Simplicity is an integral part of the Farm and Wilderness credo. Most of the camps have no electricity. They also attend Quaker meeting for a half-hour every morning, even when they're out on the trail. The prayer tends to be mostly silent, though people do speak briefly when the spirit moves them. We pride ourselves on helping kids foster their own spirituality.
Campers mention that they really like being able to start their day quietly and thinking about it.
The primary program for overnighters at this Northfield camp is wilderness survival. It's more because we want to reconnect them with the earth. Campers learn skills such as making a fire with a bow drill or building a sleeping shelter out of debris from the forest floor. Children between the ages of 8 and 10 follow a rope through a swamp blindfolded during the wilderness exploration program, while those between 15 and 16 years of age spend a night alone in the woods. In-Vermont lies not on Walden Pond, but on Miller Pond in Thetford Center.