One of the first days out at Cayuta Sun in early May. I'm standing in what would soon become the apprentice garden. Behind the house you can see the berm (with the orange chair on it) that would become the outdoor kitchen for the class.
Steve Sierigk came to lead a Mushroom Inoculation Workshop in May. This was the first event of the summer.
Michael Burns drills one of the mushroom logs. The trees were Sugar Maples that had been cut on the property a few weeks earlier.
The first part of inoculating mushrooms is drilling a hole about 3/4 inch deep into the log with a 1/2 inch drill bit.
Then, sawdust that has been inoculated with mushroom spores, in this case shiitake, is inserted into the holes with a special tool designed for this purpose. It makes sure the sawdust is tightly in the log.
The plugged holes are then covered with wax to ensure they are sealed.
The finished log. In about a year, the mycelium will have grown into the log enough that it will produce mushrooms next spring. The logs should be stored in a cool, dry place such as the north side of trees, or even a basement or closet.
The stumps from the felled trees were also drilled and plugged with oyster mushroom spores.
The first round of shiitakes "fruited" late in May right after the apprentices arrived. These logs were inoculated at last year's workshop and then soaked for 24 hours to "force" the log to produce the mushrooms about a week later.
Very shortly after the Mushroom Workshop ended, a severe thunderstorm rolled into the valley, nearly taking down the kitchen tent we had just assembled. This gave us a good idea of the type of extreme weather we would have to be building for.
Newly arrived apprentices wonder if they really signed up for this...
Happy free-range chickens roam around the swamp.
Early in May, Michael brought home 26 baby chicks that had been in an incubator at the high school where he works.
If you start holding them when they're young, they're nicer when they grow up. Plus, the babies were real soft and fuzzy.
In Mid-June a fox began coming frequently to the property and over the course of a few weeks, killed more than twenty chickens, most of which were the young ones. This led to the emergency construction of an electric fence to contain the chickens and keep out the fox. The fence has proved to be effective, but doesn't allow the chickens to be truly free range like they were before.
It was truly survival of the fittest for these little ones. These are the six (out of 26) that made it, but we'll probably slaughter them in the fall anyway.
The apprentice kitchen set up with a stove, shelves, and a few chairs. They made it the whole summer without refrigeration (as do Michael and Kelly all the time). After graduation, I drove around town to yard sales and free piles to salvage items to stock the kitchen. Five apprentices used the kitchen daily and it became a hangout spot during free time.
Sean and I think about where to dig the holes while the stack of locust posts sits behind us. I thought those were heavy, but I had no idea what we would be dealing with later on with the pavilion...
The garden after one day's work. Couldn't quite get all the fence posts in, but so it goes. Having patience was critical at many points throughout the summer, as we realized that most things will take longer than you expect them to. I found that its more satisfying to create something with care and quality than to get it done quickly.
We got these garden posts from a local miller just up the road from Cayuta Sun. He mills Black Locust, which is an incredible hardwood that's very rot-resistant. We chose to use it for the garden and also for the pavilion.
The garden site (as shown in the first picture) was an area where previously chickens ran around, so it was well aerated and fertilized. Once we had established a design for the garden, we dug out the pathways, putting the dirt onto the beds, giving them more organic matter and clear access. On top of the soil, we used the sheet mulching technique, where cardboard is laid to prevent weeds from coming through and straw laid on top to keep moisture in the soil.
The view of the sheet mulched garden from the upstairs of the house.
This hoophouse was built with small Ash trees on the property. We cut down several small trees and bent them into this shape to create a mini-greenhouse for starting plants. It was covered with chicken wire to keep out the chickens, and then covered with plastic at night for temperature regulation. Hoophouses are easy ways to extend the growing season, and can be made out of many different materlals, even hula hoops!
Kayleigh, one of the apprentices, works hard at digging out the pathways.
Harmony, an apprentice, planting the garden. She worked on the garden committee all summer and put much care and love into growing all the food.
Michael has never had a garden this big before!
Harmony and Burdock led the garden committee throughout the summer to make sure we could eat! They would often be in the garden at sunrise or after dark with headlamps and it certainly paid off.
Apprentices plant donated seedlings in the garden. Typically, an area is sheet mulched at the end of a growing season and allowed to begin to compost until the beginning of the next growing season. Because we were establishing and planting the new garden, we just had to cut holes through the cardboard to plant seedlings.
When the cold frame was no longer needed, we placed it outside the garden and planted squash in it underneath some chicken wire.
