Who We Are
Bellwether Farm Camp, Retreat, and Education Center offers a model of sustainable living that promotes physical and spiritual wellness, fidelity to the environment, and social justice.
Programming
Nestled into the curves of the Vermillion River, Bellwether Farm is a camp, retreat, and education center dedicated to exposing the wider community to the creation that sustains all of life. As a working farm, its life focuses on four primary activities.
Facilities & Grounds
Bellwether Farm is a unique and affordable option for your next gathering. The center offers brand new facilities featuring a green technology, renewable energy, and water reclamation systems.
Get Involved
Find ways to get involved with Bellwether Farm including volunteer opportunities and ways to give.
June 18-23 *Only accepting boy campers currently, girl cabins are full*
Traditional Camp - $500
Rising 6-12th grade
June 25-30 *Open*
Specialty Camp: Theater - $500
Rising 3-8th grade
July 1-2 *Open*
Family Camp Weekend
Intergenerational: The fee for meals and programming is $50/person. (Children 5 and under are free). For lodging, families may choose to stay in the seasonal cabins (up to 10 people per cabin) at a rate of $10/person, or in a private retreat room for $95.
July 9-14 *Girls are close to capacity, boys are open*
Traditional Camp ($500) + Mini Camp - $250
Rising 2-9th grade
July 16-21 *Open*
Specialty Camp: Music and Arts - $500
Rising 3-8th grade
July 23-28 *Currently Full*
Traditional Camp ($500) + Mini Camp ($250)
Rising 2-9th grade
If you need help registering, here is a video demonstration.
*NOTE*
- Payment is due 30 days prior to the start of your camper's week.
- $100 Registration Deposit is Non-Refundable for the 2023 Camp season after May 1st, 2023.
Each Bellwether Farm Summer Camp is a small, weeklong camp centered on the beauty of all things great and small. Campers participate in a variety of activities stemming from and connected to our farm, fields, and forests. Activities include animal time with goats, sheep, chickens and more, foraging, creeking, swimming, reading, singing, cooking, hiking, fishing, farming, canoeing, archery, and arts and crafts. Reflection, prayer, and discussion are also incorporated into the day-to-day life of the community. Campers will reside in cabins with up to 8 campers and 2 counselors, organized by age and gender identity. Bathhouses are a short walk away. All meals are farm-to-table and emphasize the connection of our bodies to God’s creation.
A Mini Camp is offered to rising 2nd and 3rd graders as a “taste” of weeklong camp. Mini-campers will be integrated into the life of the camp starting Sunday afternoon, and depart on Tuesday evening.
Specialty Camps include all traditional camp activities in addition to a focus on specialty subjects that integrate into the life of Bellwether Farm.
Theater Camp will emphasize the dramatic and spoken word as powerful forms of meaning and self expression. Campers will practice storytelling, poetry, and script reading, as well as other thespian activities. The community will also develop and create a show, culminating in a final performance. This camp is focused on finding meaning in the written word and finding the voice and confidence to express it.
Music and Visual Arts Camp will incorporate choral singing, vocal exercises, percussion instruments, and other musical activities. No experience is required, although if you play an instrument, you will be welcome to bring it. Campers will also participate in creating nature art inspired by the landscape, including weaving, print-making, painting, and collage. This camp is focused on finding fun in musical and artistic community, as well as building understanding, skill, and self expression.
Family Camp: Families and "chosen family" of all ages are invited for an overnight camp at Bellwether Farm on July 1-2. Families will enjoy farm to table meals, traditional camp activities like fishing, hiking, arts and crafts, canoeing, and swimming, and community worship, prayer, and discussion. Check-in begins on Saturday morning and activities continue through Sunday lunch at noon, after which is departure.
**If you would like an exception to the listed age ranges (to include a sibling, etc.), please contact us.**
Bellwether Farm was created as a place where people of every age, background, faith, and self-understanding might experience God’s unyielding acceptance and become bellwethers of God’s unconditional love, themselves. As a ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio, we strive always to create a community of honesty, security, generosity, and respect. Following the model of Jesus, we seek to provide a spiritually, emotionally, and physically safe environment for all to grow in relationship to God, to the creation, and to one another.
To that end, the Summer Camp at Bellwether Farm welcomes children, youth, and staff without regard to race, ethnicity, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, or physical ability. We will strive, to the best of our ability, to make each camper’s experience one of support and encouragement, understanding that genuine inclusivity requires something of everyone and costs each of us the price of putting the other before our own self. Consequently, we will not tolerate harassment, discrimination, or bullying.
We do not expect or require of another person any specific definition or understanding of the divine. Rather, we work to help all open their minds and hearts to the mystery and complexity of life all around them, making room for the rich, if sometimes challenging, diversity of differences that God has fashioned in each of us and in the natural world. It is our intention to deepen every participant’s understanding of environmental fidelity, physical and spiritual wellness, nutrition, local food sourcing, resource conservation, and sustainability.
Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any questions or concerns about the mission and intention of Bellwether Farm and its Summer Camp program.
The Rt. Rev. Mark Hollingsworth, Jr.
Bishop of Ohio
Donate Today
Bellwether Farm is a model of green technology featuring passive buildings, renewable energy, and more. It is a vehicle through which we can teach the wider community about fidelity to the environment, nutrition, physical and spiritual wellness, local food sourcing, food justice, and sustainable living.
Volunteer
Volunteer around Bellwether Farm. Opportunities are posted as they become available.