Sunday, January 3rd
- Kathryn, Doug, and Jacob were early arrivals and got settled into the house. An evening of mending and story sharing was thoroughly enjoyed.
Monday, January 4th – Introductions & Orientation
- Winternship Orientation! Deanne showed us the ropes and started our tour of the grounds and buildings. Organizing four weeks with 7 people can be a challenge, but Deanne challenges us to all “FIOT”: Figure It Out Together.
- Kathryn, Veneta, Petar and Doug joined Deanne to the bi-weekly Non-violent Communication meet up where we enjoyed cookies and learned the basics of the NVC framework for empathetic listening and expressing feelings, needs, and requests.
- Special guest visit: Gene stopped by with the BEAUTIFUL door that he built for the Kids’ Cottage. Check out his work!
Tuesday, January 5th
- Deanne started the lessons with some foundations on foundations.
- We all gathered around near the Red Shed to do a wood chopping skill share.
- Kelly, Kathryn, and Veneta took apart the worm composting tower and separated out the compost from the straggler worms hanging at the bottom.
Wednesday, January 6th
- We continued the tour of the greenhouse, compost piles, Kids’ Cottage, spiral compost toilet hut, Deanne’s sleeper cabin, thatched wood hut, the cob oven, and Strawbale Studio. While looking at the structures, we observed and learned about the variety of foundations in each.
- At the Strawbale Studio we took the temperature of the compost pile constructed to heat the building. The interior of the pile produced heat of 140 +/- degrees Fahrenheit for a year, from November 2015 through November 2016 !
- Daily events in the household include nature in many forms.
- Reed Harvest instructions! We drove out to the reed field and learned techniques for cutting and bundling.
Thursday, January 7th – Lashing & A-frames!
- More orientation tour, this time including the humanure compost pile, Red Shed and it’s many tools and rocket stove, and Intern Getaway cabin.
- Today’s Lesson: Lashing. We learned the Japanese square knot for tying a post and beam together. Learned some good words like “Frapping” and it isn’t how to order your Starbucks coffee.
- We were given a demo on how to light up a rocket stove.
- Planning meeting for the upcoming weekend Thatching workshop. Lots to do in preparation! We salvaged a collapsed A-frame from a previous year and restored it to be a hands-on project for the workshop.
Friday, January 8th – Day Off!
- Most of the Winterns are half-work-trade, meaning we are working 10 hours a week to offset the cost of the internship. There is always plenty of cleaning, wood chopping, and cooking to be done.
- Some of us attended and thoroughly enjoyed a Yin Yoga class in Lake Orion.
Saturday, January 9th
Checkout this blog post on the Thatching Workshop Weekend!