Summer Camp is not just a luxury for wealthy suburban families. For more than 70 years, Rocky Mountain Farmers Union has offered a camp program that is affordable, educational, and fun. The RMFU Cooperative Leadership Camps are held at the beginning of June in Bailey, Colorado, at the National Farmers Union Educational Center.

Each year the camp curriculum covers a topic important to rural families. The campers come from all over the state, from inner city and ‘burbs to little towns on the prairie. Urban kids learn how rural life contributes to our nation’s food and energy security. Rural kids gain a better understanding of their heritage and how they can contribute to the sustainability of American agriculture and rural values. Everybody picks up some skills, sees how “the other half lives,” and comes away with new friends.

In addition to hiking, field trips, singing and dancing – the usual fare at summer camp – campers participate in cooperative games, team-building activities, and leadership workshops, and they even stock and run their own cooperative store.

RMFU campers have been developing self-confidence and leadership skills in the beautiful Bailey setting for three generations, and most of the counselors (and even some of the senior staff) are camp veterans.

The theme for this summer is Growing Good Taste. “We are building on the USDA’s Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food program,” RMFU Education Director Jennifer Luitjens Bahr said. Campers will learn about good nutrition and the value of local sources of local foods.

“We’ll be encouraging kids to look at their eating habits, think about where their food comes from, and take the first steps toward making healthy food decisions,” Bahr said. “That’s what growing good taste is all about.”

RMFU coordinates transportation to and from Bailey and raises “campership” money to help with financial needs. But RMFU Summer Camp is remarkably affordable at around $50 a day for a four- or five-day camp experience. The camp schedule is June 6-9 for kids who have completed grades 2-4, June 9-13 for those who have completed grades 5-7, and June 13-17 for Senior Camp (completed grades 8-12).

“Summer camp is our way to give back to the grassroots communities that RMFU was built on,” said RMFU Foundation Director Ben Rainbolt. “Our young people are tomorrow’s leaders, and we want to make sure they are prepared to serve their country and community.”

For more information on RMFU Summer Camps, visit www.rmfu.org/education/ or call 303.752.5800.

Senior campers line up to buy snacks at the co-op store they stock and manage.

Special to the Recorder Online

Maybe it’s the sweeping view of Longs Peak from the large picture window behind the altar at Berthoud Family Church, maybe it’s the hot coffee that is always waiting there and maybe it’s the laid back camaraderie with other moms, but somehow I always leave the Berthoud Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) meeting feeling refreshed and ready to resume my responsibilities as a mom.

Two area moms, Jenna Conover and Kira Hershman, started the new MOPS group in Berthoud two years ago when they felt like something was missing in another very large, over 100 members, MOPS group they were in. “We had a Wednesday play date with six of us and decided to start a smaller MOPS group,” Conover said. “The idea really started around the sandbox at that play group.”

At about the same time that Conover and Hershman were contemplating starting the MOPS group, Berthoud Family Church, where Conover’s father-in-law is pastor, was building a new, much larger building off County Road 23 outside of town. “I am the events coordinator and children’s leader for the church. I asked the events leader if we could start a MOPS group and she said it was fine,” Conover said jokingly. “Our MOPS group started the year the new church was built.”

The Berthoud Family Church MOPS group is not huge, having maintained a membership of approximately 10 to 15 moms since it started, which is just how Conover and Hershman like it. “This allows us the time to be able to help each and every one of our moms,” Hershman said.

Another goal of the new MOPS group was to have a group that members do not feel pressured to put in extensive amounts of time. Conover and Hershman decided that most moms already are very busy and don’t need added commitments. “We’re just all here and we’re doing stuff that we like to do,” Conover explained. “We are here to feed you and restore you and get that kind of ‘aah’ moment. It’s a refreshing time.” With activities such as simple crafts, inspiring speakers and an Aveda spa day coming up this spring, the Berthoud MOPS group offers ample opportunity for fun, relaxation and fellowship.

One common thread among all the MOPS members I talked to is the incredible juggling acts they perform in their lives as they care for their families, volunteer and work at various jobs. “We are hybrid moms,” Conover said. “The 1950s housewife is gone, but so are the bra burnings of the 1960s when women all wanted to go to work. We have lit our candles at both ends and are trying to do it all.”

Conover started her own business called Savvy Mommy, selling colorful nursing covers that go on like aprons and provide privacy for nursing mothers. In addition, she does some day care, is a blog writer and does part-time bookkeeping. Hershman supplements her family’s income by working as a dental assistant and office manager and selling Pampered Chef products.

Wendy Bailey, who has been with the Berthoud Family Church MOPS group since it started, maintains an equally busy schedule doing graphic design, selling Party Lite candles, mystery shopping and designing hardwood floor medallions. She will also be teaching clean energy at Front Range Community College next fall. Bailey said she also enjoys the Berthoud MOPS’ laid back atmosphere and smaller size. “I went to a big one and felt lost,” she said. “This one is smaller and more intimate.”

Bailey had been the guest speaker that day for MOPS, her topic being how to let God help us with the sometimes-overwhelming tasks that we are faced with in our lives as women. When asked what her favorite aspect of MOPS is, Bailey answered, “I enjoy the fellowship and the comfort of being with other moms. I can just be real.”

Melinda Beal, another MOPS member, who joined this year also came from a larger MOPS group and said she also enjoys the “low key” environment of the Berthoud Family Church MOPS. Beal keeps herself busy with various volunteer pursuits, including as a Girl Scout leader, member of a quilting club, as a committee member for Relay for Life and volunteering at her church.

With women leading such busy lives today, it seems all that much more important to take time out now and then and the Berthoud Family Church MOPS provides just such an opportunity. The group meets the first and third Friday of every month from 9-11 at the Berthoud Family Church, located three miles west of Berthoud just off Country Road 23 at 3982 Nations Way. For information, call 532-0717 or visit www.berthoudfamilychurch.org.