The elementary schoolers helped us to finish cutting our seed potatoes today. Because each eye has the ability to grow a new plant, we can grow a number of potato plants from each potato and therefore cut each seed potato into multiple pieces, each of which will be planted twelve inches apart in furrows dug …
Mashed, Baked, French Fried: Looking forward to a Potato-Heavy Season Read More »
It’s over. As of this afternoon, there are eight lambs, one calf, 150+ chicks, and eight piglets in the barn (or, in the case of the piglets, in the woods). Some highlights: Embracing Intensity My favorite photo from this birthing season features a handful of semester students grouped around a lambing pen. They are …
Though most of Sal’s work is on our farm, she obligingly took a field trip last Wednesday to Damariscotta, 20 minutes up the coast. There, she – with some help from Hilary and me – plowed a garden plot on the Damariscotta River Association‘s Round Top Farm. This garden will be managed by students at Great Salt …
This is a week of transitions on the farm (truth be told, I could say that about any week, given that a farm is a living system and change is the only constant). But, whoa, this is a week of transitions on the farm. On Sunday morning, we sadly and sweetly said goodbye to Semester …
What to do on a blisteringly hot day like this one? Here’s a few snapshots from our day on the farm: Cut hay. Every year about this time – give or take a week or maybe two – we cut our first hay of the season. Sitting on the horsedrawn mower behind the …
It’s 90 degrees outside. What’s happening on the farm? Read More »
Camp has begun, so young boys are everywhere on the farm, at all hours of the day and evening. This morning we started a three-day activity block focused on the cows and our dairy production. Tomorrow we’ll make fromage blanc and churn farm ice cream, but today we spent much of our time together setting the …
On the heels of writing about the first two days of our three-day “From Moo to You” activity block, I can’t help but revisit with an update. Day three of this cow-themed activity was farm-classy meets eleven-year-old boy, in all the best ways. As the boys gathered in a circle at the start of …
We harvested the farm’s garlic this past week with boys campers, a fun and fragrant experience. Once harvested, the farm crew divided the garlic into three groups: The largest bulbs (roughly one-quarter of the harvest, or 600 bulbs) are hanging in the barn to cure. This fall, we’ll break the garlic heads down into their …
Indigo blues, that is. This summer and fall, participants in programs across Chewonki – from Boys Camp to the Elementary School to the Maine Coast Semester – have been dyeing cotton fabric and farm wool with Japanese indigo. This plant, carefully cultivated on the farm since we seeded it indoors in early April and …
Moments after 9:30 am on Saturday morning, the 45 students in Semester 59 gathered in a circle on the quad before heading off in small groups in seven distinct directions. They carried loppers and hand pruners, shovels and maps. All donned work gloves on their hands – their most critical tool in the next two …
Chewonki is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. ©2024 All Rights Reserved.