Weeks 8 & 9 2025-2026 in Review
We hit the ground running as we returned to community for this second cycle of the learning year. Our first day back we all came together to brainstorm what we called an "Ideas Blast," and populated a whole glassboard with the many exciting things we want to do. The scope was vast, including land- and season-based activities like processing the last life of the year from the gardens and leaf-dipping (pressing leaves and dipping them in wax to preserve them). Ideas built on the momentum of interests from last cycle, such as constructing a more permanent "Apartment" as a complement to Cardboard City. Many dreams of what we might do in the Digital Studio space at TNP, such as making music, recording a TCC podcast, and building a PC took shape. Later that same first day back, many of the older learners, along with Zoey and resident "Techspert" Mr. Randy, gathered and began creating a plan for readying the Digital Studio. The group talked through all of what they hope to do in the space (recording music, making animations, video editing, 3D modeling, and more), and then considered what equipment and programs we need in order to do those things. From there, the young people decided to focus first on equipping the studio for recording music, and build from that point forward. They came up with two ideas for getting the equipment: putting out a broader community "all-call" and asking if folk have any of what we need and would be willing to donate to support their dreams; and launching a fundraiser, from which we can make a budget and purchase what else we need. As the creative and consensus processes unfolded, two young people each wrote blurbs of what these asks might sound like, and the group reconvened this past week to talk through a co-editing process and decide our fundraising goal. Pending a check for consensus this coming week, we now have a GoFundMe, entirely generated by the young people here, ready to launch!
Week eight really centered around building, in this realm of ideas and plans, and also so very literally.
The young people taking on the Apartment project moved that forward in big and exciting ways, including scavenging wood, scoping out a location, taking measurements and drawing up plans, heading to Lowe's for hardware, researching how to secure wood onto trees in a way that takes best care of the tree, and putting together the first pieces of what will be the floor. Other building projects this week included building with Legos and cardboard in the indoor space, and using a combination of supplies like tape and string along with natural materials in the area we call The New Woods to create "traps" and forts. This past week, we focused more on what the season calls us to do. We processed and froze the persimmons we harvested the week prior, with which we plan to make a quick bread. We harvested the plentiful lemon verbena from our herb spiral, with which we made two beautiful lemon verbena cakes. We enjoyed some lovely weather, caught the winds in our parachute, and kept an eye out for beautiful leaves to press and dip. We also celebrated having all the young people back together at last, after navigating a number of absences due to illness in week eight. With everyone back together, the reconstruction of Cardboard City commenced on Thursday, now adjoining the site of the Apartment project.
Tuesday of this past week was perhaps particularly thrilling, as we had two very exciting offerings that shaped the day. The first was the long-awaited return to our DnD campaign, during which the group entered their first dungeon and started exploring the tabletop aspect of the game, in addition to the roleplay they have so much fun with. This play session lasted almost two hours, and the group would have eagerly continued, but, we had a guest to greet! Local artist and paint/dye/ink-maker Doug Weaver visited us and led an offering in which the group made our own set of watercolor paints. Doug has been an acquaintance with overlapping interests in plant-based pigments, dyeing, and more for some years now, and we have long been eager to have him here to host an offering. His time here turned out so delightfully. The young people listened intently as he talked about various pigment sources, and how pigment and a watery preservative medium come together to make watercolor paint. Following a demonstration from Doug, each young person chose a color, mixed up some paint, and filled out a set of little cups to pull paint from, and then got to painting. What a beautiful creative experience. When it came time to say bye to Doug we had generated a list of possible future offerings, and we are so excited to have him back when the time is right. Just about everyone cited his visit as their highlight of the day, and one young person shared that they're feeling "inspired to create."
Our time with the young people here is so full, and so rich, and so precious, our days filled with moments from of course our planned schedule, but often, the connection and depth we feel is in the small moments in between - sharing self-deprecating giggles with groups of teens, feeling awe at the dappled light dancing through the forest canopy of fall leaves, shrieking with glee at the perfectly positioned parachute taking flight.
What a tremendous privilege it is to know the young people here, to grow alongside them, and to walk through these bits of life together side-by-side.
With gratitude and care,
Emily, Sarah, and Zoey