Winter Work

We are well into winter work up here at the Camp Mitchell Agricultural Project, which we may refer to from time to time as CMAP. The mustard greens in our raised beds have withered away from frosting. So instead of trying to hard to keep stuff growing in the cold of winter, we are doing lots of work preparing for the spring and summer seasons. While we did other work the chickens tried out the chicken tractor built by last summer's sustainability coordinator, Tray.

They ate up all the wilted mustard greens, added their manure, and scratched it into the soil of the bed.

Thanks to the help of many of our friends and family, we have managed to get a lot of work done in just two work weekends.

splitting a cedar log for a fence post brace

We spent a rainy work day cleaning indoors. 

St. Michael's youth putting the wire on the fence posts

St. Michael's youth helping us paint the coop

Our chickens are now enjoying their spacious new coop. Jenny has flipped an old, wasp-filled shed and turned it into a wonderful home for these birds, complete with a roost, laying boxes, windows, and mesh wire protection around the whole thing! She even made a waterer and feeder out of five gallon buckets!

Marna and her three sons helped us clear some space for new garden areas, and cut a pine tree for a Christmas tree.

We pulled a lot of rotten lumber out from inside our old barn. It was a chilly day so we made a huge bonfire. 

getting some sun at the end of a rainy work day

We now have a 6 foot fence around our greenhouse, chicken coop, and garden area. This should keep deer, rabbits, coyotes, and any other animals from eating up all our produce this summer.

This is the time of year when counselor and CIT applications start rolling in. If you know of someone who might be interested in being a summer camp counselor at Camp Mitchell this summer, you can find the application here.

Next week we will be going to the annual ECCC (Episcopal Camps and Conference Centers) conference. This year it is held in California. It will be our first time traveling to that state. We will return on the first day of February to being the earliest of sowing for the spring season.

Happy Winter and God's Peace everyone,

Doug and Jenny Knight