Tour of CSCs new 9 acres parcel. By Bill Wilson 905 Beginning the tour, I leave the back door of Cen

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Tour of CSCs new 9 acres parcel. By
Bill Wilson (9-05)Beginning the tour, I leave
the back door of Center for Sustainable
Communitys (CSCs) office which is nestled in
the heart of Stelle. It is an early September
morning about 900 a.m.(Click anywhere on the
picture to advance to the next slide. To back up
at anytime, right click, then click on reverse.)
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I leave the back door and curve to my left around
the garage heading almost due west out of town
across back yards.
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My familys household pet Macy is going to join
us. Many of you who have been to Stelle have
enjoyed meeting her. Im heading towards the
round LP tank in the middle of the picture.
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We stop to let Macy water Susan Fishers circular
garden bed which has a full bouquet of sunflowers
in the middle.
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For fun, here is an early aerial photo of the
community soon after it opened, around 1975. Im
going to be walking from the left to the right
side of the picture.
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Continuing on, Russ Hardtkes home is on the
right. Notice the hot air solar panels attached
to the wall and the solar electric panel on the
garage roof.
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Passing Russs house we see the basketball court
on the left and the volleyball court right next
to it.
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The kids sandbox is right/centered. Installed to
keep them busy while the adults play, they still
play in the sand in the volleyball court. ? Were
heading towards the high spot in the middle of
the picture.
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The community windmill that helps power our water
plant has been down for awhile for repairs. Jon
Haeme, Tim Wilhelm and Steve Bell have it up and
running now once more.
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I am at the crest on the knoll now and heading to
the little orange colored stake in the middle of
the picture. Thats the windmill towers
leverage arm on your right.
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This orange flagged stake marks the corner of the
new CSC property. The 1.5 acre meadow on your
left is now CSCs. The land to the right is the
parcel that holds the windmill. The shed in the
distance is the home of the garden co-op and the
trees on the left side circle the wildlife pond.
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Ive scooted to my left to give you a fuller view
of the meadow. This land has been out of
agricultural production for 6 years and could be
certified organic were we to decide to raise
vegetables on it.
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Im back to the path and heading down to the
garden area. Kelly creek runs just on the other
side of the shed and the orchard is locate beyond
that (hard to make out in this photo).
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Im almost to the garden (lower right) and the
pine trees hug the hill that separates the garden
from the pond. It was made when the pond was
excavated in the very early days of Stelle.
This site gives us a quiet place to sit, listen
to the wind and enjoy the view.Notice the moon?
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Were at the top of the hill nestled in the
pines. The garden is to my right, the pond to my
left.
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Heres a nice view of the wildlife pond. Saw my
first beaver in it just this spring and at times
the noise from the frogs courting one another is
almost deafening. It is heavy with cattail
which we learned in our permaculture course is
ideal for alcohol fuel production.
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Heres a picture of the pond standing near the
west end looking back towards the community. You
can just make out the roof of the townhouse on
the right hand side.
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This photo was taken from the same spot 30 years
earlier. I remember the weekend in the spring of
1979 when we (about 20 of us) planted all the
trees and shrubs around the pond - cattails
already had a start.
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The west end of the pond is where we park the
canoe (needs some repair). Stones left of the
canoe make a perfect place for small community
fires.
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Continuing west from the pond Macy and I cross
the meadow that leads us into the willows that
sprung up along Kelly Creek. Im heading to the
dark opening on the left. I dont know where
Macy is going.
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When my mother and father moved to Stelle to
retire 17 years ago (dad is 82 now and still
operates our water plant and sewage treatment
facility) they used to go for walks in the
morning and stroll through the foot high willows.
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To keep from getting their legs wet from the
early morning dew Dad started mowing a path
through the little willows. What a pleasant
surprise as the years rolled by and this
beautiful arch appeared.
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Clearing the arch we can see the foot bridge that
takes us over Kelly Creek and into the orchard.
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We lost two bridges from high water after heavy
spring rains so our friend Stu Parthe built a
tall arching bridge that has now lasted a good 20
years. The pine tree marks the far western
border of our property.
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Heading over the bridge. Hope youre not
sensitive to heights.
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Standing at the peak of the bridge Im looking
back at Stelle. I lived in Montana for 4 years
and as much as I miss the mountains I still never
tire of the prairie. The willows we just walked
through are to your left.
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Making a quarter turn to my left the orchard is
in full view.
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Last year (2004) was one of the best years ever
for the orchard. This year with the cool spring
and summer drought it turned out to be one of the
worst. Still, the few apples we did get were
tasty.
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Excuse me just a minute.
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Stepping into the orchard I crouch down so you
can get a feel for the canopy effect that has
become characteristic of the orchard. Once or
twice a year we have the Carr family (Mint Creek
Farm) take some of their organic sheep through to
keep the grass down and fertilize the soil.
