Cheerful Valley Campground

Come Camping in New York’s Finger Lakes Region

1412 Route 14, Phelps, NY 14532, 315.781.1222    Email Us

Homemade Insect Repellant

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herbal insect repellentCamping trips, patio drinks, beach parties, and BBQs will expose you and your guests to numerous insects in the area. Most insects carry germs that could infect you during such occasions. That is why you need to have the right insect repellents to get rid of these unwanted pests. Most over-the-counter insect repellents are made of strong chemicals that are not good for your health and well-being over time. That’s why you need to make use of homemade insect repellents to get rid of these insects.
Essential oils are the most effective when it comes to repelling insects. Tea tree oil is great against ticks, deer flies, and chiggers. Lemon and eucalyptus are great against mosquitoes and black flies. Geranium and peppermint oil blended together is also an effective mosquito repellent.

You should not apply a full-strength essential oil directly on your skin. It should always be mixed with a carrier oil before rubbing on the skin. It is better to use one essential oil at a time when preparing the homemade insect repellent.

But if you plan to mix the scents, you should mix oils within the same scent family. For example, lemon and lemongrass go together while eucalyptus and lavender could be mixed together. Tea tree and clove oil should be used on their own. Lavender oil could also be mixed with rosemary and peppermint to make an insect repellent. These are very important things to consider when making your own homemade insect repellent.

We’ve seen an increase in the use of non-toxic oils for insect repellent lately and thought you’d like to give it a try.

Dutch Oven Cinnamon Rolls for Cool Weather Camping

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dutch oven cinnamon rollsCool weather need not be a reason to avoid getting out in the great outdoors to go camping.  Our bodies require more calories in the cooler climate of spring and fall though, and some favorite calorie dense comfort foods can be cooked over a campfire with a just a few pieces of gear.

Dutch Oven Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients

DOUGH

1 pkg. (2 1/4 tsp.) active dry yeast

2 tablespoons honey or 1 tbsp. granulated sugar

1 1/4 cups warm milk (100° to 110°)

4 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled

2 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

About 5 1/3 cups flour

FILLING

6 tablespoons butter, softened

1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 cup raisins

1 cup walnut or pecan pieces (optional)

FINISHING

1 tablespoon butter (for greasing the dutch oven)

3 tablespoons honey

1 cup powdered sugar

Preparation

AT HOME

  1. Make dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine yeast with 1/4 cup warm (100° to 110°) water and the honey. Let stand until bubbly, about 5 minutes. Add milk, butter, eggs, and salt. Using a dough hook, gradually mix in 5 cups flour, then mix on medium-low speed until dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes; if dough is still sticky, add another tbsp. or so of flour. (You can also mix and knead the dough by hand.)
  2. Put dough in an oiled mixing bowl, turning so it’s oiled on all sides, and cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap. Let rise at room temperature until double, about 1 hour.
  3. Punch down dough; knead a few times on a lightly floured work surface. Roll into an even 12- by 24-in. rectangle.
  4. Make filling: Spread butter on dough. Combine brown sugar, cinnamon, raisins, and walnuts; sprinkle evenly over dough, leaving a 1 1/2-in. strip clear along the top long edge.
  5. Roll up, starting at other long edge, and pinch seam closed. Cut log in half crosswise. Using paper towels, oil inside of a 2-gal. resealable freezer bag. Put half-logs inside, leaving some space between them, and seal bag. Freeze until solid, at least 6 hours and up to 1 month.

IN CAMP

  1. Transport frozen dough in a cooler up to 1 day before baking. Remove logs from bag, ideally while still somewhat firm, and cut each crosswise into 6 slices.
  2. Finish rolls: Butter a 6-qt. dutch oven. Arrange slices cut side up in pot. Cover with lid and let rise in the sun until dough is puffy and holds a small impression when pressed, 1 1/2 to 3 hours.
  3. Meanwhile, prepare a fire (see “How to Bake in a Dutch Oven,” below).
  4. Bake rolls until they’re browned and a skewer inserted into bread comes out clean, 30 to 45 minutes.
  5. Remove pot from fire, uncover, and let cool about 15 minutes. Loosen rolls with a table knife. Mix honey and powdered sugar with 2 to 3 tsp. water; spread on top.

