November: Bring on the Adults!

November is a nice, slow month at the Farm (or so we like to think!)
5 adults from Cincinnati and Indianapolis joined us for Adult Week at the beginning of the month. They split their time between underpinning in Clarksburg and demolishing Alberta's burned-down garage.

New Underpinning!

The staff wrapped up a few small projects before leaving (or staying in) West Virginia to see family and friends for Thanksgiving. We hope you all had a wonderful time eating and counting your blessings.

Missing Something . . .

Winter and fall at the Farm provide wonderful opportunities to grow as a staff during our weeks without volunteers, but we often feel like something is missing. Maybe it's the early morning dance parties in the picture hallway, the large games of infinity ball, or introducing the Nazwich for the first time. Whatever it is, it has to do with you. That got me thinking of some of the great Reviews of the Day from this past summer. Luckily a few groups left theirs in my capable hands so I could share them with everyone.
Enjoy and reminisce about the fun and warmth of summer!

(to the tune of Do-Re-Mi)
Doe a deer, a concrete deer
Rays of penetrating sun

Meat , of meat, I love you meat!
haven't seen you in so long

Joe, the master of the house
Peg, his treasure of a wife

Gail, the keeper of the mouse
This is our Naz farm life

Made a dent, a fender dent
Made a scratch in Linda's side

Linda's dent will surely fade
Not the dent in Timmy's pride!

Where are all the warning signs?
Where are all the traffic lights?
Ride the double yellow lines

This is our Naz Farm life

Covered up a bumpy deck
Boards, we pounded, pushed, and shoved

Said nice things about our team
Held a hammer full of love

Free to wear our smelly clothes
Free of vanity and strife
Spray my armpits with a hose

This is our Naz Farm Life!
Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do So Do!


(to the tune of Friday)
It's Friday, Friday, working in the rain on Friday
gotta build a deck and ramp for Jane and Shon
roofing, roofing, roofing in the rain on Friday
gotta cut and screw the tin roof on
Susan, Susan got her to use a sawzall
(only an hour after digging in the concrete)

Finished, finished the job on Friday
rain, mud, and dirt can't stop the Soul Sisters (+2)

Dirty and muddy and yeah!
soaking and smelly and yeah!
fun, fun, fun, fun, we love working at Naz Farm!

Now break it down! (think of this next part as a rap)

It's Naz Farm, think you be snoozin'? Ain't no way, just ask Susan!
And to a job don't dare be late or you'll suffer the wrath of Kate.
If you think a job is just to tricky, just ask help from our friend Niki.
Reading at school with the kids and all led by the super sojo Paul.
Now Kristina there is another story, just open your eyes to her faith, love, and glory.
Now who was our favorite today? It's Matt, or was that ninja Pat? Or maybe Nat?
How many jobs did you do today Allyson asks and shouts Hooray!
So whether you call him Robby or just plain Rob, you know he's the many for any job.
And who's always there with a good ol' hey'ya, we certainly know it's none other than Kayla.
So when those shingles did need tacked, leading Soul Sisters (+2) was birthday boy Zack!
And now onto you newest bud, super frisbee throwing Judd.
And last but not least is Farmer John, master of the garden and leader of song.
And that's the rap of the Naz Farm Staff, 'cause they gave it all, not just half!

July, July!

Summer was in full swing this July, and we worked on worksites galore! An epic roof at Sherri's was started.

Robin received a new ramp/porch combo, the Farm House's roof was updated, an extremely long ramp went in at Betty's, and a few crews up new underpinning up at Marsha's. 

Betty's new, extra long ramp!

A level path to the greenhouse 

Robin's extended porch/ramp with a roof

Mother Earth News, Rafting, and Colleges!

Even though there weren't any student volunteers around in September, we kept busy. Farm buildings and tools went through a deep clean,  roofs needed to be finished, and adventures were to be had. The staff learned more about sustainable building and living at the Mother Earth News Fair in Pennsylvania before heading to Bethlehem Farm to work a few days while learning about roof harnesses. We also went on our annual rafting trip down the lower Gauley.
Soon after we returned home, a group of students from Mt Aloysius College joined us for a long weekend retreat. Some students worked at Vicky and Allen's putting in new linoleum in their front room, and others stayed at home working around the Farm.
In mid-October we hosted our usual groups from Notre Dame, the University of St. Francis, Phi Delta Theta from Creighton, and Aquinas College. New skills were acquired by all as we put on a few tin roofs, new siding, closed down our gardens, and cut up a few fallen trees.

