By #24014 Tom Brayden

The summer of 2020 was a new experience for all of us. Nobody knew what the future held in store for us, but the Kiniya maintenance team was ready to make the most of what we had. We managed to stay very busy all summer improving the grounds and buildings with mainly what we had on hand. We used our woodworking equipment to harvest trees on our property and transformed them into material we could use to renovate numerous buildings around Camp. We caught up on deferred maintenance projects such as staining, pressure washing, and growing grass in places it had never grown before. In our unbiased opinion, Camp was looking the best it ever has for the arrival of our 2021 campers!

Woodmizer Saw Mill: This machine allows us to make the most of the trees on our property. Instead of cutting everything up into firewood we are able to cut boards into all shapes and sizes to use for various projects around campus.

Pioneer is one of our oldest buildings left standing on camp. It has had many uses in the past ranging from a camper cabin, staff housing, and more recently, storage. We gutted the interior, installed new lighting, tongue and groove siding, and new windows. It has been transformed into our woodworking shop, complete with a planer, router table, and dust extraction system.

We were able to construct a homemade wood kiln on the backside of one of our garages. This allows us to quickly (1-2 weeks) dry out the new boards cut on our sawmill and put them to use. Typically it can take up to a year for wood to season if it is left to dry on its own.

The Kiniya Outdoor Barn (KOB) is where we run our hiking, canoeing,  farm to plate, climbing, and challenge course programs. The old metal roof needed repair, with numerous leaks and even a few unintended “skylights” where the sheet metal had blown off. Instead of completely replacing it, we reattached all the metal sheets using 5,000+ roofing screws. After it was secure, we coated the roof with a special paint/sealant. We are happy to report that there were no leaks this past summer! 

The old tack room is the heart of the KOB and was in desperate need of renovation. We took out one of the walls to create a more open-concept space. Tongue and groove siding was installed, and the bathroom was completely renovated. New lighting and a sliding glass door were also installed to brighten up the space. 

We were able to use our planer to repurpose the old shelving and keep some of the charm of the barn that is irreplaceable.