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12 Chewonki Stories You Can’t Miss from 2017

By Cullen McGough on December 29, 2017

As we count down to the last day of the year, here’s 12 of our favorite memories from 2017: Did you have an amazing Chewonki moment we missed? Let us know! Email alumni@chewonki.org or visit our Facebook page. We might include your tale in next year’s Chronicle!

Late December on the Farm

By Megan Phillips on December 29, 2017

With the fall semester over and the elementary students on break, it’s been a particularly quiet time on this farm. In fact, there have been a few days when the total population of people on the Neck is one or two or three, meaning that the quantity of cows on the farm definitely outnumbers the…

Wilderness First Aid/Wilderness First Responder Course at Chewonki

By Cullen McGough on December 13, 2017

Would you be able to respond to a medical emergency without access to a hospital or ambulance —be it on a remote wilderness trip, backcountry skiing, a city in crisis, or in an airplane? Wilderness medicine training enables individuals to deal with medical emergencies when dialing 911 is not an option. Traditional training assumes that…

Making Cat Food

By Megan Phillips on December 2, 2017

This week we used meat from our old laying hens to make cat food for our two barn cats, Ailsa Craig (named after an onion variety that we grow on the farm) and Ruby Moon (named after a hyacinth bean flower variety). Ailsa Craig and Ruby Moon became part of the farm crew in summer…

Happy Thanksgiving!

By Cullen McGough on November 22, 2017

Thanksgiving is a special day to share food with friends & family, and this past week we were fortunate to have many Maine Coast Semester parents visit us for parent’s weekend. We were excited to share a meal with them – including Kitchen Manager Bill Edgerton’s famous Chewonki Gingerbread! We hope you have a chance…

Of Clams & Quahogs, Rakes & Waders

By Anne Leslie on November 17, 2017

Monday was the kind of day that gives November in Maine a bad rap: the sky was steely gray and the damp air hovered around 30F. However, inside the Elementary School at Chewonki, the energy was electric as students prepared for a major expedition to the clam flats of Medomak River in Waldoboro. All 10…

Invasive Plants at Chewonki: A Thorny Issue

By Megan Phillips on November 14, 2017

Moments after 9:30 am on Saturday morning, the 45 students in Semester 59 gathered in a circle on the quad before heading off in small groups in seven distinct directions. They carried loppers and hand pruners, shovels and maps. All donned work gloves on their hands – their most critical tool in the next two…

Chewonki’s Got the Blues

By Megan Phillips on October 19, 2017

Indigo blues, that is. This summer and fall, participants in programs across Chewonki – from Boys Camp to the Elementary School to the Maine Coast Semester – have been dyeing cotton fabric and farm wool with Japanese indigo. This plant, carefully cultivated on the farm since we seeded it indoors in early April and…

A Whole Lotta Delicata at Chewonki

By Anne Leslie on September 14, 2017

Last week, the 46 new Maine Coast Semester students harvested thick-skinned squash at Chewonki’s Salt Marsh Farm. Summer days and thin-skinned squash (think zucchini) are over, but butternuts and acorns have their own dusky allure, suggesting things to come: frosty mornings and hearty meals on chilly nights. The students brought in about 75 pounds of…

Intimate Encounters with Life at Salt Marsh Farm

By Alexis Grabowski on September 14, 2017

Charlie Lowell, an alumna of Maine Coast Semester 58, worked as a summer farm assistant at Chewonki this past season. She wrote this essay about her experience. Charlie attends Andover High School in Andover, Massachusetts. Most days, I wake up before the sun rises. I roll gently from bed into dirty Carhartts and boots covered…