Glamping, short for glamorous camping, refers to a style of pitching tent more luxurious than a typical campground, sometimes going as far as including air conditioning and private bathroom facilities. In the case of Rye Camp, you’ll find king-sized beds inside airy canvas bell tents already staked onto raised wooden platforms. They are styled with bohemian-cozy furniture, rugs and throw cushions, but surrounded by native wildflowers, pine and sycamore trees, and little noise but birdsong and a rooster crowing from a nearby farm. Rye Camp offers five campsites on the property that can be booked through their website.
“In the pandemic, kids just sat and watched TV and looked at their screens,” says Archdeacon. “Every chance we got, we were outside. We were looking for something new and our own. Lena found this place, really just for our kids. Gosh, there’s a blank slate here. They can build fires, throw rocks, they can run around and get thorny and muddy.” White continues, “I really didn’t have any idea this would become Rye Camp. Six months after we had the place, we thought, ‘what if we share this with other people?’”
White, 45, and Archdeacon, 43, live in Oakwood with their blended family: White’s children Timmy, 11, Ollie, 8, and Danny, 4, and Archdeacon’s children Reed, 16, Beckett, 15, and 9-year-old twins Blake and Crosby.
A former model with Ford Modeling Agency, White moved to New York City after graduating from Oakwood High School. “My twenties were kind of crazy. I really got weird when I moved to New York, in a good way. I didn’t care as much about what people thought. I was a model for a long time, and I traveled all over the world. It was unconventional, but I would never take it back.” She moved back to Dayton and finished her Sociology degree at the University of Dayton when she was 30, following in the footsteps of her father, who was a Sociology professor at UD during her childhood.
“When I lived in New York,” says White, “I spent a lot of time in (Brooklyn’s) Prospect Park. I found as I became an adult, I really needed grounding from nature; it slows my brain a little bit.”
Archdeacon has early childhood education experience and owned a building company for a decade. “I love doing things outdoors. We have pictures of the day we drove down the driveway and got that first Bobcat. I used to dig water sources for a plumbing company, so I knew how to operate backhoes. Lena pretty much drove me down here; we had this backhoe delivered,” says Archdeacon. His partner continues, “And I was like, just make some trails, I gotta go babe. I left.” They laugh. “He was so excited about using this crazy machine. I left for a few hours, and I couldn’t believe it when I came back. Some people just have trail intuition, and he has it.”
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
“Rye is a grain that is indigenous to the area. Each of our campsites is named after a native plant that grows here: Aster, Goldenrod and Juniper,” according to the couple. “We also use it as an acronym — RYE: Rest Your Eyes. We try to have a space that is a step-up from regular camping, for a truly restful and invigorating experience.”
CHILD ALARM
The day “starts by the littlest one screaming his mother’s name to come get him out of bed,” they both say with a laugh. “He wants the covers to be lifted up over his shoulders, and he won’t come in our room, he just yells, ‘MOM!’ It’s a little off-putting, but it’ll end at some point,” says White wistfully.
COFFEE IN BED
“On a typical day, we get up, get the kids ready for school. Lots of love in our house. Coffee is a must; Jason brings me coffee in the morning. It’s the absolute best. We get everybody up and (have) breakfast. Scrambled eggs, some protein — not just cereal.” Then they take the kids to school.
ALTERNATIVE FOCUS
For the past four months, White has spent weekdays in Virginia as a Clinical Child Life Intern at Carillon Clinic. “It’s a clinical internship at a pediatric hospital. I work with kids to help them cope with a hospitalization, diagnosis or procedure. I do education for families and bereavement. It’s all based on child development, so there is a scientific way that they learn about and cope with things. A lot of the coping is learned through ‘alternative focus’ — play, psycho-social support, talking, earning trust.
“I’ll be starting in the NICU at Dayton Children’s as a Trauma-Informed Care Practitioner. Most of the support I will be providing is for parents and siblings. It’s a really high-stress time in people’s lives. Sometimes siblings get scared if they see their little baby sister or brother hooked up to all these wires or if they’re extremely small. I do developmentally appropriate education for the kids.” White will start there part time this winter so she can still manage Rye Camp and her family.