How to Bake in a Dutch Oven

Lewis and Clark brought one to the wilderness. So did the early pioneers to Utah (it’s now the official state cooking vessel). And so should you, because it means you’ll get to bake–and eat–carbs in camp. All you need is a 6-qt. camp Dutch oven (one with legs and a flanged lid; lodgemfg.com), some regular (not competition-style) charcoal and a chimney or hot embers from a wood campfire, and a heatproof spot like a fire ring or bricks set flat on an area free of flammable material; check your campground’s fire rules.

  1. Prepare the fire. If using charcoal: Light 50 briquets in a chimney and burn till they’re spotted gray, 15 minutes. If using a campfire: Scrape the fire to the side, level out a space the size of the Dutch oven, and mound the hot embers nearby (2 to 3 qts. worth).
  2. Lay a bottom ring of hot coals. The area of the coals should be slightly smaller than the circumference of the dutch oven. Put the oven on top and set the lid in place.
  3. Lay a top ring of hot coals. Use metal tongs to arrange a single ring on top of the lid around the lip. Evenly space a few more coals across the lid. Set any extra heated fuel aside. To check the food and temperature, lift the lid occasionally.
  4. Tweak the temperature. To decrease heat, scrape away some fuel. To increase heat, or to cook longer than 45 minutes, add 5 or 6 new coals to both the top and the bottom of the dutch oven (touching lit ones so they’ll ignite) about every 30 minutes.

Get The Kids Involved in Planning and Packing

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Kids help at the campsiteKids love the fun stuff about camping. They get to run, play, swim, and eat special treats while they are camping and we all love to see them have a great time. They get even more out of it when you involve them in all phases of camping. Get them to help you with planning, packing, maintaining, and unpacking at home. They may mumble and grumble a bit but you’ll be helping them build a love of camping when they are grown with families of their own.

Planning
Get the kids involved in creating a checklist of things that will be needed for the trip. They can let you know what foods they will enjoy eating and what toys and games they will want to bring. You can ask them their opinion on how things should be packed and what they should be packed in. Maybe each child can have their own backpack to hold their treasures or they may like to help pack kitchenware in plastic tubs. They can help mark them, too.

Setting Up and  Maintaining
The kids can help with unpacking once you arrive. They love to have an opinion about simple things like where the toiletries should go and where the pool toys should be kept. While you are camping they can be given responsibilities around the campsite. Maybe it is their job to set the table, make the beds, or keep the game pieces together.

Unpacking
When you get home they can help unpack. They will learn about laundering the sleeping bags and getting them ready for the next trip. Many hands make light work and you’ll make far less trips to the car with the kids helping out.

It really does give them a broad perspective on the work part of their vacation and teach them skills that will help them to continue camping for many years to come. They may grumble a little but they really will thank you later.

 

 

Your Fur Kids Love Camping With You

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Pets at the campgroundEach year we see more and more campers bringing their beloved pets along with them on their camping vacation. It makes sense that they are members of the family and will get just as much enjoyment out of camping as you do. There are a couple of things you can do to help them navigate their way around an unfamiliar campground for the first time.

Keep them near you – They may be a little nervous when they see all the unfamiliar people and smell unfamiliar smells. If you keep them near you and try not to leave them alone on the campsite, they have a better chance of quickly becoming comfortable in their new surroundings.

Bring prescriptions – Make sure you bring plenty of their medications, both over the counter and prescriptions. Have a few days extra on hand just in case you decide you’d like to extend your stay or take your time going home. Having an extra few days worth will come in handy.

Food, Beds, and Toys – Bring as many of their familiar favorites from home as you can. It can be quite comforting for a pet who is nervous over their new surroundings to be able to snuggle into their own bed with their own toys.

These small things should help you get the most out of your camping trip for you and for your pets. We look forward to seeing you here this year.

