In our first project, we consulted to the Jostyn family in Hamilton, MA. We helped them to make their home, small-scale farm, woodlands, and wetlands more environmental, to activate more of their potential to grow food and benefit others, and to make spiritual, relational, and environmental commitments and connections.

Over time, we and/or Jostyn Family Farm... 

Conceptually

• Created a mission statement for their home and property that encompassed their unique spirituality, goals, and desire to use the property to bless others. They incorporated inclusive guiding spiritual principles such as wisdom, economy, beauty, childlikeness, neighborly love, and so on;
• Researched the historical, geological, environmental, ecumenical, social, and religious context of the property, including the larger ecosystem, the Hamilton community, the North Shore, the Greater Boston area, and beyond. This helped stakeholders to better understand how they already fit into the local and regional community and to more broadly imagine their future potential;

In the forest

• Contacted a licensed forester and walked them through the process of obtaining a Forest Stewardship Grant and implementing the resulting recommendations; https://www.mass.gov/service-details/forest-stewardship-program;
• Managed tree health by targeted patch cutting of diseased and hazardous trees;
• Removed most invasive plants from the site, such as buckthorn and poison ivy in order to improve the soil, light, and water quality for native plants;
• Repurposed much of the removed plant material into natural brush fencing that serve human and animal neighbors;
• Created a compost area to help store and recycle removed material for later reuse;
• Repurposed a large quantity of residual material into a natural berm that shields the compost area from neighbors' view;

On the property and farm

• Learned more about the property’s soil through site-wide soil testing;
• Worked to protect wetlands by maintaining natural water flow;
• Installed a log-slice stepping path around the edge gardens in the yard that’s beautiful, functional, and made solely of material from fallen trees;
• Added a large number of blueberry bushes to complement native ones already proliferating onsite and to generate a significant produce production crop for donation;
• Started a food-grade shiitake mushroom farm by harvesting 150+ logs from downed trees;
• Developed a chicken program, enabling the owners to donate dozens of eggs per week to our Grow food for good program;
• Began an onsite composting program for food scraps and chicken waste;
• Experimented with robotic lawn mowing;
• Experimented with an indoor garden that enabled the donation of lettuce and kale;
• Placed raised vegetable gardens around the house that hosted annual veggies;
• Created a series of gardens along the forest edge with all kinds of natives, berries, and other semi-shade loving edible plants;
• Worked to install pollinator-loving plants and beehives;

Around the home

• Connected with second-hand sources that enabled furnishing the home sustainably and on a budget;
• Installed many sustainable environmentally-friendly systems including solar, composting, occupancy sensor lighting, robot lawn mowing, and smart thermostats — all of which serve to save money, use resources in an intelligent and caring way, and conserve energy;
• Developed a greater sense of connectedness between the house, grounds, forest, wetlands, and so on;

In the community

• Worked to build relationships with immediate neighbors;
• Facilitated harvesting and deliveries of excess food to local organizations;
• Instituted the hosting of annual Kinship Farm Harvest Dinners and piloted other community-serving events.