Authors: Staff

Hello all!

I just wanted to write a quick note to everyone to let you know that we made it to Mexico yesterday afternoon! The drive was long, but beautiful in scenery and good conversations. We had a wonderful morning with the Quaker community on the U.S. side of the border on Sunday. There was a very profound meeting for worship and a sweet potluck for us. Sunday night was really lovely, also. Dinner was hosted by a local family in a very humble abode. They fed us delicious food and shared their stories of their experiences living on the border. The students loved bonding with their small children and teenagers. Finally, we spent some time in the town plaza. The Woolman students had an absolute blast meeting some local kids their age. For more than an hour, they hung out with a few kids who were hilariously trying to teach Keith how to breakdance and then Keith was trying to teach them martial arts.

Today was also filled to the brim with new educational experiences and connections with local families. We even had a birthday party for one of the interns, complete with a pinata and limbo dancing! Tonight, I am exhausted, but ready for another full day tomorrow. The kids are already asleep and lights were just turned out moments ago. The students do not have internet access and so will only call or write when they return, but I just wanted to let everyone know that all is well.

In peace,

Emily

Early this spring we splurged on several pounds of bare root Albion strawberry starts. They are an everberring variety that I have seen produce all the way up until November at a nearby farm. We planted about 100 feet (two rows) of these strawberries and they have done us well. The only problem is that they rarely last on the vine long enough to be picked fully ripe and they certainly  have never seen their way to the kitchen in any real quantity.  Inspired by Jacob, our environmental studies teacher, we have plans to change that! Yesterday when I arrived for shared work, Jacob was busily planting a few strawberry runners into pots of soil.  We ran with the idea, and spent the good part of shared work cutting runners off one of the strawberry beds. This task that has been on our too do list for a long while anyhow, because new plants produce better if their flowers and runners are cut off as their roots are establishing. We transfered the runners into trays of potting soil and began to imagine the bounty ahead. We boldly decided to replace the entire area of the garden that is currently planted in green beans.... with strawberries. We have literally put up wheelbarrow loads full of frozen greenbeans this season, so I'm sure no one will mind. This will also continue the goal of making that area of the garden our perennial section, which currenly consists of raspberries, asparagus and a very new medicinal herb garden. We tallied our haul of runners and decided we had about 500 plants, the perfect amount to plant that area, (about 210 bed feet). In doing a little after the fact research, it seems that most people recommend rooting the strawberry runners before cutting them off the mother plant, or separating the crowns. Perhaps we'll try out those methods on then next row and hopefully we'll have enough to both double our strawberry field AND sell some starts to our neighbors!

One week ago today we received an offer from a John Woolman School alumna to match up to $7,500 in donations that come in before the end of our fiscal/school year, July 31^st.   In addition, she let us know that her employer would match her gift, which triples the value of any gift Woolman receives before July 31^st.

Within 3 days of the word going out about this fabulous offer, we have already received $4,200 in donations! We are more than halfway to the goal of $7,500 with a full week left to the finish date.  My deep gratitude goes out to everyone who has contributed to Woolman this past school year. In particular, I am thrilled to see the response to this matching gift challenge!  I feel such appreciation when I think about the students who have, and will, come to Woolman only because they receive scholarship funds.  People like you make it possible for diverse groups of Woolman Semester students to expand their self-understanding, compassion for others, and connection to nature by living and learning in community.  Woolman students "pay it forward" by taking their experience back with them to effect change in their home communities.

A recent Woolman Semester graduate said, “The reason many kids don’t choose to be involved in issues is because they don't feel they can make a difference.  But through Woolman, you see how you can make a difference.  Woolman gives you the skills to go out in the world and make it happen.”  

Have a look at some of the ways that Woolman Spring 2010 graduates are already making it happen.  Rachel Brazie created Sustainable. Affordable. A Young People's Guide to Sustainable Food Shopping for her Environmental Science Project. I hope you find it useful in making cost-effective, sustainable food choices. Students have also worked hard on their Peace Studies documentary projects, which are both entertaining and thought-provoking. Take a few minutes to watch Ruthie Hawley's and Katherine Stone's documentary film, Open Ears, to learn more about the future of music education. I am so inspired by our students' work and hope that you will be too!

Please help us spread the word about the Woolman Semester by sending this article to friends and family. Encourage them to learn about the Woolman community through our website and by signing up for our monthly email newsletter.

Iif you would like to help “make it happen” you can click here to contribute. Or send a check to 13075 Woolman Lane, Nevada City, CA 95959. Finally, here are some more ways to support Woolman.

Welcome to the new Woolman.org! More than just a new website, this is a space for the Woolman community to reach far beyond campus, and to allow people all over the world to be a part of our community. On this quickly-growing site, you'll find monthly queries to ponder, recipes from our kitchen, blog posts on a vast number of topics, with more coming soon.

Open Source, Open Minds

In creating this new community space, we didn't turn to some fancy web-design company to sell us a slick package. Instead, we turned to the open source community and our own ingenuity to make something that's uniquely Woolman. By joining with the Free Software movement, we're helping to promote worldwide collaboration and community building.

This is YOUR invitation

As with any community, the key to success is participation. If the articles in our blog spark a response from you, please add your voice to the discussion. You can also submit your own article for publication, we'd love to to hear from you. You can also add your voice to the monthly queries and our upcoming section on sustainability. And don't forget to come back and see what others have said about your posts.

Thanks for being a part of Woolman!