Camping at North Harvest Farm

My son Felix, who is three, has been reading a Mickey Mouse book that shows Goofy and all his friends going camping, complete with stargazing and s'mores. Felix is a pretty sweet guy, the sweetest in my biased opinion, so when we closed our bedtime book and he sighed wistfully to me, saying, "Mama, I'd really like to go camping with you one day," it was a done deal.

Ashley and Jake, farmers at North Harvest CSA in Calumet, came through in providing that experience for us, and we got to be the first campers at their new spot! Sometimes, life works out.

It was an enchanting experience. First, you follow "the farm girl" (that's what Felix calls Ashley) to a clearing in the woods, where a portal of foliage unfolds into a grassy clearing. You can drive right up to your tent spot, which is completely secluded, surrounded in untouched forest, and there's enough space in the clearing for multiple tents or just about any type of camping activity you could dream up.

After set-up and a campfire dinner, Felix and I sat on a blanket and named things we could see, smell, hear, and touch, (a great nature activity for kids), and were pretty awed by the sound and sight of the tall trees above of us whispering in the wind, and the ever-present sound of birdsong.

The acreage features not only a whole entire functional farm (produce greenhouses and flowers), but also walking trails flanked by wildflowers and other native flora and fauna, and if curiosity fuels your feet like it did ours, you'll find yourself entering dreamy green forest space, completely covered in canopy. It is the perfect place for a walk, a meditation, or to set up a hammock and read or relax the day away in a portal to another world, and an escape from this one.

TLDR; this campground rules and the hosts could not be cooler! Book it on hipcamp.

North Harvest features a farm stand at their property on Tuesdays from 3-6 PM, offering their freshest harvests, plus bread, jam, and flowers. When I go back, I will try to time it so that I can load up at the farmstand before cooking dinner up on the fire. Farm fresh produce in a campfire meal.. Truly.. It doesn't get better than that.