The Mini-Picture Tour

Oh, goodness. So much has happened in the last two days, I will be writing for ages and never cover everything. It's wonderful though. I absolutely adore it here. Before I go into too much specific detail, let me give you that promised picture tour.

This is the main building at Yestermorrow. All other buildings on campus are cabins or sheds. This building, while it looks small, houses classrooms, an impressive wood studio, two kitchens, many bathrooms, dorm rooms, laundry facilities, offices, and a library. The layout takes a little while to get used to, but works wonderfully.


This may be the least impressive photo of the impressive wood studio. It's small, but effective. As you can see, there is a walkway above it (as well as a kitchen.) The doors on the right open making the entire studio a happy, awesome place to be. I have not worked in the studio yet, but I'm sure I will.

Outside the building. The woodworking area extends out here pretty often. I think it's just cool looking.


The cob oven built by one of the classes.


This is the garden shed. It's kinda awesome. The part on the right circles in so it provides protected, weather-proof space for storing tools.

The gardens. I took this picture yesterday morning and have worked in the gardens quite a bit since then. It's amazing for me to see the change that has happened in the last 48 hours.

This is a strawbale hut that a class built. It's going to be taken down at some point this week. Not my favorite teaching technique- it seems like if they could finish it and give it to someone, it would be much more fun.


This is the "chalet." If I remember correctly, the main building used to be an inn/resort and the chalet was the innkeeper's house. I could be making that up though. Now, the interns live there.


This is the treehouse, which I don't live in. Now that I've visited, I'm pretty okay with that. Someone strung a hammock in the treehouse and I layed in it for a moment. Then the wind blew and the treehouse creaked (a lot,) so I felt the need to get out of the hammock. Wood scraping together isn't pleasant.

This is one of the three student cabins on campus. I think students pay a little more to stay in the cabins. They are cute.

This is the pine student cabin.

The strawbale cabin.

This is where the students who don't want to spend on lodging sleep.

This is where I live. For now. I'm going to move onto a platform near the chalet once I gain the motivation to do so.

The outdoor composting toilet. Some of the walls are screen, so you can definitely see people walking by. A little strange.

The outdoor shower! Solar heated and stream fed, of course. The weather here is really strange. It was freezing (literally) last night, but today, it was warm enough to just wear a tanktop. And now it's getting chilly again. While it was warm, I decided to take a shower, but once I got in there and naked, I realized that the pipes had frozen last night and decided not to work. So I had to shower indoors.

The archway from the camping/cabin area to the school. You can climb up the tree ladder and sit on the top. It's nice up there.

The compost area, and interns Carrie, Tim and Stephanie (left to right.) (For the record, the other Tim is married to Stephanie.)

That's about it as far as the campus goes. The pictures don't reflect how absolutely gorgeous the place is. There are a few other sheds, an herb garden and a forest garden, but none are very photogenic. The school is nestled in the bottom of a valley. There is a little stream that runs by the camping area and a river across the road (as well as a nude beach.) Everything is shockingly green.

First Full Day

It's been a very long, busy day. Again, I am exhausted, but happy.

Since it's Memorial Day, nobody actually had to work (except the teachers in charge of the three week class that just came in.) However, interns did, but not rigorously. So it was a nice, relaxed day of work and orientation. Tomorrow will be a normal work day.

I was assigned a morning job. For now, I'm on trash/recycling/reclaimable/compost/energy monitoring duty. Nothing too unfamiliar (except this is the first time I've ever been in a state that pays back for bottles.) Morning duties change every week.

I spent most of my work-time today in the garden with Stephanie, and intern. I planted chamomile, onions, kale and weed-whacked. (And learned to change the string on a weed-whacker.)

I spent a good portion of the morning getting oriented. Tim gave me a tour of the building (which has the weirdest layout ever, but fits an amazing number of rooms in it), showed me my morning routine and introduced me to all the other interns. (Both male interns are named Tim, so I'll distinguish between the two if necessary. In this case, it is not entirely necessary.) Stephanie gave me the tour of the gardens. I walked around the campus by myself and took pictures.

All the other interns are really nice. Apparently, there are only five at the moment, although I'm still the "mystic seventh." Another intern is coming later this month, I believe. After lunch, all six of us hacky-sacked. (I stink at hacky-sacking, but enjoyed the company thoroughly.) Kendall, Carrie and I went into town today to get an appropriate alarm clock, as well as kill some time and get to know the neighborhood a little better.

I'm pretty sure I like it here. The place is beautiful. The weather is weird though. It's warm, but there's a breeze coming from the north, so it's cold. I have no idea what to wear. I'm dressing in layers, for sure. I had energy all day, but am now ridiculously tired. Even though there was nothing particularly strenuous, I've been on the move all day. I think this summer will be a summer of intense sleep.

The internet here is insanely slow, and picture loading is taking forever, and I am tired. This means, you will see pictures later. I'm taking lots though!

The Beginning of the Mystic Seventh

After the longest Greyhound ride ever, I managed to land in Warren, Vermont. This is where I will be spending the majority of my summer - in a tent on the campus of Yestermorrow Design/Build School. Here, I will play the role of the "Mystic Seventh."

There are six Yestermorrow interns who all have very impressive resumes. They were hand-picked from a competitive bunch of some of the coolest grad-student-aged people in the nation. And I, a to-be Junior at Berea College in Kentucky, am their "mystic seventh." I have just enough knowledge of natural building and friends who know important people to be the unofficial seventh intern.

I will be doing all the jobs that the interns here do. Which is a lot. From morning chores cleaning up the classrooms and bathrooms to making repairs to managing the food gardens to preparing for workships, I will be doing it all. Over the summer, I will be taking four classes: Green Development Best Practices, Constructed Wetlands, Invisible Structures: Strategies Beyond "Going Green" and Community Design/Build.

There are a lot of interesting people here. A three-week building intensive course is starting today, so there are a lot of people who are just getting to campus. I met several teachers and students, many of whom are working to get their certificate in Natural Building. There are many interesting backgrounds - a lot have their own environmental businesses/non-profits... Ages vary greatly. Currently, I'm sitting in on their first class - sounds great! I'm sure I'll be around these people a lot in the next three weeks.

I'll let you guys know more when I know it. Tomorrow is my first official day of work. I have to meet up with the group at 8:30, which is not a problem, except that there is no cell phone signal out here and my cell phone is my alarm... I'm going have to find a form of alarm.

Looking forward to this summer!

Waiting on the Greyhound. 8am, yesterday.