Getting Ready for School

After a busy summer on campus we are eagerly anticipating the arrival of our returning students on Wednesday, September 9th. New students will be joining us on Sunday, September 13.

Faculty are in the process of finalizing course preparations, organizing their homes to greet students, and planning a preliminary set meals.

(While on the topic of food, please note the photo of the brie, which was produced earlier this summer under the guidance of Laura Pepper from Keene Meeting. Two years ago, Laura sold her business of making artisan cheese in the Philadelphia region and moved to Hinsdale to work on reopening a hydroelectric plant on the Ashuelot River. She and Meg Kidd (former TMS staff) spent a day in July working with us to make cheese from milk from Bruchetta. A "Bruchetta Gouda" was also produced.)

We are excited to welcome Laura and Landis Brown, who are houseparents in Aurora. They have two young sons, Silas and Aidan. Laura will be teaching mathematics with Richard Kleinschmidt and overseeing the kitchen; Landis will be teaching courses in writing and social studies in addition to his role as Residential Life Coordinator. Their full biographies are available on our website. Welcome, Laura and Landis!

Meanwhile, under the care of interim farm manager Craig Jensen, the farm is currently producing copious amounts of kale (Lacinato, Red Russian, and White Siberian), beets, swiss chard, green beans, cucumbers, winter squash, red kuri, apples, and pears. Our root cellar is quickly filling up with beets and turnips. We have begun pulling flint corn and will be pulling sweet corn soon (which is late this year). Two work study activities for students soon after they get to school will be pulling onions (thousands of them!) and potatoes.

Last Friday we cut hay - several hundred bales of it - and would like to thank our neighbor down the street, Mark Wolterbeek, for offering to help out and even lend us his mower. The Meeting School mower has finally mowed its last field - when I asked someone "in the know" how old it was I given a look, which I interpreted to mean "ancient." Here's to neighbors helping neighbors!