This fall, our Gappers have been harvesting vegetables, shaping canoe paddles, exploring rivers and mountains, and learning how to make a home together. At the heart of these experiences is the purpose of Gap at Glen Brook: developing the skills, relationships, and understanding to help create sustainable communities.
The semester began just after Labor Day with a backpacking trip on nearby Mount Monadnock. Beautiful trails and a welcoming campsite provided the setting for getting to know one another. Setting up camp, cooking outdoors, and becoming familiar with their gear gave Gappers a foundation for the adventures ahead—and their first opportunities to figure things out together.
Back at Glen Brook, the group settled into life on the farm. They learned how we care for our cows, pigs, chickens, sheep, and goats, and began exploring the practices that sustain our gardens: building healthy soil, choosing crops, and working with the seasons. With harvest season underway, many days have included gathering the vegetables and fruit grown here. Our 200 acres of sustainably managed forest have offered another place to learn, with a visiting staff member sharing a deep knowledge of what grows here during an exploration of the woods.
The harvest has also opened the door to learning homesteading skills. Gappers have been practicing food preservation and exploring the many uses of herbs and flowers grown on site. In the woodshop, they have been making canoe paddles with hand tools, developing the patience, attention, and practical skills involved in shaping something useful from wood.
Alongside these projects is the ongoing experience of sharing a home. Living together in a farmhouse means planning and preparing all their own meals, caring for shared spaces, looking after themselves, and making agreements about how they want to live together. Guided discussions and mindfulness practices offer time each week to reflect, listen, and get to know one another more deeply. Community takes shape through these everyday choices and responsibilities.
That learning extends beyond Glen Brook. Visits to local sustainable and organic farms have given Gappers opportunities to learn from other growers and work alongside them. Service with organizations addressing food security has offered another perspective on how communities care for their members. Together, these experiences reveal the connections among the people who grow food, the land that sustains it, and the neighbors who depend on it.
There has been plenty of adventure, too. Four-day trips canoeing the Connecticut River and backpacking in New York’s Adirondack Mountains have brought the group farther afield, giving them time to deepen their outdoor skills and enjoy the experience of traveling together through beautiful places.
The weeks since September have passed quickly, and there is much more ahead. Through the harvests, shared meals, service projects, and miles on the trail, Gappers are practicing how to steward the land, contribute their skills, and live thoughtfully together.