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Missoula's Turner Farms summer camp teaches kids value of agriculture

Posted at 9:35 AM, Jul 02, 2022
and last updated 2022-07-04 10:07:18-04

MISSOULA - By the time the rooster crows, young farmers are already getting to work, making sure their animals are taken care of.

“Grab a few handfuls and fill that feeder up,” said Ethan Turner, Turner Farms summer camp leader, as he helped the kids fed baby chicks. “We got some more work to do.”

After the chicks are fed, it is on to the next. And feeding the animals is a huge hit.

“What’s your favorite part about summer camp," asked MTN News.

“Holding the kittens,” said some campers. “Feeding the goats," said others.

"We'll do anything from tagging to milking the goats," said. "Yesterday they washed the goats. We do a lot of weeding around here."

The big theme behind camp is taking stuff from the garden and the field and turning it into food- teaching them the inner workings of agriculture.

"Teaching kids lessons you really can't learn in school or anywhere else," said Turner. “And so it’s really rewarding for us to show that to kids in the community.”

Turner Farms started their camp nearly three years ago and have seen an increase in campers ever since, and are up to 75 kids so far this summer.

With the dog days of summer just getting started, summer camps around Missoula are already full.

Missoula Parks and Recreation's, Meg Whitcher, told MTN News they do have a waitlist for most camps, but kids drop camps regularly.

Registration is still open for some camps, like Turner Farms.