Darren Allen poses with Pat, one of his sheep that Farm Camp participants will get to meet July 26 to 30 at the VoterVale Farm, 783 River Road, Avon. Gizmo also was insistent on being in the photo, as well. (BJ Bangs photo) AVON — Darren and Angel Allen want to share farm life with kids and help them understand where their food comes from.

That’s why they are undertaking a five-day Farm Camp at VoterVale Farm, July 26 to 30 for kids ages 5 to 11. The camp will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, and the cost is $150 per person.

Darren, 40, and his wife Angel, 35, returned to Angel’s grandparent’s farm (the Voter Farm) in Avon about 10 years ago. This is the third year they’ve really been serious about farming. They started with four sheep and three pigs. They now have 34 sheep and 21 pigs. Darren says, in the summer, it’s a seven-day, 40- to 70-hour job. They’ve just started going to the Farmington Friday and Saturday farmer’s markets. And business has been pretty good, he says. “The canned fiddleheads have been a real hit.”

These Katahdin Sheep, a type of Hair Sheep, shed like a dog, and don’t have to be sheared. However, they do like to play, as is seen here as they try to scale this apple tree. (BJ Bangs photo) The VoterVale Farm’s major focus is on sheep, pigs and vegetables. They don’t have cows, horses, nor do they raise chickens for market. With 12 acres on the back side of the river (River Road) and 45 on the other side (Route 4, across from the old Parlin residence), Darren relies on using the animals to make life a little easier, including serving as the lawn mowers. However, he admits they do rent out a good portion of the land on the Route 4 side for farming related purposes.

Pigs don’t like to pose for pictures, and Boris is no exception as Darren Allen of the VoterVale Farm in Avon, tries to get him to slow down and look at the camera. (BJ Bangs photo) Darren credits Angel with the idea of the Farm Camp. One of their customers from Carrabassett Valley suggested they do a farm camp, stating she had sent her kids to Albion for a day, and it was a fantastic experience. It’s kind of along the same idea as Open Farm Day (where farms open their doors to the public with education sessions one day each summer), except it’s for a whole week. There are a lot of summer folks in Rangeley who are from very large urban areas that would possibly be very interested in learning where their food comes from, he said.

“The number one question we get from visitors is how can you raise these animals and then eat them,” Darren said. He responds, “The large factory farms use hormones, employ illegal immigrants and the animals are treated poorly. Here, the pigs have a pasture and are allowed to be animals.”

They are hoping for 20 kids to sign-up. Online registration is available through their Web site, www.votervalefarm.com.

The camp will include instruction in arts and crafts, water ecology, nature walks and tree identification. Kids will also have a chance to do chores and hang out with the pigs and sheep. There will be five or six stations at the Farm Camp. They will have a river walk where kids will learn how animals, plants and the river interact, an afternoon writing session and a mountain hike up the near-by property owned by Angel’s father, Verne Voter, where they will study tree identification, insects and how they interact with one another.

One example of animal interaction given by Darren includes how pigs can be used as equipment. When you set up a paddock system in the woods, the pigs eat under the soil with their snouts, digging up the area. They also fertilize the trees. It takes a year to do, but the pigs can clear the brush out of an area. Their snout sort of works like a plow, he said. What’s left are trees and the grassy area underneath.

The Farm Camp idea has been tried in Southern Maine, and “we’re borrowing the idea,” Darren said.

With three kids, Sean, 11, Evan, 8, and Ian, who will be six very soon, VoterVale Farm has lots of visitors. “My kids’ friends love coming here to see the animals.” Darren says VoterVale Farm has Tamworth pigs, Heritage breeds or old style pigs. They don’t grow as fast as white pigs, which are at mature weight in as little as four and a half to five months. It takes the Tamworth’s more like six to eight months to be mature.

And the sheep aren’t for shearing. They are for meat. They have Katahdin Sheep, a version of Hair Sheep that shed their fur like a dog. “They are very adaptable to Maine winters,” he said.

In addition to the kids, they have lots of other visitors drop in to check on what’s for sale or just look at the animals.

Angel works two jobs, one at the IT department at MSAD #9, and one at the IT department at MSAD #58. She hopes to cut back a bit, but Darren says they don’t regret the choice they made to return to the Avon farm from southern Maine. “We use to wonder what we should do on a Sunday afternoon. We kind of laugh about that now,” he said.

Running a camp is not foreign to Darren who has coached soccer at the University of Maine, Farmington and MSAD #58. He’s also helped run the MSAD #58 soccer camp. While it’s different, it’s similar, he said.

Darren explains that during the winter, he studies information about best practices for gardening and farming. He uses companion planting, where one plant benefits another. For example, carrots are a good mix between the black ground cover between tomatoes, he said.

Farms are starting to make a comeback in Maine and there’s no better way for kids to find out what really goes on at a farm than to go to Farm Camp.

For more information, go to their Web site: www.votervalefarm. com.