Become a Member
- Individual- $25
- Senior or low income - $15
- Family - $50
- "Happy Camper" - $100
- "Fixing it up!" Supporter - $500
Free Gifts with memberships! See Enrollment form for details.
Download Enrollment Form 2013 .pdf
February 2013
Dear Friends,
Happy New Year to all as we welcome another year of growing and learning!!
It is wintertime on the farm and all is calm. We are enjoying the sparkling frost of the cold mornings on the crunchy grass and the soft fuzzy jackets that the goats have grown to keep themselves warm. We are keeping ourselves warm by the fire and enjoying creamy soup from the squash that are piled up along the living room stairwell like presents left from summertime.
We might like to say it is quiet and there isn’t much to do, but we all know better! Life carries on steadily, with each passing day giving us just a little bit more light as we move towards the other seasons of the year.
While the sun is up we tidy the remnants of projects left behind when the rains first came. We survey the bare tree branches and begin to prune for the promise of fruit.
We tackle the tools and the barn and attempt to wrestle some organization while we can.
The year that has passed offered us many lessons and we know we have grown from them.
The farm has grown too! Did you see our new gate? It is truly a glorious portal into this amazing property. Keith, Dan and their crews were really the guys for this beautiful upgrade.
They also made some upgrades around the big house, which better prepared us for the rain.
We purchased a new commercial refrigerator to support the marketing of our fresh produce.
And the cottage, which houses some of the family, received some wonderful improvements as well which makes it a great home for the people who give to Camp Joy all year long.
We were also blessed with some wonderful enthusiastic young gardeners who came and learned alongside us and helped us create a successful season. We are grateful for all who helped.
Sooner than we think, the growing season will come again and we will be off and running.
For a moment we do pause, though, as we sip an afternoon tea and assess what we are inspired to do and what we have the energy for. Some of these questions are hard to answer because they exist in the future, with lots of variables, but that is true of life and living on a farm.
What we know for sure is that we are passionate about growing food and caring for the earth. We want to share and teach this passion by modeling sustainable and organic farming techniques. We want to live with optimism for our children and keep doing good things for the communities that we are a part of.
New potential students are sending letters and we are combing through them. Growing new farmers is central to Camp Joy's mission, so these are important decisions. Farms across the country are receiving many requests to fill just a few positions. For us to accept new people at Camp Joy, we realize the need to replace the crumbling 40-year-old "Mountain Hut" with a simple, sound and aesthetic room. In addition to continuing work on the perimeter fence, this is our top priority and will enable us to keep fulfilling the mission of mentoring and empowering new farmers and gardeners.
As we gear up to do more, we know that somewhere we must do less.
We are preparing to change our traditional CSA to a more flexible system but will still be growing beautiful seasonal vegetables, fruits and flowers. Please let us know if you are interested in purchasing directly from us during the peak season (June through October). We will hold many of our usual events, the Plant Sale (two weekends this year!), the Wreath Sale, and several classes from pruning to bees, to canning and home cheese making. And we still welcome the children as they grow and explore life through the farm, for they are our future!
We do need your support to keep doing what we do. Please renew your Camp Joy memberships! Every little bit helps us to connect with others and keep following our mission. Sign up for our classes and events! Arrange to be a part of our volunteer days and get your hands dirty with some of our good healthy soil; we’ve been building compost since 1971!!
Wishing you all the best in the year to come!
Warmly,
The Camp Joy family