Thank you for an amazing Summer, our camp is closed for the season. Please check back in November for dates, rates, and sign up information. If you have an inquiry in the meantime, please email farmcamp@hawthornevalley.org
FARM EXPLORERS
Our overnight Farm Explorers Camp, formerly known as House Camp, offers children ages 8-12 a traditional summer camp experience on a working organic farm. We create an environment where campers gain skills, independence, and friendships while participating as active members of our farm community!
Farm Explorers live in our large farmhouse and spend their days in small groups rotating through various activities such as caring for the farm animals, crafting, gardening, and more. During other parts of the day, all the campers and counselors come together to share experiences like swimming, hiking, mealtimes, and evening gathering.
Farm Explorers Camp emphasizes the fundamentals of animal care, such as cleaning up animal spaces, the basics of how to milk a cow, and horseback riding. Time is also spent in the Children’s Garden planting, weeding, harvesting, and of course, tasting! Other activities such as cooking, food preservation, and nature-based crafting occur throughout the summer, depending on the session of camp. Learn more about each individual session below!
6-Day Farm Explorers Camp - Ages 8-12
Our 6-day Farm Explorers sessions are full, and we are no longer accepting campers on the waitlist for these sessions. Please consider joining us for a 13-day Farm Explorers session this summer!
13-Day Farm Explorers Camp - Ages 9-12
6-DAY camp
Sessions 1 + 3: Ages 8-12
Our 6-day Farm Explorers session offers campers a sampling of what our farm has to offer. Formerly known as House Camp, this Farm Explorers session is perfect for both new and returning campers.
Farm Explorers will have daily opportunities to get their hands dirty helping out on the farm! Campers will help with feeding and caring for our sheep, horses, chickens, and pigs. They’ll also get the chance to collect fresh eggs, groom, and milk a cow, and try horseback riding. In the garden, Farm Explorers will harvest fresh herbs and veggies used in our kitchen.
Farm Explorers will enjoy the fruits of their labor during mealtime! Campers and counselors enjoy all of our organic, farm-to-table meals together in the dining hall. Campers will also participate in traditional camp activities like swimming in our pond, arts and crafts, playing games, and making music. During their stay at Hawthorne Valley, Farm Explorers will live in dorms in the Main House, our sprawling 200-year-old farmhouse.
13-Day Camp
Session 2 + 4: Ages 9-12
Our 13-day Farm Explorers experience is a wonderful opportunity for a returning camper, a student who visited on a school farm trip, or a first-time camper. This longer camp session invites campers to step into the daily rhythms of the farm and fosters an environment for them to create lasting relationships with the animals, land, and one another.
Campers in the 13-day Farm Explorers session will get the chance to participate in similar activities as the 6-day session, plus more opportunities to help with animal chores, explore our forests, and spend time with their counselors and fellow campers.
This session includes a weekend at Hawthorne Valley, where we take a break from our weekday routines to relax and enjoy special activities prepared by counselors such as a cookout at the pond, a scavenger hunt, or Farm Olympics.
The Farm House
Farm Campers and Visiting Students reside in our historic Main House here at Hawthorne Valley Farm. Built in the early 1800s, the house still stands on its original stone foundation and has welcomed thousands of children through its doors since 1973 when the educational program at Hawthorne Valley was founded. The house has seen many renovations, expansions, and structural improvements over the years yet has retained its original charm that is instantly recognizable by anyone who returns to Hawthorne Valley.
The house is comprised of four main dorm rooms, various staff/chaperone rooms, a cozy living room, a kitchenette, a library, and offices for our staff. The children stay in the 4 dorm rooms: the Front Dorm (8 beds), Ice House (10 beds), Yellow Dorm (7 beds), and Pink Dorm (7 beds), each outfitted with bunk beds, shelves, and a bathroom either in the room or directly adjacent. Counselors do not sleep in the rooms with the children, but have their own shared or private rooms throughout the house; each dorm room has a corresponding pair of “room group counselors” that are either directly adjacent or just across the way from where the campers sleep.
In the summer, a residential nurse also lives in the Main House, and we dedicate one of the rooms in the house as our Infirmary, complete with a set of beds for campers or staff who need some time away from camp to rest or be monitored by the nurse.
For warmer summer nights, we keep our screened windows open with box fans directing cooler air from outside throughout the house. Temperatures will dip down quickly in the valley, which is how we are able to sustain cooler inside temperatures without the use of air conditioning units. For this reason, we often recommend that campers come equipped with a light blanket or top sheet as well as a sleeping bag so that they can transition into warmer bedding as cool mornings arrive.