Up on the Mountain: February 2014

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Falling in Love with West Virginia

Our Apple Butter Float

The fall is a time when we as a staff are able to grow together and experience the special place that is WV for ourselves. 3 new staff members joined us in September and October - Teresa, Andi, and Natalie. We participated in Salem's Apple Butter Festival, went on a staff retreat in the Adirondacks, completed a few windows and small roofs, and made the Farm our own.

After over a month of staff weeks (full of various days of cleaning, retreating, hiking, doing home repair, and more!) everyone readily welcomed home 2 weeks of college students this fall. Our usual groups from Notre Dame, Creighton, St. Francis, and Aquinas joined us. With their help we completed a trailer roof, re-roofed the back half of our friends' home, and built a giant porch!

The staff at Niagara Falls on our way to our retreat

The staff on top of Snowy Mountain during retreat

(Chevy) Chase, our new truck!

A new roof for Jerry's shed

Bert and Roxanne's beautiful porch!

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Here Come the High Schooelers!

Many students think of June as a time for vacation, but we were blessed to have a bunch of students and adults join us in working around the Farm, in the gardens, and out on worksites. We were able to complete 4 roofs, 4 porches, 1 addition, 1 siding site, and 1 painting site along with tons of Farm and garden projects.
Our ladders received a new covering and the White Barn started getting scraped.

I hope you enjoy the pictures of sites!

Ivena's leak-free roof

Richard and family's new porch

Judy's newly painted house!

Sharin's new 1st story roof!

Rosemary's Porch

Eric + Amy's Porch

Brussel Sprouts!

Betty's New Porch

JoAnn's New Roof!

End of Summer Wrap-Up

August is a favorite month for many staff members because of Family Week. This year wasn't any different! Most of the volunteers were under the age of 13, but it didn't stop the work. All the homeowner accommodated the little ones with cartoons, popsicles, snacks, swing-sets, and love.
We also hosted 2 great weeks of high school students to finish up the trifecta. As the last group left, staff members were sad to see the summer end but delighted for the naps to follow!