Farmhands Summer Programs

2023 Summer Program Information

If one or more of the sessions that you are interested in is sold out, you can sign your child up for the waitlist here and we will reach out to you if additional spaces open up.

For more information on our camps and summer programs, or to inquire about scholarships, please contact Monica: monica@guidestonecolorado.org or 719-239-0955.

• Three Day Camps
• Overnight
• One Day Camps (Farmer/Rancher Mondays)
• Little Spurs/Sprouts

Three-Day Garden, Farm & Ranch Camps (back to top)

2023 Program Logistics

• 3-Day Camps; Tuesday – Thursday unless otherwise noted
• May 30-August 10
• 9 am–4 pm
• Ages 5 to 11
• $225 per 3-day camp
• Scholarships are available
• Registration closes at 5 pm on the Friday prior to each camp start date.

2023 Camp Descriptions and dates

Imagine! Garden Art & Science Fusion

• Longfellow School Garden
• May 30-June 1, 2023
• This week in the garden will feature your imagination! Explore the art of growing food through a mash-up of artistic techniques, crafty creations, brainy hypotheses, and inventive experiments.

Homestead Detectives & Preservationists

• Hutchinson Homestead
• May 30-June 1, 2023
• Do you like archeology, exploration, construction, and history? During this camp, we’ll become homestead sleuths to learn more about the people who lived here, the buildings and barns, the surrounding landscape, and the animals who call this place home.  How do we discover what something looked like in the past and recreate it? Explore bringing the past to life with us through history, science and art.

Lettuce Dance to the Beet

• Salida Middle School Garden
• June 6-8, 2023
• Get ready to shake your rutabaga! This camp provides an opportunity to experience garden learning through music, yoga, dance, rhythms, hopscotch, and other forms of creative sound and movement in restorative garden settings.

Pioneer Camp

• Hutchinson Homestead
• June 6-8
• Step into the past and experience the homestead as a pioneer! Pioneers had to be resourceful, making many of the things they needed from scratch. Leatherwork, sewing, food preservation, household items, tools, and even toys and games had to be made by hand. We will practice these skills and imagine homestead life through the eyes and hands of many perspectives, sharing our experiences in a homemade journal. Join us as we walk in the footsteps of the people who have lived and worked at the Hutchinson Homestead!

Birds & bugs, broccoli & butterflies!

• Longfellow Elementary School Garden
• June 13-15, 2023
• Help our pollinators help us grow food! We’ll go on bug hunts, create pollinator habitat,  and learn about the many animals that call the garden home. 

Water on the Land

• Hutchinson Homestead
• June 13-15, 2023
• Water is life!  How do ranchers get water onto their land? From homesteading times to today explore irrigation ditches, a center pivot and rain, see how water affects the landscape. 

Kids in Ag Camp

• Hutchinson Homestead
• June 20-22, 2023
• If you love animals, this camp is for you! Meet and study our meat, milk, egg, and yarn producers, including beef and dairy cattle, goats, sheep, llamas, rabbits and pigs. We’ll learn about the care, feeding, and varieties of these animals, and the agricultural role they play, through the ranchers, veterinarians, and others who raise and care for them. Many of the guest instructors will be kids who are raising animals through the 4H Program. Today’s kids are tomorrow’s farmers and ranchers!

The Garden is Full of Stories 

• Salida Middle School Garden
• June 20-22, 2023
• The garden has many stories to tell, and so do you! Read, write, and act out stories and poetry from the canon of great garden literature.

Farm Camp

• June 27-29, 2023
• Community & School Farm
• Spend 3 fun-filled days learning about farming and growing healthy food in the farm fields and greenhouses of the Community & School! Get your hands dirty while assisting with projects around the farm. Additional projects will include catching critters in the ditch, food preservation, composting, watering, season extension, soil ecology and more! Art and craft projects and journaling will also fill campers’ days.

Pioneer Camp

• Hutchinson Homestead
• June 27-29, 2023
• Step into the past and experience the homestead as a pioneer! Pioneers had to be resourceful, making many of the things they needed from scratch. Leatherwork, sewing, food preservation, household items, tools, and even toys and games had to be made by hand. We will practice these skills and imagine homestead life through the eyes and hands of many perspectives, sharing our experiences in a homemade journal. Join us as we walk in the footsteps of the people who have lived and worked at the Hutchinson Homestead!

Ranch Camp

• Hutchinson Homestead
• July 11-13, 2023
• Become a Junior Rancher! Practice skills like roping, irrigation, and pasture management, learn to fashion the tools of the trade, give Rancher Abby a hand in completing an essential ranch project, help with cow and horse care, and more.

Build & Grow in the Garden

• Salida Middle School Garden
• July 11-13, 2023
• With the garden as your muse, you’ll build structures, investigate systems and connections, and draw models for your genius ideas. Walk in the footsteps of our innovative agricultural heroes–George Washington Carver, Evangelina Villegas, John Deere, and Temple Grandin, to name a few. And have fun doing it!

