This is my third year being a CSA member. Not only is the taste of the vegetables amazing, but…read morerecently it's been significantly cheaper than shopping organic at the big box stores. I go to the farm for pickup every week, and I love the variety, that I can pick and choose between over a dozen different herbs and veggies, the extras they often have, the UPick tomatoes and beans and etc. It's also such a relief to know where my food is coming from, that there are no chemical fertilizers or pesticides in it, that it's not downwind a feedlot so no chances of salmonella outbreaks in their leafy greens, that it hasn't been sprayed to ripen -- the peace of mind itself is invaluable. They have three seasons (spring, summer, and fall) that you can sign up for (that often sell out early, especially the summer season), as well as Thursday farmstands in the afternoon. Also, at the beginning of May they sell seedlings, with prices cheaper than The Growing Place, and most of the plants I buy from there thrive in my garden with no additions required (I put compost in the hole and around the base when I first plant them, mulch around the seedlings, and that's pretty much it, by mid-July I'm getting more tomatoes and basil and etc than I know what to do with).

Well-established CSA with a pop-up farmstand on Wednesday nights. Organic produce grown all from…read moreseed resulting in 28 weeks of pickups from Mother's Day to Thanksgiving... wow! Why settle for a grocery store tomato when you can have these beauties??

TLDR: Do not send your child to Camp Vertical Extreme at Rockford Christian School if they have…read moretrouble regulating their emotions. My son has had some emotional regulation issues since just before the pandemic (which of course made everything worse). His last pre-school deployed various tools and strategies over two years to help him and saw a lot of success, and unfortunately some failure. We've also taken him to therapy to give him some tools to deal with his big emotions (HUGE believer in therapy over here). It's an ongoing parenting process that I feel woefully unequipped to deal with, but I muddle through and try to make the best choices. At the beginning of June, we started him at a new Summer Camp to try and give him a more physical outlet for all of his energy. We made the mistake of not mentioning the emotional regulation issues we'd been working on with him because we figured if it came up, we would address it with them then. We wanted to avoid him being labeled as a problem child from the get-go, but I think this decision ended up hurting us and also him. Anyways, there was some trouble about a couple of weeks ago and he was sent home because he lost it in a classroom and ended up breaking a desk and making a huge mess. After this, we spoke with the director of the camp. This was the beginning of our very negative interactions with this person. She was combative during all conversations we had with her and continually brought the conversation back to how our child had acted and not how we could problem-solve to move forward. After an unbearably long conversation that my husband had with her, we felt like there was a plan in place for when another situation came up. Fast forward to today, I received a message about an hour after I dropped him off letting me know that I would have to come and pick him up. I asked what happened and she said that he scratched another child. When I got there I received a few more details about the altercation. When I had a chance to speak with my son, he filled in more details for me. Everything he said matched up with what two administrators of the camp shared with me at the door. He just had more information. We learned there was more to the altercation than we were told. At this point, I was still very much on the side of our son having lost his cool around adults who were acting appropriately. My husband called the camp to speak with the adults involved. The first person he spoke to was very combative and again kept focusing on how well she knew her job and how badly our son had acted. My husband continually tried to redirect the conversation to find a way to move forward that worked for everyone but this woman just yelled at him and got more and more agitated. My husband asked to speak with the director of the camp and this woman told him no because she was "handling it". She also laughed at him when he tried to end the conversation. He called the school back to speak with the director directly but had to leave a message. A short while later, the director called back. She had the same combative attitude and did not care at all about the details of the altercation with the children and what led up to the meltdown. All she cared about was that my son had kicked her and scratched her while she was physically removing him from the situation. This was the first we had heard about them laying their hands on him. This specific admission was very telling about how poorly these supposedly well-trained adults had handled a 5-year-old's meltdown. We later learned from our son that the adults had twisted his arms together and held him in place as well as his legs. This was after they had already removed him from the situation. This is a completely unacceptable way to treat a child who is in distress. Any basic childcare curriculum should have taught them that. Certainly, 30 years running a camp for children should teach better compassion and care. Long story long, my child is now no longer welcome at the camp on the days where they take field trips (Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays), which is basically useless to full-time working parents. The reasoning they gave is because he could create an unsafe situation for the other children. They inexplicably kept mentioning that he might run into the street... Really what they need to say is that they do not have the resources or education necessary to care for a 5-year-old who's learning to regulate his emotions (which should scare every parent considering sending their child to this camp). With a ratio of about 5 to 1, there is absolutely no reason they should not be able to help him. I could not be more disappointed in these adults who are tasked with caring for children, no matter what their emotional state is.

went here for a man retreat in 2011. the castle was…read more OFF. THE. HOOK. very nice castle. lots of bedrooms, places to hide etc.

I liked very much the place is beautiful very quiet, the forest, the beautiful cabins, the very…read morefriendly staff 100% recommended

This is my son's first year at camp Winnebago and he absolutely loves it. He will be in 2nd grade…read morein this upcoming school year and has a lot of energy, and Camp Winnebago is perfect for him. He has a great time every day, has made a lot of friends, and has gained a lot of confidence and learned more life skills just in the short time he's been going. And as far as things from a parent's perspective, all the staff are very kind and helpful, and you can tell they love what they do and that they love their campers!

this place is great! a truly magical place. i got married here! thank you to all the wonderful…read morestaff

Do not recommend. My son spent 2 weeks in this camp. While camp is in a beautiful area, it didn't…read morefit. He was not allowed to call or talk to us parents at all, we had no connection to hear from him personally. Camp directors make sure kid will only write 1 happy letter per week, so that even if there are issues, you will only find out when the child is back. My son is a great normal quiet kid yet he was bullied there and we had no control over it ... This camp Is a hit or miss. Also, directors use shady tactics of making kids spend pocket money (that they insist kids need to have) on stuff they don't need. Like my son brought home t-shirt and blanket and something else they basically forced him to buy. I tried to return with no luck.

My daughter joined Swift Nature Camp last summer. The area and nature is beautiful. There was…read moreincident when my daughter got sick and she couldn't call home. The counselors refused to notify parents that she was really sick. They told her that she was home sick and that is why she wants to call home. My daughter is 14 years old and very independent, Swift Nature camp management refused to contact parents, they did not care. She was really sick and they gave her throat medicine. From our point of view this action was unacceptable. It showed that all they care is business. My daughter suffered so much that she came home crying and very sick.