2018-survey-results

44. How did the experience being a dinner captain go? Any surprises you weren't prepared for? Do you have any suggestions for improvements on any part of the process (pre-playa planning or on-playa organizing)?

2 ice runs a day changed up the work flow, but we had so much time Getting no advance notice on team, requirements, shopping list before the team made me feel like I was behind the 8-ball early Got mixed messaging on necessary water levels for dish washing station

Doing dinner later in the week is hard to get full team participation - not everyone attended my mandatory meetings and not everyone was reliable during their assigned shifts. It was also hard to do a dinner while melon ball was happening and resources were being used - same for comingling of washing duties. We also were washing hours after dinner, which was a bummer since we missed a burn.

I think it went very well! I like cooking, being in the kitchen, leading a team. I had read about ice before I arrived, but when I read the on-playa literature on ice management I found it overwhelming and confusing. I asked Ashley and she said that that information was out of date and to just do whatever is necessary to keep it at or below 40ºF. There was money in the box for more than one ice run, but the sheet only mentioned one. All of this was absolutely fine after I talked to Ashley and she gave me the simple version. I am glad we had extra spices, because the recipe did not contain nearly enough. We probably used at least 5x what was in the recipe. Had a great team :)

45. How did you feel the Melon dinner experience went this year? What worked? What didn't work?

It wasn't clear to me initially that there were supposed to be 2 ice runs each day. Folks pre-signed up to volunteer for a morning ice run, but would have been helpful to pre-recruit an additional 2-3 volunteers to do an afternoon ice run as well. This could just be updated on the Ice run PDF that was sent out.

- Chopsticks was a brilliant idea - Less bean dip - In general, fewer dishes in larger quantities make it easier to cook in appropriate amounts for the crowd. 5 lbs each of two dishes is not equivalent to 10 lbs of one dish, because people will take some each, guaranteeing the depletion of something before the end of the line. - It always irritates me how much attention vegans get for what really amounts to a strong preference. Gluten intolerance, nut allergies… those are real "restrictions". I have my strong preferences too — all organic everything, grass-fed dairy/meats, pastured eggs, naturally-fermented heirloom-grain sourdough breads — and I'm also standing on firm moral ground, but it sure is easier for everyone if we're all a little less picky on playa! (I doubt anyone actually wants to wade into this morass, but I might as well put it out there ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )

My melon team struggled to voluntarily purchase our cold dinner items. Nobody volunteered for the cold stuff so the responsibility got dumped on the captain.

We finished more quickly than expected. There was also a miscommunication about whether we were serving dinner earlier than normal.

A little overboard with dietary restrictions. My group made scrambled eggs with milk and without. Any chef will tell you best scrambled eggs have no milk. I'm sure the hard liner lactophiles can deal with no milk in their eggs for one meal. Also seemed silly making regular bacon AND Turkey bacon, although I know people take their bacon seriously at camp. I think the carnivores could deal with one meal of non porcine breakfast meat. I've also recently discovered veal bacon which is a dead ringer for pork bacon, but I can see the v word not going over well.

All in all dinners were pretty fantastic. Well done to the dinner captains.

Announcements at this time worked well.

Cooking for 80 people is VERY difficult. Menus should be scrutinized for that.

Dinners were great. Thanks for the chopsticks. Fuck washing shit!

Division of work went well in my dinner! I would like to point out that during the pre-BM survey, I wrote that I'm celiac (have gluten intolerance), and this hasn't been taken into consideration in any of the dinners. I could obviously choose some food from what I saw at the dinner table, but there weren't any signs on the potential presence of gluten ingredients, and specifically, during the Friday dinner (Mac+Cheese) I couldn't eat anything (because I couldn't eat pasta that has gluten)...

Everything great!

Everything worked

Food tasted great. Efficient flow of the dinner line.

Great experience, perhaps started preparing too early for our dinner, we had tons of time (started at 3 PM)

I forgot where I put my communal food. Maybe we can remind people to write the day of their dinner on it and have a place to put it in the kitchen? I love communal dinners! We can still work on the dish washing station. It got pretty nasty and people didn't really know what to do.

I liked it! It was nice to have one cooked meal a day.

I liked it. Made more enjoyable by knowledgeable and active captain (go smokin joe!)

I love our dinners!

I personally don't like breakfast for dinner so much - but it works ;)

I think all the dinners were delicious! I felt bad for some of the groups, which had to meet in the morning to prep vs. teams that could just meet in the afternoon. I wish we had planned dinner earlier and set earlier deadlines vs. rushing right before we all left for the playa. I would also maybe set aside laminated placards for food-restrictions (e.g., Vegan, Vegetarian, Dairy, etc.)

I think dinner is one of the things we do best. I don’t really have any complaints. I love sharing with non-Melons, but I think that perhaps we should have them get in line for food after Melons. We had a lot of leftover cooked food, but I loved having it around.

