We hope you’ve been able to spend a little more time outdoors this summer! If you haven’t, you’re in luck: these next few weeks, August into September, are an absolutely gorgeous time to be outside. The humidity here in western MA is subsiding, the nights are cooling down, and there’s still plenty of sunshine to soak up. Whether you can access a campsite, take your RV to a national park, or just stay home making a tent-fort in the backyard, we hope you’ll give sleeping under the stars a try!

We went...Glamping?

Our photographer and social media coordinator, Julia, recently got to take Z Wraps on a glamping trip. Why call it ‘glamping’? “Well it’s not exactly camping,” Julia says, “because there are a few cabins, and one has a propane stove with an oven, and a small propane fridge. But there’s no electricity, no service, no wifi, a pretty different bathroom/shower situation, you get the idea. So...Glamorous Camping? Glamping.”

How did it go bringing Z Wraps along for the trip? Pretty great! The rest of this post is written in Julia’s own words. 

Let’s Eat!

One night, we rose to the challenge of using up 1/3 of the farm fresh ingredients in our cooler to free up some much needed space in the fridge: there were 4 adults plus 1 toddler and 1 baby eating, and between all the food we brought with us the little fridge was really tight. We decided to make quiche for dinner, letting us use up a bunch of ingredients: CSA veggies, cheese, pie crusts, and a bunch of the abundance of eggs we had (46! The backyard flock is in top gear!). Since we had the oven on, we decided to make two at once.

Clean Up Still Just as Easy

We are so very “done” with the pandemic, but sadly it’s not done with us. As such, we were in a bit of a tricky situation going away: when we reached our destination, we knew we could not leave other than to go home, as the state required a 14-day quarantine upon arrival. We had to bring all the food we’d need, since our stay would be just under 14 days total. This resulted in a very full cooler with a LOT of wraps in use, eventually needing a little washing up! There were a lot more wraps than we usually washed at any one time. When you’re camping (or glamping), water access can also require more forethought. With a little creativity, we ended up washing them all similarly to how we did the dishes: a quick brush for the ones with just-crumbs, and a basin-washing line for the rest. After a quick pat-dry to speed things along, wraps were dry in about 20 minutes thanks to a borrowed laundry rack and a decent breeze. Ready to go!

Firestarter for Some Quick Cozy 

We had a couple of stormy days, which can be really chilly and gloomy out on the lake. That makes it a great time for a fire, and a fire is a great way to retire a well-loved Z Wrap. We also had a toddler “helper” and making a fire-starter ball was the perfect way to safely include her in getting a warm fire going.

Two ways to retire a Z Wrap that’s lived its best life to the absolute fullest as a fire starter. After you cut or rip the retired wrap into strips, about ½ inch or so, you can: 

1. Roll up a ball of the strips, somewhere in the neighborhood of a ping-pong/table tennis or golf ball. Place it among your burnable materials. Light with a long match or a twig and let it catch the rest--the ball will burn about 10 minutes!
2. Wrap some kindling, a pine cone, or some twigs with a few strips. Twist yourself a fuse with the last strip, and light it. Place near the base of your burn materials. We also used a long twig to give ourselves a handle to place the starter easily. 

Would we do it again? Yep!

Bringing Z Wraps along for our trip instead of plastic wrap was a no-brainer. They were still the same simple, easy-to-use wrap as ever. Cleaning required a little creativity, but was just as easy as at home (if not easier, once we got it down). They held up perfectly in the cooler, our food stayed as fresh as expected, and we even got a chance to put a couple tired wraps to good use one more time--something we don’t get to do in our fire-less apartment life. Bringing them next time is a given!