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IN PARTNERSHIP WITH:
What’s Cookin’?
NEW JERSEY … TRIP TO NEW Jersey FARM … All GENDER GROUPS … AGES 11-13
Farm Kitchen provides campers the opportunity to attune with nature and themselves, while developing their skills as both chefs and environmentalists. Campers will learn the deliberate precision needed to handle a (smaller version) Chef’s knife, the thoughtfulness behind menu planning, and how to pickle native fruits and vegetables, among other things.
Registration is open now – session 3 only!
Chef Coby knows his way around the kitchen, but he also knows his way around Trail Blazers – he was once a Trail Blazers camper!
You can find Chef Coby on the show “Big Restaurant Bet” and the cooking show ‘Rat in the Kitchen’. And this summer, you will be able to find him at Trail Blazers, working with our Farm Kitchen Campers!
Chef Coby is a chef and entrepreneur from Burlington, New Jersey. He has a degree from the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City and has been in the food industry for years.
why choose Farm Kitchen?
Building on the success of combining farm life with overnight summer camp at our Farmstead program, we are excited to present a new partnership with Ironbound Farm in Asbury, NJ and Chef Coby Farrow: Introducing Farm Kitchen.
At Farm Kitchen, a new specialty program, campers will enjoy learning to grow and cook nutritious, delicious food with a renowned chef and visiting an organic, regenerative farm to harvest crops, collect eggs, and feed farm animals. All of this in addition to the wonders of overnight camp—campfires, archery, swimming, biking, hiking, canoeing, high ropes, and nature crafts…just to name a few!
When a camper signs up for Farm Kitchen Camp, they are signing up for a one-of-a-kind adventure that will open them up to a whole new world.
Camping Adventures
Campers live in canvas-covered hogans while at Trail Blazers, connecting with nature through the simplicity of a cozy campsite. Our site at Ironbound Farm is large camping tents set up alongside a trickling stream, with a wide-open view of the starry night sky to blanket us while we sleep.
Hands-on Skill Mastery
Farm Kitchen Camp at Ironbound provides endless opportunities for experiential learning and curiosity-driven unstructured play, as well as time to hone exciting practical (and interesting!) skills.
Warm Connections
Our smallcamp group of 10 campers is led by three caring group leaders who are passionate about helping your child connect with the outdoors and with their new camp friends. Our mornings begin together, we eat all of our meals family-style, and we end each night singing and sharing around a campfire. With no screens or electronics, our campers can learn how to reconnect with one another. Your camper won’t just come home with lots of new knowledge, they will also come home with lots of new friends.
One hundred thirty-four years is a long time to perfect the art of youth development. Formal metrics confirm what anecdotal reports have always shown us: building strong social and emotional foundations set children up for true long-term success.
Every Trail Blazers program is designed with the same five building blocks – research-backed strategies, seamlessly woven into each day’s plan:
This approach – which looks different every day, within every program, and for every group – delivers a uniquely powerful youth development experience.
Arrive at Trail Blazers to meet your group and group leaders on the first day. Play a million games and sing just as many songs as you get to know each other and settle into small camp.
Eat a delicious dinner together and then gather with your small camp around the fire, singing songs and planning the week ahead. Settle into your cozy bed on your first night to the sound of your group leader reading a bedtime story while the embers of the campfire crackle and pop.
Monday is filled with team-building activities and fun games to get to know camp and your small camp mates. Tuesday morning, enjoy a visit from Chef Coby and begin building your food prep skills. Later that afternoon, start packing tents, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, and other gear for your trip to Ironbound Farm. Wednesday your group travels to the farm (about an hour and 45 minutes away from camp).
On Thursday explore the farm, help with farm duties and grow food. Meet with Chef Coby again to practice your prep skills, craft a menu and cook outside. You could also go fishing at the pond or hike through the nearby woods一there’s so much to do through Friday.
