Farm Camp

Herbs are an important part of any garden and kitchen. They can be easy to grow and are an essential part of cooking. This week camp will focus on starting our own herb gardens, learning what herbs are used for in food, and making our own herbal concoctions. If you have a child that loves to make potions in the backyard, this is the week for them!

In recent years Granor Farm has expanded fruit production from raspberries, blackberries, and ground cherries into the tree fruits, strawberries, and rhubarb. Growing fruit always provides a quick tasty treat in the field as well as attracting pollinators for all of our crops. This week we will learn more about the fruits that grow in our area, create beautiful crafts with fruit in mind, and try tasty fruit-themed recipes throughout the week!

This week camp will dive into discovering the types of foods we grow here at Granor Farm, how we grow them, what tools we use, and what we do with them once they are ripe and ready for harvest. We will explore the fields, plant our own foods, cook tasty treats using Granor-grown vegetables, and create vegetable-themed craft projects. Expect to go on scavenger hunts, dig in the gardens, discover new tasty vegetables, and use vegetables like art tools!

In addition to all the vegetables and herbs we grow at Granor Farm, flowers are a big part of our farm and an essential part of a thriving ecosystem. We will learn about the types of flowers we grow, which ones are edible, which ones attract the bugs we need to nurture our plants, and even learn about the important role weeds play in helping or hindering our soil and plants. Expect to eat some flowers, make delicious teas, and learn to make natural dyes! We will leave this week with a new appreciation for those colorful plants all around us.

There is a lot going on in the soil that supports all the plants growing at Granor Farm. This week, we will get down and dirty in that soil. We will talk about what kind of soil is best for different types of plants. We will discuss all those creepy crawlers moving around underground and learn which ones are good or not so good for our vegetables. While we won’t eat any bugs this week, we will create dirt inspired foods and craft projects. Expect to make paint out of mud, go on a bug scavenger hunt and leave being able to identify a few new bugs.

Farming is not only about growing beautiful produce, but also about sustainability and a love of the land. This week camp will focus our attention on the things we already have, how we can reuse them, repurpose them and make them thriving again. Sometimes that means repainting our farm camp sign or fixing a broken bench. Other times it means picking up all the dead branches and making beautiful art from them. Campers should expect to harness their creativity to help make the Granor Farm camp space beautiful, all while reusing things we already have.

Laura is a Michigan native who spent her childhood in the woods of Leelanau County. She currently lives in the south suburbs of Chicago with her husband, Pat and three children. Laura is a Montessori trained teacher and spent the last dozen years teaching in the classroom. She is also an avid gardener and loves to cook the fruits and veggies that come straight from her backyard. Laura always looks forward to spending her summers with Granor Farm Camp and especially loves watching campers dig into their crafts and gardens.