At the Highlands Nature Sanctuary
TES Farm  Intern Center

What's so special about  an old farm sitting on a southern Ohio highway, next to a big old barn with some of its slats missing?

Everything
when the farm serves as the the northern gateway to 2500 acres of wilderness at the Highlands Nature Sanctuary.

One lesson learned by watching the Sanctuary grow over the last ten years is that even the most modest place in the world can be emancipated by love and transformed by time. TES is both modest and well-loved. The appeal of the old farm is not what it does for the five senses, since it is far from fancy or impressive, but rather the expansive restfulness it endows. TES has a way of  subtly shifting  the way we frame our world -- from the more common way of evaluating our worth by our physical possessions,  to the wealth of our attributes of soul.   (view of Kamelands Preserve & the Sanctuary to the south; east view of pasture & Paint Valley)

Simple yet Comfortable...
Perhaps it is because of the home's long history  as a place without pretension that TES is such a  welcome respite from the materialism of our everyday world. Here, an old weathered board propped on two cement blocks in the front yard seems like a perfectly reasonable place to repose, and the plain but comfortable beds in unadorned rooms are sufficient places to sleep and dream. On a June night TES even offers the best  light show in the world, performed by thousands of lightening bugs winking in the open fields.    (photo credits for bee picture listed below)

At TES, one is never completely alone.   Five goats share the pasture and barn.  Six outdoor cats live in the barns, all homeless cats to whom we have offered the sanctuary of TES Farm. Though they have been spayed and neutered, these cats have never completely tamed down. The only exception is the gray tabby, Molly. If you are gentle and encouraging, she will soon be wrapped around your ankles.  

Good Company...
 TES offers the opportunity for community -- providing opportunities for a  stimulating conversation or a spontaneously shared meal with fellow interns.   

We urge those at TES Farm to adopt a lifestyle that seeks to simplify, re-use and re-cycle. TES has no microwave, but has a completely equipped kitchen. Ample dishes and utensils make throw-always dishes unnecessary, and a tea kettle is always at the ready.  A large active compost pile under the home's large maple trees decomposes all food scraps.   Residents at TES are asked to keep lights off in rooms they aren't actively using, and keep the outdoor lights off except when exiting so that the moths and bats can navigate the night skies without disturbance, and so the infinity of celestial lights can shine in view. We will always stay humble if we don't lose sight of the stars. A broom and dustpan hang in nearly every  room so as to make it easy to keep it tidy.

The Kamelands Preserve
To the north of TES is the 14,000 acre Paint Creek State Park and Reservoir. To the south, lies the Kamelands Preserve which is contiguous to the rest of the Highlands Nature Sanctuary --  a cave region centered around the Rocky Fork Gorge.  The Highlands is the oldest and largest preserve in the Arc of Appalachia Wilderness system, and offers over twelve miles of hiking trails.

Facility Details

TES Farm is the community home for our of interns and also an occasional overnight facility for volunteers who work at least five hour a day on staff authorized projects.

TES has  three  upstairs bedrooms and one down stairs bedroom.   Some rooms have one bed, others have two which allows the opportunity to share the room with others.    Mowed areas around the house provide the possibility for pitching a tent or just sleeping out under the stars. One can even throw a sleeping bag on straw bales  in the barn. Please know that the livestock, hay, and straw are personal property so please treat with care and leave everything in place.

Volunteers and interns must bring their own food, soap, shampoo, bath and dish towels, pillow, flashlight, and sleeping bags, or linens & blanket. Kitchen is fully-equipped with refrigerator, stove, dishes, pots and pans.

 For fun, be sure to bring an outdoor blanket, and a bicycle if you have one. After a one half mile stretch on US HWY 50, 7 Caves Nature Preserve is a pleasant mile down scenic Cave Road. Cave Road and the other backroads in our region are excellent for biking, with just enough hills to make the exercise a productive one!

Residents are asked to do housekeeping to help keep the facility clean.  Interns will be assigned their share of the work. Volunteers have a departure check-list to follow. Also, to aid in cleanliness, we ask that outdoor shoes be removed at the entrance. We encourage you to bring a second pair of indoor shoes, slippers, or socks

All sanctuary facilities and trails are free of smoking, drugs, and alcohol: Our goal is to offer sanctuary in a safe and nurturing environment, where visitors may experience the earth and their own true nature without disturbance.

The house has modern heat, but no air conditioning or phone. Because it is a cement block house and sits on top of a breezy knoll, the house never gets extremely hot in the summer.

Volunteers:  Please know that reservations are necessary. If you are working on an authorized project, please tell the staff person by phone or email (the latter is preferred) you are coordinating with, that you would like to stay at TES Farm and they will make a reservation for you. Please give as much fore notice as you can.

Bee photo courtesy of www.ACriticalDecision.org, copyrighted by William C. Gladish, All rights reserved