TAMARACK FARM
MIXED GENDER
AGES 15-17
COMMIT TO IMMERSION
Creating Community and Meaning
Kate Kyros is a former camp counselor, leadership educator, wilderness trip leader, school administrator, and therapist. Kate grew up with a strong connection to both farms and wilderness and is surprised it took her well into adulthood to find her way to F&W! In her own words, “I believe magic happens when we are in community, immersed in the natural world, and doing meaningful work.”
Kate holds an interdisciplinary BA in psychology, gender studies, and farming from Hampshire College, and an MSW from Smith College School for Social Work. She completed two years of post-masters study with The Mill River Institute for Dialogic Practice. Kate is an avid gardener, an aspiring meditator, and mother to two often-muddy children. When not at F&W, Kate calls Western Massachusetts home. Kate loves facilitating growth experiences and is excited to get started with F&W and our teens!

Session 1: | June 30 - July 20 |
Session 2: | July 23 - August 13 |
Housing: Tamarack Farmers begin each morning with an uninterrupted view of the woods, surrounded by peers. The cabins are all open three-sided wood structures with individual bunks and storage for each camper. As we build community, it’s important each camper still has their space and campers enjoy personalizing their bunk. Cabin groups are based on gender, with more options for gender non-binary youth.
Facilities: Shared facilities are nearby for all their personal hygiene needs, including fresh water and hot showers.

WHAT OUR CAMPERS SAY

WHY THE FARM?
OUR APPROACH
Tamarack offers teens the opportunity to gain a deeper sense of confidence through meaningful work and face-to-face discussions. Given a chance to step up, our teens are trusted to act, envision and take ownership of projects in a non-competitive way. Together, they tackle new challenges as they build rafters for a new cabin or harvest beets.
Tamarack Offers Exciting Possibilities to Explore.
Dive into creating your summer community. Tamarack Farm campers share responsibilities, assume leadership roles and find growth opportunities in important issues as they explore issues of peace and justice and environmental sustainability.
Campers will spend their days in one of five areas: Environmental Sustainability, Carpentry and Construction, Artists in Residence, Agriculture and Homesteading and Lifeguarding and Wilderness First Aid.
Campers assist and take leadership roles in:
• Farm management
• Building projects
• Harvesting and delivering food to other F&W camps
• Creating art for the soul or to beautify the camp community
• Invasive species control with the lake associations

EXPERIENCE LIFE IN THE OUTDOORS
Activities
Complete meaningful projects as a result of your commitment.
Environmental Sustainability
Taking care of land - and steering clear of a desk job are both noble pursuits of this immersion. The work is project-based, and foundational skills will include forestry, trail marking and design, water quality testing, Identifying invasive species, fire building and cooking and more. The Environmental Sustainability crew might spend their morning canoeing to the floating bog on our Woodward Reservoir to take an inventory of the plant life. There is a place both for physical work and careful analytics in this immersion - getting your back and your brain into it!
Construction and Carpentry
Our Construction and Carpentry crew will work on a variety of building projects, from new buildings to interior and roofing and fixing shelters. They will study project design and planning as well as basic construction skills. A service component is built into the program as well.
Artists in Residence
Every member of this immersion is an Artist in residence. Working with a specialist who will bring their knowledge and experiences to provide guidance and structure. Areas of specialization offered in a session may include: photography, sculpture, ceramics, printmaking, fiber arts, etc.
Agriculture and Homesteading
How does the farm connect to the community? How can we sink carbon into our land more effectively and increase the nutrients and minimize runoff? What can we change on the farm today that will lessen the impact of flooding and climate change in the future? These are all questions addressed in this immersion as well as land access and inequities. Practice with fermentation, cheese-making, pasteurization, weaving, spinning, soap making and other homesteading skills complement the understanding of the value of a modern farm with historical roots.
Certifications: Lifeguarding and Wilderness First Aid
These are nationally recognized certifications followed by the opportunity to observe and practice in the setting of other Farm & Wilderness camps.



HAVE QUESTIONS?