47. Did you feel communal food (cooler and dry goods) and communal drinks were effectively managed? Why or why not?

I think most dinners went off really well. Even ours, which started a bit touch-and-go was amazing. Breakfast for dinner, while delicious, was by far the most wasteful; i think it could be minimized and still be great. Maybe omit the oatmeal portion next year (or at least reduce it). Nobody likes leftover oatmeal, and I doubt anyone's SO enthusiastic about it that they'll be bummed about not getting it at dinner. Red bean soup, while delicious, was in dire excess. We were trying to finish that stuff for DAYS, and I eventually threw away the very last bit post-event after mixing as much as i could stomach into my leftover oatmeal. LESS FUCKING COLESLAW. I'd rather a few people go w/o sides than have that ungodly amount of cabbage leftover.

communal food works great! I love waking up and making leftovers for people. I love the addition of The Rock!

cooler labels were great. but not every cooler was labeled from the start so that was confusing.

Didn’t use either much. Shared ~20 cans on Sunday/Monday but after that decided to keep my drinks in my own cooler since the communal cooler never had anything I wanted.

I think that it was wonderful, but I think maybe the quantities on the main dishes were underestimated since it wasn’t so hot out and appetites might have been higher. I think also some non melons crashed our dinners, which may have effected the quantities.

drinks cooler was great this year. It was always stocked with beer and ice. Maybe encourage more folks to bring mixers/soft drinks to share? The leftovers cooler was also pretty well organized and never seemed to get out of hand.

I think we should give more thought to the friday dinner shift that coincides w melon ball

I thought it worked well! Our morning meeting was very poorly attended, so I felt i didn't know many members of the team, but we pulled off dinner well.

eh. Didn't go through orientation. But i could have asked. It was never important enough to figure out.

I was disappointed by a few of my team members idea of participation. Salad estimate was off. I haven't had time to fully reflect on the dinner process but I will have more for you soon.

I didn't have any problems with the coolers, though I didn't use them very much. I ought to bring some drinks next time tho!

I didn't realize until late in the week that the communal food was communal - had been hesitant to break into snacks earlier. (d'oh)

It was amazing! Best of any camp I've ever been to or seen.

I didn't rely much on communal food but I knew where it was and I feel it was managed well

It was good - can we figure out composting next year?

I didn't totally understand what I could and couldn't eat in the coolers (besides leftovers), and whether I could add anything to the coolers of my own

it was great my dinner captain ran a tight shift

I do!

It was great, everything was well planned.

I think a big distinction for communal food is: ready to eat or not. If there was a chalkboard listing food that has already been prepared (i.e. leftovers) people would be more likely to eat it up.

It was really great.

Knowing what we had access to in the kitchen ahead of time could be helpful (e.g., number of pots and pans) since we have high volume cooking. No major hitches otherwise.

I think they were managed better this year than most. That said, there were a few things in the drink cooler that should've been in the kitchen communal cooler, and vice versa. our bagging and organizational system seemed to work really well; I don't recall any catastrophic food leaks as in years past. I'd like to see slightly better organization of the communal dry goods; a bunch of dinner teams put their stuff in the communal space, and that caused some confusion. We need to have a system for dinner dry goods (maybe just a small bin below the counter for each night? Or just say that the person who brought the dry good hangs onto it until it's time to use it?) so they don't get mixed in with communal dry goods.

Lacking protein. Meat sources ran out before the line ended.

Leftovers were great to have available for lunch or snacks.

Loved the shared meals!

I thought both the coolers and the dry goods were a definite improvement since the last time I was there.

XXXX team was smooth and efficient, everyone pulled their weight and then some! Much thanks to awesome dinner captain XXX for keeping us on track, too

I wish the paper spreadsheets were more clear about which coolers were for what day vs. communal. (Some of them fell off throughout the week.

My dinner captain was fun and communicating with all the cooks. The clean up could have been better. It was difficult to clean dishes and we emptied the bleach when we should’ve.

Ice based coolers are a bit of a stretch for 80 people

It seemed like lots of items were shoved in and too many items packed together where items went missing or just went bad without people throwing out there old items.

NA

No complaints at all! Everything went smoothly & efficiently & our dinner captain was great, organized & always available for help & guidance

More/clearer signage would be nice, to know exactly what we were welcome to consume.

Our dinner captain was awesome! But we were told the day prior that dinner would be early, so we planned accordingly. Day of, that plan changed leaving us frustrated and like we wasted time.

49. What did you feel worked in the kitchen this year? What didn't?

No. Needs better labeling, and more than one person managing the process in case that person happens to be asleep in a hammock........... Each cooler should be individually labeled, with a list of items that should be put in it. Additionally, there should not be a communal cooler for "shared food" just a leftover cooler. If we do shared food coolers, we should have a label where people can write their name and contribution so they are responsible for it. Dry foods need better labeling, so that dinner dry goods (which should be kept in your tent until your dinner night anyways) don't get mix up with communal dry goods. Also, more communication to campers about sharing communal food EARLY in the week.

