KINGSTON, R.I. — April 3, 2007 — The University of Rhode Island’s Woodvale Farm Day Camp at its W. Alton Jones Campus and some of its young campers will be featured on TV’s Food Network show “The Secret Life of …”. The segment, “The Secret Life of Camping” will be shown Monday, April 9 at 10 p.m. and for the night owls it will be shown three hours later on Tuesday, April 10 at 1 a.m.

URI 1987 theater alumnus Jim O’Connor, host of the show, and a camera crew spent a day with six campers and two counselors at the Jones Campus in West Greenwich last June. The children harvested strawberries and rhubarb and made cornbread, zucchini bread, and strawberry rhubarb crisp. The kids also interacted with the goats,

fed and watered the sheep, visited the cows, and collected eggs from the chicken coop.

“The Food Network was attracted to our camp because we have young children harvest produce from our farm to prepare food,” says John Jacques, manager of the campus’s Environmental Education Center. “We make a direct connection between where the food originates and the final cooked product. Usually the campers cook one or two items like corn or zucchini bread during the week. They also make hand-cranked ice cream, while not technically cooking, it is a camp favorite.”

The W. Alton Jones segment will be one of four vignettes featuring camping on the 30-minute show.

The camp’s setting is an original 19th Century farm surrounded by rocky pastures, a country barn, and lush gardens. It is home to sheep, ducks, chicken, pigs, rabbits, cows, and goats. The one-week camping sessions run from June 25 to August 17, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Anyone interested in the camp is invited to attend an open house either Saturday, April 7 or Saturday, May 12 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, go to www.altonjonescamp.com.

Pictured above

Food Network cameras roll as Woodvale Farm campers, counselors, and Jim O’Connor (rear, red shirt), URI 1987 theater alumnus, head to the strawberry patch. URI News Bureau Photo by Michael Salerno Photography.

URI alumnus Jim O’Connor, host of Food Network’s show “The Secret Life of…” follows Woodvale Farm campers and counselors at URI ‘s Alton Jones campus to their next filming destination. URI News Bureau Photo by Michael Salerno Photography.