Circle D Farm, located in Woodbine, Maryland, is about to enter its 32nd year as a summer day camp for children ages 6 to 12. Though switching the Circle D Farm from a dairy farm to a summer day camp was a big step, this was only the first of many major changes that the business went through. They added being a vendor for company picnics, banquets, and weddings including catering, and indoor/outdoor tennis.
Circle D Farm uses the fact that it is a family run farm as one of its biggest attributes. Their main focus is to give the customer a great experience while also taking advantage of the 160 acres they sit on. They participate in land and water conservation so they are able to use the resources, but never abuse them. The whole family takes that mission to heart.
The current owner of Circle D Farm, Tim Dowd, was the second generation to take responsibility over the farm. Following his friend’s advice and guidance, he created the summer day camp. As a former camper at Circle D Farm, I (Rachel Lasky) can personally attest that Dowd created a wonderful atmosphere for children.
The farm itself provides a beautiful landscape for children to run around, participate in a variety of activities, and be kids, which is the main goal for the summer camp. Activities include swimming lessons, arts and crafts, pony rides, kickball, basketball, dodgeball, Homestead, and many more. They even provide buses for children to be picked up from and dropped off at home.
In the Fall, Winter, and Spring seasons, Circle D Farm stays quite busy being a vendor for picnics, banquets, and weddings. They provide their own catering, using local food when available. They get their meat from Wagner’s Meats, Mt. Airy Locker Company and are planning on using herbs and vegetables from a newly planted garden on their property.
For Circle D Farm, diversification has been the key to survival in the current economy. They attribute the fact that they haven’t suffered to their wide variety of services. “We pull from different places and our eggs aren’t all in one basket,” said Kate Dowd, part of the 3rd generation to help run the farm, “People come here for one thing and see another.”
The future plans for the business are quite simple as they just hope to keep things the way they are. Kate Dowd stated, “the business is manageable as it is now, but we are still able to customize things to our customers’ liking.” One change they would be happy to make, however, is to “make farming an aspect of the company again, as well as buying local food more often.”
For more information about Circle D Farm, please visit the its website.