Check out all the pictures below:

Sherri's Completed Roof

Vicky's New Linoleum

A New Red Roof for Bill and Ruth

Gene's Green Tin Roof

New Roof and Siding at Debi's 

New Tin in West Union

Pat's New Siding

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas . . .

Hello friends!

As you probably know, we have many Christmas traditions here at the farm.  Each December we take a break from home repair and focus on sharing the joy of the holiday season with our Doddridge county community.  We visit all of the families that we have worked with over the course of the year and bring them gifts and cookies.  Also, we send a thank you cookie package to all the wonderful businesses that work with us.  It all culminates with a big party for the children of the area on December 8th.  We have music, games, face painting, crafts, and Santa has a toy and at least one new book for every child.

            The only way that we can do this is through the help and generosity of others. For those of you who came here this year, maybe you want to sponsor a family that you worked with. Maybe your family wants to sponsor a family.  Maybe your church or youth group wants to sponsor a family.  Maybe you want to pool some money with your work crew.  If you do decide to sponsor someone you could set aside time to pray for them throughout the holiday season.  If you haven’t been to the farm in a while you can donate to the general Christmas fund or donate new books and educational games.  Anything that you are able to do is appreciated. We generally spend $15/person. If you do wish to sponsor a family let us know before Thanksgiving so we can plan accordingly. You can let us know by calling or emailing the Farm or send us a private Facebook message. Lastly, if you want to send or email any Christmas cards or messages we would love to pass them on. Merry Christmas!

Peace and love,

Nazareth Farm

August Trifecta

As usual August started with a trifecta of group weeks. 7 families came in for a fun Family Week full of ninja, swimming, home repair, and gardening. Groups of high school students joined us for the last two weeks of our summer. Past staff member Jenny, Jerusalem Farmers (Jessie, Abhi, Andrea, and Nathaniel), Sr. Paula, and Chair of the Board Nick visited us for various lengths of stays in August.
Since it was the end of the summer, that meant we said goodbye to our last few sojourners, Natalie, Paul, Pat, and Niki.
 We worked mainly in Clarksburg with a few homes in Doddridge County. Here are some pictures of the various roofs and porches from the month. We spent time canning tomatoes and sauerkraut with Ronnie. The Todd home also received new siding, soffit, and fascia.

JJ's new white tin roof

Chris and Sabrina's new porch 

Another view of the porch

Sandy's new roof

Pam's roof from the last week of the summer

Farmer John gave us all a safer trip down to the lumber

June!

Summer on the Farm means we were full of cool high school volunteers and chaperones. We've also welcomed our first group of Summer Sojourners: Clare, Alison, Lauren, and Betsy!
Zack and Lauren continued a roof over Rosemary's trailer.
Allyson built a porch for Melissa and Eric, repaired Tony and Eva's roof, and re-shingled the dorms.

 

 Susan painted and created a roof for a well at Nanny's, drywalled a room in Salem, and built a nice porch for Jane with Kayla.

Robby re-shingled Anna's roof and put tin on Carla's.
Matt painted Sue and Tom's trim and put on new facia. He also worked at Carla's.

 Kayla joined staff at the beginning of the month. After a some on-site training, she built a porch in Folsom.

May Update

Most of the staff headed to Kansas City to visit the new Jerusalem Farm for their dedication Mass!
Jessie and Jordan are leading up this new endeavor with support from Avila. 5 other staff members also live there: Andrea, Abhi, Zack, Kristina, and Anne. Check them out at jerusalemfarm.org

Soon after we got back, we started our busy but wonderful summer group week season: tons of volunteers, the arrival of excited sojourners, blossoming gardens, warm weather, and lots of home repair and hospitality! Siding, tin roofs, underpinning, gardening, drywall, demolition, and home crew filled our two college weeks. We ventured to Clarksburg, West Union, and Pennsboro to work with our wonderful homeowners.

Poles for the green beans

Siding at Dave's

New tin at Idonia's

Welcome Home!

One of our volunteers from February wrote an awesome article about her Nazareth Farm trip for her school paper. We hope you enjoy her words as much as we did.
Nazareth Farm Mission Trip, By Isabel

 "Welcome home!" That's the first gesture that eight youthful staff team members welcomed the seven of us as we arrived to West Virginia on that first night. After a hilarious eight hour car ride from Connecticut that morning, Mrs. Gostic, Ms. Boiselle, Amanda, Brendan, Maria, Kaila, and I were more than ready and curious as to what this week would bring. From the very start that night we were invited in and given the utmost hospitality, great new friends, amazing food, and renewed thought for the journey home.

