The summer program at Farrington is in full force this week. We had visits from Cambridge Youth Enrichment Program, Roxbury Tenants of Harvard, Roxbury Youth Initiative, Amigos Community School, and rounded out the week with an overnight with Chinatown Adventure Daycamp. Over 200 youth and teens visited Farrington throughout the week, and enjoyed beautiful weather and a wide variety of activities. Campers this week took great pleasure in feeding our animals. A perennial favorite, the campers have loved feeding the rabbits. Although, a small portion of this love may be that the food that the rabbits love to eat, humans like quite a bit too.

As our staff walk the campers over to the rabbits, they teach them to find wood sorrel: look for the plant that looks like clover that has heart-shaped leaves. At the end of the day, many campers wrote about the wood sorrel as one of their favorite parts of their day. One camper wrote: “Today at Farrington I loved the animals because we got to eat leaves that when you bite into them taste like lemons!” Another wrote: “I loved ALL OF THE ANIMALS!!! Remember to get a WHOLE LOT OF CLOVERS and wood sorrel.” Once they learn how to find wood sorrel, they find it all over the property, even along the stone walls.

We ended the week with the annual camping trip with Chinatown Adventure Day Camp. The younger campers come out to Farrington to help them prepare for future camping trips to Myles Standish State Forest and beyond. It is often one of our favorite visits of the year, and this year was no exception. Perfect weather, delicious s’mores, and a night sleeping under the stars.

In the morning, some campers took to repeat their own favorite free time activity of making a “magic potion” on the driveway. Mixing together a large amount of berries and leaves, the crew really smashing and stirring the berries with sticks. It’s clear that a fair amount of magic is found in a night out at Farrington!