Week 3 & 4 - Farm, Paddles, and Canoe Trip
Weeks 3- 4
So much has happened since the previous blog! We were fortunate to start week 3 with a visit to Sun Moon farm. We learned about their farm and helped with harvesting squash and pumpkin. Unlike Glenbrook they are a low-till and irrigation-free farm. They also run a CSA and a large portion of their farm is dedicated to growing flowers. Gappers primarily focused on harvesting, detangling, and ultimately sorting squash. Afterwards, we headed back to Glenbrook to finish up our paddles and learn more about the foundations of farming. With the sheep and cows we learned the very basics about veterinary medicine- it was a basic introduction to common illnesses, yearly vaccines, and how to tell if a pasture is right for your animals. We had fun watching Maeve play with the baby cow, as we enjoyed the view of Mount Monadnock from the pasture's edge.
Gappers finished carving canoe paddles and took them out on the water at Flagstaff Lake in Maine. We spent 3 nights at various campsites, our favorite being Night 1 on Hurricane Island. Our arrival at the lake was met by some of the game wardens and their small plane. They waited to take off until we had brought all our supplies to the waters edge and could watch them soar away. And in their path we followed. Our first day was a quick 3 miles with ideal weather conditions. The sun was covered by the clouds but it was far from cold. The water was close to still and we paddled with the wind. We got to camp with time to spare and explored the island. After dinner we had sunbutter cups while watching the sunset and some of us went swimming. Day 2 was longer but the weather was still nice. It started to drizzle a small amount and towards the end the wind picked up. We changed our course and headed back towards the island because we didn’t want to be caught going upwind in the worse conditions of the next day to come. We sped to camp and ended the night with some card games and a walk along the beach. The next morning we set off for Day 3 of our trip. The water was very choppy and we ended up having to change course and portage. We had breakfast burritos for dinner and in the morning we made our way back home, ready to start apprenticeships.
