Many Hands in a Season of Preparation

What a busy summer it has been!  It’s been so much so that we’ve completely neglected to keep our blog up to date, so we have plenty to share.

From late spring through early summer, Lane’s End Homestead has been host to three lovely interns who have taken the time and interest to learn about growing vegetables throughout the season in addition to growing, processing, using medicinal plants from the garden.  Despite all the rain we’ve had, we’ve been enjoying the bounty of the summer harvest, which has provided us with so much squash, beautiful heirloom tomatoes, onions, garlic, delectable little cucumbers, daily salads, plenty of basil and wild herbs for pesto, fresh out of the ground potatoes, and dry beans for storage.  All this would have not been possible without the help of these friends, and we are so thankful to have been able to produce so much that it has allowed us to have an ample supply of preserved food for fall.  We’ll be reminiscing about summer as we continue to enjoy the pasta sauces, pestos, dilly beans, and kimchi we’ve put up, along with the squash we froze and the beans, potatoes, and garlic that we’ve kept aside.  These crops have carried us through August and have since been transitioning the garden for the cooler weather crops, like dark leafy greens and root veggies.

 

Outside the garden, we’ve also been blessed with abundance from the fundraising campaign we launched through Indiegogo to outfit our expeditions.  With the tremendous help, support, and generosity of contributors, we raised $2882, along with some used gear people have sent, which has allowed us to fully meet our backpacking needs and has outfitted the majority of our paddling department.  We are so thrilled and grateful to all the folks that have expressed so much support and belief in our mission.  Thank you.  For those who contributed for perks, you can expect your gifts to be delivered in November.

And of course, we’ve been had student enrollment on our minds as all of this work has been in preparation for a house full of enthusiastic program participants for this fall season.  We are so pleased to have a keen group of students for the fall semester!  We’re also excited to share that we’ve hired on a fabulous team to work with them in the garden and out in the wilderness.  Jackie brings tremendous experience and energy to the Pioneer Project as Wilderness and Homestead Educator and Director of Operations.  Kate is a returnee to Lane’s End who knows the community well and brings a wealth of garden experience and joy to share as Garden and Homestead Educator.  Adam and Allison will continue to be involved with the program as Director of Leadership and Director of Homesteading and Craft, as Adam will join Jackie on the wilderness trips while Allison teaches many of the craft workshops.  These workshops will also be taught by our talented guest instructors, whose fascinating biographies are up on the website.  Please visit pioneerproject.org/#!guest-instructors/c110u to learn more about them.

Additionally, we’ve recently developed a relationship with Young Harris College who is lending us additional support via their internship program.  We are delighted to have these college students join us in the garden -  the more the merrier, and many hand make light work.  They have also helped us keep our supporters updated as we progress through the semester by photo documenting many of our harvests and processes.

And with all those things going on, we’ve made it to September.  What an exciting time!  The students have arrived and are already on their first expedition, getting better acquainted with each other and the natural beauty that surrounds them as they backpack through the old growth trees of Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest.

Posted by Allison Haigler

The Pioneer Project is a Gap Year Program in the USA that focuses on Homesteading, Craft, and Wilderness skills that aims to help students achieve clarity of purpose, empowerment and a sense of interdependence through community-oriented semester programs.