STURTS FARM PROFILE

Profile
Depending on ones location, it’s relatively easy to find Sturts farm.
In the top half of the planet Earth there is a small land mass know as the United Kingdom…In the south of the United kingdom one finds an area know as Dorset, much of its coastal area was once covered by sea. Now it thrives with much farm land and sporadic cities along the coast. As is the case with much of what I have seen in England the country side it dotted with village after village of old style buildings and new style towns emerging. I believe the village we live by is more of a newer development. The village of West Moors just turned 50years. It is close to an even bigger city called Ringwood which is an old market town.
You are also able to visit via the Internet: www.sturtsfarm.com… or via the biodynamic association www.biodynamic.org.uk or through the Camphill community network. (All things we will go into later)
The full experience of Sturts farm is best found in a view of the whole picture. Arriving around 5.30am would be best suited for this purpose. You will find us along the West Moors road B 3072, the road sign is bright and colorful which shows the same within.
As you turn in you will see another sign, earthier and rich, calved out of wood, (Sturts Farm, Camphill community) this means we are a community based farm where there are people who live on the farm who need help here and there.
So you’re driving in at 5.30 am. It’s still dark in the winter and the sun is radiating in the summer, you will have a hedge on each side of you. On the other side of the left hedge is Bee field, this year we will close the field up for silage, its known as bee field for there are bees living in the one corner, they are cared for by the Dorset association, too your right is Twin Oaks. Twin oaks has just been ploughed and soon shall have fodder carrots planted inside for the cows, there are also potatoes, cabbages and some seed work is done in this field. It is in the front rotation. Theses carrots will begin to be harvested around November. I know this as we just finished (March) harvesting the ones from last year. Quite an extended job I may say. Quite a rhythm was set up of every Mon; we would trek out to the West side of Sunny acres (another field in the North of the Farm). With garden fork, wheel barrow and gloves. If you remembered them? Carrots were dug then the tops twisted off. We moved from a highly organized system of taking them out in rows and other people twisting and so on. To a point in the last few weeks where they were just put in a pile and we all sat around and twisted. Much more social, but a greater propensity for a slower pace, They would then be lifted and thrown into the nearby trailer, which would be later taken to the wash bay. When there was a suitable day, the carrots would be taken out and washed in a big bath. They are then stored for later use, ideally raised as the cold concrete if not ventilated helps to create severe rot. The washing creates a much more friendly carrot for our cows as they do not enjoy soil, as much as say our pigs.
So anyway, the road is not long and soon you find parking to your left. There is two gates one too Bee field and the other too Saint John Field. The house next to this field is Saint Johns, hence the name. Continue along the road by foot, you will be walking in a Northerly direction. To your right you will see a building which is built mainly of straw bales as well as a road which branches to the right in front of it.
Along that road you may make out two other houses, Saint Francis and then St. Martins. Not to worry about these just yet, keep to the left and maintain your northerly direction. Not forgetting that it may also be dark and making out more than the delicately dotted lights along the road may be hard for some.
So you’ve continued on, passing Saints Johns entrance to your left, the farm House, after that on the left.
The Meteor building will address you lightly to the right. It is a home as well as office and Kitchen.
A couple more steps and you find yourself in the briefing, meeting zone of Sturts. Where, Farmer, Gardener, forester, Homemaker alike intersects on their way to their various activities. You see to the left is the way to the barn extension where the gardeners are based. It is also the way to the shop, where all the food comes through for our houses. Straight in front is the farmer’s base.
To the right an almost unnoticeable door will take you into a room where the foresters keep the wood for the house fires. This is not their station though. To find that you should continue straight, on reaching the pig sty’s turn right and continue straight for a way, passing the mill room and grain store to your right, The big machine shed to your left, the club house to your right with outside toilet if you need. Straight on through Meteor field, with saint Martins and the creamery to your right and the chicken’s areas to the left, you enter the forest through a gate and to your right the forester’s wood shed is.
But we’re not there yet, and it is early and you have just seen the farmer coming out of the boot room which is in the old machine shed.
