Growing, Eating, and Preparing Foods Locally

Healing the Earth,Nourishing Ourselves: Growing, Eating & Preparing Food Locally

August 21-23, 2009

We held an experiential weekend in August with Andrew Faust, pictured above. Andrew is one of the premier Permaculture teachers in North America, from The Center For Bioregional Living in New York City and Ellenville, NY. He shared his expertise with us in several sessions. We then went to work.



Here's Debbie Way slicing up a cabbage for kimchi or sauerkraut



More prep for the kimchi. Jotham Bailey and Mimi McGiver are in the foreground.



They're almost done with the preparation before canning. You'll see the finished product in the last photo.



They cut up apples, made applesauce and canned it as a model for preserving fruit.



Here's Andrew Faust sharing the sourdough starter - yes, the group made sourdough bread. YUM. You can see some of the jars of kimchi on the left side of the table.



Buffy Curtis shares her recipe for yogurt. It's Buffy, Andrew, Susan Corson-Finnerty and Mimi.



Here's the group with their bounty from the weekend.

Work weekend - Quilters finish 4th quilt for Barclay

Over 5 years ago, Liseli Haines, our property manager, put out a request across the yearly meeting -- we wanted quilt squares in order to make 5 quilts -- one for each bed in Robert Barclay.

The response was amazing. There were plenty to make all 5 quilts. Hazel Haines and Liseli pieced those 1st quilt tops together and then volunteers coming to Powell House began to quilt.

The 1st two quilts took one year each. The 3rd 2 years. At the spring work weekend, we finished the 4th in one year! Here are photos of some of the volunteers from this weeks work. Young and old; experienced as well as those who had never quilted before.



These young women worked long and hard.



A new quilter!



Anita Paul, in the middle, checks for dropped stitches. It looks great.



Anita at her sewing machine, beginning to piece the 5th top together. Nan Olsen took it home with her to finish piecing the top and then we'll begin quilting again. Goal: to finish the 5th quilt before the 50th anniversary of Powell House 2010-2011.

Spring work weekend - building community

Some of our most popular weekends are our intergenerational ones -- even the work weekends. We had over 100 attenders ranging in age from toddlers to over 80 years old. There were chores that fit everyone's ability, energy and attention.




The ice storm left us with lots of downed branches. Here are 2 of our willing volunteers hard at work.



Other jobs included cleaning out the herb bed



After most of the sticks were gathered, we had a controlled fire. We moved the leaves to be composted.



The ice storm of December '08 has given us lots of firewood.



One of our annual jobs is cleaning out the gutters. This year, Brandon & Tom Glenn volunteered for the job. Carolyn Heary is in the background raking leaves.



We kept the log splitter in use for the whole day.



Reminy, in the foreground, is helping move firewood to our shed.



Jacki's wonderful bread kept us going.



Along with Martha's wonderful matzo ball chicken soup.



We also moved some of the downed tree trunks from the campground to the downed beech tree logs. We'll have a sawyer come and make them into lumber which we will later use around Powell House. Remember the cherry and butternut used in the ACC renovations?



We moved wood from the campground to our wood shed and found that several passengers were "into" tractor rides, too. Mike loves to drive that tractor.

Constructing a Boiler

It's been a busy 7 days. A week ago, Anola Gowin primed the boiler room, painting over WHITEWASH, if you can believe it.



Sunday afternoon found Liseli and Buffy cleaning out around the edges of the concrete floor, so that the plywood would fit.



After a couple of tries, the plywood fell into place.



Now the room was ready for Buffy to paint. All this was in preparation for the new boiler, being delivered on Monday.



Monday: The bobcat made several trips to and from the truck; taking the 6 new sections to the basement and then picking up the 8 old ones. Here's the 1st delivery of the old.



and a wooden flat with 3 new sections.



Don't they look whole (refer to an earlier blog).



Now, putting it all together. Here's Ed measuring the space needed.



Tuesday afternoon the boiler looked like this.



Wednesday!



Thursday found Mike connecting pipes.



This is the "before" photo -- notice the hole in the pipe in the foreground as well as the space around the wall.



Here's Scott repairing the wall and replacing pipes outside the boiler room.



Back inside the room, Ed and Mike work together to get the connection good and tight. Ed's wrench weighs over 40 pounds!