A member of cleanup shift dismissed other cleanup crew that offered to keep helping clean and we were left to washing a ton of pots and pans with only 2 people. It didnt feel like teamwork and took a lot longer with less hands on deck.

Overall a great year. The Chinese Feast was the star meal, IMO. Hoping to get some new recipes in the mix for next year. Felt Mac N Cheese night was really heavy. Also, no more soups and no more bean dips.

All kitchen supplies were well laid out. Ventilation in the kitchen during the day was a bit rough (understandably). Some sort of creative cross-airflow solution might help this a bit.

Overall, I had a wonderful time with my dinner team. I thought everyone worked really well together. My only constructive comment - there seemed to be a TON of food left over from my dinner shift, and I highly doubt it was all eaten before the end of Burning Man. I would vote to simplify dinners, to the extent possible.

Perhaps more labeling of communal vs dinner coolers would help. signage?

combining ice and dinner worked. It would be nice to find a way to make it clearer what dishes/utensils belonged where. Perhaps color code them somehow? Or put photos on the outside of the bins where the items are stored. Also, figuring out a better system for setting the dishes out to dry would be nice.

Perfect! Dinners were filling and had good nutrition to keep going! Also, there were usually enough leftovers to do breakfast or lunch, so I only needed to worry about half of my own food intake for the day.

Pre-playa communication, signage, and enforcement could be improved.

Didn't work well the dishwashing station

Pretty effective.

Pre-playa communication about non-dinner goods. The communal cooler, ice, and good meal planning/storage tips.

Dinners were magical. That daily structure was my favorite part of the Melon camp. The labelling of coolers and shelves and bins. Tough to navigate.

Pretty good. I was. It always sure what was communal during the day for breakfast or lunch. Dinner was great!

Preparation of dinner went very well on my team. All the dinners I had I absolutely loved.

During our kitchen shift it was sometimes a bit crowded with Melons who were snacking and kinda in the way. I had to get over the gross factor of prewashing in the "sludge container" but was less apprehensive knowing there was bleach in the other container(s).

Seemed to always be stocked (wow!) so I think this worked well. This was such a wonderful concept and incentivized socialization in our common area. And an easy way for people to know what and how to gift to camp.

Some of the stuff needed to cook was being used during meal prep. We should clear the area for the dinner team and that everything is needed is available.

50. What did you expect to find in the kitchen that wasn't there?

Such ease. We had some issues with converting units at first but it all got sorted out ;)

Everything seemed pretty smooth. Dish washing station was unpleasant and difficult with big pots, but I don't know that there's a better system...

Sure

A dishwasher :P

The kitchen facility is stretched to feed so many people at one time.

Everything seemed to work just fine! I didn't notice anything egregious.

sure

A quickwash station got cutlery-only.

The quality has gotten better. Combining ice and dinner is a solid move. Dinner quantities seemed about right and I appreciated the leftovers that were available.

Everything worked well for me

The communal drinks were perfect, but it was not always clear how leftovers in the coolers were handled.

Airflow

Very smooth Had a great group of people that made life easy Seemed like dinner captains were on the ball about veggies and vegan options + notifying camp when those resources were in shorter supply than meat options

Having a closed kitchen rocked

There should be signs in the coolers to state if the food stored there was communal or private, I got confused several times to try to find some leftovers, for example, on the Friday night that I couldn't eat the dinner...

blender

I felt it was more organized and tidy

Butter

was great

They were fine

I like the kitchen. Less cluttered this year, less crap this year. I hope we work further towards minimalism.

Everything I needed I was able to find

Was very good, but if you were working on a project or strike other people had seconds before some had 1 st course. Probably just needs to be mentioned as camp rules and fairness.

Yeah, loved the cooler schedule chart. What was in the mystery "do not open" cooler!?

I liked how the tool board was reduced to just the key items vs. being a full array of all the tools. Improvement-wise, I think making sure the coolers don't leak water from their spigots would be key.

Garlic powder

Yes

Higher temperature cooking oil.

Worked great. We made a bit too much red bean soup that didn't get eaten, but that can be tweaked in future menus.

I think the kitchen worked very smoothly. Peanut or safflower oil would be good to have. I had to blacken some corn and ended up burning the bottom of a pan. dull knives are annoying.

Yes

hot sauce

Worked very well. Having each dinner be dependent on the key person DINNER CAPTAIN means there's a chance they'll screw up and it'll go poorly, but that's for the dinner crew to complain about, as long as the food gets made.

51. What was the best thing you ate on the playa this year?

Yes

hot sauce

I think we ran out of salt, so we should get more next year. More medium sized bowls (between the XL and medium size we have now). The XL bowls were too heavy to carry when loaded up with watermelons. Redo the kitchen hanging signs so all the utensils are color coded/labeled. Maybe we can try a new kitchen setup next year? Towards the end of the week, someone moved 2 tables into the middle of the tent and that seemed to work.

a godly breakfast sandwich - don't remember name of camp

Yes

I think we ran low on paper goods and hand soap at the end of the week.