He may go to open the gate, which is locked over night. He then goes about his morning duties to enliven the farm before the other farmers arrive and the day is begun. He moves his milking cows out of their pens (or brings them in from the field in the summer) which are in a big open barn to the left as you move through the gate, across the road which is concrete, they slumber from a semi sleep semi prepared state to the yard which is too the right of the gate. The Bull Homer is let out to great them and check who is on heat so that they may be served accordingly. One is also able to tell by a quite clear smelling and attempts to get on top by the other cows. This can vary, so the best result is always with the bull. If a cow is on heat and she put in to Homer’s pen for the day or over night.
Well the cows are moseying around and waking up, eating some silage (rolled grass left to ferment in a plastic sealed wrapper) from the central feeder in the yard. The silage is made on the farm and the hay on field which are rented off the farm.
The farmer continues his jobs of feeding the Heifers (smaller female cows who have not a calf yet) and steers (males with no equipment).In the mornings while inside they get a little extra, on top of their silage or hay, a pen of 4/5 may share a bucket of rolled oats (some grown on the farm) We buy in wheat, barley and triticale from Joe Bradley, it works out about £200 a tone with transport.
The oats this year was grown in Windy acres, a field to the North of the farm, now the field will have wheat sown at a protective crop for the under sown grasses . We harvested the winter sown oats of 2005 in the summer of 2006; we then dried it and baled the straw for bedding. We do need to by in about 1000 small and 120 big bales of straw a year. It is local but not organic. Its about £50 a tone delivered. The wheat straw comes from Blanford.
During the winter the cows were in the field after is had been harvested, eating the grass that was left, spreading a lot of manure around and later eating silage which was brought into the field, the field was then spread with more much which had been sitting for some months and had a number of preparations come through it( later more on the preparations), the field would then be ploughed then disked then rolled to create a fine seed bed for usually barley or tritokal, this year we shall try wheat. The cereal will protect the grass lay which is under sown. In the summer the cereal is cut as silage.
They will also receive a bucket of fodder carrots which I spoke of earlier or lately the gardeners have thrown us some parsnips which seemed to overwhelm them.
There are cows in the barn where the milkers were and also if you carry on down past the hay barn also on the left there is another open covered area where three large pens are.
On the other side of the yard there is Homers pen to the left, three similar sized pens, the second two have 2 and 3 calves in respectively, then there are another two more internal pens with front walls, they have 3 and 2 calves and finally theres another two open ones each with 2 calves in, the first two are still small and take milk from a bucket, the others have been weaned and now eat a little oats but mostly hay. In the summer a confident suckling mother, would be able to take her calf and others and be in the field with the grassers. Some are not so confident and are put in during milking time to feed their and others calves.
He will then return to the dairy which is just to the right before you go through the gate (heading north still). He e will put together the milking machines in preparation. Around 5:45am it is expected that two more farmers or so may arrive. There will be a momentary greeting, any urgent information will be passed on and each will get on with his duties. The milk may need to go up to the bigger creamery for processing later in the day, it may be from 3- 6 churns which need to go up depending on how much milk is available and how much is required. We have a new vat now so can take a lot more milk. The smaller vat will be emptied and the churns taken up. Some days they will be just put in and others the machines there will be turned on. There is a room where the Yogurt is processed; this is needed to be at a certain temperature when the processor comes in
The smaller vat is cleaned ideally every 2-3 days. This is done by first cold water; this is how all milk is treated. Then boiling water and Ecover soap does the Job.
In the winter one team will be bedding up and feeding outside and one milking inside. This can be one person in each or two or even three farmers in each area in the winter. The summer is much less jobs so more concentration is on tidying up and smaller things on the morning routine. Some one is expected to go and check all the live stock at least once a day. In lambing time the sheep can be checked 3 times in a day.
The rolled oats is shared out and the cows brought in, the milking parlor is designed with a two door system, an in and an out, there is a trough which runs down the front all the stands which makes easier cleaning, they are slightly raised and the cows are chained around the neck, except Sally who also has a bottom chain as she feels more secure with it and is less likely to kick any farmers. The room is rectangular in shape and can take 7 cows at a time.
