Seasonality of Work

The Youthwork Program changes seasonally, an important lesson to the young people whose lives outside of Smokey House are often completely divorced from natural cycles. In the fall new students undergo an orientation to the land, the work, and to their fellow crew members. Each crew is assigned a different responsibility, from woodlot management to livestock care. The crew leader, in conjunction with the students, prepares a long-range plan which outlines tasks by month and activity. Throughout the year as conditions evolve and change, the work plan is modified and crews cooperate and exchange help when needed.

In the fall, students harvest the last of the summer vegetables, help sell them at the Rutland and Dorset farmers’ markets, and prepare the gardens for their winter rest.Care of the sheep and cows continues year-round, as does attendance at weekly farmers’ markets.Young turkeys arrive in September for processing in time for Thanksgiving. Late fall finds crews managing their woodlots to allow harvesting and processing of firewood for both the Smokey House buildings and for the wood-fired arch used in the sugarhouse. Auto and farm machine maintenance pick up when outside work is less pleasant, while carpentry and construction projects around the farm occur as conditions permit and as the need arises. By early January, it is time to start prepping for the sugaring season: extending and checking the lines, cleaning the taps, and organizing the sugarhouse and wood. Then it’s a flurry of activity once the sap starts running, for the onset of lambing season often overlaps with the end of sugaring. The greenhouse receives waste heat from the sugarhouse to allow early planting of seeds, and by late April the gardens are being tilled, early crops planted, and seedlings are carefully tended indoors until they can safely be put outside. Also during late spring Christmas trees are planted, and blueberry bushes are pruned and mulched. At the end of the school year an Open House is held where youthworkers proudly describe and display their work and products to friends and family.

Summer work crews do the bulk of the planting, weeding and harvesting in our 2 acre organic garden and blueberry plantation. A landscape crew maintains the yards and grounds around the Smokey House offices and houses, and a carpentry crew typically attacks at least one major project during the summer. Last summer they constructed an informational kiosk for The Nature Conservancy at the Pew Forest tract in the Equinox Highlands area of Manchester.

And so it goes … an annual cycle of activities, matching the rhythm of the seasons and responding to cues both natural and man-made. In the middle of it all, our youthworkers gain invaluable workplace skills while absorbing the importance of being attuned to the nuances of the natural world.