At Camphill there are many different workshops/work opportunities: Estate, Wood Shop, Weavery, Candle Shop, Farm, Seed Garden and Shop, Bakery, Stained Glass Shop, Healing Plant Garden and Vegetable Garden. There’s also a cafe, gift shop and a co-op. I want to show the many different aspects of life here at Camphill Village, from the workshops to anthroposophy, from daily life and to major events. There is a lot to cover, but hopefully I’ll be able to investigate it all in the next year. As previously mentioned I work in the Vegetable Garden full time, so I thought that would be the best place to start.
The Vegetable Garden consists of an upper field and a lower field. From it the village gets most of their vegetables. The garden is organic and biodynamic. What that means is that we take organic farming to the next level. No pesticides are used and all the nutrients we take out of the soil we try to put them back in. A slightly longer, better reason can be found here at Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association’s website.
Every Tuesday and Friday we have a garden market that anyone who cooks in any of the Camphill houses can pick up fresh veggies. Normally we get some herbs from the Healing Plant Garden and quark from the Farm. A farmer also comes down to handout cuts of meat from the freezer to anyone who’d like it. Another part of Garden Market are the CSAs, or Community Supported Agriculture. People from Copake who want to show their support for the work we do can buy a membership for $200 a season- and every week they can come to pick up their fresh-from-the-Earth produce.