One by one the cows are cleaned and stripped- just a quick hand milk to check there milk is okay and nothing too obvious is wrong, we use blue paper roll to clean the teats.
The compressor machine is switched on and the environment changes to a noisy space of a compressor over head, one gets used to it quick as there too much else to focus on. The machines are brought in, basically three metal buckets, two of which have special tops with an inlet for the suction pipe of the compressor as well as the clusters( things which suck onto teats and draw milk) . The milk is filled into the bucket and then when the cow is done its swapped with the other bucket, weighed and poured through a filter into a larger churn, the filter is later checked then the milk goes in the vat.
As there are two buckets with clusters its important to set up a rhythm quick then the milking goes smoothly.
During the winter they also were giving carrots as apart of their feed and later parsnips. There are Soya pellets which are added to the grain for extra protein they come from High Peak organic feeds and costs 300-£400 per tonne.
The cows are milked twice a day 6:00am- 7:15am and 4:30- 5:45pm. This is a strong rhythm which the cows enjoy being in. when the daylight saving time changes it does disrupt their pattern.
We have 16 milking cows, 5 are which are only for feeding their and others calves. There are 13 calves still drinking milk. 4 who are weaned off?
The milk is not homogenized, we drink it raw, it is cooled by the vat but that’s it. None of it is sold. A community of 50 use the milk.
Milking done, cow’s teats are dipped with iodine then they are let out. They can then go off to a field for the day or night in the summer. This allows another farmer to start his job of spraying the parlor out with water and another farmer to wash the machines which were used. This water drains down into a big tank which is used to spray the muck heaps and water fields if needed, it is mixed in with all the water from muck and urine as well.
Pigs need feeding. They get ideally barley, sometimes oats or triticaly. There are 3 soars (females) and one boar in the forest at the moment. They are very happy ripping up the brambles and clearing the forest. The larger pigs get about one quarter bucket each per morning. The smaller pigs, the porkers can share a third of a bucket between three twice a day. They also receive whey from the creamery in the morning. Normally a bucket per sty, and vegetables in the evening from the garden.
The pig’s sties are cleaned out once a week normally a Thursday.
When a soar is ready to give birth she will be brought back into the sty to have her litter in the safer environment.
The last job for the morning Farmers team is just too let the chickens out. Eggs are then collected around 12:30 and they are put in in the evening before dark. They have four plots which they rotate on in Meteor field. We have not had chickens for meat this season but will have again in the next season.
The garden begins around six as well.
Their main focus is the summer is the weeding, harvesting and sowing jobs, they are endless. This year they have produced some lovely apple juice. When they have the time they use any excess fruit or veg.
What vegetables are not up to standard find there way to the pigs stys.
In the winter they focus a lot on our ditches so that they maintain a healthy flow. They also work on clearing the ponds which filter the human liquid waste as well as gray water from the houses. This water filters through three ponds of reeds which need cutting.

There are three hectares of land under the garden. As well as a third of a field which is in the farm rotation.
Divided into ten rough plots. The order goes :
1: Potatoes ( heavy feeder).
2:Onions & Garlic ( medium).
3: Fruit; pumpkins, sweet corn (heavy).
4: Roots; celeriac, beet, parsnips (light).
5: Green manure ( giver)
6: Cabbages; bracikas (heavy).
7: Leeks (light ).
8: Legumes; beans, peas ( givers) lettuce ( light).
9: Carrots (light).
10: Green manure (giver).


The forest team works to the East of the farm. Their 3 hectare space has been divided into 20 plots which can be rotated, following a winters felling and replanting. There is also almost a hectare at the very north of the farm which is our buffer zone from the power substation as well as promoting wildlife and environmental conservation. In between Gullivers field and Newmans lane there is a strip of nearly half a hectare of very old forest. This is also left for nature.
The fire wood is used in the houses over the winter. They collect brush wood and store leaves for leaf mold. They do much of the tools repair.