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Heres a picture from about the same spot 28
years earlier. Of all the people who helped
plant these trees, only Carroll English still
lives in Stelle. To all the others who helped,
there are many of us in this community eternally
grateful for your gift.
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As I walk north, back toward the main road, I can
see the old greenhouse. We have some very big
ideas for this space.
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While heading over to the greenhouse I look to my
left and see one of Mark Hoffmans bee
hives.Im drinking some spearmint tea with his
honey in it while I sit here, typing away.
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We attracted Chris Marron, a single gentleman
from Colorado, who heard about CSC and Stelle and
just flat out moved here to help us rebuild and
operate this very greenhouse. He has been
researching a way to get a greenhouse to produce
fresh food all year long summer and winter.
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You can see that the structure is still solid.
Chris feels that he can heat the greenhouse in
the winter and cool it in the summer using
primarily renewable energy and can do so, cost
effectively.
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If this is true, anyone with a small piece of
property and access to the sun could put up one
of these greenhouses and make a nice living
growing fresh organic food for their local area.
The demand for organic food is in its infancy.
This is a picture of the north wall. It is
heavily insulated to hold in the heat.
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Continuing past the greenhouse the Quonset
building comes into view. In this building sits
an experimental ethanol still that Tim Wilhelm
worked with in the early 80s to test the
feasibility of small scale ethanol production
from corn.
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Heres the front view. One of our thoughts is to
produce industrial alcohol from the cattails
growing around the pond and convert our
automobiles to burn it. Some of the preliminary
estimates to produce alcohol run about 1.00/gal.
That is of course after the expense of getting
it running again.
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Here is another old picture showing the building
with the community in the background - circa
1975. The orchard is a couple of years old by
now but barely noticeable behind the Quonset hut.
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The Quonset building is on my immediate right as
I walk back into the orchard heading east.
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A pretty little spot to sit in the morning sun.
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Half way through the orchard there is a pear tree
to my left.
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With all this talking I could use another snack.
Ill be a little more brief from here on out.
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Macy and I clear the orchard. Kelly Creek is in
the ditch with the purple flowers and the
community garden is right behind that. The tree
in the middle is in the garden and is named
Haven Tree.
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I turn to my left so I can walk the road over
Kelly Creek. The structure on the right is what
is left of a hobby greenhouse also constructed in
the very early days of Stelle. It is overgrown
now and the kids love it.
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On the road heading east towards the garden.
Looks like Kasandra stopped in the garden this
morning on her way to or from somewhere.
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Kelly Creek is to my immediate right. The
building you see was constructed in the early
days as a fruit and vegetable stand. It has
never been used as such but did house several
horses at one time and now stores our gardening
supplies and tools.
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Macy looking for just the right tomato. She does
eat them occasionally . Dont ask me. I dont
know.
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Despite this years drought, we had a nice crop.
Ken Urban set up a solar panel and pumped water
out of the pond and into the garden. Heavy mulch
has always been sufficient in the past to hold in
the moisture but not this year. Wish I had a
picture of the solar pump. Sorry.
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With the tomato plants still at my feet I look
over the garden. The pine trees mark where the
pond is. Can you find Kasandra?
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The carrots look pretty good.You can see the
heavy mulch on either side - no soil exposed.
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The heavy mulch also creates ideal conditions for
earthworms cool and moist. We let them keep
the soil open and airy as well as do most of the
fertilizing. Haven Tree is on your right.
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Here is a companion planting experiment.Daikon
radish, beets, and turnips planted in late July.
We have already harvested most of the early
lettuce out of it.
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Standing in the garden Im looking west back at
the orchard. You can just make out the blue
Quonset building under the trees.
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Kasandra has taken to naming the beds so that it
is easier to identify them. She was out early
one morning watching the spiders do their handy
work in this bed thus the name.
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Here is the previously mentioned Haven Tree -
the only shady spot in the garden for now.
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The bed behind me she has named Ripple Green.
Ill turn around and let you see why.
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Im met with a sea of waving green from the
asparagus patch. We have all the asparagus we
can eat from the middle of May till the end of
June. The community is in the background.
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Im back in the middle of the garden and it is
time to follow the path back to the community.
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To keep yourself oriented while you climb the
meadow hill keep your eye on the shed roof-top in
the distance.
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And we are back at the top of the hill and the
stake that marks the corners of CSCs new
property.
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Heading back into the community I see the
volleyball court come into view. Thats Ken and
Susan Fishers house in the middle.
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Sues circular garden bed again with the shock of
sunflowers.
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After I pass her bed and look to my right to see
the childrens pocket park patiently waiting
for company.
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I enter the CSCs back yard with compost bins on
the left, garden plot on the right and solar
panels on the roof.
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Here is CSC from the front. I hope you have
enjoyed our walk and we look forward to your
visit during any of our Open Houses or other
events. We also want to thank all of you who
donated funds for the purchase of this beautiful
property so that we all can enjoy it for
generations to come.
Warm
Regards, Bill (Executive Director of CSC)