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Transforming how kids think about science, food, & the environment through joyful, hands-on learning.

Weekly Investigations Into Our Local Food System!

Join us for a summer of fun!

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Welcome TO Camp Curiouser                      Hosted At Robin Hills Farm!

Our goal is to:

  • Use children’s natural curiosity and enthusiasm for the outdoors to explore important ecological concepts.
  • Investigate the abundant agricultural history and practices in our area.
  • Discover how fascinating plants are by learning about wild plants as well as the cultivated plants we eat.
  • Explore food in new ways by making and tasting new foods each week.
  • Have fun outside and in the food lab!

Looking to engage your 9 to 13-year-old in nature and the outdoors this summer?    

Learn about our programs!

Sample Daily Schedule - Note that Each Session is a Half Day

MORNING SESSION - Field Studies 9am-12pm

  • 9:00 a.m. Welcome - Group games
  • 9:30 a.m. Lesson on the theme of the week
  • 10:00 a.m. Ecology - visit observation stations, project time
  • 12:00 p.m. Pick-up 

AFTERNOON SESSION - In the Kitchen 1pm-4pm

  • 1:00 p.m. Group games
  • 1:30 p.m. Lesson on the theme of the week
  • 2:00 p.m. Food/project time
  • 4:00 p.m. Pick-up
Bottom View of Green Leaved Tree during Daytime

WEEKLY CAMP THEMES

Mornings: Outdoor Field Studies and ecology

Week One - Morning Session: Ecology

Ecology - where do we live?

Join us this week as we explore the world that is contained in soil! This week’s projects include making mushroom logs and worm boxes and learning about composting!

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Week Two - Morning Session: Trees

Trees and Eco Services - Why Are Trees So Important?

Join is this week as we learn about trees: how to identify them, how to guess their age and how they help us. We will make root beer and shagbark syrup and create homes for magical woodland dwellers!

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Week Three - Morning Session: Plants

Agriculture - what is local to us?

Join us this week as we explore local native plants, and learn about foraging to make local foods. This week’s projects include designing and making mini kitchen gardens!

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Week Four- Morning Session: Seeds

Seed Saving- How do we start again next year?

Join us this week as we learn how plants store their energy so that they can thrive again the next growing season. This week’s projects include learning about seeds and participating in a seed saving project with seeds to take home to plant.

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Afternoons: local food shed and food preparation

Week one - Afternoon Session: Identify

Join us this week as we learn about the parts of plants. This week’s projects include daily food labs focusing on using different plant parts and botanical plant drawing

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Week Two - Afternoon Session: Ferment

Join us this week as we learn about the wild world of fermentation! What do chocolate, bread, and sauerkraut have in common? This week’s projects focus on the history and techniques used in the fermentation of chocolate, bread, and brined foods!

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Week Three- Afternoon Session: PReserve

Join us this week as we learn about how to save food so we can eat during the winter. This week’s projects include making jam and pickles and cheese.

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Week Four- Afternoon Session: Save/Extend

Join us this week as we learn how to use seeds’ energy in the kitchen. This week’s projects include learning about seeds, sprouting seeds, and using seeds in the kitchen.
Learn more >

About your camp leadErs, Drew and Eli

Drew and Eli Zemper (pictured here on the North Country Trail) LOVE to be outdoors, and have long dreamed of offering a summer camp that would share that love. This summer marks the culmination of years of planning and experience to bring this program to life.

Drew has been a certified science teacher for the last 10 years and has experience teaching both at the high school and college level at Washtenaw Community College.  Subjects Drew has taught in the past include biology, chemistry, genetics, Earth science, and a new class using aquaponics to study fish and plant biology.  In the past Drew has also spent time as a veterinary technician, an exotic animal keeper, and as a biology lab technician.  With his best buddy Eli, he continues to find all sorts of adventures to get into such as parenting twins, exploring the Huron River by kayak, biking local trails, and learning about bees and fruit trees.  

Drew’s co-host (and wife) Eli has spent the last 26 years as a certified English teacher teaching everything from reading programs to kindergarteners to poetry to undergraduates at the University of Michigan.  Early experiences as a facilitator at the University of Michigan’s Outdoor Adventure Program honed her skills as an outdoor educator, while work with the Anti-Defamation League helped strengthen her group facilitation skills. Over her 26 years in education she has taught subjects ranging from film and video and theater, to food systems and ethics. As someone who is deeply curious, Eli has and continues to investigate all kinds of life experiences including coaching roller derby, raising rambunctious twins, and facilitating a new  mobile clay studio. She is so excited to play and learn with you this summer!

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