SMC JamBerry
By: Becki Linhart
July is just around the corner, and we have already completed two 8-day hitches in the Pisgah National Forest. We have accomplished a lot during those days working on trails and maintaining mountain balds. As a group, we have learned a lot of new skills and knowledge.
However, the great thing about this residential program is that there is a lot more to it than just the work we do during those hitches. I am amazed that I am able to learn just as much on my days off at the site than I do at work. Our place here in Burnsville is a living situation that is very different than what a lot of us are used to. During the past several weeks at the Smoky Mountain Center, the seven of us corps members have been making ourselves at home at the facility and are constantly learning what it means to live in a sustainably and healthy way, and as a member of a community.
During our five days off, when we aren’t swimming in the pond, practicing our ukulele skills, or exploring the local area, we participate in projects for the facility. In community meetings, which take place the day after we come back from each hitch, we all discuss these projects that we wish to complete as a group during these off days. A lot of these things that we have discussed, such as rainwater catchment systems and canning, are great things for us all to learn so that we can apply them to our futures as conservation leaders and role models in our everyday lives or careers. Other things, like painting the Bird’s Nest (our name for the girl’s cabin due to the avian visitors that it often gets) and the outhouse, are projects that just allow us to contribute to making the homestead a better and friendlier place.
This past break, we teamed up to make some homemade jam that we then canned for later use. This made for a a fun Sunday afternoon in which we spread out around the property to gather as many blackberries, raspberries, and mulberries as possible. In just a short period of time, we were able to get a total of 18 cups of berries. We then proceeded to add the sugar and cook up the berry mixture, and then canned our end result. Of course, we put aside some for us to enjoy right away with some toast. Not only was this a fun day spent with good people and plenty of jam puns, but I learned a few valuable things and was excited to make something delicious from the food that is available here on the property.
