Summer Camp Preview

We’re excited to announce that registration for summer camp will be opening on February 1st, 2023 Don’t miss the opportunity to sign your child or grandchild up for a week of adventure and exploration this coming summer, and be sure to let your friends and family know about our summer camp opportunities. Our 2023 suite of summer camps are available to rising 1 - 8 graders. Find registration and more details on our website: merckforest.org

Field & Forest Camp- Our “Highlights of Merck Forest” Camp; Explore and experience a little bit of everything that makes up Merck Forest: from ponds and streams, to pastures and berry patches, to trails and woods. We’ll spend time on creative crafting projects, daily hikes and excursions, hands-on experiences, cooperative games and play, and activities focused on observing and investigating Merck’s many habitats and inhabitants. Campers will get their hands dirty constructing fairy houses, get up close and personal with trees, pick berries from bushes, dip nets in Page Pond, and visit the pastures where our farm animals live. This camp is available to rising 1-3 and 4-6 graders.

Farm Camp- This camp focuses on the 62-acre farm at Merck Forest; join us as we dive headfirst into learning what a farm is, who lives on our farm, and how the farm works. We’ll visit, care for, and experience the farm animals, participate in hands-on farm-related projects and crafts, see and use tools and equipment used on the farm, play games, and explore the landscape at and around the farm. This camp is available to rising 1-3 and 4-6 graders.

Trail Crew Camp- Trail crew members will trek through field and forest, learning how to steward working lands. Through hands-on explorations and projects, they’ll develop practical backcountry and primitive skills, engage in citizen science and participate in service learning projects. Crew members will navigate with map and compass, construct shelters, lop invasives, and tackle trail work as they explore the front and backcountry of Merck Forest. This camp is available to rising 7-8 graders.

Farm Crew Camp- Farm Crew members will experience the farm’s inhabitants and processes, learn about all the moving parts of a farm while participating in team building activities, develop practical skills using tools, engage in service learning projects and farm activities, and learn about the daily care and stewardship of a farm through hands-on experiences. Crew members will do animal chores, harvest and use farm products, and create and construct farm structures as they learn, work, and explore at Merck’s working farm. This camp is available to rising 7-8 graders.

Introducing: Explorer’s Program

Introducing the Explorer’s Program! The Pathfinder Quest is the first installment in our two part Explorer’s Program. Designed for ages 5-12, the Pathfinder Quest will take participants on a hike around Merck Forest, following clues to hidden boxes. Each box has a stamp in it, artfully designed by our farm manager, Hadley Stock. When all of the stamps have been found and stamped into the book, participants can take the booklet to the Visitor Center to earn a sticker as a completion prize. The Pathfinder Quest is designed to be completed during one visit. Stay tuned for updates on the launch of part two: the Trailblazer booklet, which will require several visits to MFFC to complete.

www.merckforest.org/school-programs/day-camp-information

Our Camp Philosophy: We believe that children thrive when given the freedom to immerse themselves in nature through exploration and guided discovery. By slowing down, and using their senses to fully experience the world around them, campers develop a sense of curiosity, love and responsibility. Through this, they emerge with deeper empathy, a better sense of their place in the world, and the knowledge that they can make a difference.

Twilight Recap

Last October, over 100 members, donors, staff and volunteers gathered on the Sap House deck to celebrate community at Merck Forest. Farm Manager Hadley Stock oversaw the creation of an amazing locally sourced meal which featured Merck-Made lamb and pork. We were thrilled to hold the event again in 2022 (after a 2 year hiatus due to Covid) and are already thinking about just how long a table we can make happen in 2023.

A tax-exempt, 501(C)(3) corporation in Vermont that has, for over 70 years, inspired curiosity, love and responsibiliy for natural and working lands through land stewardshipand conservation education.