A sausage grilled on the ashes

Yes

marshmallows

All the bacon

Yes

More hot sauce variety

I thought the kitchen layout was better this year and contributed to a more inclusive, collegial environment. My only constructive note would be to try to simplify dinner a bit more, to the extent possible.

Bacon

yes

My vine cooks.

Bacon & taco night

Yes

n/a

I will bring dish gloves in the future for clean up day. Sometimes kitchen soap/ cleaners make my hands peel, so I didn’t volunteer to kitchen clean up.

Bites of hot pancake in the deep playa

yes

N/A

If memory serves, prior years have included 3 sets of dual-burner stoves. I'm not sure why there were two this year, but I do miss the three set-up. Especially on dinner crew or when breakfast got busy.

Breakfast for dinner.

Yes

N/A

Bryan's Chinese feast or Umer's Thai food

Yes

images on the board for utensils. Instructions for cleaning stations.

N/A

Bryan's team's dinner was a tiny smidge better than Umer's team's Thai dinner...

Yes

kitchen still up on sunday was extra work for Sunday strike

N/A

52. Any other suggestions/solutions relating to food, coffee, kitchen, dinners, dishwashing station, pantry, coolers, bar, etc.? Dinner ideas or recipes for next year?

Cabbage with mustard seeds

yes

Labeling of spray bottles was a bit unclear, as was bleach content. Could have been clearer.

NA

Chinese feast!

Yes

Leftovers cooler was very nice this year.

NA

As I commented before, there should be signs in the coolers to state if the food stored there was communal or private, I got confused several times! I would suggest changing the Mac+Cheese to a more inclusive recipe, including people with celiac disease (like me)

Chinese meal

Yes

More air flow!

nothing

Curry

Yes -- everything was clearly labeled.

More organized breakfast rules. Dinner worked great!

nothing

Better orientation on dishwashing! A lot of people didn't know to spray off soapy water into the first bin in order to preserve the second two bins.

curry (?) - Umer's meal. Also loved Jambalaya and Chinese!

Yes but, to be fair, I didn't drink that much from the communal cooler.

More snacks and melon diversity.

Nothing

BLESS THE COLD BREW STATION.

Curry night!

Yes, addition of ice scoop was great. It would be really cool if calicargo (or anyone with a little extra space) would buy and transport communal drinks for those who are taking the bus.

Our dinner team could've used some more burners on the stove. The supplementary stove was good for individual cooking but insufficient for large-scale cooking.

Nothing

Buy water in bulk and setup a water system that delivers clean water to the cooking area and a separate line to the wash station that is built on top of a black water tank.

curry was yum. and so was the Chinese night. That black bean dessert was a fail though.

seemed like there was lots of leftover food toward the end. seemed like potential for waste, thought maybe not a problem if it got eaten or donated.

One of those cat clocks where the eyes and tail tick-tock back and forth

English Muffins from Sunrise Diner

Yes, bc of community effort to maintain

The basic layout was good but I think a dedicated cleanup station would be better.

Rats

Can't think of any!

Fresh fruit

Yes, but I felt guilty taking leftovers/seconds

The cold brew was AWESOME. Loved it. All the meals were great and I really liked having leftovers that I could snack on.

Salt

Champagne fountain

fried rice!!!!

Yes, I did. There was always cold beer in the communal fridge and tons of food to snack on.

The grill was great - the hanging rack (as in years past) was also great. Snack section could use some shelfing.

Seeing rack for clean dishes

Dishwashing station got pretty gross but maybe some didn't know how to empty/change it out? And dinner idea - BBQ!!!!

Gifted vegetarian pizza in deep playa

Yes, I didn't have any issues with communal food/drinks.

The kitchen was very well organized.

tablespoon and teaspoon measures

Ensure that all dietary needs are both accommodated and clearly marked. One dinner, the captain wasn’t able to answer if the meal met my dietary needs or not. So I didn’t eat.

GREEN CURRY!

Yes, lived all the ramen

The kitchen worked quite well I thought. The drying space would've benefited from a little more surface area.

There was no raw bar this year, wtf? Also no carving station? Are we animals? People like prime rib!

Grilled cheese sandwich under the Rainbow at 7 am!

Yes, seemed just dandy

I enjoyed the rice-based dishes a lot. I felt like it was probably also easier prep to just make a few things (i.e., rice, veggies, tofu, meat) and then let people create their own meals. Perhaps more of that?

The oven and the stove tops on top were underpowered. Probably would be better off with two additional burners. Otherwise it was a great setup!

Grilled pb&j

yes, there were always things there if i wanted them

The utensil board was great this year. Seemed simpler than years past. Everything was there with out having overkill.

Hot dog at trash fence sunrise (didn't plan for an all-nighter til too late)

Yes, very happy with clean drinking ice set up this year.

I'm glad we were able to bring another handwashing Station. Dishwashing station needed more rules and consistency.

Tricky to find some supplies. That’s it.

Ice cream made by Liquid Nitrogen

Yes, we just need more cider

I've got a few but I'll share them elsewhere!

