Rodrigues Farm Offers Summer Camp for Kids
Lydia Rodrigues of Rodrigues Farm is hosting an “Urban Farm Camp” this summer for kids ages 6-12.
City kids can experience farm life this summer at a unique camp close to home. Rodrigues Farm offers weekly “Urban Farm Camp” sessions for ages 6-12 through August 25. The camp features live chickens and ducks, hundreds of plants, farm activities, games, story times, and more.
Lydia Rodrigues leads the camp at her sunny little farm on Montgomery Avenue in the Cherryland neighborhood, between Grove Way and Blossom Way.
“The goal is that by the end of the week, the kids will understand how a regenerative farm works, that we’re all a part of nature, and that the cycle of nature reflects what nature tells us,” she says.
Rodrigues spent her childhood in Castro Valley, attending Marshall Elementary and Creekside Middle Schools. A former special education paraprofessional, she decided to leave teaching as the pandemic stretched from weeks to months to years. She resolved to focus on her farm instead.
“The pandemic opened up the time and space for me to do this. I saw everyone was out walking in the neighborhood and that people were looking for a reason to get out of the house,” she says.
Rodrigues realized that her farm offered a learning opportunity for kids. She developed the idea of teaching children where food comes from by creating and maintaining a garden. She says that being closer to nature helps them appreciate farm life even if they live in the city. Many homeschool students have regular weekly classes with her, and the summer camp is in full swing.
“I had missed working with students but not being inside a classroom,” she says. “I’ve always been able to meet children where they are, and I’m open to kids that other people might write off.”
Rodrigues structures the farm camp to encourage individual strengths. If children prefer working with animals, planting, cooking, building, drawing, or reading, there's something for everyone. Each class begins with safety training and branches out from there.
Even though she comes from a family that had farmed in Puerto Rico and Hawaii, Rodrigues learned as she went along.
“I had never even held a chicken until three years ago,” she says.
Now the chickens and ducks ‘work’ alongside her, eating the bugs and worms that might otherwise hurt the crops.
“They’re the best employees on the farm,” Rodrigues says of the poultry. “It’s amazing for the students to see how beneficial the animals truly are. And if I can spark people's passion and empathy, it makes such a difference.”
She currently has a variety of projects going on her .15-acre property, in addition to farm camps. She sells the fruits, vegetables, herbs she grows, farm-fresh eggs, and budding plants. Farm memberships and a produce box waiting list are currently in progress.
Rodrigues Urban Farm Camp classes run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, with a special family event on Friday afternoons. Financial aid is available. A ten percent discount is available if code CVFORUM is inputted when registering. See RodriguesFarms.com to enroll or for more information, or call (510) 892-6828. The farm is located at 21410 Montgomery Ave., Hayward.