ASB 2009 -- Behind the Scenes!

Well, UCF ASB 2009 is over. I have recovered and am ready for the next one!!! Sometimes I wonder who gets more out of this, MABCR, the UCF Crew, or ME!

This year was just as wonderful as last. Perhaps ‘easier’ thanks to the fact that we had done this before, but still, a lot of hard work. I will be building a slideshow for the website to share soon.

Our crew of 9 students and one faculty advisor from the University of Central Florida ( www.ucf.edu/ ) arrived Sunday evening, just in time for a dinner of eggs and toast, then settled in for sleep before the work began.

The tasks this group accomplished were simply grande. The kennel has been scrubbed and has had its spring cleaning completed, and the yard picked up. That was done by mid-afternoon the first day. Not a small feat as we had been without water in the kennel for several weeks….Thanks so much to Angie for taking a day from work to direct her crew and get this task accomplished.

The afternoon of Day 1 saw a tour of the Schooner Sultana ( www.sultanaprojects.org/ ) presented by her new Captain, Tanya Banks Christensen, who gave the crew a great overview of the schooner and her task on the Chesapeake. Many thanks to Tanya for taking the time.

Day 2 was a sightseeing day, we traveled to St Michaels Maryland to the Maritime Museum ( www.cbmm.org/ ) and were lucky enough to have had a docent give us a guided tour. Later in the afternoon, there was more cleanup, and the first of our BONFIRES complete with s’mores!

Day 3 meant seriously digging into our main task; cleaning of the back lane to create proper parking for our guests here at the farm. Over the next three days, we ran two bonfires clearing up the dead wood, collected almost a pallet of cinder blocks, several rolls of fencing, and 1400 lbs of scrap metal, which the crew toted off to the local salvage yard. Any of you who have used the back lane in the past will not recognise it. This lane will become our main rescue entrance over the next few months as we improve the entrance, have a sign painted, and a ‘human’ gate installed for entrance into our main yard (the post for that gate was installed Friday by members of the crew).

The evening of Day 3 brought facility veterinarian, Steve Prier of Sugartown Veterinary in Malvern PA. Two of our crew members are pre-vet, so this was especially fun for us. Our other resident Vet, David Hinman and his partner Laura Cook joined us as well. They of course stayed on for the rest of the week, and worked with us as team leaders to finish our tasks ahead of schedule and take on some additional work.

Day 4s evening activity took us to the Sail Loft, a small company in Rock Hall that makes sails and some rigging for boats. Meade Breese was gracious enough to explain the process, and then surprised us with a lesson in knot making which was challenging fun for all. From the reactions of all, this may have been a highlight of the trip, we are hoping Meade is willing to open his doors to future trips. After our knot lessons, we went on to a terrific dinner hosted by Barbara Ellis and Peter Evans, with guests Susanne Craddock and Dan Firman, and a tour of their ‘green’ house given by Peter.

Lastly, after an exhausting push to finish (we had that ‘satisfied’ tired you get after good, hard work), Jaclyn Waryasz and Tom Gollinghorst treated us to dinner out at local Italian eatery, Luisa’a. We followed this with our last bonfire, Reflections of the week (which left me nearly unable to speak), and at 5am Saturday, our crew, which had become a team, left for home.

I would like to say special thanks to our team members who made ASB 2009 a most memorable one for us:

· Denise Sayer who provided us with many of our basics, as well as food from Costco.
· Kris Guttag who was the Kitchen Star, providing us with the majority of our meals, and as always wonderful food.
· Kathleen Kaake, Suzanne Gansky, Susanne Craddock, and Lynn Wait who all provided yummy cookies and snacks. Laird Cummings who provided Veggie Chili and Lasagne.
· Angie Herscher, Alina Calderon, Laura Cook, David Hinman, Barbara Ellis, and Dee Merwin who all took time from their work schedules in order to work with the crew and make their trip to MABCR a successful one.
· Barbara and Peter, and Jaclyn and Tom who provided us our meals ‘out’.

Special thanks to UCF Faculty Advisor Darren Skinner. As the only other ‘adult’ who was present for the entire week, Darren made my job as BIC extremely easy, shouldering much of the responsibility load, and keeping projects moving forward.

In all, this group was a great one. Future ASB trips have a lot to live up to, this crew worked hard, complained little, and in the end exceeded my expectations.

I do hope that those of you who were not able to attend this year will consider becoming involved in future student activities here at the farm. Remember, this is a group of students who chose to work on their spring break, while their friends played in the sun and sand. They are special! This is an experience that will surprise and delight you, as well as one that will enrich your life.

Thanks again to everyone, look for the slide show coming soon!