The outside perimeter of the garden was covered with chicken wire and straw bales to keep out chickens and other small critters.
We were lucky enough to recieve many donated seedlings from local farms.
Kayleigh and Sean, leading the Water and Waste committee, replaced all the siding on the compost toilet and built a rainwater catchment system for handwashing.
The finished toilet with the rain barrel set up.
Future site of the pavilion/classroom. Apprentices each get a 3 foot hole to dig.
These are eight 13-foot long black locust logs. Black locust is one of the densest hardwoods in the Northeast. They weigh about 500 pounds. We needed them to go back into the woods where the classroom was going to be built, except there's not a road, or really a pathway. Oh, and it rained that day.
Look out Sadie!
The method: tie one end to a dolly, and hoist the other up in the air. Now go!
The one in the back steers the whole log.
Attaching the 2x4s as handles.
Sequoia debarks one of the locust poles. Its harder than it looks.
The pavilion roof was designed to be a reciprocal roof. This means that each log holds itself in place by the weight of the other logs. Each one is both underneath and over top of another log, thus applying enough pressure for the structure to hold without other attachments, or a central post. It's pretty amazing when you think about it, and a impressive way to minimize materials. This was a mini-reciprocal roof that was built to see if it really would work. It does.
Now, to stand up the 500 pound logs in the 3 foot holes. Using a similar method as we did to carry them, we hoisted them up in the air and with 6-8 people got them all in pretty swiftly.
One of us stood at the hole with a board to make sure the log was lined up and going straight in. the rest of us lifted and walked it forward. It was actually easier than we expected it to be.
By the end of the day, all the poles were standing.
Next was to straighten them out, and tamp them into the ground.
The tops of the posts were straightened out, cut to be level, and bolted to ledgers.
Two days later, all of the posts were in the ground, leveled off and with attached White Oak ledgers to them. Jesse, an apprentice with previous building experience, had built staging in the center of the pavilion to climb up for building the roof.
Tom Brown, a local miller, gets the rafters ready from his lumber yard. A dump truck came and dropped them off - eight 18 foot long posts. They were thinner than the first ones, but 5 feet longer so just as heavy.
Atop the staging a pulley was built to assist in hoisting the rafters up in the air.
A common site - Jesse deep in thought atop the staging. One rafter up, seven more to go. How are we ever going to pull this off? In order to begin the roof construction, a tall post (we called it the charley stick) was placed at the height of the first rafter and held it in place. Eventually this was removed and the rafters held their own weight.
Two up!
The first two were somewhat difficult, as you can imagine, to hoist 15 feet into the air. When we put out a call for help from friends, FLPCI alumni, and community members, we were able to build a pulley that allowed for two or three people to get the rafters up, so it went much more quickly.
We tied the rafters together rather than bolting them to allow for some settling movement when we pulled out the charley stick.
The pavilion construction team - apprentices Sequoia and Jesse - had previous building experience that led to the construction of such a beautiful classroom!
Michael doesn't really like being high off the ground, but after a few days was able to spend some time up on the staging with the pulley.
Kelly watches her husband move among the large logs. Although revising her thesis and building gardens of her own all summer long, Kelly helped out with many of the projects this summer including a lot of log lifting. She also provided us with many pick-me-ups of ginger snaps and fresh coffee!
See that big space? That's what goes away when we pull out the charley stick. This is typical when building reciprocal roofs, and this actually isn't too large of a space, considering the size of the logs.
The final moments of the charley stick.
Jesse sits proud at the top of the new roof.
We eventually bolted the logs together and to the ledgers, although in theory is unnecessary, we wanted to make sure it wasn't moving. Black Locust wood is known to last for over 100 years, so as this was completed, we had an experience different from most modern builders knowing we had built something seemingly permanent. The fact that we used our hands to build this, no backhoes or cranes, made it even more humbling to be a part of.
An extra large tarp was attached to each rafter and the ledgers to keep out the rain, at least for this year.
Although it wasn't the prettiest thing, we needed a covered roof to protect the classroom from rain during the course. After securing eight heavy duty tarps, there was still a hole in the middle of the roof. Jesse and Sequoia, who had led the construction team, ended up back on the roof the day before the course building yet another, smaller reciprocal roof to fill the hole. It was then covered with clear plastic to allow light through.
Our classroom! Complete with the tarps, second reciprocal roof and boards set up for teaching. In less than a month, we transformed a sunny clearing in the pine forest into a beautiful outdoor classroom for the course. It also provides Cayuta Sun with a space for holding all kinds of events, or a place to just watch a rainstorm.