Camping Hacks You’ll Find Useful

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We all appreciate tips that make our favorite things to do even more fun. These 10 camping hacks are tips that you may not have thought of, but you’ll find yourself using all the time!

  1. Make an inexpensive lantern or reading light by filling a gallon jug with water. Invert a head lamp so it’s facing the water and secure it to the gallon jug with the strap. The kids will think it’s cool and you can make it up in just a few minutes.
  1. Pre-scramble eggs for breakfast and pour them in a bottle (an orange juice bottle works brilliantly). No more hauling eggs in a carton to the campsite, and worrying about or dealing with breakage and waste! When you’re ready to make breakfast, you just pour out the scrambled eggs and cook them as you usually would.
  1. If you’re not using a blowup mattress for sleeping, bring foam floor tiles. Sleeping with only a sleeping bag just got a LOT more comfortable! The tiles will keep you protected from the cool ground as well.
  1. Forgot to take your keys out of your pocket when you went swimming? Prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the lake by attaching a wine bottle cork to your key chain.
  1. Make your own port-a-potty with a five gallon bucket, camping toilet seat, trash bag and kitty litter.
  1. Who doesn’t love pancakes for breakfast? Mix up your pancake batter and store it in disposable cake icing bags, clipping them at the ends—when you’re ready to cook, snip off the end to create a tidy dispenser!
  1. Create a mini medicine cabinet with a pill box; simply clip the paper labels from the packaging of every day OTC medicines, affix them to the lids of each compartment and take a few of everything with you.
  1. Recycle Tic-Tac containers to hold spices for cooking.
  1. Recycle a pill bottle by filling it with a cotton ball, band-aids, alcohol swabs, and individual antibiotic cream packets.
  1. Don’t want to use tons of matches? Coat a cotton ball with Vaseline and wrap in a square of tinfoil. When needed, cut an ‘X’ in the foil, pull out a bit of the cotton, twist it into a wick and light. It lasts long enough to get your kindling started.

Grilling Fruit & Veggies at the Campsite

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Juicy steaks, chicken, burgers, and hotdogs are great on the grill but you can make some delicious taste treats by grilling your fruits & veggies, too. They are a fresh option to add to a meal and it’s a good way to get the kids to get their fiber while they are here.

You can grill pineapple rings or peach halves and then serve them with cool and creamy vanilla bean ice cream. The heat from the grill will caramelize the fruit and make it even sweeter. You can grill them as is or, as is done in the video below, you can add balsamic vinegar, maple syrup, black pepper, vanilla, and apricot preserves. Doesn’t that sound delicious?

Kebabs are a way to grill your veggies and the kids love eating them off a stick. It’s just more fun that way. This recipe nice, fat mushrooms, sections of corn on the cob, and a variety of other veggies. Add some garlic, lemon, and lots of fresh herbs. It will be wonderful.

Fresh fruits and veggies will balance the other favorites on your camping menu and they are so easy to prepare and serve. We hope you’ll give them a try and we’re looking forward to seeing you here again soon.

Staying Cool in Warm Weather

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hot weather campingIt can be a challenge to stay cool when the weather is hot. Too much heat, during warmer weather, can lead to exhaustion, dehydration, heat stress, and even heat stroke. Here are some helpful tips that can be used to help you stay cool when the weather is hot.

Stay Hydrated – Water is essential for staying cool in warm or hot weather. It can help to cool your body and keep your tissues hydrated. Drink water on hot days, even if you don’t feel thirsty. Avoid sugary drinks and soda, as well as alcohol and coffee, because they can have a diuretic effect. Water is best for cooling off on hot days.

Consume Foods That Are Cooling – Foods can help keep you cool. Choose foods like fresh raw vegetables, fruits, and salads. Make an effort to eat smaller meals which can help keep your core temperature down. When you eat a large meal, your body has a hard time breaking it down, which can raise your body temperature. So, eat small means filled with cooling, fresh foods.

Plan Your Time in the Sun – Avoid doing outside activities during the peak time of the mid-day sun. That means you should limit your sun exposure between the hours of 10 am and 4 pm when the weather is warm or hot. If you must be outside at these times, limit your sun exposure, as much as possible. Children, the elderly, and people with sensitive skin should consider staying a cool area and limiting the amount of time they spend in the sun.

