• Home
  • Donate
  • The Shop
    • Herbal Salves
    • Herbal Massage Oils
    • Herbal Soaps
    • Herbal Teas
    • Herbal Seasonings
    • Bulk Dried Herbs
    • Essential Oils
    • Mushrooms
    • Live Plants
    • Seasonal Offerings
    • Educational Tax Credit Contribution
    • Volunteer
  • Future Stewards
  • Roots
    • Learning Facility
    • Stewards of Quiet Creek
    • Board of Directors
    • Instructors
    • Awards & Memberships
    • Quiet Creek Corner
    • Down To Earth Resources
  • Classes & Events
    • 2023 Workshops
    • 2023 Schedule
    • Spring Fest
    • Fall Fest
    • Build Your Own Class
    • Product
    • Weddings
  • Apprenticeships
    • Meet Our Apprentices
    • Apprenticeship Experience
    • Brookville Community Garden
  • Videos
  • Contact Us
Quiet Creek Herb Farm & School of Country Living

Just Beginning 

8/11/2012

1 Comment

 
Picture
_ Seven months ago we arrived in Harmons, Jamaica ready to serve and enjoy our sabbatical. We built houses, hauled water, ate jerked chicken pizzas, and climbed up stickman’s mountain.  Four months later we waved goodbye to maul hauling, mango munching , red Jamaican soil, and our close friends promising to return. With only two weeks to see our friends and family we returned and left Quiet Creek wishing we could have stayed longer, but excited for the next part of our learning experience.

We arrived in Corsica, France exhausted and ready for a little vacation time. Although it wasn’t long, we needed a place to appease our bodies’ craving for hard work. Serendipitously we met three great friends: Albrecht, Steffi and Bianca who gave us many opportunities to serve on their herbal farm. In addition, we traveled around the most beautiful and diverse island we have ever witnessed.   With the help of our new friend Benjamin, we learned French and chemistry.

We experienced the Mediterranean Diet to its fullest, finding fruit and vegetable stands every few kilometers, instead of fast food shop or convenient stores. Eating nuts, fruits, olive oil, yogurt, and vegetables every day, we have grown healthier with good nutrition and exercise.  The European lifestyle has encouraged bicycling, walking, swimming or hiking every day.   

Now at the end of our sabbatical we looked back on our expectations.   Ashton says, “My view of our sabbatical has changed because I never knew about all the wonderful things that could happen.  Throughout it there has been amazing surprises seeing the world through the eyes of humans in other cultures. During this sabbatical there has been all sorts of different exploration, such as meeting nice people, seeing pretty scenery, being happy, being sad, facing fears, but most of all having fun no matter what was involved.  I recommend it to everyone greatly, they are loads of adventure.”     

Walker states, “I think that I have fulfilled my expectations for the definition of a sabbatical. My family and I have not only seen several parts of the world, we also viewed them through people’s eyes of different cultures. We lived vastly different life styles and learned loads of new recipes. We have jumped (or fallen) way out of our comfort zones, for example, visiting the infirmary or climbing down the cascade. Overall I am very glad we had this amazing opportunity and I highly recommend it.”     

Claire reflects “it was important to me to experience the grass being greener in other parts of the world.  Now I will bring that green grass back to where I live to share and to appreciate with others.  I’m so content to have gone and to now return to Quiet Creek to serve in all capacities of my life.  Our family will genuinely laugh and cry harder with God’s blessings and challenges.”

Rusty sums up “These seven months contain some of the richest moments of my lifetime. Building relationships with my family tops the list. Together we enjoyed sharing life with a multitude of people who were strangers the day before we met and lifelong friends the day after. This time has given me an appreciation for the great things the world has to offer, I’ve never seen such breathtaking vistas or taken time to know Gods awesome love in other people. ” 

The long term rewards do outweigh the short term challenges we faced in taking this sabbatical.  Our lives have been changed by the lives we have changed.   Thank you for journeying with us, learning from our experiences, and do consider doing the same in your life. 


1 Comment

Creative Carving

8/6/2012

16 Comments

 
Picture
_ While walking along the Mediterranean coastline with my father, I noticed him examine the scattered driftwood that had been tossed up by the surf.  Every so often he would pick up a stick and scratch the surface.  Some he would put into his cloth bag and others he would toss back.

At my question, he explained that he was testing the hardness of the pieces of wood.  If the test proved positive, the piece of driftwood was able to be successfully carved with a knife.  Next I asked my dad what he planned to carve with this wood.  He replied with two words:  Santa Clauses. 

This did not surprise me; we have several of his Christmas tree ornaments carved to the likeness of the popular Saint Nicholas. What did catch my interest was the chance to learn how to carve the said Christmas time character.  

My carving background involved walking sticks back home, bamboo vases in Jamaica, and a carving Boy Scout merit badge from summer camp.  Last Christmas my parents had given my brother and me a set of carving knives, a sharpening stone, and Kevlar gloves.   I was excited to increase my skill level by using European resources and my new tools.

After collecting a bagful of potential material, we headed to the villa.  The first step was to examine the natural appearance of the wood to distinguish the santa hat from his beard.  Next my dad showed me how to make the face with a pencil outline.  He carved notches for the eyes causing pronouncements for nose and checks. Once the face was roughed out, he worked on the upper part of the stick to make a pointed hat.  The lower part was left alone to give the beard a natural look.

Dad then sanded the carving with several grades of sandpaper ascending from coarsest to finest.  He progressed with polishing the wood with sea glass that we had also found washed up on the beach.  He brushed the wood with a fine glaze of polyurethane to protect the wood and to meet the international custom regulations.

I jumped right in to the project asking my dad for advice along the way.  He had high quality standards; ultimately through his mentoring I met his expectations.   Surprisingly I went way beyond his quantity goals by carving thirty Santas total while on sabbatical. 

Dad is now helping me market them to sell at the Quiet Creek shop and the upcoming Mother Earth News Sustainable Fair where I will be presenting a workshop on Wild Edible and Medicinal Plants.  These funds will be used to purchase a digital camera to document the happenings at Quiet Creek and my future travels.  Of course, I’ll be on the lookout for more driftwood wherever I go. 


Picture
16 Comments
    Picture

    Author

    Walker Orner, son of Rusty and Claire Orner

    Archives

    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012

    Categories

    All
    Sabbatical

    RSS Feed


Picture

Proudly powered by Weebly