In a Word: Fire

Each Wednesday afternoon, the Farm School students are given a word as they leave school. They go home and write a creative composition using that word. Thursday morning at tea / snack time, they read their composition to the group. The exercise has very few boundaries. It might be poetry, prose, a story, a fable, a diaglogue, etc. The given word may be a common word, such as this week's "fire," or it may be a new vocabulary word requiring research before use. Often the words are an extension of something happening in the school community. This week, the word "fire" was chosen because the students are studying the Maya culture, and are digging a fire pit in which to recreate ancient pottery firing techniques. However, the students may interpret the word as they wish. In this case, the author uses the word as a noun, verb, and adjective. Each week we will share one example of the "In a Word" series.

FIRE

If you watch as the fire burns bright
You will see me dancing in the flickering flames
Waving back and forth with the power of fire

Some love me, some fear me, but all respect me
For they know my strength is that of the earth
The earth that they come from and to which they'll return

I am real, more real than you can comprehend
I am the spark of life that flickers within each of you
Anyone can look for me but only believers will succeed

I am the fire queen, dancing for life
Burning bright in the darkness to show the way
I am the essence of the element of fire

-Zoe, 8th year student

Alisa Gravitz, Green America Director, visits Farm School

Alisa Gravitz, Green America (Co-op America) Executive Director, visited the Farm School during the Rappahannock County Farm Tour 2009! Here she is purchasing produce from Allie, Farm School Market Manager and 9th year student.

The mission of Green America is "to harness economic power—the strength of consumers, investors, businesses, and the marketplace—to create a socially just and environmentally sustainable society"

Candidate John Lesinski visits Farm School during Farm Tour

John Lesinski, candidate for Virginia State Delegate, and his wife Heidi visited the Farm School during the Rappahannock Farm Tour. We were pleased to be able to share our program with him.

Buy Fresh Buy Local Market in Warrenton

The Farm School participated in the First Friday Buy Fresh Buy Local event in Warrenton on a Friday night in August. The bus and chicken were big attractions for children of all ages (and a few adults as well!). Here's a photo of Mona Nixon, Mountain Laurel Montessori's Head of School, getting to know the barred rock hen.

Garrison Keillor Comments on Farm Schools

The February 11, 2006, broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion (from Minnesota Public Radio) originated from the University of Minnesota, Morris, whose campus is the former West Central School of Agriculture. WCSA was a residential high school for farm children from 1910 to 1963, offering traditional high school studies as well as agricultural and practical home skills. Montessorians may notice a striking resemblance to the Montessori concept of the Erdkinder (adolescent Farm School).

Host Garrison Keillor described WCSA and commented, "Someday, somebody is going to do a study on this and discover that animal husbandry is a valuable tool in building character, and they’ll come up with an idea for a residential high school where you can learn carpentry and cooking and each week taking a couple of hours to take care of an infant, and it’ll be like the Montessori of the future, except they’ll call it the Morris movement." http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/programs/2006/02/11/ Go here to visit the Prairie Home Companion web site and hear the entire show or just Segment 3, where Mr. Keillor gives a bit of the history of the University of Minnesota, Morris and the West Central School of Agriculture.

Text from North American Montessori Teacher's Association (NAMTA)

We now bus from Warrenton and Marshall!

If you live in or around Marshall or Warrenton, VA, it is now easier to get to both the Farm School and Front Royal campuses of Mountain Laurel Montessori School! We have morning and afternoon bus routes to transport children to both campuses. Please call the Front Royal campus for more details: (540) 636-4257. We are able to take Farm School students on a rolling admissions basis, so check us out any time of the year!

Warrenton Green Drinks Comes to the Farm School

Mountain Laurel Montessori Farm School hosted the monthly Warrenton Green Drinks event on Wednesday, September 16th. Green Drinks is a national organization that meets monthly for informal social events where people working on, or interested in, environmental issues can gather and network. Narmada Winery served their delicious wine and talked about their philosophy, and many representatives of the upcoming Rappahannock Farm Tour previewed the events they have planned for the 26th and 27th of September.

It was a lively and interesting evening. We were proud to show off the Farm School.

Plant-A-Row for the Hungry

Throughout the summer, Farm School students have donated their extra produce to the Plant-A-Row for the Hungry program, part of the Rappahannock Food Pantry. It is amazing to walk in to the Food Pantry and see a wall of fresh produce; many of the Pantry's clients would not have access to fresh food if it weren't for the generosity of local gardeners and farmers.

Visit the Plant-A-Row website to see Allie's photos (Allie is a 9th year student at Mountain Laurel) and to learn more about this great organization: http://plantarow.rappahannock.com/gallery?album=8