We need to sharpen the knifes a little

Jambalaya yuuum

Yes! Though it seemed to take a lot of time and energy.

Ice water drainage should have a pre-playa plan

Worked: tables, utensils, stoves. Didn’t: cleaning station(bigger/ deeper wash basins).

mac 'n cheese & Indian Feast were my favorite dinners; that said... a friend made me pie on playa - that was pretty killer

yes.

It might be nice to include dessert in Melon dinners, but I say this as definitely a person who cares a lot about food

Would've like another burner, and a second area in the kitchen for personal cooking so that the dinner team could have their space and work in peace.

Mac & cheese

Yes.

Maybe a hotdog and hamburger day?

Magic Playa S'more

Yes.

More potatoes.

Melon Dinners

Yes.

More vegetables!

Our dinners!

Yes. Communal drinks were always stocked and iced.

Need a better dishwashing station. Perhaps worth investing in an actual metal sink unit. Want to do a Greek Food night, and an Italian night, maybe a BBQ night. I'll make it happen :)

Quesadillas

Yes. I did need some guidance at first on how to read the schedule but once I got that I was good to go.

Sausage fed to me on Sunday in camp

Yes. Ice cold beer up until my last minute. Beverage situation was a 10 out of 10. Always ice in cooler.

Need to revisit Saturday communal meal to better fit with Strike.

Sausage Party' hosted by 'The Pussywagon' in deep playa

yes. more ice in the communal drinks cooler!

Nix the pancakes. Though breakfast for dinner is usually a crowd pleaser. I didn't see how they were cooked but a large griddle would be best, I just don't know if the one dinner justifies the cost.

So much bacon

TACO NIGHTTTTT

No

Tetris made breakfast after a wedding

Overall, great job of being organized.

Thai Chiken meal

Pre make some easy dinner or left overs for the last day crews. Kitchen gets broken down earlier that way. Keep liquor for last 2 nights, especially after the Temple burn. It was really great to hang out at camp and talk as a group.

Thai dinner

54. Did you learn anything about any of the Ten Principles this year or something about yourself because of the Ten Principles?

Recipe idea: American Picnic/BBQ - burgers (veggie, too), hot dogs, potato salad, mac salad & the like

Thai dinner!!!!

Replace mac and cheese night.

Thai food!

A lot, I made them a focus of my day to life. I really enjoyed he principal of immediacy and was challenged with the principals of selfrilliance and inclusion.

The chart on the coolers was not design for lower intellecual comprehension. Although our camp was highly intellectual, some things are better if designed so that a 10 year old could figure it out quickly, e.g. which cooler had the extra public food in it

thai green curry

Decommodification is a concept I learned and practiced on playa and have carried into the default world.

Thai night!

for sure

The cold brew and Gatorade were so helpful and great. We had basically all of the important essentials and comforts.

Thaiiiiiiiiiiiiii

I can pitch a tent!

The fresh vegetable dishes were all incredibly good. Grass-fed beef is the only beef I eat, so having it available was a very pleasant surprise.

That grass fed beef dinner night.

I felt at peace and comfortable with everyone, I need to disconnect from electronics more often. It was a wonderful feeling and allowed me to be in the moment at Burning Man!Awesome experience, thank you!?Ž?‰

The handwashing stations were amazing! So nice to have clean hands. I think the pancakes were undercooked, or breakfast for dinner would have been amazing. If I were to lead a dinner, I would try to look into make-ahead options that could be frozen and reheated so that dinner could take 1.5-2 hours to make instead of 4. Cooking with the crew was still fun though, so the time commitment wasn’t a big deal. -️

That Thai curry dinner was pretty great!

the bacon from a bloody mary, or umers curry

I got a nice dose of participation via vest, dinner & strike shifts, and I found it to be pretty enjoyable!

The korean dinner

I learned that I can do more with less. The camp offered SO much (which is great), but it was easy to fall back on.

Trash setup: We need to improve messaging for what goes where. People are colossally dumb about trash sorting. I did a lot of burn barrel work, and found I always had plenty of stuff to pull out of the fire. It's to overcome our default-world waste-management training of "just throw it the bin and let someone else deal with it", but it's so crucial in BRC (proper porta-potty use is similarly difficult for some people, for the same reason)

The thai curry

I learned that there are some areas that I need to push myself more, participation and live in the present

55. Do you have any thoughts on The Ten Principles? Can we communicate them to fresh Melons and other Burners better? Should we?

the thai dinner - that green curry was YUM!!

I made an effort to participate more and get to know more people at camp this year, and I felt much more rewarded as a result.

The Vietnamese dinner was great

vegetable like broccoli for the mac&cheese

I think I do every year. Hard to put a finger on it this time around, though. I had a lot of conversations around consent and immediacy, though, especially as they both relate to photography. I learned about raking for MOOP this year though!

A common man explanation might help. Maybe info cards hanging around camp?

Thursday dinner.