Latest Posts from Tamarack Farm
Dear Farm & Wilderness Community,
I’m writing to share with you that after much consideration, Farm & Wilderness’ Leadership Team and our Board of Trustees have decided to pause Tamarack Farm camp’s operations for Summer 2021. This was a hard decision that comes as a result of the work of the Leadership Team and our 2021 Re-opening Task Force’s assessment on how we can best operate safe, healthy, and engaging camp programs next summer in light of COVID-19.
I want to share how we got to this decision. Although COVID-19 vaccines may be available, we can’t assume that healthy children and adults will have access to them, and that means we must envision camp for next summer differently. This will likely include social distancing (a need for more space per person, even outdoor space), hand-washing and other disinfecting measures, mask-wearing when indoors and in proximity to others, testing for the virus, and, likely, pre-arrival or on-arrival quarantining.
We envision each camp will operate so as to minimize contact with other camps and folks outside their camp “bubble.” In all likelihood, these are the same measures that the pre-schools, schools, colleges and universities, and workplaces that you and your family attend have in place now. We will be following guidance from sources including the CDC, the Vermont Department of Health, the American Camp Association, and camps that operated in 2020 to develop and then adjust our COVID-19 related policies and practices over the coming months. We will use our website as well as email to keep you updated on this important work.
As we began to look at how each of our camps could operate under these new conditions, we recognized the need for a buffer zone between IB and Timberlake camps and that we would need additional indoor space to isolate and treat symptomatic individuals. We can adapt Tamarack Farm camp’s facilities and outdoor space for these purposes. Additionally, we recognized that the Tamarack Farm camp program, more than others, would be compromised by these new conditions. While it was a very hard decision to come to, we believe that pausing Tamarack Farm camp for 2021 will ensure that each camp can be safe and healthy while still offering exciting, engaging, and somewhat different opportunities to our campers.
We will be in touch with you and your family to discuss your options if you are a prospective or returning Tamarack Farm camper. Know that we are planning to run Questers next summer, and we are looking at other opportunities for teens during the summer.
There have been many disappointments and losses over the last year due to COVID 19. This news may land as one more loss for you and one more way our lives have been disrupted. I understand and share your disappointment. However, this pause is temporary, and it does play a vital role in increasing the health and safety of all Farm & Wilderness camps next summer. We hope you understand our decision amidst the challenges ahead.
If you would like to talk to me about this decision and our plans going forward, please reach out to me at frances@farmandwilderness.org or call me on my cell phone at 978-837-2738.
With great appreciation,
Frances McLaughlin
Executive Director
We’ve set up some Zoom calls after hearing requests for them from conversations during this time. These calls are set up by camps, with Saltash Mountain, Flying Cloud, and Tamarack Farm all having individual calls.
You will be joined by some of your summer staff and fellow campers on this call.
During the call, the video will focus on seeing familiar faces, having fun, reviewing what has been working for folks so far, sharing ideas and COVID-19 pro-tips. At the same time, the chat room will be a great place to exchange contact information (Instagram, WhatsApp, phone number, etc.) that you are using to keep in touch.
The schedule is as follows:
Saturday, April 11th
1PM EST – Saltash Mountain: Register Here
3PM EST – Flying Cloud: Register Here
5PM EST – Tamarack Farm: Register Here
If you are interested in joining us for one of these, register on Eventbrite. You will then receive the call-in information. See you all there!
In different ways, all of us are working through this new world we live in. At my house, we are definitely using food and the kitchen as a way to play, explore, and try new things. At Tamarack Farm, we often use the kitchen in the same way. How about bringing a little Tamarack Farm fun into your house right now?
Cooking is a great way to calm the nerves, focus on something positive, nourish and give back to those around you. Here are a few tips for trying something new in Covid-19 times.
- Plan ahead, check-in with an adult in the house about your plan and look through some recipe books and pick something to make.
- Plan something new and fun, but maybe not over the top. Don’t pick a dish that needs items you have to go to a specialized store to get.
- In these times, some families are going to the grocery store much less often. Make sure to have your list ready for when your family is getting their groceries. Check that list several times. If you miss an important item, you might have to wait until the next run to make your dish.
- Improvise if you cannot get certain items. You can often look up and find alternatives. We made sushi in our house. Though we did not have a bamboo sushi matt, we were able to find a great alternative of plastic wrap and a dishtowel.
- Once you have all the ingredients, let the house know what you will be making: breakfast, lunch, dinner or whatever you are preparing for that day.
- Turn on some great music and go for it. Enjoy and share!