In the summer the forest team does seed work; they cultivated and select plants which latter go to seed. This is apart of the biodynamic seed group. All seeds are shared and move through Stormy Hall at Botton village in Yorkshire.
All jobs are aimed to be finished on time for breakfast. 7:30- 7:45. Morning Prayer is at 8:45 for everyone then work begins again at 9:00.

Waste and Recycling:
There is all sorts of waste on a farm and in a community.
We work with our local authority to collect our house hold rubbish. They collect every Wednesday morning.
We recycle : Metal goes in the skip we have on the farm which is collected, there is glass, paper, plastic bottles. These are taken by Michael to the recycle centre in West Moors. We are trying to find a way to re use card board for compost. It can too be re cycled locally.
Majority of other waste which comes off the farm or garden goes into the skip. This is collected.
Large amounts of fat and bone from our pigs and bone from cows and sheep has to be taken away and incinerated.
Our human liquid waste moves through the ponds and the solids are stored in a tank and pumped out when full.
The farm also has a large tank under the muck heaps which stores all the liquids off the yard this is re used on the much heaps or in the garden.
There is no quick solution with waste. We humans seem to have an ability to amount it continually.
A community can only perceveir to be responsible for its excess in an environmental and spiritual way.
Food Processing:
We have a creamery and a butchery on the farm. The butcher is an employee and sorts all of our meat. He has help from other food processors. They also make our cheeses and yogurt.
When they have the time they make lemon curd, smoked beef, jams and any other delicious treats.
They produce for our community as well as the Shieling school and Lantern center down the road.
Shop and Market:
We have a small organic farm shop which sell our local vegetables. We also do a market once a week at the Lantern center and once a month in West Moors. The profits of the shop go to the Ringwood Waldorf school and help in their developments.
The ladies who work in the shop are volunteers. They have children at the school.
It serves the community very well to have all its food needs on site.
Fields and Rotations:
In the farm we work with two rotational systems.
The front rotation which focuses on those fields to the South and the Back rotation which works with fields in the North.
The Back rotation comprises Foxes close ( 3.324 hectares), Middle Field ( 2.806 h), Windy acres ( 2.451h), Holly Bush (3.222h), Furzey Copse (2.230h).
Each field experiences 3 years in grass where the soil is being given back, some of the grasses we plant are timothy, cotsfoot and chicory.
We harvest silage from these field and the cows and sheep use them for grassing.
At the end of the 3rd year the field is ploughed in and winter oats is sown for the 4th year. This is a taker from the soil as well as food for the cows once rolled by our rolling mill. Or it can be ground by the hammer mill for the pigs. It is harvested in the summer by Jeff a friendly local who small ancient combine harvester is ideal. We clean it and store it. Once harvested we bale the straw up for the winter.
The field is then left over the winter. This allows an excellent place for the milking cows to go in the day, so as to not destroy the other fields in the wet conditions.
In the spring of the 5th year the field is spread with much and ploughed in. There is a arable silage crop sown with grass under sown. In the summer this grows up and protects the grasses from the hot dry conditions we have on Sturts. After the harvest of arable silage the grasses can establish more over the summer and deep into the winter.
The Front rotation is a 7 year rotation. The fileds are : Sunny acres ( 2.485h) which has 3 plots in it, Saint Johns ( 1.584h) which has 2 plots, Bee Field ( 1.188h) and Twin Oaks ( 0.836h).
1: Potatoes for garden( heavy)
2: Fodder carrots ( light)
3: Barley/oats/wheat/ tritokale under sown with grass ( taker)
4, 5, 6, 7: Grass Lay.

Winter: Time of deep inner work and outer strength.

Hedges:
Along with spreading much on the fields annually this is one of the long term farming practices being maintained on Sturts.
A truly honorable gesture to the future.
Planting samplings before the spring. The sap has not risen, when well healed in they sit in the earth awaiting planting. Hedge rows are agreed upon, measured up and planting begins.
Some of the trees I planted this lats year are holly, haw thorn, hazel. Equal spacing between the trees is important.
