This summer at Boys Camp we are starting a movement toward greater integration of the boys into the daily, meaningful work of the farm. One structure that supports this move is the new . . . drumroll, please . . . Junior/Master Farmer program. Throughout the summer, boys are working to check off farm experiences on the following list:
- Collect eggs
- Move a chicken tractor three times
- Turn compost
- Set up fencing for livestock
- Harvest food for the kitchen
- Identify ten plants from the garden
- Name at least ten animals on the farm
- Groom Sal
- Cook a dish with farm-fresh ingredients
- Pull thistle out of pasture
- Go on a hay cart ride with Sal OR learn to drive Sal
- Pull weeds from the garden
- Identify at least three weeds in the garden
- Build a camper bed or fill one with soil
- Teach another camper or a farmer something that you know about the farm
- Do chores four times
- Milk a cow
Checking off fourteen tasks earns the doer a Junior Farmer award; completing the lot earns a Master Farmer. Boys are rising to the occasion: rising early for chores, volunteering to set up livestock fencing, and quizzing each other on the names of the animals and weeds.
Of the gentleman in the first session of camp, eight earned the Master Farmer award and four the Junior Farmer. Here’s to good work on the farm!
