower pot with tinfoil and filling with charcoal. Or make s’mores dip on an outdoor grill or in the oven. In a cast iron pan, pour a layer of chocolate pieces. Then, line up a layer of marshmallows. Heat until the marshmallows are golden brown and dip graham crackers in.
Camping is about appreciating the great outdoors, so turn off the smart phone, put away the tablet, and hide the laptops for the night.
While it’s daylight, take advantage of the many games you can play in the yard, from croquet to ladderball to cornhole to ringtoss. Spray paint your grass with colored dots for backyard Twister.
Get crafty by coloring leaf rubbings, drawing with chalk, making fairy or gnome houses or building a bird feeder or house.
Once night falls, hunt for fireflies, see if you can calculate the temperature based on the rate of the crickets’ chirping or identify constellations in the summer sky.
Around the fire, swap stories of ghosts, fairy tales or true events.
Break out the board games or a deck of cards for some good old-fashion family fun.
Camping is a great way to bond with your family and relax away from the hubbub of everyday life, you don’t even have to leave home to enjoy it.
For more backyard camping ideas and tips, check out LiveWell’s Pinterest board, pinterest.com/
LiveWellNH/backyard-camping.
(Sarah Kinney can be reached at 369-3324, skinney@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @sekwrites.)