They are firmly pressed into the soil after a small hole is dug, their trunks pointing straight up.
Hedges rows are a haven for wildlife. It is believed that many of the elemental beings ( nature forces) can also use these spaces for sanctuary.
Due to the farm being located next to a substation which has pylons coming out of it there is potentially loose energy which is about. Many of the trees which we plant have the ability to absorb this energy.
The art of laying a hedge is old. The trees are allowed to grow quite tall, then they are almost cut and layed down. Interwoven they form a hedge. In the spring new life bursts forth all over the wood and rises to the sun forming a denser hedge. They may be layed again to develop a thicker hedge.

Much Heaps
As the animals are inside there is a lot of much (manure) builds up. There are weekly ‘muchings out’ of the pigs pens and every three months or so a clearing of the cows pens.
The much is built up onto heaps. This is done In a very exact manner, fork by fork.
There is initially a rectangular shape constructed. Roughly 3 paces by 12 paces. Walls are built up on the sides by stacking each fork load on top and next to the other. The trick is to maintain your walls as being straight and not let them come in to much.
Once the walls get high enough a tractor may come and assist the process by grabbing a load of much and dumping it on the heap. Farmers on top will stack it and sort it out.
As the walls are built one also walks on them to compact the much more. Once they reach a height where the tractor is unable to put more on top then that’s about it. One heap can take a half a day to build or a week, depending on the will and machinery available.
They reduce size very quickly and reduce to about half the size of their origin. This may seem to have rooted right down but actually its merely a compaction. After 9 months one may find that there is an outer shell of lovely dark brown sticky wet compost but one foot more in and its still mostly straw based. Ideally one turns them and moves the much again, rebuilding somewhere else or having a fancy machine which does it. This really encourages the processes of breaking down to accelerate. We managed it this year with the help of the grab on the front of the tractor, a lot of shaking of the hydraulic stick to separate the much out and some digging between each heap to create drainage space and paths to walk when we spray the preparations on them.
The gardeners receive 2 much heaps from us which we turn and they leave for about 2 years to become fine compost.
During the season special preparations are added to the much in a special formation. The ingredients are Yarrow and stags bladder, chamomile and small intestine, nettles, oak bark and skull, dandelion flower and mesentery, valerian, time, love and the cosmic and earthly forces. This work is done by the gardeners.
In the spring the fields are spread with the much by a ’much spreader’ after they are harrowed or before they are ploughed. The organisms in the much as well as indescribable forces work into the soil to enrich it. This is a long term process and enables a soil to find a harmony which best serves the needs of the soil, farmer and cosmos.
The Biodynamic preparations
Such an integral part of the farm organism a profile could not be complete without a basic on them.
‘Don’t worry its all natural’
The Compost preparations as spoken of above have a little more detail which enriches the farm life.
Yarrow ( Achillea mille folium, composite family) Preparation 502.
Stag bladder ( red deer, Cervus elaphus).
The ‘weed’ has sulfur, potassium and carbon noticeably in it.
‘Sulfur , vehicle for the spiritual principle’ That was said by the catalyst of the Biodynamic movement, Rudolf Steiner, he was a great mystic and philosopher who touched many areas of society.
He presented a series of lectures which initialized the movement.
The cosmic forces are believed to radiate through the stags senses into its bladder. Kidney and bladder eliminate salts dissolved in urine, above all nitrogen and potassium.
The bladder is stuffed with yarrow flowers and hung over the summer. In the winter it is buried.




Chamomile ( Matricaria chamomillia compositae family)and small intestine(jejunum and ileum). Preparation 503
Sulphur and Calcium is present in this plant.
The flowers are stuffed into a cow’s small intestine then buried over the winter.
The preparation vitalizes plants and makes them resistant to malformation.
Nettle (Urtica dioica, Urticaceae family) preparation 504
The leaves have fine hairs with siliceous heads. The hairs can sting this contains sodium formate, choline and histidine.
Nettles are beneficial to soil, plants, animals and humans.
