HADLEY — Planting seeds in the 90-degree May heat, Hope Guardenier doesn’t have to imagine what the upcoming season at Farm and Garden Camp will look like.
Guardenier, founding director of the agricultural summer camp at Hampshire College, spent last week spreading mulch around raspberry and blueberry bushes that campers will harvest and turn into jam come July. Nearby, seeds will soon sprout into spinach and radishes for campers to taste while learning new recipes.
Meanwhile, Assistant Director Isadora Harper weeds another section of the garden, preparing the soil for future vegetables to take root.
Up the hill, Hampshire College Farm Director Emily Landeck tends to a greenhouse of vegetable plants waiting to go into the ground. Though it is prime planting season, the only movement in the nearby field comes from Landeck’s dog, Caolila, running through cover crops.
The work at the Farm and Garden Camp is taking place this spring against the backdrop of uncertainty in the wake of Hampshire College’s April 14 announcement that the upcoming fall semester would be its last. The announcement came long after farmers had started their growing season, creating uncertainty around summer activities on campus. It also raised questions about whether programs like Farm and Garden Camp and the Hampshire College Farm will survive beyond this summer.
“The announcement of the closure of Hampshire College came as an emotional shock,” Guardenier said. “This might be the last summer, but we are still doing all the things to make 2026 great.”
Guardenier confirmed the Farm and Garden Camp will run the full seven weeks this year for potentially the last time. The Hampshire College Farm, however, will be “winding down” operations. Landeck said the farm will not offer a produce or meat community-supported agriculture (CSA) program this summer for community members to pick up fresh vegetables and meats.
“The biggest thing that the college is focusing on is supporting the students who are here for the teach-out,” Landeck said. “If the farm can be in support of that, that’s what we are doing, but otherwise we are winding down operations.”
The educational farm typically offers an eight-week summer CSA alongside a 12-week fall meat-share program. According to the Hampshire College website, the initiative began in 1992 as a student independent study project. While it launched with just 30 members, the CSA grew to more than 120 participants last year.
Hampshire College will continue the teach-out, a transition for students to finish their degrees, through the end of the year. On May 19, the college took the first steps to sell its extensive land and assets, including the 80-acre farm. The Trustees of Reservations and Kestrel Land Trust have put forth a proposal to protect the campus’s farm and forest land, but two other groups have also expressed interest in purchasing the campus.
The college could not be reached for comment.
Landeck said she will ensure the seedlings from the greenhouse do not go to waste. She and the limited staff will continue to care for the animals on the property for the time being. However, all other details remain uncertain.
“This is such a new process for everyone,” she said. “The college is trying to figure this out as they go.”
Camp continues
Unlike the farm, the Farm and Garden Camp is independent from Hampshire College and operates under a parent organization called The Farm Education Collaborative to deliver food and agricultural programming in the Valley.
For the last 17 summers, the Hampshire campus has served as a natural playground for hundreds of young people. In addition to cooking, children and adolescents harvest wool from sheep and dye it with natural plants. Students hike the grounds to find edible plants or flowers to press. They brush small farm animals and collect eggs for later recipes.
“I always want what we are doing to feel meaningful and authentic, that we are not making stuff up for them to do but they are making the whole farm function with their own hands,” Guardenier said.
No other camp Caroline Garman attended as a second grade student gave her the same hands-on experience with animals. The fun and friends kept her coming back summer after summer, from camper to counselor-in-training to a full-fledged staff member.
“I didn’t want to leave farm camp,” Garman said. “I had so much fun as a camper that I wanted to keep doing it.”
The recipes, memories and connections from the camp followed Garman to her time at Smith College. She regularly runs into returning campers around the community, even reconnecting with one at a high school play. Whenever she needs a crowd-pleasing dish, Garman whips up the camp quiche.
“This camp has existed in this space for so long. It’s hard to imagine it anywhere else,” she said. “It’s so tied to the Hampshire space.”
Guardenier does not feel a sense of finality as she plans the upcoming summer. Theoretically, she could bring the Farm and Garden Camp to another farm, although “pulling camp out of a box” is a daunting task. The future of the property itself remains highly uncertain, and anything is possible at this point.
“For me, there’s not an urgency to understand what’s happening in 2027,” Guardenier said. “I’m focused on making farm camp 2026 the best that it can possibly be.”