Was not impressed with breakfast for dinner. Carbs didn't hold up well. Hardly anyone ate oatmeal, again. We were left with a pile of the same breakfast ingredients as last year. A savory oatmeal (basically risotto using oats) would go over very well.

As optional reading, sure. Adding commentary on the principles from a Melon’s lens helps them become less abstract and more melon-y.

Umer’s thai food

I worried less about the people around me who were not living the 10 principles the way I did (were constantly taking photos/wearing feathers/being cliquish/etc) and focused on enjoying myself

Can we? YES. Should we? YES. I think the ten principles should be in one of the very first welcome emails that we send to new (and returning) melons. With succinct explanations for each.

umers thai dinner

We had 2 extra coffee bags this year, let's reduce coffee we bring by 1 full bag. The dinners were excellent! We did seem to run out of some food before everyone got enough. Maybe increase the proteins and veggies a little? Loved the Chinese meal and the cucumber salad during the Thai dinner. It was so refreshing at the end of the week to have cold cucumbers. Eh I usually love breakfast for dinner, but it seemed to take a lot of time to prep and it didn't keep me full all night. If we keep it, we should lose the oatmeal and replace it with something else (grits?). I think last year the breakfast for dinner crew also brought fresh fruit, which would have been a nice addition. And more veggies!

watermelon margarita slushy that I made by hand cranking and running on a human-sized hamster wheel

Immediacy - being in the present moment takes a conscious effort. And I really do want to continue practicing Leave No Trace day-to-day

Constant reminders at the end of emails or Facebook posts might really drive the message home more.

Immediacy is such a foreign idea outside of the playa & I wish that wasn't so.

Decommodification stressed me out before BM because tiny logos are on EVERYTHING. I was putting tape on all of them, but sometimes the tape came off and threatened to become MOOP. Buying new, non-logo’Ed stuff wasn’t budget or planet friendly. Thankfully once at Burning Man, I realized that people only cared about covering the really egregious logos. I think that principle comes from a good place, but it can create a lot of contradictions when trying to enforce it.

Immediacy. Don’t try and make things happen. Go with the flow.

More about immediacy and participation. Intentionally took very few pictures, actively attempted to connect with more melons and participate around camp more.

We should strive for more simplicity. I felt this year was a great improvement.

NA

Explain the difference between the Man burn and the temple burn early. Explain what the temple is before getting to playa.

You can get small tetrapaks of milk that stay fresh without refrigeration. I don't take my coffee with milk personally but I bet they would be appreciated if we can take the extra non-burnable trash. Also, maybe some Kirkland-brand protein bars for the communal section? I feel like I was great on veggies but it's hard to incorporate protein for lunch.

No

56. What advice would you give to a new Melon?

I brought a few friends as burning virgins to the Melons this year. While I tried to prepare them for what to expect, and to communicate the 10 principles to them, some of it got lost in all of the logistical prep. It would be helpful for camp to have the 10 principles posted somewhere physically, to show how important they are to the identity of the community, especially to newbies.

No

Be open to new experiences. Say yes to the person who wants you to stop and do whatever.

No new lessons

Be open to new experiences. Talk to people who have gone before. Try to go to a build day, it's a great way to meet fellow melons!

Nothing new, but I love the reminder prior to burn.

i liked having discover the different meanings of each principle through talking to people around the city and exploring

Be prepared, don’t stress, and let go.

Radical self expression is hard

I struggled to connect radical self-expression and immediacy to the Melon experience, but maybe that's just the lens I saw this through

Bring an open mind and leave expectations on your kitchen counter at home. Respect people's boundaries, assert your own, but don't be afraid to expand them a bit. For Goddess' sake: WALK. Leave your bike at camp a few times, and see where your feet take you!!!

Some give, some take.

I think just stressing that they really are at the core of the event and should be thought about seriously and an important part of pre-playa prep.

The default world is a terrifying place. :)

I think learning about these before the mad rush and how campmates have expressed this in the past, would be great.

Bring more wipes and a better face mask.

The importance of gifts removed from price but that was more from Tedx - Black Rock City talk than from being onsite It was interesting seeing some Melons try to not be self-reliant early on and then see that behavior manifest in growth or otherwise as the week continued

Bring no expectations in to the playa with you.

I think there was a lot more emphasis on participating and inclusion this year, and it definitely made for a better experience for me. Just keep doing what you did this year - it worked!!

Burning man is a lot of work.

Was blown away by the communal effort of the camp - I felt like a citizen of the space immediately, and how to live calmly and open-mindedly on the playa was instantly modeled to me. Thank you for making my first burn so magical!

I'm all in favor of the ten principles. They help create the magic. Just introducing them as "part of Burning Man" seems enough. People who came to Burning Man presumably are game to partake in its principles.

Canvas tent was helpful for keeping dust out. Fans in tent are helpful. Approach a pink vest upon arrival. Melon ball on friday. Having your own cooler is nice but not necessary. Bring a vessel that allows for large water consumption (not only a hydration tube). Consider packing stuff on bike that lives there so youre always ready to go and dont have to run back and forth to tent procuring items throughout the day. Wear clothes that make going pee very easy. Hand sani is a must. Hat is very helpful. Costume tents can hook you up.

