Shaw Island

Hi everyone! For the past two weeks I have been on Shaw Island, one of Washington State's San Juan Islands. I stayed at Our Lady of the Rock Priory and helped out the nuns that live there. For the first week, there were several youth groups there. I stayed in tents with them. We worked on some big projects for the nuns, including bringing the hay in, building a green house, and making a bridge. Here are some pictures of what we did.

A sailboat I saw on the ferry ride to the island

One of the San Juan Islands

The ferry

Another ferry

The tent camp all the youth stayed in

The chicken house we replaced the roof of

The sign on the coop

More chicken coop

Hosea, the calf who likes to lick things, eat boots, and kick his soccer ball

Llamas and Alpacas

More llamas

The sign "The garden of my God" the kids made for the herb garden

A gate we made

Inside the herb garden

My work team (the girl in black is my friend Claire)

The hay we brought in from the fields and stacked

A cow I got to milk

The koi pond

the brick flooring and wooden arbor one of the groups made

A greenhouse I helped build

The front of the green house

The cement mixer and buckets we used

The construction site

Fence post caps Claire and I put on 

A bridge we made

A bench we built by a pond 

After the youth groups left, I moved out of the tent camp and into the house. There was a lot less work to do, and I mainly weeded the garden. Some other things I did were make mustard and pick lavender. I also had extra free time to explore the island. Three other people worked there as well; Alex, a young jazz pianist, Christina, a lawyer, and Mary, an older lady who is thinking about becoming a nun.

My room

St. Joseph's, the house I stayed in

The lavender we picked

The lavender drying in the sun

A bull

The beautiful forest

I had fun helping out on Shaw, and I highly recommend visiting the San Juan islands. I miss you all on the ship, but I am glad I came to the U.S this summer.