TNS comes to the farm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFADzOMBIJ0

this is the video that Nate Bennet shot for the Puerto Rico group when they came up to work at Common Wealth Farm. It's really great I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I did. This video gives a slightly excelerated and amped up version of the daily grind here on the farm.

I made it

     So everyone I'm finally here!! After fundraising concerts and last minute packing and round tables. I spent last night washing eggs and just talking with Ryan and Gina while they baked for market today. Later in the evening I helped Ryan with the chores and loading the truck for their early departure the following morning. Today I was by myself but it was all good I needed a day to just be able to ease into the space and get acclimated with my surroundings in my own way. I did morning chores with the animals at 6:30, followed by more unpacking. I had a quick lunch around 1:00 and then strapped on snowshoes and my Axe and went for a walk. I walked the Property with Tico ( Ryan + Gina's dog ) up the snowy hills; Tico's lightweight in shape body did better than my heavy lumpy one. I cut some limbs from a couple of tree's for a little project I will be working on, a project that might just find it's way to market. Tomorrow already looks to be eventful with another early start and a trip to work on a neighbors farm.
     Well this is really just a post to let you know that I'm here and that the learning is going on right now it's the real deal!

Update

So committee here is where I'm at. It seems as if all of the of the issues and complications that come with planning a trip are converging on me all at once. Due to the fact that I am no longer employed I am not pulling in all of the funds that I need to finance the trip. I will need roughly $650 to make this work. I realize that this is a lot of money and I'm planning to do a fundraising coffee house / open mic to get some of it. I am also applying for a travel scholarship from the school. I really do need to be with Ryan for the whole month to make this endeavour worthwhile and a success. So if anyone has any suggestions or ideas for me or would like to hire me to do anything odd jobs cleaning ect. that would be fantastic.

scalder spread sheet

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AkrgpOH93iMqdGMtVTBVdE5URVdiSDFWa1FTWkFEZkE&hl=en#gid=0

fundraising

I also just want to put out there that I am going to be doing some fundraising for this project. I will keep my committee informed as to when the event or events will be held but I am really grateful to the school for allowing me to do this. Although I will be spending little to no money while on the farm in March, I will be out of work and in order to pay my bills I am going to need to do some fundraising. right now I am tentatively thinking of doing a coffee house to benefit my project at the school but I have not gotten much more than an idea at the moment.

poultry design 2.0

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=gmail&attid=0.1&thid=12d9eccaf5f56280&mt=application/msword&url=https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui%3D2%26ik%3D55fef83c08%26view%3Datt%26th%3D12d9eccaf5f56280%26attid%3D0.1%26disp%3Dattd%26realattid%3Df_gj4d3lg10%26zw&sig=AHIEtbR_NAxPFv18q65_Uc0ZR51Ba3LWAg&pli=1

this is the actuall dimensions of the poultry kitchen just so you know what the scale of it all is.

processing design 1.2

processing design 1.0

spreadsheet

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AkrgpOH93iMqdHFhWVAwNFdDdjBXb3NzNXRrOThpUXc&hl=en

what this is, is the results of my cost analysis research regarding different plucking machines and manufacturers

student

mentor

Introduction

 

Landon Knittweis's Senior Project:

An Adventure In Sustainable Agriculture And Farm Design

1.)What do I hope to accomplish? What will I be doing? Who will be befitting from this project?

For my senior project I hope to work with Ryan Wilson on Common Wealth Farm to further strengthen my research abilities, acquire a working understanding of ecological design and sustainable systems, and construct a formalized business and ecological land use plan, as well as detailed maps that will aid in the future prosperity of the Farm and the community it inhabits.

I will be spending the time from now until the March intensive doing research pertaining to the first year goals; I'm calling it the "immediate action plan". This will be a compilation of the things that I am planning to physically do while on the farm this spring, as well as the things that should be done throughout the first year to render the agricultural endeavor profitable and effective.

I believe that the owners/ workers of the farm will benefit from my work as well as the local community and perspective consumers of the farms products. Mostly though I feel that I will benefit from this project by being engaged in a rigorous physical and intellectual endeavor that will test my skills and accumulated knowledge, as well as require me to learn new things and embark on a new paradigm for my life.

2. Who is my mentor, why?

   My mentor is Ryan Wilson. Ryan is an alumni of TNS and more recently a teacher of Sustainable Farm Design, a coarse taught in the spring of last year. I took this coarse and was really fired up by Ryan's teach methods and enthusiasm for the subject matter. He recently became the owner of farm in Unity Maine, and is someone who I will be viewing as a client as well as a mentor. I plan to meet with Ryan on Sundays up until March and then in March spend the month on the farm working with Ryan.

2. How will I present my senior project to the graduation committee?

   I had several ideas for how I could stay in correspondence with the committee, such as blogs and web page but I'm open to Ideas. For my final presentation of my work I hope to have a formalized business and ecological plan formatted as well as maps of the property. I would like to do a walk through at the farm but that may be out of the question. I will definitely have a portfolio specifically for my project that will include notes sketches journal entries and pictures!

3. Does this senior project encompass all of the academic credits and standards that I need to graduate.

   Yes I will be putting in well over two hundred hours on this and I feel that it meets all of the guiding principles and standards.

4. How does this project prepare you for your career?

   This project is something that will challenge me to live and pursue my passion and find out whether or not I would like to pursue it further in college and beyond.