Here are some additional tips. Get to know your body and look for signs of overheating or heat exhaustion. Wear light-colored, protective clothes. And, make sure to drink lots of fluids, especially water. Following these tips will help keep your body healthy, happy, and cool, even on the hottest days of the year.

Keeping Ants Out of the RV

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Ants in the RVNo one wants ants crawling around their RV and, with a little prevention, there are a lot of things you can do that will help keep them away.

Make Sure They Don’t Have A Point Of Entry

The harder it is for ants to enter your RV, the less likely it is they’ll show up. Keep an eye out for potential points of entry. If you see an opening, make a point of sealing it off. You should try to seal your windows with caulk. If you do this, it’ll be very difficult for ants to get into your RV.

Use The Right Cleaning Products

If your ants don’t like the way your RV smells, they’re going to stay far away from it. You should try to use lemon-scented cleaning products if you can; ants dislike the smell of lemon. Using a vinegar cleaning product is also a smart idea. You could also try spraying peppermint oil around your RV. It’ll keep ants away, and it will give the RV a fresh minty scent.

 

Place Citrus Peels Around The Areas Ants Appear

If you see ants popping up in the same part of your RV, you should place a few citrus peels there. Citrus peels are toxic to the types of fungus that ants typically dine on.

There are a number of things you can do that will keep ants from entering your RV. If you have an ant problem, act now. You can get rid of the ants you have now and keep more ants from showing up.

Simple Camping Meals With Potatoes

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Potatoes for campingIt is not unusual for Americans to stick to certain foods when they are camping due to restrictions that can come with cooking over an open flame. Additionally, a major problem tends to be that they simply just are not thinking about their meals in advance and being creative. There are actually a number of things that are easy to cook while camping that will definitely spice up your meals.

One of the easiest items to bring along on your camping trip are potatoes. They are one of the longest lasting vegetables that you can find and do not need to be refrigerated to maintain their appearance, which leaves more space in your coolers for other food items. When cooking them over an open flame one simply needs to wrap them in tin foil and poke holes into them so that steam can escape. With this method, you can have a baked potato in a short amount of time.

You can also get rather creative as long as you bring a few additional items with you. You will need a heavy duty knife and a cutting board so that you can slice the potatoes. From there you can use whatever spices that you can imagine flavoring the potatoes such as dill, cayenne pepper, chili powder, basil, and oregano as well as butter or oil, whichever you prefer. Once you have seasoned them you will lay out tinfoil and place the potato chunks on top and then wrap the sides to the middle, creating a bag. From there you just heat them over the fire while cooking your meat to have a flavorful meal while enjoying the great outdoors.

If you take some time and think creatively there are a number of ways to enjoy your favorite foods while camping. Keep in mind foods that store easily, like potatoes, and you will find there really is a lot of options available to you.

Fun Road Trip Games to Play With the Kids

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There are a couple of road trip games that can be fun to take part in. You can find small versions of board games, for instance, to take with you. Or, you can play games like looking for different colored cars and more.

Eye spy is a game where you say that you see something with certain features. For instance, you can say “eye spy with my little eye, something blue” if there is a blue car around the vehicle you’re in. You can also play this when the vehicle is stopped because that allows you to pick from more things in the landscape. You can’t expect to pick something on the side of the road if the vehicle will be going by it fast, but if there is a large landmark in the distance that may just work out.

You can find small versions of games that you can bring with you on a road trip. Even if you don’t want to go with that because your kids don’t know what to do to play the game, you can bring tablets or other devices that have games on them. You could also bring paper and pens and let the kids play tic-tac-toe. If you’re going to bring anything in the vehicle, make sure you store it properly when it’s not in use. You don’t want to have, for instance, your tablet sitting out in the sun while you go somewhere for a while.

What you take with you as your road trip games will depend on what your family is into. The more you can prepare to have a good time on a trip, the better. You’ll know you made the right choice when everyone is having a lot of fun on the road.