Yes

Many melons do a great job thinking about, adhering to, and embodying the principles. I think that camp could benefit from a culture shift towards thinking more about how the principles apply and how well we're practicing them. Drinking game with watermelon based shots perhaps?

yes

Yes but I'm still working on that

Contribute to the camp that gives so much! And ask how you can help

Maybe a quick and fun Virgin 101 class as part of the orientation or something? Certain principles seem to be missed and maybe a quick refresh early in the week would help.

Yes, because IMHO learning anything from Burning Man at all is learning because of the ten principles

Dance more

Yes, thinking of life in terms of gifting (especially to strangers) is a shift for me

Melon camp lacked inclusion/community. I am a natural extrovert and yet it was SO difficult breaking into the cliques of the camp. Sometimes I felt activity excluded and even condescended upon, especially by a couple xvc members. I felt more welcome at a handful of neighboring camps, despite my efforts to be a part of the melon community.

Do not bring middle-weather attire. Bring beach attire and winter (not autumn) attire. Do not bring coffee.

Yes! I don't really have specific words to describe what I learned, but throughout the week I felt that I understood the importance of the principles and their relevancy to me in new ways, especially radical self-reliance, immediacy, leaving no trace, and decommodification. We should decommodify the trucks and tents at camp better!

Do not have expectations. Participate, volunteer, but do not overwhelm yourself. Freaking out is almost never warranted.

Don't be shy, make new friends! Melons are great. Try to sleep sometimes.

Melons are very welcoming but tend to stay in groups among themselves. And when we lure passers by with juicy fruity melon slices, we tend to be shy of conversation. Again, there were a laaat of melons napping during the ball. Maybe we should host it earlier in the week?..

Don't come in with any expectations other than maybe you'll be dusty. Say yes to new experiences.

Yes! I learned a lot. More than I can write in this little box...

don't panic, talk to everyone you can, say yes (within personal comfort level and limits)

No real thought to share via a survey but definitely can communicate them with new burners.

Yes.

Don't spend too much time at Camp. Get out there so you don't fee fomo.

Nope.

Don't succumb to FOMO.

Some people don’t really care about all ten principles

Get A lot of LEDs Spend lots of time buying good costumes. It will improve your burningman experience

Talk more about them in camp

Go out on your own a few times. It can be easy to get sucked into hanging out at camp but there's so much going on at other places and other cool people to meet too.

The importance of participation, especially in camp. We had one Melon who never showed for their dinner shift.

They are great, but new Melons have to adopt and acccept them as part of their commitment to the camp.

Go with the flow. Help out every day, even in small ways. Don’t be afraid to talk to people. Don’t be afraid to enjoy silence, alone or in the company of others. You can sleep whenever and wherever you need to.

Tough question: getting people to internalize the Principles is important, but you don't want to beat people over the head with them. I feel like our camp is pretty well organized around the Principles, and the best training ground for going deeper is all of Burning Man itself. (If Burning Man can't instill its own principles in attendees, what can we do?) Perhaps one small step in the right direction would be to make a sign for each principle and put them up around camp in places where people will see them, and be reminded.

Have an open mind, don't be afraid to make a new friend & start a conversation with someone you don't know.

Immediacy, live in the moment, put the phones away

It is not easy to camp in a desert environment for a week.

Yes we should. Maybe we should post them on the board or nearby? I was camped near a bunch of new people from other countries that seemed to know little and I picked up theirs feathers and trash daily and helped them often, I felt heundidnt know much.

listen to your body

Make an effort to talk to melons you don't know. Participate in a build day, to the extent you are able. And enter Burning Man with a completely open mind - how much you gain/grow is directly related to how much you open your mind, in my opinion.

Yes, I think there is value in communicating them more strongly to new Melons — especially LNT. This year I saw a new Melon with large chunks of glitter in their hair, and a lot more moop than last year.

Meh this is a stickup see, for over all your time and money! :)

yes, What about Consent, the 11th Principle?

pack less, enjoy more, trust the Melons

participate - step up- help out.

Pitch in and have fun!

Radical Self-Reliance is REAL. Ask questions. There are people who are happy to listen.

read all the emails!!

Read the emails. Read JRS. Ask questions. You got this.

Recognize that you’re basically walking into a family reunion. It’ll be fun to be there, but you may feel like you’re on the outside looking in until late in the burn when you’ve gotten to know some people.

59. Any thoughts or suggestions you'd like to share to improve camp next year?

Relax, enjoy, don’t judge, be open, participate at multiple levels in the camp. Explore on your own. Catch a sunrise on the playa. Sleep well, drink plenty of water! Do stuff with your fellow Mellons! Especially the 2 burns as a group.

