"It's actually the most fun, ever." A Day in the Life at Maine Coast Semester Filmed, directed and edited by Blythe, The Nightingale-Bamford School, New York, NY Starring Maine Coast Semester 60 Enjoy! Read More
Maine Coast Semester at Chewonki
What’s Black and White with Spots All Over?
It's one of the newest additions to our flock! Earlier this week, our ewe Emily gave birth to a rare, spotted or "piebald" lamb. According to Assistant Farm Manager Hilary Crowell, sheep with this type of color distribution are uncommon. In their combined years of working with animals, neither Hilary or our other farmers have ever seen one before. Piebald sheep are rare because they must possess at least two sets of recessive genes - the first for black coloring (white wool is dominant in Read More
Breaking the Ice at the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument
Last week, Semester 60 embarked on four-day wilderness trips. Broken into five groups, we spread across central and northern Maine as well as to the White Mountains in New Hampshire. My group, consisting of five other students and two group leaders, headed to Haskell Hut in the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument. We drove four hours into Northern Maine, parked the van, loaded all of our gear and food into sleds, and set out on cross country skis. It was a perfect day: warm sun, lightly Read More
TGIF at Chewonki!
Friday! It’s one of my favorite days at Chewonki. Why Fridays are so special? Well, by Friday night we have completed a full week of morning chores, class, two work programs, one science field trip, and lots of laughing during meals. On Friday afternoons, when class is over, all the students have a work program where we help out the Chewonki community in different ways, from working on the farm to sugaring (taping our maple trees and making syrup)! One of the work programs on Friday is Mop and Read More
F.O.M.O. and Embracing the Unknown
Among all the exciting things I was looking forward to as I was applying to Maine Coast Semester, I had one single doubt: the fear of missing out. If I were to leave, my friends and classmates would be living in their own world making countless memories. Whether good or bad, it felt scary to think of leaving, knowing I wouldn’t get to be a part of them. I decided to push past my nervous thoughts and hit the submit button on my application, thinking, “Blythe, this opportunity is too amazing to Read More
Maine Coast Snow-mester
It’s no secret that Maine is one of the snowiest states in the country, averaging a frosty 50 to 70 inches annually in the midcoast region. In the early months of the year, Maine is typically blanketed with the crisp white stuff, sometimes several feet by the time spring students arrive. Although winter tends to be a quiet time for most places in Maine, there’s no time for hibernation on our campus. Winter is one of the coolest times of the year for Maine Coast Semester students, and there’s a Read More
HEC Round-Up: From Sustainable Surfing to the Power of Storytelling
Maine Coast Semester reserves the last academic week of each semester for Human Ecology Capstone projects, (often called HEC week here on campus). Human ecology is the study of human interaction with the natural world, and HEC projects give students the opportunity to explore a topic of deep, personal interest, come to understand it in a holistic way, and present a viable course of action. Through their projects, students come to understand the interconnectedness of the world’s ecosystems and Read More
24 Hours In and I Love It – Excerpts from a Maine Coast Semester Journal
Excerpts from the journal of Mia, Drew School, San Francisco, California Day 1 I'm 24 hours in and I love it. Day 32 Today was so cool! We did a homesteading set of activities and it was the most fun Saturday activity we have ever done. First I went to the woodshop which is a beautiful space and I learned from Lisa how to carve a spatula which I hope to finish so I can give it to mom and dad as a gift. My whittling skills are getting better and I sharpened my army knife. Later in the Read More
Gratitude Is Eating a Potato You Dug from the Ground: Students Cultivate Good Food and Deeper Understanding
There is something very gratifying about eating a vegetable that you harvested yourself. Before I came to Chewonki, I didn’t know all that much about how small-scale organic farming truly worked on a day-to-day scale. Living and working here on Chewonki Neck for the past three months has allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of and a better connection to my food. Thinking back to the first week of the semester, I remember our first work program at the farm. We broke up into groups Read More