ON August 24, 2019, a group of members headed on an adventure to the Deanery Project Lto do some volunteer work in their woodshop.
We started our trip with a stop to visit members Mary Elizabeth O’Toole and Stephen Parsons at their home woodshop in West Chezzectcook, where Stephen was happy to share some of his recent jigs and projects.
From Chezzetcook, we formed a small convoy and headed east along the scenic Hwy. 7 to Lower Ship Harbour to visit the Deanery Project. The Deanery is a not-for-profit organization with a focus on the environment, the arts, and permaculture. It is located on a diverse 25-acre oceanfront property with 4.5 km of groomed trails. Since it started operations in 2011, the Deanery Project has become a dynamic education and demonstration site for environmental sustainability, skills development, and community building.
A building of particular interest to AWA members – the Solar-powered wood kiln, which also serves as back drop and stage for summer performances
Background about The Deanery from its webpage:
In 2011, the old Tangier Deanery Camp suddenly came up for sale. It had previously served as a much loved summer youth camp for nearly 75 years. In order to save the property from private development and keep it in community service, a group of local residents, environmental educators and artists formed a non-profit cooperative and were able to purchase the land. The word “Deanery” was retained as part of the new name to acknowledge its history.
When the Deanery Project started, the buildings had fallen into disrepair and many committed volunteers rallied in the days after the purchase to make much needed repairs, starting with a new metal roof on the Main Hall.
We started our visit with a tour from Executive Director and one of the co-founders, Kim Thompson, who is an expert in natural building and clay plaster. Kim was involved with the repairs and updates to the original building and has been part of the design and build of all new buildings added to the site. She gave us a detailed tour of many of the demonstration projects as well as the processes and story of a variety of the buildings on site.
After the tour, we got to work doing repair and inventory in the woodshop. The woodshop has a collection of donated tools in various states of repair (and disrepair). The organization wants to make it safe and accessible for use by community members and possibly a fund raiser through rental and/or social enterprise. To achieve that goal, the first step is some significant work to identify what is there and ensure everything is in working order. Our small team put in a productive afternoon of work providing about 40 hours of volunteer person hours and made a good start of the work. The foundation work that was done to set up inventory systems should make a big difference.
After a busy afternoon of touring and working, we finished the day with pizzas made in the cob clay oven on site. Stephen made the crust ahead of time and customized them according to requests. Colleen contributed some additive ginger cookies. Stephen and Colleen shared their recipes, which you can download by clicking
Shared recipes _Parsons_Shubaly_Deanery_2019. Jenni and Calum brought some absolutely delicious broccoli salad and irresistible homemade buns and Kim welcomed us with a tasty zucchini chocolate cake ( I neglected to get those recipes but will attempt to remedy that and do an update soon).
We enjoyed a shared meal at the picnic tables before heading home – to spectacular sunset colours.
It was a fine way to spend a late summer day. Another visit might be in order too – so much to do and so little time.
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