Welcome Staff Members!

Thank you for your interest in becoming a staff member at Farm Camp. Our online application is available and we conduct interviews with applicants from November through May each hiring season.

Click “Apply Now” from the menu on the right.

Positions are available for experienced, responsible and enthusiastic young leaders who want to work with children in a positive, outdoor environment. Position descriptions and details can be found here.

We hire about 30% of the staff through international placement agencies, bringing in qualified instructors and counselors from all over the world. Past staff have adventured over from South Africa, Columbia, Mexico, New Zealand, Croatia, Ireland, Australia, Scotland and England. International staff bring a wonderful diversity of culture and experience to camp.

History and Location

Farm Camp was founded In 1952 by Abe and Eve Crittenden. They created a philosophy to share this enchanted place on the Sonoma Coast and transformed it into a summer farm camp for children. This vision, which continues today, was to create a community where people could live in peace with each other and nature while having fun and building strong relationships. The property is located 2.5 hours north of San Francisco in Sonoma County, CA nestled in the infamous redwood forest just a mile and a half from the Pacific Ocean.

Our Purpose

To nurture the goodness of the human spirit by sustaining and growing this unique farm camp community.

Commitment to DEIB

Farm Camp is committed to making diversity, equity, and inclusion part of everything we do – from how we hire and train our staff to how we support our campers. We know that a diverse, equitable, and inclusive camp experience is a more life-changing and successful one. We embrace diversity of background, perspective, culture and experience, and together with our staff, work to ensure that every camper no matter their background and lived experience, feels a sense of belonging at camp.

Campers

We welcome an average of 100 campers each session. Campers range in age from 8-14 years old most sessions. We offer a concurrent Camper-in-Leadership-Training (CILT) program for 9th – 11th grade campers looking to grow their skillsets. The majority of our campers come from communities around the Bay Area and Los Angeles, however, we do get a number of campers from around the United States as well as other countries. We are also lucky to have the ability to host a small percentage of scholarship campers through non-profit organizations in San Francisco, and provide financial assistance through a small private scholarship fund.

Program

Our program is designed to balance independence, choice, challenge, and support. We strive to provide an environment where kids grow by feeling comfortable enough to step outside their comfort zones, and try to new things. Our staff are the most important component in creating an amazing camp experience for our campers. Counselors are assigned to a unit, but also lead activities during the day. Counselors spend about a third of the day with their unit ( Morning, Siresta, Evening Program, Specialty days, and Bedtime), and the other two-thirds of the day is spent leading activities.

Skills such as horseback riding, guitar/ music, ropes course, wilderness survival, arts & crafts, farm animal care, Horticulture, photography, lifeguarding, and performing arts are particularly desirable.

Basic Requirements

Counselors must be 19 years old and have completed at least a year of college or equivalent. All counselors are responsible for being CPR and First Aid certified before they arrive at camp.

Applicants are expected to be able to work from the beginning of staff training until the end of camp. If your available dates fall outside of this range, or you have other scheduling conflicts, please email the office before applying.

Training and Support

Farm Camp provides a week-long Staff Training before the summer sessions begin. This week is spent orienting counselors to all aspects of camp and the job, including working with campers, leading activities, traditions, skits and songs, rules and regulations, and emergency procedures.

We are committed to helping counselors excel at their jobs. Ongoing support and professional development for counselors is provided throughout the summer in many forms. Directors are available at all hours for mentoring, advice, and support. Counselors receive 2 informal “Check-In’s” during the summer for reflection and feedback on their job performance.

Check out our Staff Positions page for descriptions of the positions available for the upcoming summer.