(dumping remaining thoughts here) I would like to stop changing our name/theme every year. I think something like “Melon Family Recreational Movers” is fitting. A+ organization and shipping, as usual I would like more art, more folks excited and contributing to art. I don’t know how to make this happen, but I think about it lots. note to self: express interest in volunteering with BRC departments IN ADVANCE, remind friends I would like more of folks holding their referrals accountable, and slightly fewer new folks. I think it might make sense to have an early bird sign up for veterans. Distribution of labor is hard. How do we make folks who show up Monday or later know that there is still work to be done, that they can/should help, etc.? I still felt a lot of pressure to be doing things in camp after Sunday, despite the fact that I had (happily!) logged endless hours already. CaliCargo went pretty smoothly, but a cumbersome thing was money management. I think we could streamline it by sending folks their food stipend digitally at the start of the journey and using a Melon debit card for gas and other truck costs. I would like more interactive frontage! A big, warm, cozy fire area would be nice.

say hi to melons anywhere around the city

Set personal goals and Expectations and participate as much as you can

Sleep more.

So much of this experience is easier for a first timer than in many other camps or solo experiences. Just be patient with yourself and willing to learn and help whenever/wherever.

Take time to chat with more people at camp - I wish I had.

Camp. Was perfect, no issues

Talk to the people in camp

Can't think of anything right now..Love you guys. Camp this year was really really good!

Volunteer at camp and on the playa. Know that the Melons have your back but keep jumping for more.

Communication with 80 people is always a challenge, but I think we can always improve. I'd also really like to work hard on weeding out/preventing sparkle ponies - we get a few every year, and they're always obnoxious AF to deal with on and off-playa.

We're very well-organized and have a strong internal community. Therefore you'll have a strong foundation for your on-playa adventures, and a safe, supportive & comfortable place to come back to when you've worn yourself out!

Drying racks of some kind in the kitchen. More dance parties.

Woke hard, play hard, melon hard

Give each new virgin Melon a Melon Cap on the first dinner night they arrive as welcoming them to our camp and being a part of Melon Family.

Have LE Feedback forms available in the binder

I love it!!!

I think best practices for shade setup is important, because it can take a lot longer if it's built incorrectly, and it's the most frustrating thing to do right when you get to camp. (e.g., slide all the bungees in the shade fabric before you lift it up, have 2 people to lift it up on two ladders, use longer bungees for the corners, go around at least two poles for the corner bungees, use the longer poles for height, etc.)

I'm bringing hamburgers.

If Montana Dome is back maybe we could move it to the front so we have a lounge area that's not sleeping like the Melon Dome.

It would be awesome to include wood/duroflame logs as something everyone should bring or send in cargo. I missed having a home base to sit around a fire at night.

It would be great if I had the possibility to buy or "rent"/borrow a melon's bike who's not going to playa this year. Or I'd be willing to buy a bike next year and leave it with someone in the states (as in from far-far-away) and I'd also gift it to the camp in case I would not come the year after. Sounds like a hell lot of logistics but in case you knew how to facilitate this, e.g. through pre-playa communication. Maybe there is no need for this as most melons come from the US and don't have issues bringing a bike to playa.

Keep being awesome!

Let's make breakfast for dinner breakfast for late lunch on Saturday and strike the whole kitchen down to Kitchen A at the same time. Also let's not have anything get built after Monday.

Maybe a big early-week melon event or cruise to something to get new and old acquainted? Mini melon art tour or bar crawl or something.

Maybe a camp event on Monday or Tuesday to introduce everyone?

Michelle and Drew need to do less work and enjoy Burning Man more!?ˆ?«they are stars but we don’t want them to burn out!

more hammocks

More watermelon! Hehe. Thank you for everything!!!!!!!

More welcoming space for passersby to stop and spend some time. up the watermelon gifting game: watermelon slushies! Watermelon art car!

NA

No

Smaller population, more focused on core participating members, less supporting the sparkle ponies.

So many :)

Subcommittees?

Try to make load out easier. Buy water in bulk. Create a dedicated wash station

We should consider a permanent camp name. The annual pun thing is fun, but eventually (soon!) we're going to run out of decent puns, and it's confusing for other people. I've tired quickly of having conversations like: "Hey you guys are pretty cool, where are you camping?" "We're camping with the Melons." "Hmm I can't find you in the directory." "Oh that's because we change our official camp name every year... this year we're [insert name]." "Interesting… so how am I supposed to find you next year?" "Dunno? Study the directory for melon puns and then check out all the candidates? Good luck HAHAHA…" It strikes me as antisocial to undermine the main function of a name: something for others to refer to you by. We've got such a strong identity, let's just commit to it!

Work shift idea: to mitigate the on-playa strike woes, a work-shift option could be a Chicago cleaning day. For example: cleaning benches and stoves on playa is terribly inefficient and ineffective, especially if melons are willing to travel to Chicago to clean those items in the default world with lots of supplies (a pressure washer!) I would spend 2-3 days with melons in Chicago cleaning, over a strike shift that's frustrating, antisocial, and could take 2.5 times as long as scheduled.