As always, Farm & Garden Camp seeks to inspire and equip youth and young adults to enjoy growing, harvesting, and working with food and fiber, as well as to contribute to robust, regenerative, and just food systems.
Some of these descriptions may change due to Covid accommodations.
Some of these descriptions may change due to Covid accommodations.
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The Basics:
• One-week sessions for campers 1st-6th graders plus leadership programs for 7th-12th graders • Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. with staggered drop-off in the morning starting at 8:45 a.m. • Maximum recommended attendance: No more than three 1-week sessions • Maximum of 32 campers/teens per session for Summer 2021 • Low staff to camper ratios 2021 Summer Camp Dates: Session 1 – July 12-16 Session 2 – July 19-23 Session 3 – July 26-30 Session 4 – August 2-6 Session 5 – August 9-13 Session 6 – August 16-20 Session 7 – August 23-27 A typical day at Farm & Garden Camp: 8:45-9:15 Campers Arrive (Staggered drop off) 9:15 Morning Circle 9:30 Farm Animal Chores 10:00 Snack 10:30 Farm and Garden Activities 12:15 Circle of Thanks/Lunch 1:30 Afternoon activities 2:45-3:15 Campers leave for the day (staggered departure) * Activities: Campers rotate between The Children’s Garden, barnyard and animals, and agricultural arts including felting, and craft projects. Each camp day includes a rhythm and balance of being all together as one mixed-age farm camp community, and spending time with same-age peers in your camper group. |
Camper Groups:
Campers engage in age-appropriate activities at camp. As the campers grow, the activities grow with them. For example, as a Seedling or Sprout, campers might focus on watering and bug picking in the garden, while Harvesters might help to build a new pea trellis or learn to save heirloom seeds. Teens take on much heftier land and infrastructure projects. Every group has activities that are specially designed for their age and abilities! All groups emphasize teamwork and community. Summer 2021 note: we are not registering campers for aged-based groups. Campers will be in multi-age groups. If you would like your child to be in a group with another camper, please indicate this on the registration form. See note above. Due to Covid restrictions we will be offering a downsized program and will not be dividing campers into these groups this summer. In future years we will get back our age-based groupings. Seedlings (1st graders who are new to camp) get to know the farm and how to move around the farm safely. They meet and tend to all of the animals, harvest food in the garden, create felting projects, prepare farm fresh snacks, and much more. If your camper is entering K or 1st grade and has never been to Farm & Garden Camp before, this is the group for them! Sprouts (1st graders) continue to get to know the farm and how to be safe in the fields and with the animals. Their projects exercise increasingly fine motor skills and planning for final products. Sprouts spend extra time with bunnies. Planters (2nd graders) venture into further areas of the farm, expanding their geographic sense of place and space. They get some more time in the kitchen, and spend extra time with birds and goats. Herders (returning 3rd graders and 4th graders who are new to camp) take on more physically challenging tasks on the farm, such as working in the fields with the farmers. They also begin to dig more into the ecology that underlies growing food and the art of animal care. Harvesters (4th-6th graders) take on more of the tasks that support all-camp activities, such as learning about animal health, making pizzas, assisting with the cob oven for Friday Feast, and running the Thursday afternoon Farm Stand for camp families. |
This camp must comply with regulations of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health
and be licensed by the local board of health.