Art of Agriculture

• Hutchinson Homestead
• July 18-20, 2023
• Celebrate agriculture with an artistic flair!  As participants explore the art of growing food, caring for animals and ranching, this week will provide many opportunities to observe, express and honor the uniqueness of an agrarian life and landscape through art. Creative expression through painting, drawing, music, poetry, crafts and theater will highlight the week.  Participants will get to share their work with their families at an end-of-week celebration and performance.

Wild, wonderful Seeds!

• Longfellow School Garden
• July 18-20, 2023
• Through seedy crafts, seed saving, stories, and seedy treats, explore all the seeds: poppers, droppers, grabbers, stabbers, floaters, and fliers! Taste what’s already growing and seed more garden treats for the fall!

Ag Camp at the County Fair

• Chaffee County Fairgrounds
• July 26-28, 2023 – NOTE! Wednesday-Friday
• The heart of the Chaffee County Fair offers a rich environment for discovering agriculture! We will meet at the Fairgrounds each day to learn about the sheep, goats, beef cattle, pigs, rabbits, and poultry at the fair, as well as some of the hands-on activities highlighted through 4H. Be a part of the County Fair in a whole new way!

Bringing the Harvest Home

• Community & School Farm, Hutchinson Homestead
• August 1-3, 2023 AND August 8-10, 2023
• In celebration of this bountiful time of year, join us for 3 days dedicated to the farming and homesteading techniques that allow us to grow our own food, save it for the winter, and enjoy our harvest. The first day of camp will be held at the Community & School Farm where campers will get to dig in, help on the farm, and harvest their bounty. The remaining camp days will be held at the Hutchinson Homestead, where students will learn techniques to preserve their harvest, and celebrate the harvest season with homemade butter, Dutch Oven biscuits, hand-churned ice cream and more!

NEW!  Overnight Camp (back to top)

• Hutchinson Homestead
• *Ages 9-12*
• Thursday July 6 9:00am – noon, Friday July 7, 2023
• Join us for an overnight at the Hutchinson Homestead! From morning and evening animal chores to crafts, games, cooking over a campfire, and storytelling, experience the Homestead life after hours!

Rancher & Farmer Mondays (back to top)

2023 Program Logistics

• 1-Day Camps
• 10 Mondays, June – August
  • Rancher Mondays (Hutchinson Homestead): June 5 & 19, July 3, 17 & 31
  • Farmer Mondays (Community & School Farm): June 12 & 26, July 10 & July 24, August 7
• 9 am–4 pm
• Ages 5-7
• $75 per day; full series $725
• Scholarships are available
• Registration closes at 5 pm on the Friday prior to each program date

Rancher/Farmer Monday Program Description

Join us on Mondays to explore the daily lives of farmers and ranchers. We will kick off each Monday with farm or ranch chores, and then we’ll explore a new theme each session with hands-on activities and adventures! Guest instructors who are experts in their fields will enrich our experience.

• June 5: Life on a Homestead
• June 12: Planting on the farm — Pumpkins & Sunflowers
• June 19: Animals on the Ranch
• June 26: Protecting from Pests — Bugs and Beasties
• July 3: Plants on the Ranch
• July 10: Water on the farm — Ditch and Sun Tea
• July 17: Pioneer Living/ Homesteading Skills
• July 24: Picking & Preserving —  Quick Pickles and More
• July 31: Wind & Water on the Ranch
• August 7: Posies — All about Colors and Flowers

Little Sprouts & Little Spurs (back to top)

Program Logistics

• 1-Hour Programs
• Thursdays, June 8 – August 3, 10-11am
  • Little Spurs @ the Hutchinson Homestead:  (June 15 & 29, July 13 & 27)
    • June 15: Animals on the Ranch
    • June 29: Pioneer Life
    • July 13: Kids & Cows
    • July 27: Homesteading Skills
  • Little Sprouts @ Longfellow Elementary School Garden 
    • June 8: Potatoes & Sunflowers, Song & Story
    • June 22: Insects in the Garden 
    • July 6: Birds in the Garden
    • July 20: Flowers & Colors 
    • August 3: Taller, smaller, taste and smell
• Ages 4 and under; bring your family!
• $15 per family; $125 for the full series (9 sessions)
• Registration closes at 5 pm on the Tuesday prior to each program date.

Program Descriptions

Little Sprouts
Longfellow Elementary School Garden
Join us at the Longfellow Elementary School Garden to explore the farm with your little one(s). Each program will include themed activities, stories, songs and more.  Grownups… join your little ones for a fun morning in the garden! 

Little Spurs
Hutchinson Homestead & Learning Center
Join us at the Hutchinson Homestead to explore the ranch with your little one(s). Each program will include a visit to the Homestead animals, themed activities, stories, songs and more. Grownups…join your little ones for a fun morning on the ranch!