On the farm was use nettle in the preparations, in a tea in the garden for the plants to help against aphids, fresh for the bull, dried leaves are crushed for the chickens, the same dried leaves could be used for the cows in the winter. It is also suspected that a strong tea will dissuade flys form the cows in the summer.
Nettles are gathered at first flowering stage, cut at the base and left to wilt. They are buried surrounded by at least a 5cm peat layer.
Oak Bark ( Quercus robur, Fagaceae family) Domesticated animal skull. Preparation 505.
This powerful tree has powerful bark. Its constituents show contrasts. There is a high level of calcium ( 75% of ash is CaO) which protects against fungal growth and Tannin whos acid has insecticide properties.
The powdered bark moistened and pushed through the occipital foramen of the skull which has already been cleared of brain matter and dried. The skull is sealed and buried in an area which has occasional water passing through it.
This stays in over the winter
Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale, Compositae family)Bovine mesentery or caul fat( great omentum)Preparation 506
The flowers open in the morning in the East and close in the South West in the afternoon. When the flowering time is over it closes and then reopens as a sphere of parachutes( pappus)holding seeds.
Latex is in the tap root and stems of this plant.
The seeds bear fine silicious cellular tissues.
The Dandelion almost fully opened flowers which have been gathered in the morning are wrapped in the lean part of the mesentery and left buried throughout winter.
Valerian( Valerian officinalis, Valerianaceae family) Preparation 507
The root has well known sedative properties. Nectaries secrete a sweet sticky liquid with characteristic sent which attracts many insects.
It is a perennial herb. The plant is connected to warmth. It stimulates phosphorous processes and may help with protect fruits and flowers from frost.
Newly opened clusted are collected on a flower morning. Grind finely and express the juice. Place in bottles and store for lactic fermentation. Only seal after 6 weeks. The coffee colored aromatic smelling liquid is sprayed on the much heaps and creates a protective enveloping warmth and is also beneficial to earth worms.
Horsetail (Equisetum arvense, Equisetaceae family) Preparation 508
This is not a compost Prep. 502-507
Like ferns and moss it is spore bearing plant.
High silica content.
It helps to prevent excessive fungal growth.
Collect on sunny day the whole green part and leave to dry in airy shade. Simmer 200-300g dry in 10-20litres of water for an hour.
1-1.5kg fresh to same water. Dilute 5-10 times by volume and use as a spray through the year. 100l - 1 hectare(2.5 acres) on soil and plants.
Horn Silica: Quartz crystal (rock crystal. Quartzite) or amorphous form (agate, flint) or potash feldspar (orthoclase) and cow horns Preparation 501
The mineral should contain more than 98% silica and is ground and filled into cow horns. These are buried over the summer.
After it’s lifted in the autumn we a pinch is added to water and stirred for an hour in both direction at different times. The light energy promotes and organizes plant metabolism.
We spray this in the mornings on leaf days when the sun is rising.
Horn Manure Preparation 500:
Forces are retained in the horns and hooves of cows. The cows have a tremendous digestive capacity. When food is digested the energy and substances as well as forces which are released are not all used by the cow, many are released.
Fresh manure is collected and filled into the cow horns they are buried over winter. The forces radiate from the horns into the manure, in winter everything retreats back to the soil and the life is there, these forces enrich the matter further.
In the spring they are lifted and a semi compost is removed. ( we keep ours for a year underground) A small handful is added to water and stirred for an hr. creating the vortices and charging the substance further.
It is sprayed on young plants to vitalize them and we use it on the farm on root days to encourage root growth and strength.
Cosmic Influences and Calendar:
On a biodynamic farm there are certain rhythms which are taken into account and worked with. The movements of the stars and our synchronization with them. All of this awareness aligns us and the beings with which we work to achieve a higher vibration. The moons influence especially on plants but on all water based beings is definite.
The suns influence and the planets which align with it are all of great significance.
We follow the moon calendar as presented by Maria Tunn, a biodynamic researcher for over 50 years.
As above so below. The world follows certain patterns:
Leaf, Flower, Fruit and Seed (Root). These stages are integral and are felt to be reflected throughout the cosmos.
