Weekend #1

The first weekend was quite quiet. It seems strange that the absence of  just a couple of us made the house feel so much emptier. During the week the house is a teeming hub of staff, stufas, middle school students, teachers, visitors, etc. Over the weekend people take day trips or go to visit family, the staff is off site and the whole place is calm.  

Saturday was especially quiet. I woke up around 7:30 and took full advantage of the opportunity to lounge in bed.  When I got to the farm house I added my laundry basket to the rather long line of other baskets and steeped a cup of PG tips tea.  Breakfast was a fabulous morning pizza put together by one of the stufas on weekend chores (in penance for jumping the laundry line) made from fresh veggies, focacia, and farm eggs.  I then read our assigned chapters in Eliot Coleman's The New Organic Grower. 

Each weekend a pair of stufas is responsible for chores. This primarily means caring for the animals three times a day.  The kinds of chores we are expected to do will evolve over the year as the animals will slowly be reduced in number, greenhouse maintenance will be introduced into our rotation, and our knowledge will continue to grow. Right now staff is always on hand to provide support or assistance. 

Sunday was busier but still quite mellow.  In the morning I went into the office for my work study. Each week I am responsible for updating the school/student database for future mail-outs. It is only for an 1:30 to 2 hours and will end once the school year is over.

When I got to the farm house I made a pumpkin cranberry loaf for the house. It was perfectly fluffy inside but overbaked on the outside. 

At 3 I went with several other stufas to a neighbor's farm where they were hosting a cider pressing:

Each year this family takes their friends and family to an orchard in Vermont to pick up a truckload of apples that have fallen to the ground.  The next day they host a Potluck and a cider pressing.  They do this for three weekends and then distribute the apple cider among their family, friends, neighbors, etc.  Above is the truck after 4 hours of washing, rinsing and pressing. When we left at four they had not finished the truck but had pressed 140 gallons of cider and were expecting to end with 200.  

When we got home in the evening our fellows made a fabulous wild mushroom soup with noodles, a variety of toppings with a salad on the side.  The mushroom used was a variety called chicken or hen of woods which a neighbor found on his morning walk. 

After we ate I was pretty much done for the evening. My lunch partner and I prepped for Monday and then I headed home for bed.