What we eat and where we live are important to us here at Longacre Farm.  During Longacre Leadership summers, there are no hired cooks or maintenance people; kids and staff work together to maintain and improve our facilities and cook for the entire community! 

How We Care:

Each summer, the entire Longacre Leadership community divides into twelve crews.  Each crew has a different task each day for two weeks.  One day a crew might be feeding animals, the next it might be setting up the dining hall, working in the organic vegetable garden, or cooking.  

We teach and learn a lot while “on crew,” and there is great pride in the independence and competence we all gain from our combined efforts.  We also deepen relationships with fellow crew-mates, as working together is a great way to make friends!

What We Eat:

Kitchen crew is the most demanding crew on the farm.  We use local meats, vegetables and eggs as much as possible, starting with organic products from our own farm.  The menu is varied and takes into consideration many different diets and tastes.  We make sure to include vegetarian, vegan, omnivorian and gluten-free options at every meal.  We welcome guidance and input from teenagers, parents and staff, as we attempt to accommodate all.

Where We Live:

Longacre Farm is a large property and our buildings and living areas are spread out.  Our campsite is situated in a wooded section of the property, and it’s where we eat, sleep, and gather as a community.  

We sleep in large 16' X 16' council tents with beds and cubbies for our clothes.  Teenagers of varying ages share gender-specific tents.  The staff sleeps separately from the students in their own tents, which are located very nearby.

There is a shower-house, laundry and a separate Clivus Multrum composting toilet facility just down the hill from the tents.  Also at the campsite are a large institutional kitchen, dining hall, summer office, arts and recreation building and the Octagon, where we have our community meetings four nights a week. 

Down the road, by our American chestnut orchard, there’s a cluster of buildings that include the Wood Shop, the passive solar, earth-sheltered greenhouse, and the Art House, an innovative, passive solar, green building made of ICF blocks.

During the summer, we spend a lot of time in our two heritage bank barns, and are members of the Historic Barn and Farm Foundation of PA.  Surrounding our main barn are a few important buildings: the Pig Barn, the Tractor Shed (our welding and repair workshop) and the Pole Barn.  Our second bank barn doubles as our horse stables and theater where we host two community productions each summer.  Just across the road, we have a spring-fed pond to swim in.