We associated certain planetary constellations to each of these stages. Three constellations each and as they find align with us we recognize that as a root day or a flower day.
In one perspective it is a very deeply esoteric science, in another it’s just the physical fact that constellations which we have recognized for thousands of years has some even if subtle to us impact on our planet.

Community:
The community is known as a Camphill, this is due to some of the members having difficulties with learning. These people are known as companions there are other members who are known as Co-workers, they help where needed. All co-workers are volunteers. There are short term and long term co-workers.
Short term co-workers are usually here for up to a year. Long term ones are here from two and more.
The short term co workers generally take care of the day too day work with the companions.
The long term co-workers are apart of the carrying group which carry the community, they make decisions on consensus; they are the eyes which are looking forward over the community. Their responsibilities are mixed.
The are also apprentices who are co-workers and volunteers but come to the community to learn biodynamic in the garden and or farm. They to work and live with companions.
The set up is so that there are houses:
St Martins ( John Pickes, John Sturgess, Ian Clarke, Jessica Gray, Belinda Rose, Guy Uta Oliver Sonja Dawson, + a male and female co-worker),
St Johns( Debbie Holt, Daniel Crader, Robert Booth, Neil Wallace, Owen flarety, Nina Gulbis, Sandra Henning William Yohanna Ruben Koester, and two coworkers) ,
St Francis( Roberto Meda, Samuel Ballard, Jane wyler, Alex Southorn, Richard Webb, Greg Cox, Mira & Soline Woitaschek Guillaume Patat and three co workers),
Pinehurst house (Penny Cook, Simon Burger, Daisy Hodlin, Eden Cormack, Claudia Weis, and a co worker),
Meteor( Ulf and Matthias Nilsson), Farm house( Joan and Michael Phillips), friars cottage( Markus Kate Amy Jennifer Brendan Konig ).
These are the homes of the community members. At first we will focus on the first four as they have a mix of companions and co-workers.
The structure is such that each house has ‘House Parents’ they are there to be long term support for the members of the house. They may or may not have children. The children are known as co-workers as well. Such a family environment can be beneficial for companions and co-workers.
There is two or three short term co-workers which live in the house. They are an important social outlet for companions.
All co-workers do much motivational work, the farm life can be demanding.
Apprentices may live in a house as well or a caravan in the summer. They can be extra support in the house but are mostly involved in the work outside. The apprentices can bring passion and energy too the work which can be beneficial for companions and coworkers.
Farm house is home to a retired couple, they are a great spiritual base for the community. The ex gardener, now financier and his son live in Meteor. In Friars cottage lives the farmer and his family. They are waiting to go into the new farm Gullivers which is an extension too Sturts and is where the future is looking too expand into.
So that’s almost all the members except the Summer helpers who are normally young people still in school coming for a few months to help in the garden as there is much too do. They do not have to be responsible for companions.
The other groups of people who come into the community are the employed people: Two maintenance men, two cooks, a butcher, a cheese maker, an accountant and a book keeper. Every three months a chiropodist comes as well.
Due to us having a shop there are the volunteers who work there as well as customers who come and go.
There is a waldorf school called Aquilla which is on the farm. The parents, teachers and pupils are also around the community.
The rhythm and ritual on the farm is strong and works deep.
After the morning work we come in for breakfast.
In Saint Johns we eat at 7:45am, a candle is lit and the meal blessed.
The meal lasts half and hour and then we say thank you and the candle is off. We wash up then have some 15 min before Morning Prayer.
The first communal bell goes at 8:45 and most of the community gather in the club house in a circle.
When the last person is in, the door is shut and the candle lit.
A different verse is read each week from the New Testament of the Bible.
After this we all say blessing together.
Then we sing a song for the day. Normally one which mirrors the season.
The candle then is put out by he who lit it.
Then the work leaders can share with everyone what work the different teams ( farm forest garden) will do in the day.
What is on in the evening and any other matters are shared.
Then we start the day!