Friday! Now we're waiting on tiny parts for the controls. Hopefully the manufacturer will actually send the right parts this time.

Old Boiler removed today

Hermann Schmidt Heat and Plumbing are taking care of our boiler. Today they were here to take out the old one.



Here's Ed explaining the situation to Liseli. What caused the 11 1/2 year old boiler to fail? Ed, our steam expert, explained that it was the corrosion from a variety of sources: fresh water coming in too frequently, chlorine in our well water a few years ago and minerals in that water.



There are 8 sections to this boiler. Here's Scott cutting apart the sections with Mike Schmidt looking on.



Poor old boiler! This inside shot shows the high water mark that shouldn't be in there! It's supposed to be dry!



This is the close up of some of the corrosion inside out.



Each section weighs about 200 pounds. Here's Scott man-handling one of the sections.



All is quiet now. Ed is pictured here cleaning up some of the debris.



The new boiler will be here Monday!!

Keeping the Fires Going

As many of you know, the Pitt Hall boiler cracked open Tuesday, February 3rd. We're getting bids on repairing or replacing the boiler but in the meantime, we have to keep the building warm enough so the pipes don't freeze. We're using a combination of roaring fires in 2 of the fireplaces so that the chimneys heat the building as well as using portable electric heaters.

Of course, we've had to cancel the workshops and retreats scheduled in Pitt Hall.



Yes, it's steam heat.



So we've gone through most of our firewood. Liseli and Buffy have been taking turns with Rick Townsend and Ethan to keep the fires hot. Here's Ethan chopping more wood.



This was one of the warmer days -- probably 18 degrees.



We are so grateful that Rick is here to paint the formal staircase and hallway in Pitt Hall. Between plastering in Pitt and painting trim in the ACC, he still finds time to warm up in front of the fire. Thanks, Rick.

Supporting and Nurturing the Life of the Meeting: Rediscovering Eldering

Our fall schedule has begun and with it, we can offer epistles, queries and advices or other Quaker musings that come out of the weekend. This past weekend we were blessed to have Elaine Emily facilitate a workshop, “Supporting and Nurturing the Life of the Meeting: Rediscovering Eldering.”

We spent time in 2’s, 4’s and as the group as a whole, experiencing various facets of being an elder. Here are the queries we came up with on Sunday morning – each group presenting to the rest of us. May they provide food for thought:

1st Group

1. How does our meeting call us to higher standards?
2. Who voices the hard truths in this Meeting?
3. Are hard truths voiced with love and compassion?
4. How are the gifts among us named and lifted up?
5. What opportunities do we provide for training and support?
6. Do we pay appropriate attention to history and good order?
7. Do we seek out the spiritually mature Friends among us?
8. Does our meeting nurture us to deepen our spiritual maturity?
9. Is there integrity and accountability in our agreements, activities and relationships? How do we assure that?

2nd Group

1. What do we do to nurture and support gifts and leadings of members and attenders?
2. What are ways we elder our elders?
3. Do we acknowledge the elders among us and the work they do?
4. Is God present in the Meeting, is it Spirit filled; are there tears? Joys? Quakes?
5. Are we holding each other accountable to each other, to God, to the Spirit?

3rd Group

1. Are we attentive to the health and dynamics of our Meeting and members individually?
2. How do we support our meeting’s connection to Spirit?
3. Do we hold our Meeting spiritually and financially accountable?
4. What is our spiritual practice to maintain our spiritual center?

4th Group

1. How do we perceive our elders today?
2. How has the role of Quaker elders evolved (over time, change)?
3. How do we support those that can no longer sit or stay silent?
4. How do we hold sacred all of our Quaker worship (including business and committees)?
5. Are there holes in the fabric of your Meeting that “elders” could fill?
6. What would these “elders” look like (action, role)?
7. How do we name and draw out the spiritual gifts of others?
8. How do we, as elders, support our history, tell our stories and draw out the stories of others?

5th Group
(to be sung to the tune of “Inch by Inch”)

Heart by heart
Soul by soul
Gonna help those gifts to grow
Gonna feed them love and care
And honor the Spirit they share.

First we name them
Then we claim
Playing in the Spirit’s game
In eldering there is no shame
Joy and laughter
And some rain.