What’s on our Plate
Building with Sand, Straw & Clay
Wild Spring Greens Pesto
Sustainability Curriculum
Memories of a Farmstay
Welcome
What’s on Our Plate
By Taylor Starr
As I write, the early April sun is coaxing flowers open on the lilacs,
apple trees, and strawberries at the farm. Spring is the time of busy
builders and gardeners taking advantage of the abundant sunshine, rain,
and cool breezes to prepare for the productivity of the summer and fall
to come.
This spring White Oak Farm will also be hosting six school visits from
the kindergarten and fifth grade classes at Williams Elementary. These
visits provide the opportunity for students who have already spent time
at the farm in the fall to return and dig deeper into the many lessons
the land has to offer. At the end of May we will transition from our
work with children and host the first of our Natural Building Workshops.
May 20-22 will be an extravaganza of straw bale building with two very
experienced local builders: Shahoma McCalister and Prasad Boudreaux.
In June we host our week long residential Farmstay program for 8-11
year olds. This event is the highlight of the summer for the staff -
as well as for many children from near and far. Last year we even had
a participant from Los Angeles, so if you have any young friends who
would enjoy a week on the farm, just give us a call and we’ll sign them
up. Just as the summer really starts to heat up and strawberries, raspberries,
and peaches become abundant, we will host our week long Cob Building
Course with Coenraad Roegmans. This course will be an exciting time
for everyone at the farm who has been involved in the Common House Project.
With many hands working together to build cob walls, the week is sure
to be filled with inspiration, creativity, and fun!
In August we will host our third year of Farm Day Camp for 5-7 year
olds. This year some of our original day campers have graduated to the
residential Farmstay, and a new crop of fresh faces will be taking their
place. As summer transitions into fall we will host our final workshops
of the year: Earthen Plasters and Floors, September 9-11 and Cob Art
with Kiko Denzer, September 18. The Cob Art class is especially exciting
because it is open to participants of all ages, and we’re hoping it’s
a family affair.
In between these events we’Äôll be continuing our work on the Common House,
gardening, and taking time off to hike in the beautiful wild places
that surround us in Southern Oregon. May spring and summer be a time
of great abundance for you all!
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Building
with Sand, Straw and Clay
By Coenraad Rogmans
Instructor for Cob Building Course, July 16-23
Sand, straw, and clay are the ingredients of cob. But put together in
different proportions and different levels of fineness, these ingredients
can form the basic materials for many building projects in and around
the house.
Cob, as many of you may know, can be formed into strong, load bearing
walls. It can also be used for beautifully flowing garden walls, fire
places, and furniture (mainly benches). Of course, if you take just
the straw, and leave it in its original bales, you can build straw bale
walls, well known for their beauty and high insulation value. Or, if
you take just the clay and amend it with a little sand and some flour
paste, you can create clay paints. These paints work well on cob and
straw bale walls, as well as on conventional drywall. It can also provide
an ideal soft, earthy finish that is easy to make and doesn’t off-gas
toxins.
More interesting combinations
Now it becomes even more interesting. If you take loose straw, mix it
with a tiny bit of soupy clay, and toss it like dressing on a salad,
you get a product called "light straw-clay." Each piece of
straw is lightly coated with clay; when tamped between two wall studs,
it sticks together and can form an insulative wall. This can be done
between 2x4, 2x6, and 2x8 studs. Put an earthen plaster on both sides
and you’re done!
If you take just sand and clay in a 70%-30% proportion, you can create
what is called an earthen plaster. The dry ingredients are sifted through
a window screen, and amended with flour paste so that the finished plaster
won’t dust off. The mixture should have the consistency of a cake batter,
and can be plastered on many wall surfaces. If you replace the flour
paste with finely chopped straw (the size of shredded coconut), you
now have the perfect material for an earthen floor. Troweled on a hard
surface, allowed to dry, and finished with several coats of linseed
oil, this can become a very pleasant, durable, and beautiful floor.
If you count foundation rock as a bigger version of sand, you can see
how entire houses can be built using almost exclusively sand, straw,
and clay. But you don’t need to build a whole new house to have your
own earthen home: you can renovate your existing house and use sand,
straw and clay to create earthen floors, interior cob benches, clay
paints, and plasters.
