Today, we pause to remember the lives lost on September 11, 2001, and to honor the courage of the first responders, service members, and countless individuals who stepped forward in the days that followed.

We pray that God continues to guide us in building a world rooted in peace, compassion, and unity.

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When my parents started Camino, there were no plans for a farm.

Their original intentions were just to build a camp and retreat center. But with construction delayed for various reasons, the idea of the farm began to take shape.

And what a blessing it has been, as it’s given way to our Provisions program.

Provisions at Camino Farms is dedicated to raising high-quality cattle and chickens that are ethically cared for, thoughtfully stewarded, and intentionally grown to nourish our broader community.

Through this program, we process and donate fresh beef and chicken to food pantries and community organizations expanding access to nutritious food for families who too often go without.

Since May we've donated over 10,000 lbs. of chicken and more than 8500 eggs.

In October, we will process 9 steers which will produce roughly 5,000 pounds of beef.

However, none of this is possible without our Farm manager, Baylor, and his right-hand man, Andrew.

So today I’ll be covering:

• A day in the life of Baylor
• The two types of Chickens on the Farm
• Some unfortunate events at the farm this summer
• How our food reaches food pantries in the surrounding areas

Let’s dive in.
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Meet Our Farm Manager Baylor was the first employee at Camino. He comes to us from semi-rural Louisiana, with a few stops in between. His high school had a strong Future Farmers of America Program. But he wanted nothing to do with farming after graduation. He went on to pursue a political science degree at LSU. From there, he was left with the question “What now?” He began working with nonprofits whose missions were getting good to impoverished groups, before eventually getting a second degree in food security. The curriculum was largely oriented toward producing food in underdeveloped countries. It was through his work in food security where he realized he wanted to get back into production for health reasons. That led him to Rodale Institute in Kutztown, Pa. Rodale is a non-profit organization that supports research into organic farming. After working as a consultant in the farming industry, he wound up here at Camino running the farm operations starting in January 2025. Since being with us, Baylor is the one spearheading our initiative to raise both cattle and chickens to donate to local food pantries. Let’s walk through a typical day for Baylor.

A Day on the Farm

Between six and seven - Feed “everyone”

• Milk for the newborn calves
• Feed two groups of steer
• Move the broilers (chickens)
• Set up lines to move the steers one paddock forward

A paddock is an individual fenced unit within a larger grazing area.

Mid-Day Project

Each day comes with a mid-day project that happens between feeds.

These projects are always changing. Right now Baylor and Andrew are maintaining all the fence lines, through mowing and trimming.

But the projects may also include a weekly egg pickup.

A handful of times per year, there is chicken processing that happens on site.

And once per year, the cattle are sent to be processed before donation.

PM chores

• Everybody gets fed again
• Collect eggs
• Wash eggs

It’s important to note, everything needs to happen day in and day out, with no days off.

And as you can imagine, some days aren’t all sunshine and rainbows.
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Trouble on The Farm

You will see below that there are many curveballs Baylor and Andrew have to deal with throughout the year, which is why we are so grateful for all they do!

These are just a handful they had to deal without through the summer.

Tornado

The tornado picked up the chicken coops out in the field. Unfortunately some of our chickens did not make it through the storm. This happened right around the time of the June heatwave.

Drunk driving Incident

There was a driver who took out part of the fence. The person fled the scene and we couldn’t track down the vehicle, which led to a pricey fence repair.

The tractor got stuck

Obviously the tractor is a pivotal part of the operations here. Fortunately for us, the local farm community was able to lend a hand and get the tractor out of the mud!

Power outages

Because we are on flat, rural land, the wind kicks up during storms and knocks the power out, ultimately taking the freezers out with it. So this creates urgency to get our chicken product to our donation partner before any of it spoils.

Which is another thing Baylor and Andrew are responsible for.

And speaking about chickens, let’s dive into the two different types.
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Layers And Broilers

There are two types of chicken: layers and broilers.

Broilers are our meat chickens. The broilers arrive on the farm as chicks, and within 6-8 weeks, a broiler is a fully breasted chicken and ready for processing.

Layers are our egg chickens. Genetically they will not get anywhere near as big, and as Baylor puts it, they are "predestined to lay eggs, essentially." Within sixteen to seventeen weeks they start laying eggs.

For a quick history on chickens as food: it wasn’t until about 1950 that Americans started eating much chicken. Before then, chickens were considered a stew bird. They were basically all 'layers'.

People then figured out how to breed chickens to become an efficient meat producing animal.

Now Americans eat three times as much chicken as we did before 1950.

This extra meat allows us to provide more food through our Provisions program.

Local Food Pantries

As part of our Provision program, we work with two local distributors.

• Garden of Health — distributes to food pantries in Montgomery County
• Helping Harvest — distributes to food pantries in Schuylkill and Berks County

Through the help of these distributors, we are able to help feed tens of thousands of families in the area.

Our program is especially meaningful because it is so rare to get protein sources in a food pantry. A majority of those struggling with poverty are often undernourished because they’re not getting the protein they need. They usually have a heavy carbohydrate and saturate d fat diet.

With the rising food costs across America, that hits those in poverty much harder - thus making it even harder for them to find healthy protein sources.

For example, it cost us around $60,000 in our most recent purchase of calves to be raised on the farm. This happened because droughts out west have raised cattle prices. The same amount last year cost us closer to $20,000.

Because of this rise in food costs, food pantries are now seeing more than double and triple the amount of visitors than in the past.

Which makes the work we do, providing healthy protein sources, that much more meaningful.

Camino Farms is an “In-Kind” Organization. Philanthropic support is essential to Camino’s future and allows us to extend Camino’s reach to families, youth, and individuals most in need—today and for generations to come. Please consider making a donation to help support our provisions program. Donate to our Provisions Program

Spots Still Available For Our Women’s Retreat Next Week. We'll start at the Padre Pio Shrine with Confession at 9:30 and Mass at 10:30 before heading back to Camino for Lunch, a short video, and time for reflection, rest, and prayer. The cost is $30 per person, collected the day of. Full details on the retreat flyer here. And you can find the registration form here.

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Final Thoughts

With the majority of our summer having been camps and retreats, we had not gotten around to highlighting the farm.

However, there is an undeniable connection between the farm and camp even though they look like two separate entities.

Part of our growing mission at Camino is to include the campers and retreatants in the day to day activities of the farm.

Baylor says:

In accordance with the social justice teachings of the church, it is our duty to give back to those less fortunate.

Additionally, the social justice teachings call us to care for God’s creation.

At Camino, we pride ourselves in both of those teachings through radical hospitality.

That is not just about the people that come to our camp. We would like to touch the hearts of all the people that can somehow be impacted by what we’re doing here.

And we invite all who join us to partake in that mission.

Because we believe everything here grows together.
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Yours in service,

Katrina
Executive Director, Camino Farms

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