Many Fridays throughout the Apprenticeship program, we went on field trips to various places in the surrounding area. Here we are at the McDaniels Nut Grove at Cornell, where Steve had done some design work and worked with the Forest Farming class. The Nut Grove is a forest garden, with multiple sources of food production including fruits, nuts, berries, mushrooms, medicinal plants, and edible flowers. In the picture we are looking at a paw-paw tree, which produces tropical like fruits even in our climate!
While at the Nut Grove, we moved some mushroom logs and added them to this stack climbing up the hillside. This method of laying logs is a Japanese technique and is preferred over the typical stacking method (think lincoln logs) because you can harvest the mushrooms without moving the logs and there is no limit to how many logs you can have.
I completed several construction projects as part of building the kitchen and dining area. I'm about to turn that big stack of wood into three picnic tables with benches.
I became quickly familiar with the circular saw and drill during these projects, and I still have all of my fingers.
Partially constructed picnic tables - these are the tops and a stack of legs on the side.
Attaching this diagonal piece is what made the benches and tables extremely solid.
The first one finished! It soon became a workspace and sawhorse for the construction of the next two.
Fits 6 very comfortably, 8 if you want to be a little cozier. Out of 50 bucks of wood and several trips to Lowes for different size screws and nails, I was very happy with how they turned out.
Three tables, no problem. We built one of them with separate benches so they could be moved around to the classroom or other locations.
Couldn't have done it without Kayleigh! When not busy with committee work, all of the apprentices were eager to help with other projects. There wasn't a single thing that got done by only one individual and this really made our projects more creative, better quality, and so much more fun to be a part of.
Staining the tables so they will last, although not as long as the classroom...
It dried less bright.
The only thing I've ever built before these tables were the countertops, so the whole construction thing (and actually finishing!) are still pretty exciting for me.
First construction project - kitchen countertops! I learned basic framing to build the countertops and legs for the big metal sink.
The site of the outdoor kitchen about a week before its use.
Saying goodbye to the apprentice kitchen as we move into the big one for the course.
The day before the course we moved the tent and set up a second tarp to avoid flooding.
With the late addition and construction of a third countertop, we considered things like flow of people, location of water, cook convenience, and aesthetics to set up the kitchen for ease and efficiency. We made sure that the cooks had a nice view while they were cooking, had enough space for preparing and serving. We also arranged the countertops in such a way that discouraged people from going in and out of the cooking area. One of the countertops was used as preparation space and also to serve food at meal times from the other side of the counter.
Finally! A real kitchen, ready to go with hot and cold water, and a greywater system to handle the flow. Nice counter tops huh?
The kitchen had three gas burners, a grill, and a dysfunctional oven that became a countertop. Two sinks were donated - a large commercial sink and a smaller kitchen sink, which we hooked up to the house well water and then sent into a greywater system.
Underneath the sink is our greywater system. The waste water from both sinks goes down the drain, through the pipes and into the blue bucket full of wood chips. This acts as a grease trap, removing grease and any food particles that made it down the drain. The water then exited the blue bucket and into piping that eventually ran behind the kitchen into some raspberry bushes. In a more sophisticated system, we would capture the greywater and filter it for re-use, but due to time constraints and other projects, we used the greywater just to water the raspberries this year.
Sadie would often take trips into the swamp.
Tassi is the third resident at Cayuta Sun. She spends her days roaming the land, killing mice, insects and trying to eat people's hands.
The day before the course, Michael carries the final pieces of construction material away from the classroom and may even be a little relieved that we're actually ready to host the PDC.
By the time the course started, we were beginning to have some greens, squash and even a few tomatoes ready to eat.
Simone, an apprentice, and Emily, a past apprentice and PDC alum cooking for this year's course, serve our first meal in the new kitchen!
PDC students have arrived for the first night and a potluck.
The class eats their first meal together and the picnic tables get broken in.
It's all happening - the class is in session.
All three of our teachers - Karryn Olson-Ramanujan, Steve Gabriel and Rafter Sass. They all have different styles of teaching, but made a great team and led excellent classes both together and individually.
Karryn teaches about zone and sector planning.
During the course we would have optional night activities - additional classes, movies, haunted swamp walks, etc. One night I led a class about my experience learning permaculture in the tropics, the different types of challenges between our climates, and how we can make connections using permaculture.
During the "Wild Design" exercise, students were split into groups and asked to use old materials behind the toolshed to design and build different things.