No doubt there are many more variations on combining these materials
and new ones are "invented" all the time. To find out more
about these techniques as well as many others, it’s really worthwhile
to read The Art of Natural Building edited by Joe Kennedy, Michael Smith
and Catherine Wanek, a collection of articles written by professional
natural builders. Worldwide, an estimated two billion people live in
earthen homes, using the earth around them to create shelter. It is
hopeful to see so many people in the industrialized world rediscovering
these timeless building techniques.
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Wild
Spring Greens Pesto
This recipe is the perfect way to enjoy the healthy and abundant greens
of spring. Any edible wild and weedy greens can be used, including but
not limited to: dandelion, stinging nettle, chickory, miner’s lettuce,
kale, parsley and arugula.
4 cups chopped greens, as mentioned above
1 cup nuts (walnuts, pecans, almonds, sunflower seeds, hazelnuts, etc.)
1 bulb fresh garlic (green garlic tops will also work)
1/2 cup olive oil
salt to taste
1/2 cup parmesan cheese (optional)
Mince ingredients in a food processor until a nice paste is formed.
Add more olive oil if needed for a smoother consistency. Wild Spring
Greens Pesto is great with fresh bread, pasta, roasted vegetables, wild
salmon, and just about anything else! Enjoy.
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Views of a Farm Apprentice
By Ryan McLaughlin
I recently arrived at White Oak Farm to become part of the community,
lend a hand, and learn. As one of the Natural Building Apprentices for
the season, I am focusing most of my energy assisting with the construction
of the Common House. In addition, I’m also gardening, teaching, cooking,
laughing, answering the phone, and helping with whatever is happening
at the moment. I feel blessed to have the opportunity to engage in this
dynamic process of learning, teaching, growing and building.
Serendipitously, I am able to receive credit for this internship as
part of my final quarter at the Evergreen State College in Olympia,
Washington. After farming for the last few years and studying sustainable
agriculture and ecological design, this internship is a great way to
culminate my formal studies and serve the community. The internship
(like many aspects of the educational programs at White Oak Farm) is
a positive model of education that is participatory, multidisciplinary,
and rooted in issues important to local communities.
Thus far my experience has been inspiring and deeply educational. We
have worked on framing doors and windows, making sauerkraut, gardening,
building a tipi and a thousand other smaller tasks. I hope to share
some time and stories with any of you that visit the farm over the summer--it
should be a great year!
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Sustainability
Curriculum
By Stacey Denton
Who are tomorrow’s leaders of the ecological sustainability movement?
They are a bunch of hopeful, confident, idealistic, and searching souls,
just finishing high school and looking for ways to focus their adult
lives. Recognizing that teenagers are in a formative time of their personal
development, White Oak Farm & Education Center has recently completed
curriculum to support a four-month residential program focused on environmental
sustainability education for young adults ages 16-19. We believe that
the opportunity to participate in a program that immerses teens in a
culture that values ecological thinking, environmental responsibility,
social service, real-world skills, compassionate communication and community
processing will profoundly impact their life’Äôs work. Given this opportunity
and these skills, participants will become more responsible Earth citizens
with a desire to actively give rise to a healthier planet.
This curriculum supports a semester-abroad type experience for high
school juniors and seniors and serves as a study option for high school
graduates before they start college or a career. In cooperation with
the Wilderness Charter School, a school within Ashland High School,
the curriculum was developed to facilitate the study and practice of
sustainable living. Plans are in the works to initiate this residential
program on White Oak Farm in the Spring of 2008. Topics of study include
ecology, permaculture, indigenous cultures, ecological footprinting,
natural building, organic agriculture, and alternative energy.
Memories
of a Farmstay
By Kia Parrish-Haim, age 10
Camp was very fun for me last year. We made our own food, went hiking,
sang songs, and did many more fun things. We all slept under an Oak
tree and became very good friends. This year I am looking forward to
not being in a car for a week. I am also looking forward to making all
the food I eat. It feels so good to know where my food comes from. It
was also very fun to be on my own, away from my parents, for seven days.
I am very, very much looking forward to this year’s talent show. Come
ready to have a good time and make lots of new friends!
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Welcome!
We would like to welcome Abby Hatfield, Jennifer Ketring and Eric Grisen
to the White Oak Farm Board of Directors. Also, joining us on the Farm
for the summer season we are excited to have: Eugene Scott, Ryan McLaughlin-Natural
Building Apprentice, Cassandra Lasdin-Natural Builder, Anne Driscoll-Gardening
Apprentice, and Jake Caldwell-Natural Building Apprentice.