Work can vary in the each day for each team. There is a morning tea break for those on the land in the tea room which is above the machine shed. Across from the club house. There are stairs next to the gate into
Meteor field.
People who are working in the houses have their tea there.
Tea break is a very communal time of coming together and having a breather for 15 mins before the second half of the mornings work continues.
Before and after tea break is 1 ¾ hours.
Then its lunch time. We all come in, change and aim to start by 1:00pm.
As with breakfast we have a candle and bless.
We are blessed to have organic if not biodynamic food on the table almost every day.
With washing up we hope to finish by 2:00 for rest hour.
This is a great time of the day. We normally sleep in this hour, digest our food and are ready for the afternoon work from 3:00.
We work till 4:15 then have our afternoon tea break. From 4:30 till 5:45 is the last quarter of the days out door work. Normally.
Afternoon milking is done in this quarter.
A year in the community is inspired by the festivals. Many of the Christian festivals are celebrated and they provide spiritual nourishment as well as a change to the normal day by day rhythm. They are celebrated with thought and love.
Bible suppers and festive suppers can be the most spiritual time of the community experience. These are usually opened by a time (15min) of silence, which a house sits in around a lit candle. Everyone in fine attire. Then the light is transferred into the dinning area where it finds another candle or more. Some words are read and everyone sits. We share anything we like or what has been happening in the week or what to look forward to. Juice is poured, bread broken and we eat. There is normally a pudding which makes things even more special for those of us who find nourishment in treats. We clear up and read the verse which has been read in the morning gathering over the week. We are able to go into more detail in talk on the verses if anyone wishes.
There are talks, movies, plays, parties and prayers.
There are meetings; many meetings are an integral part of the such a community’s life. As decisions are on consensus people need to meet to discuss and find understanding.
There are days off and holiday time which provide great breathing space and recharging of energy.
Matter:
The community’s ability to sustain its self is based on time and money.
Through time the fixed assets have amounted as the needs arose.
The ability to accumulate 25 years of matter on top of the land is based on understandings and agreements. These are possible because the companions are supported financially by the government. The government also recognizes the work which is done on the farm and the community benefits through that. The companions receive a supported living fund which helps with living costs.
We are apart of the Sheling Trust who pay the farm a fee each year for the produce: beef, lamb, pork, cheese, yogurt and vegetables which we produce for them.
In the community none of the co workers receive a salary.
The agreements are such that a long term co-worker is able to have there needs met. They volunteer their time with the awareness of the community they communication with the caring group and reach consensus if a need is questionable.
The short term co-workers receive a co-worker car, their post paid for, £35 a week, food, accommodation, an English course once a week if they need, and a foundation course once a week if they choose. They may study an instrument and are aided on an individual basis for any extra needs.
Apprentices receive training on the farm and experience weekend courses as well as bi annual block courses which last 5 days.
Only until recently due to changes in government support for people with disabilities has Camphill communities been able to rest easier on the financial side of things.
As I understand and have experienced, now that there is capital available it needs management direction and purpose.
The inevitable fact is that more waste does occur and there is less of a need for saving. Although the community does still maintain a will to be as materialistically independent as possible and the drive for harmonious sustainability runs strong.
The community members are the biggest asset. The people you meet as you come into this space are the core. Such beautiful individuals all doing there best to live in community.
In my time here I can say I have grown on many levels.
Physically through the work my body has developed. In this I have found mental stability in that I am rooted to the earth and know how to root myself. Less sensitive in subtle worlds I am more sensitive in physical ones.
I feel apart of the environment, apart of the earth.
Through observation, experience and training I have developed mentally with skills which I hope to develop further.
Emotionally I feel my ego body is strong. Through the motivational day by day work I can feel skin of strength about my being.
My visions on community have shape and form of which I could never have imagined.
Camphill life and its strong rhythm have shown me all sides of living in community. There are things which I have found to be challenging but mostly have found things that are integral to any holistic community picture.
So definitely go for a visit. Stay a night if you can. It’s easy to find and when your there someone will always show you the way.
I hope you enjoy yourself and have the time of your life!