This group built a small simple way for sprouting plants.
One group builds a chicken coop that will keep out predators.
There turns out to be a lot of things lying behind the toolshed.
This group built an educational game to explain the connections between elements in a system. Each person represented an element and their right hand was needs, the left hand was yields. The elements in the system connected where their yields could meet each others needs, demonstrating functional interconnectedness, a permaculture principle.
Early on in the course, we spent a sunny afternoon playing team building games and talking about group dynamics. These activities turned out to be valuable for some members of the group but annoying to others. The 2 week residential course brought up many issues that occur in group settings. As a facilitator, we tried to create different types of opportunities for students to express themselves and work through difficult situations.
We took a field trip to a local permaculture site and forest garden. Sean Dembrosky works the land in nearby Trumansburg and gave us a tour of some of his gardens and projects for creating an abundance of food on just a few acres of forest.
The class also met Josh Dolan, local community gardener and organizer. He took us on a tour of a few community gardens in Ithaca both between neighbors and with organizations.
Mealtime during the course.
Emily and Ian, both PDC alumni, came and cooked for everyone during the course.
Ian chops up onions and doesn't even cry.
My typical day consisted of doing different things every day. Helping out in the kitchen was no problem. Some mornings I even work up at 6AM and made breakfast. But there is no need for photos of that.
Ian shows off some fresh food from the garden. Unfortunately we didn't have enough food in the garden to feed all the students during the course, so we ordered produce and received donations from local farms like Stick and Stone, Remembrance, West Haven and Sabol's.
Students were given piles of sand in different landform shapes and told to create a system of swales, dams, and waterways to preserve the landform and capture water.
Some used plant material or rocks to strengthen their dams.
Then Rafter, one of our teachers, poured water on the sand piles to test their stability.
Before the design project, students practiced a schematic design exercise to get ideas flowing about the property and possibilities.
Schematic designs are the very first designs made in a permaculture design, and are not meant to be permanent, or even really high quality. These designs are examined later and considered for their strong points.
Some of the schematic maps that were drawn.
Before the course, we soaked mushroom logs to force them to fruit. During the second week of the course, we were able to harvest a lot of mushrooms and eat them for a BBQ.
Fresh kale and shiitakes homegrown at Cayuta Sun.
Halfway through the course we had a big BBQ followed by a talent show. Some students picked mushrooms, squash and greens while I grilled up kabobs, burgers, and delicious veggies.
One of the design teams shows off their final design of Cayuta Sun.
Designs included a map, but also vision statements, goals and objectives to support it. Students developed maps for a 5-year plan at Cayuta Sun as the new home of FLPCI.
The tool shed desperately needed some major cleaning and organizing. All summer it was almost a running joke - if you couldnt find something, well you can always look in the tool shed... One time I made a path so you could walk sideways to get the power tools in the back. As humorous as it was, the lack of workspace and organization of tools and materials definitely slowed us down and caused some unnecessary headaches throughout our projects. (Go to next picture)
After the PDC was over, Michael and Kelly were taking a much needed vacation for a week, so with some help from Simone and Zac cleaned the toolshed and turned it into a usable workspace. Now you can actually find things!
By the end of the course, the garden is in full bloom just in time for everyone to leave...
The tomatoes and corn will be ready in a few weeks, that is if the tomatoes survive late blight. Its been especially prevalent this year due to the cold, damp weather we've been having.
Right as the course ended, some new chicks hatched. I got to watch a few as they poked their way out of the egg, its definitely a sight to see and what seems like a pretty satisfying way to enter the world. There are 15 new ones. They might be ready to eat in February.
I spent a lot of time at Cayuta Sun this summer, but also spent a fair amount of time in the car, driving back and forth on the 25 minute drive from Ithaca. Sometimes I'd stop out on the country roads and get pictures of what had become nearly an everyday sight. This school bus sits in the middle of the field. i secretly hope it gets overgrown with wildflowers.
Another frequent site. The corner of Black Oak Rd and Cayutaville Rd, the quickest way from town. Its a gorgeous spot, with a view down into the valley. If I'd come out early in the morning, there would always be a pool of fog hanging at the bottom.
I drove past these mushrooms a few times before I decided to get out and take a picture. They weren't on a log, just growing out of the ground. I have no idea what they are.
These cows live on a farm on Weatherby Rd. I used to drive by them every day before I found the quicker route. They seemed like happy cows, had a huge pasture to roam in.
It amuses me how there are cows and horses together here.