Nazareth Farm was an experience of a lifetime. The week brought us to see life differently: I appreciate things more, from simply flushing toilets to being able to take indoor showers. The days were filled: working at different worksites, building a duck barn right on the farm for the spring, repairing the houses in nearby towns, like the paneling in Robert’s room or the ceiling in Jeanie’s house.

We were accompanied by two amazing groups from Kellenburg in Long Island, NY and boys from Louisville, KY. The face that all of us came from different places gave us plenty to talk about from the start, from discussing whether or not KFC actually tasted good to how the Kellenburg girls pronounced certain words. We got to bond with the staff members: listening to Jordan’s stories about hitchhiking, hearing Robby play his guitar, helping Kristina make the delicious food, playing with Kate and Matt’s beautiful children, Jonah and Audrey, and listening to how passionate Susan and Allyson are about the farm, and playing Ninja and Flip ‘Ems with Zack.

When we weren’t working or making new friends, we were having gatherings about Catholic Social Teaching and the history of West Virginia, teaching us to better appreciate and understand the importance of protecting the environment. The staff at Nazareth Farm really lived out the Catholic Social Teachings, and while many in my religion class can attest to having memorized them backwards and forwards, I had never quite met people who stuck true to them. At the Farm, the hot chocolate and coffee were Fair-trade, meaning that the company provided the workers fair wages for their labor. The Farm made sure to preserve water too; they shower three times a week, and often in what is referred to as bucket showers. Believe it or not, I learned that week that it is possible to shower with 5 gallons of water, regardless of the fact that most people tend to waste 30 gallons on average of water per shower. The staff at the Farm also pushed the concept of finishing everything on your plate and only taking what you know you’ll eat. Often in the consumerist society we live in, we tend to overdo and overfull, and end up wasting a lot. These people were doing just the opposite, along with having a hefty compost and eating lots of vegetables and fruits that were in season.

 The week in West Virginia helped give me new perspective. I got to see the lives of people, some who were so hurt by poverty or illness, smile at the simplicity in which they lived. There’s nothing quite like the spirit the natives of West Virginia, and they are truly some of the most open, free, and hospitable people I’ve come across in my life. For that week, I really did feel at home with where I was, living in solidarity with people who I had never met, finally being able to properly nail and complete a closet paneling with the help of Jarred, feeling that the little I may have accomplished for these people left them with a brand new wall and a smile on their faces that day. That’s what counted. This mission trip was absolutely enriching and the only drawback was not being to stay longer! So if any of you Naz staff members end up reading this one day, just know your sacrifice in living on the Farm is well appreciated, and slowly but surely, we’ll be comin’ atcha for another visit!

January Worksite Updates

The group week calendar kicked off with a college week at the beginning of January. Luckily there was only a little snow! Robby built a carport for Joyce. Susan and Zack transformed an interior room in Clarksburg. Allyson and Jordan updated the Lamp’s front porch.

Eric guarded Roger’s trailer from the cold with new underpinning.

After the group the staff redid some floors at the Greco’s and windows at the McCune’s.

February Sites

Students from DeSales, East Catholic, and Kellenberg came for a week. We had a lot of fun with the warm weather, and we completed the first official Flip Em’s tournament. Susan put up a new ceiling at Jeanie's.

The new duck barn took shape with Robby.

Allyson and Zack replaced paneling in two rooms in Spelter.

April Worksite Updates

During April we hosted past volunteers, staff, and friends for Holy Week. During the week we constructed raised beds in our Deacon’s garden. The week ended with the traditional Seder Meal, Stations of the Cross hike, and a sunrise hike up to the rock Easter morning.

After a rejuvenating retreat in the middle of the month, the staff replaced drywall in Jean's bathroom ceiling. We also patched a hole in Lee’s roof and put new metal over his bathroom.

Spring Break Fun! (March Worksites)

March started with a trifecta of college Spring Break weeks! Over 100 volunteers came through the hollow. We extended some big projects over a few weeks and flew through some smaller ones. Zack and Jordan (and everyone else for random days in between) completed a massive roof over a double-wide trailer!

Susan repaired a long exterior staircase in Salem. She also replaced decking boards for Katie.

Robby replaced a living room floor in Center Point and then prepared the gardens for planting. Allyson did a project a week: a roof over a porch, a wheelchair ramp in Salem, and drywall for Wayne.

Our ducks also arrived at the end of the month!