Justin Hardin

I have known Justin all my life. Our mothers were close friends and we grew up playing together. Later we attended the Shambhala School together, though Justin was a couple of grades ahead of me.

Justin was one of five students from the Shambhala School who attended Windhorse Farm in the early years as part of the curriculum. The 10th grade class went to the farm for week long visits, once in the fall, the winter and the spring. They lived in cabins in the forest and learned about all the things that were happening on the farm at the time. They cooked meals, fed chickens, collected eggs, mucked stalls, and worked in the forest and garden.

There are many funny stories from these trips that I am attempting to collect…

Like the time Ella and my Dad caught a rooster and put it in Sweetwater cabin, where Justin and Nye were sleeping, before dawn. They woke to a crowing bird flying around the tiny house!

Justin remembers listening to Neil Youngs “After the Gold Rush” non-stop.

He also recounts “We had a lot of fun with the horses and were amazed at watching the two old men, Sam and Earl, work with them in the woods . The would yell commands at them from a good distance as they were hauling a large tree out of the forest. There was one horse that was lazier and one that did most of the work…… can’t remember who.”

After the trips to the  forest with the horse-logging team and Justin and Nye begged to be able to use the chainsaws… They had to settle for having their picture taken.

I hope to post more about the adventures of this class. It was an awesome time at the farm. There are new groups of Shambhala School students attending programs at the farm now and I hope to post their stories as well.

Gabriel McLellan

Gabriel McLellan was born at Windhorse Farm in the farmhouse in the Summer of 2006. My first born and decidedly wild child loves this place fully. His first days and weeks were spent naked on the dock by the lake, in a sling staring at the pine canopy on the forest trails and in the beautiful Juniper lodge where we lived.
Over the past five years Gabe has spent many afternoons playing in the waterways, eating dirt, climbing trees and and chasing chickens. He loves to ride the tractor and Ted the horse and eat waffles with Umpa and help Uma in the garden.
This Spring has been a particularly magical time for Gabe at the farm because he has gone to visit without his parents. He stays with Uma and Umpa and sleeps in his own room like the independent guy that he is.
It is also a special time at the farm because of the other children that are living there. How wonderful it is to walk through the forest and hear the laughing and calling from children mixed with the sound of sweetwater brook and squeaky squirrels.