Your group will head back to camp on Saturday and spend the next week building your culinary skills, diving deeper into camp’s new Climate Badge series of activities and working with Chef Coby one last time at camp for a culminating feast!
Campers will be participating in traditional Trail Blazers overnight activities including:
A non-exhaustive list of Ironbound Farm activities includes:
Group Leaders will facilitate traditional Trail Blazers inquiry-based explorations on topics of ecology, botany, horticulture, germination, harvesting, and food preservation:
Our Goal – Competent and Compassionate Climate Optimists
In addition to engaging in food prep and culinary skills, campers in our Farm Kitchen Program will participate in the Climate Badge Series, a brand new initiative across all programs this summer. Care and respect for the environment has always been a core value at Trail Blazers, and this summer we are centering all activities around intersectional and accessible ways we can reduce harm and address our changing climate.
At the beginning of the session, campers will self-select one of four lenses through which they will participate in programming: The Botanist, The Sustainable Scientist, The Survivalist, and The Nurturer. Throughout the program, campers will engage in all activities as “experts” of their lens, collaborating with their peers to consider our changing climate in all camp activities. Farm Kitchen campers will engage with activities exploring plants, germination, and harvesting via their specific climate lens.
This collaboration culminates in a large scale community project executed by each small camp. Farm Kitchen campers will have the opportunity to take what they have learned from their experience at Ironbound farm and share how they applied their climate lenses with the larger camp on our official Community Day.
Farm Kitchen Camp at Ironbound is open to campers entering grades 6-8, who will be 11-13 years old this summer.
This two-week program is held during the third session of Overnight Camp, running from Sunday through Friday of the following week.
Session 3: 07/24 – 08/5
All Trail Blazers programs are offered on a tier basis, loosely linked to family income. Your tier is self-selected during the application process.
Tier 1 (<$50k) = $750
Tier 2 ($50-75k) =$1200
Tier 3 ($75-100k) = $1800
Tier 4 (>$100k) = $2550
Full Price = $3000
Please note that additional scholarships on top of the tier rates are not available for this program at this time.
Enrolling and Payment
A 30% deposit is required upon registration. Payment in full is due May 1. A 5% administrative fee is charged for all Trail Blazers programs.
During registration, you can set up an automatic payment plan or choose to make payments manually. Please email us at registration@trailblazers.org if you have questions or would like to discuss payment arrangements.
We strive to make camp accessible to all! If you cannot access the registration system online, please contact our registration team to enroll over the phone or to schedule an in-person appointment.
This policy has been updated to reflect the operational and financial realities of operating our program and aims to strike the right balance between ensuring the financial stability of the organization, our ability to support and underwrite families who need it most and prepare for the summer in the most effective way.
Please note: Preparing for camp programs is a year-long endeavor, with substantial full-time staff working to prepare safe and exciting camping experiences. Our refund policy reflects the expenses associated with this.
Learn more about Ironbound Farms, a 108 acre organic farm specializing in regenerative agriculture.
Chef Coby has worked in some of New York City’s most prestigious eateries, including BLT Prime, Soho House, Barbuto, The Tasting Room, Madeline May, and The Spotted Pig. His passion for cooking has led him all over the world: he has worked in Hawaii with Sean Priester of The Top of Waikiki and Roy’s and he was the Head Chef at Crystal Creek Lodge in Alaska. Chef Coby has also worked with the Princeton Public School System and Garden State On Your Plate, where he taught an after-school program that focused on sustainability. He has appeared on Food Network’s Chopped and Beat Bobby Flay. What makes this alignment with Farm Kitchen extra special is that Chef Coby is a Trail Blazers summer camp alum!
What Our Parents say
“My daughter helped grow and cultivate veggies….and then she ATE them. And she liked it! She likes to eat healthier now, and that is a practice I have always wanted to instill in my child.” ~ Parent, 2020
“The farm program was an amazing experience for our son. He is a city kid and had never been close to farm animals. I couldn’t believe it when he wrote a letter home and said he milked a cow.” ~ Parent, 2019
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