Steve Gabriel, program director for the Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute and mushroom grower will be leading this workshop at Brooks Bend Farm in Montague on Sat, April 23 from 9-5.
All Welcome to Apple Pruning Refresher Course by Jono
This Thursday, March 31, at 10 am, Jono Neiger of Regenerative Design and the Conway School of Landscape Design will be at Katywil for a refresher course on apple tree pruning. He’ll teach us on one tree and assign us to other trees while he finishes the first tree and coaches us on our progress. Emailbill@katywil.com… [Read More]
Katy Wil
Katywil is named for my grandparents, Kate Cole, above with me, little Billy Cole, and Will Cole with my younger brother, Frank, in 1950.
Meet Maria from Lyonville Valley Farm
Although it doesn’t seem to be happening fast enough, we agree with our Colrain neighbors, Maria and Jeremy, of Lyonsville Valley Farm, that Americans are moving towards the restoration of an agrarian society and that knowing the farmer and food source is increasingly valued.
Bill's Udder Days
Though people who know me today may find it hard to believe, I was Fourth in the Virginia 4-H Club statewide Udder Judging Contest. While this never quite made it to my resume, it is nonetheless true. Here I am in 1964 with my show heifer, Wilcurt Frosty Belle, with whom I won a number… [Read More]
Charrette
Katywil had adesigncharrette with Mary Kraus, a principal of Kraus Fitch Architects, Inc. revisiting our master plan, including sites and sizes for: a barn, solar PV panels, bread oven, common house, greenhouse, orchards, community gardens, and large & small animals. She joined our Katywil Property Owners Assoc. meeting on Saturday, March 19.
Trotting with Turkeys
On my walk, about 20 ft in front of me, were three turkeys. They saw me, but weren’t especially concerned. We all proceeded up the hill to the top of Stetson Brothers Road at a pretty good clip. At the top of the hill they flew off to the field and we parted ways. When… [Read More]
Bread Oven
Second cob oven completed
Katywill Foodies
Two foodies live at Katywil Ecovillage now—Haynes Turkle and me (Bill). If we were cheeses, he would be a local smoky bleu and I would be Velveeta. To our latest potluck, he brought Moroccan Chicken with a filo crust. I made a somewhat gelatinous chocolate bread pudding from a recipe I’ll never use again. I do, however, have… [Read More]
Chicken, Heifers, Dairy Cow
This winter I’ve been cleaning out family files. In one battered envelope I discovered a clutch of my dad’s Project Account Books from the Virginia Department of Vocational Agriculture dated 1927, when he was 15. Labeled “Chickens, Heifers, Dairy Cow”. The booklet has columns for recording Date, Kind of Work Done, Man Hours, Horse Hours, and Self Hours. (The italics… [Read More]