BUILDING RYE
“Before all that, it was picking up the house, sitting at my desk, talking about Rye Camp, (and) having meetings,” says White. And Archdeacon adds, “We did a lot of group meetings with Andy (the graphic designer of their website and swag), trying to start all this and figure out what we wanted and where. These benches (he gestures to the community firepit), for instance, Lena found off a guy who made them from a phone pole in Springfield.”
White sources all the furniture in the tents. “Anything pretty is her, anything torn up in me,” muses Archdeacon. “Stuff that gives each tent its own flavor. I like a nice clean look,” she says.
SCHOOL PICK-UP
“The kids get off school at 3:15. Some days they’ll walk home and, some days, we’ll go get them. My mom lives just a couple of blocks from us. Jason’s mom lives in Centerville and his sister lives in Columbus.”
APPLES & PEANUT BUTTER
After school, it’s “always homework first,” the couple agree. “We sit around the dining room table,” says White. “Snacks. We like sliced apples with peanut butter and mini chocolate chips. Those get eaten up and are guilt-free for me.”
BUSY SEASON
“The popularity of Rye Camp grew more than we anticipated, and it’s amazing. During our busy season, which is summer and fall, we are out here 2-3 times per week. Mowing, improving trails, cleaning and washing all of the tents and bedding,” says White. “We love bringing our kids out here. It’s double duty for us — we get our work done as well as have the kids out running and exploring nature.
“It doesn’t feel like work to us. It’s fun and adds beauty and peace to our busy lies. Eight acres to ourselves just 15 minutes from our home is a dream come true.”
TOGETHER TIME
“I would say we’re pretty domestic,” adds White, “It’s important that (we) have dinner together. We like to sit outside or all around the dining room table.” When the COVID pandemic broke out, White was searching for consistency for their kids in a world that was “falling apart.” “We needed something that was predictable and boring for them; so, every Thursday night since 2020 we’ve had dinner with all of them.”
“It’s awesome the weekends or days that we have all the kids,” reflects Archdeacon on managing life with a blended family.
“We kind of kick the kids out of the house (after dinner) and make them play outside. Big backyard, trampoline, a big Connect 4 thing, a basketball hoop.”
DOWN TIME
In whatever down time they do have as a family, they enjoy playing “tons” of games. “Uno, Skip-Bo, Sequence, Sound Out — it’s like Charades but you can only make noises.”
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
EVENING ROUTINE
“Weeknights everyone (is in bed) 9, tops,” says Archdeacon. “My youngest tries to say he’s hungry right when it’s bedtime because he wants to stay up later,” says White, “But the bigger kids, 20 minutes of reading, winding down, no screens. And then, bedtime.”
“Lately I’ve been trying to drink herbal tea. Just the warmth of the tea in the cup, it helps me calm down a little bit,” says White. “I don’t need anything,” laughs Archdeacon, “I just go to sleep.”
LOOKING AHEAD
“We want to expand our brand this year, reaching into Kentucky, Indiana and Michigan for campers who are looking for a unique, simple and positive experience. Locally, we will expand our experiences to sit-down dinners,” says White. “We’ve got some partnerships with backcountry camping training for ages 16 and up, as well as more adult-focused events like campfire bourbon tasting for fundraising efforts for local nonprofits. We enjoy giving back.
“Rye Camp continues to have private and public family events. Birthday parties, private dinners, girls-night-out and more. Some ideas for the summer include a 2-night ‘adult summer camp’ as well as our seasonal bonfires.
“Keep an eye out for a Rye Camp: Three Oaks, Michigan, sometime in the next couple of years! Glamping, a bike ride from Lake Michigan — yes, please.”
THE PARTICULARS
Rye Camp is located at 3157 S. Union Road Dayton OH 45417 in Jefferson Twp.
More info at www.ryecamp.com and on Instagram @rye_camp_dayton
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