Farming
Farm Overview
Using the biodynamic farm as a foundation for learning, each morning we work at critical on-farm tasks, from vegetable cultivation, greenhouse work, tending livestock, working with draft animals, harvesting, forestry work, making cheese and other value-added products in the commercial kitchen, and making meals for each other on a rotational basis from food grown on the farm.
Spring
Get involved in seeding trays in the propagation greenhouse and harvesting early spring greens in the season extension high tunnels. As the ground thaws, we'll be preparing fields for the coming season. In the barns there is always work to be done. Whether working with the cow herd, the goats and sheep, possibly the horses, the jobs are necessary to keeping our animals healthy, and our food sources sound. Spring finds our animals moving onto pasture from their winter inside - a celebratory time for everyone around.
Summer
Help transplant crops from trays to the field, mirroring our shift in attention from protected spaces to the abundant vitality of living soils. While moving different groups of animals through our pasture rotation, watch how the cows greet new paddocks by tasting the soil, pay attention to where the sheep settle in to graze, suggesting differences in soil and pasturage. Learn about benefits and drawbacks to working with tractors or draft animals. Harvest vegetables, help to make yogurt, pack goat cheese for market.
Fall
Bring in the last field produce of the season with us, collecting winter squash and digging carrots, pulling orange from dark soil. We'll set them up in our dry room or in the root cellar, planning future meals and well-deserved respite from cold winter weather. Prepare winter greens with row cover and moveable field hoophouses. Get garlic in the ground for next season.
Winter
Dress warmly. See what it takes to raise winter hardy greens in the greenhouse and high tunnels. Learn about the challenges, and the joys, of harvesting timber from our forest using tractor and horse power. Join our orchard work as we make our way around the farm, pruning the fruit trees, learning about tree health and what makes trees more like soil than you might think. Oh, and before supper, let's just try that sled run one more time.
HandSkills
Afternoon Activities in the Workshops
Afternoons are spent in workshops learning a craft, from its tools and techniques to uses and history. Our craft-masters have specialties in pottery, weaving, woodworking, welding, and blacksmithing – wherever possible and relevant using raw materials from the farm. We'll also learn to repair and maintain tools and machinery.
Whenever possible, we encourage and facilitate the practice of collaborating with local educational organizations such as Unity College, MOFGA, Waldo Co Technical College, The Ecology Learning Center, as well as local independent businesses who may be interested in developing apprenticeship-type connections with some of our participants.
High-school student Stella Rosacker at boot-making project. Spring 2009
Recreation
Fostering Healthful Downtime.
Weekends may be spent hiking, swimming, sledding or skiing, at dances or singing, and preparing for festive meals, at the farm or at nearby places of interest. Those who wish to work on their studio projects may do so with supervision. Bowsprit is bordered by over a mile of frontage along dynamic Sandy Stream, and a seasonal brook runs through the property. The public already enjoys significant access across the farm and through it's woods via the Waldo County Trails Coalition's Hills-to-Sea Trail, and the SnowDusters snowmobile trail. We plan to develop more of a network of trails accessing far-reaching areas of the woods for forestry practices and hiking.
An exhibition on the last day of each 2-week session will allow participants to showcase their work for family and friends - among other things, this will provide for healthy social interface and relationship building.
Learning also happens by spending time together in less-structured, recreational activities.