For the last number of years, our MS team leader has taken 7th grade students to New Community Project in Harrisonburg for service learning opportunities. NCP-Harrisonburg has the motto "Creating sustainable systems that care for the earth, empower people, educate and inspire, and build the foundation for a nonviolent lifestyle," and I especially like this part of their "About" page:
We are building a more just and peaceful world where all can live with integrity and in harmonious relationship in the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr.’s call for a “beloved community.” While divesting from systems that promote injustice, violence, and disparity, our focus is on creating systems that we can and want to say “Yes!” to.
A few weeks ago, I volunteered to take the group for their weekly visit, and I'm so glad I did! This place is absolutely amazing. Since it was the first time this group had gone, we were led on a tour around the place before digging in for some work in the garden. The students enjoyed the work so much that they didn't want to return to school. (And quite frankly, neither did I!) As we left one student said, "Now we have to go back to school and learn." I was quick to point out that they actually were learning the entire time. See below for photos of some of our learning.
Getting a tour of the gardens from Tom Benevento
The cistern where they have cold storage since there is no refrigerator in the house
Working toward going totally carbon free. Looks like they're almost there!
Continuing the garden tour
Our job for the day, shoveling mulch ...
... and spreading it on the garden path
It was a beautiful day, sunny and perfect temps for working outside
Finishing up the last part of the path
They got so into the work that they even came up with a little song: "Scoop, scoop, scoop the mulch. Working in the garden!"
Last year we huddled under Orden's shelter in cold rain, shivering and trying to stay warm. No one wanted to hang around for too long. This year's weather was beautiful, and we had a great showing of people. It's always nice to enjoy the mountain in the fall with family.
My colleague Susan, who is Hannah's 6th grade social studies teacher this year, is very involved in the Treasure Mountain Festival in Pendleton County, WV. Her family has long lived on the land where a colonial era fort stood called Fort Seybert. In 1758 the fort was raided by Indians and the English settlers taken captive. (For links to further details on the story, see here.) Each year re-enactors from the time period gather on the site to demonstrate what life was like in the colonial era and to tell the story of the fort's capture, which concludes with a burning of a model fort. Here are photos from the day. Other than the excitement of the burning, the other highlight of the day was having Mrs. Melendez teach us how to throw a hatchet.
