Calling all early birds: Register now for Arcadia Farm Camp

Warmer months may seem far away, but we're already excited about a summer full of food, farming and fun: Registration for the 2013 season of Arcadia Farm Camp opens today! This year, we're even offering an Early Bird discount to campers who complete registration on or before March 15, so sign up now!

We're already busy planning a jam-packed schedule full of hands-on activities. There's tried and true activities, like building bug houses and making squish squash pasta, plus new ideas to try, like a food miles relay race and solar oven cooking. (101 Gardening Projects for Kids is one of our favorite resources for fun kids stuff.) We'll be working with our new Farm Director Stephen to find the right projects for young farmers and we're definitely recruiting chefs for some tasty seasonal cooking demos - email liz@arcadiafood.org if you know a chef who wants to stop by!

Plus, we're already accepting donations to the Arcadia Farm Camp Scholarship Fund. If you think it's important for all kids to have the opportunity to discover where their food comes from, head over to our scholarship fund page to learn more.

Announcing Arcadia Farm Camp 2013!

After a wildly successful inaugural season, we're excited to announce that information about Arcadia Farm Camp 2013 is now available!

We're making a few changes this time around to make camp more accessible and more fun. For example, we'll provide a transportation option to and from the farm from Old Town and Capitol Hill.* We've also opened camp up to older kids, so that eleven-year-olds and twelve-year-olds can join us. We're even offering an early bird discount for those who sign up before March 15, 2013.

This year we're also offering different themes each week: Little Locavores, Green Growers, Small Chefs, and Young Farmers. While every week definitely includes the basics - food, farming, and fun - we'll include special activities depending on the theme.

And we're definitely sticking with what works: morning chores like weeding and collecting fresh eggs, chef demonstrations, water games on hot days, taste tests, harvesting for the daily salad bar and much, much more.

We're opening registration on February 1, 2013, so stay tuned to our blog and our website for more info. In the meantime, you can also head over to our FAQ page to learn more about camp.

*Transportation is contingent on sufficient ridership, though, so tell your friends to sign up!

Farms + Food + Fun = Arcadia Farm Camp

We're halfway through the very first week of Arcadia Farm Camp - and what a week it's been! From water games to chef demos, we've been busy beating the heat, exploring the farm, and having fun.

Here are some of the highlights:

• Chefs Ed, Christina and Shannon from DC Central Kitchen stopped by to show us how to make huge delicious meal with seasonal fruits and veggies: okra and tomatoes, chicken florentine, coleslaw, and crepes.
  
• We had a visit from Farmer Ben and Arcadia's own Mobile Market on Tuesday, which included a tour of the bus (so many fridges!). He also enlisted our help in harvesting herbs and Swiss chard.
  
• Elizabeth from Chipotle did an awesome fresh salsa demonstration today - and brought us free burritos! (Extra special thanks go out to Chipotle for donating eight scholarships to farm camp for kids from low-income families).
  

More shout-outs go to staff members Rachel, Carling, Matt, Natalie, Sophie and Kat for keeping everyone safe, happy, and healthy. Check out the photos below and stay tuned to our blog for more updates! Created with flickr slideshow.

Thanks to our Arcadia Farm Camp partners!

We couldn't be more excited about the first-ever sessions of Arcadia Farm Camp, starting next week! We're getting ready for digging, planting, watering, weeding, and trying to stay cool.

We think that it's going to be a pretty special time, and from the beginning, we wanted to include as many young farmers as possible. Now, thanks to the support of our awesome partners, we've been able to provide nine scholarships to some growing gardeners from low-income households.

So many thanks to the following partners:

• With the help of our friends at Chipotle, we were able to offer eight camp scholarships to kids from low-income families. We're so glad that these young farmers will be joining us next week!
  
• The amazingly generous staff at Cowgirl Creamery in Penn Quarter saved their tips from the summer so far and donated them to Arcadia Farm Camp. Their kindness will give yet another young person from a low-income family the opportunity to attend camp.
  
• Our friends over at SCAN-VA (Stop Child Abuse Now of Northern Virginia) helped connect us with interested families through their support group for Spanish-speaking parents. The group helps parents become effective leaders in their home and in their community and SCAN is dedicated to helping promote the well-being of children in the Northern Virginia region. We're so glad to be able to work with them!
  

Extra special thanks also go out to our Tufts Summer Fellow Tom Chalmers, who helped out with some last-minute translation of our materials for Spanish-speaking parents.

Save the Date for Arcadia Farm Camp!

We're glad to announce the dates of Arcadia Farm Camp's pilot sessions! Over the past few weeks, we've been moving forward with planning a truly awesome summer camp program. We had help from some fantastic parents at our focus groups in January, and we'll use their feedback as we develop camp policies and procedures.

We're hosting two one-week sessions: July 16-20, 2012 and July 23-27, 2012. We're planning to open registration in late February or early March. For more details, head over to our website. If you still have questions, don't hesitate to email liz@arcadiafood.org for more information. You can also sign up for future summer camp updates here.

We're excited to welcome your child to Arcadia Farm Camp this summer.

What makes a great farm summer camp?

The first farm I ever worked on was part of a summer camp in the northern Adirondacks. I have fond memories of waking early to harvest kale with bleary-eyed 7-year-olds, who brought the fruits of our labor into the cafeteris for their lunch.

So when I heard that Arcadia was thinking about starting a summer day camp at our farm, I was on board right away. Teaching young people where their food comes from is clearly one of my favorite things, so combining farm education with fun and adventure sounded pretty darn perfect for me.

After doing some reading, I started to get a sense of what I had gotten myself into. So many camps to choose from! So many details to consider!

So I decided to ask you, blog readers, for help. What makes a great farm camp? What are your best summer camp memories? (Personally, I love this episode of This American Life). Parents, what are you looking for in summer camps for your kids this year?

Leave a comment or shoot me an email at liz@arcadiafood.org.