Here’s a photo of our land from the air courtesy of a good neighbor. It gives an interesting perspective that can’t really be achieved from a land-based photo, but it doesn’t quite capture the hills and elevation. (We’re in the Ozark mountains, after all). You get an idea of how wooded, or timbered, we are, but there’s still plenty of beautiful, open land for building and agriculture.
For orientation purposes, the top of this picture is due south.
#1 is the pasture where we hope to build our main campus, rugby pitch and allotment gardens. It’s a huge, open meadow with a gentle, sloping elevation entirely surrounded by trees. It’s set well back from the road.
The wooded surround gives it a very private feeling. We sometimes refer to this as a hidden pasture for that reason. The boys’ bunkhouses will be in the woods nearby. We really want them — guided by their house fathers — to put their marks on it. For example, do they want it more wooded or more open? One bunkhouse might choose to build a fire-pit while another might put up a basketball hoop or an archery target. We want to spark those young imaginations.
#2 is the general location of St. Seraphim’s guest house. It would be a healthy walk to the campus and, thus, to the chapel. This is by design. We don’t want the two areas to overlap. They are both private and self-contained.
#3 is the pasture where we’ll begin our agriculture program. We have named it in honor of St. Sophia and we’ll start with a small dairy and kitchen garden. There’s already a modest dairy barn with a milking parlor, but it’s going to need a hefty renovation. We hope we can find a person, group of people, fraternal or trade association, or parish to underwrite that particular project. (If you know anyone who fits the bill, beam an email to info@saintalexander.org!)
To the east (left) are even more pastures and deeper woods. We’re going to designate most of that as conservation so the boys can learn to be good stewards of the land.
As always, please keep us in your prayers and let us know if we can pray for you.
