Teacher, Frederick Martin, to Give Speech at Rindge Historical Society

As reported in an earlier blog post, The Meeting School received recognition for the historic buildings and farmland on its campus - following three years of research by the schools U.S. History classes. As you might know, the school is located on historic Thomas Farm, whose buildings include the colonial-era Lieutenant Nathaniel Thomas homestead, built in 1771 by his first cousin Captain Philip Thomas; the 1839 George Thomas house, and the c. 1850 Greek Revival barn. The New Hampshire State Historic Resources Council listed the Thomas Farm on the New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places at its April meeting, and described the older Thomas house as "a significant example of Georgian style." In their notification letter, the state Survey Coordinator wrote, "The New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources would like to congratulate the school on the listing of the Thomas Farm (now The Meeting School) to the New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places. We very much appreciate your stewardship and commitment to preserving an important part of New Hampshire's heritage."

Students in Frederick's History classes dug into archives at the Rindge Historical Society, the Cheshire County Historical Society and the Registry of Deeds in Keene, and even the State Archives in Concord, seeking documents that would explain the ups and downs of the Thomas Farm's growth and changes. They assembled legal, probate, and census records, and most of all, decoded the physical evidence around them in the school's buildings and landscape.

Frederick will give a lecture and slide presentation about the history of the Thomas Farm, and some of the detective work that his classes did, at the annual meeting of the Rindge Historical Society on Saturday, November 8th, from 10:00 to 1:00

Walking of the Heifers

As fall sets in and the grasses begin to stop growing the cows and sheep at TMS will take one last trip through the fields to eat what’s left before making the switch to hay for the winter. The cows have taken a trip up the road to the Bartlett Fields where they'll have a chance to graze four of the five fields. Moving them from the barn to the top of the hill is no small task. To move them with the least amount of chaos, four strands of electric wire were used to contain them in a moving box. With a person at each corner holding the wire, the wire "box" moved down the road and up the hill to the fields (its hard to see the wire in this picture). The cows were nervous about the pavement, and had a minor escape or two before finally making it to the greener pasture. Traffic that was stopped looked on in awe as the herd went walking by. Students and faculty showed great patience and persistence throughout the entire event. Lets hope the move back to the barn for the winter goes just as smooth!

Taiwanese Educators Schedule Study Visit to TMS

A group of thirty-four educators from Taiwan plan to visit TMS in March to study our educational program. Led by Professor Hwei-Pang Chen, Dean of Education at Taiwan's National Hsinchu University of Education, the group consists of principals from schools in the Taiwanese city of Tauyuan --the "second largest but most ambitious city in Taiwan," according to Dr. Chen-- who are drafting a school reform plan and would like to include choices in experiential education in their plans. They chose to visit TMS through reading our profile in the book The Parent's Guide to Alternatives in Education by Ronald Koetzsch (Shambala, 1997). Regarding our question of whether TMS's small size would provide enough people and classes for his group to interact with, Professor Chen replied, "The school size is nothing to do with a good school. As a college scholar, I always reflect on the why and how a school for our children. I believe what will happen in the Meeting School will be a valuable lesson for all of us." TMS is very active in networking in the United States through professional associations such as the New England Association of Sschools and Colleges, Independant Educational Consultants Association, The Association of Boarding Schools, and Friends Council on Education, hosting visits to our campus, speaking at conferences, participating in accreditation for fellow schools, and the like. International visits such as this Taiwanese group are always exciting, but not unheard of for us; Jackie recalls fondly a group of educators from Romania who visited seven or eight years ago. We look forward to hosting Professor Chen's group, scheduled for March 31st.

Painter Hillary Irons visits TMS from McDowell Colony

Pictured is Hilary Irons, a painter at the McDowell Colony, who gave a wonderful talk and showed her work at TMS on Monday. Sadly, Hilary did not attend TMS as a young person -- but her sister (Lydia), brother (Asa), father (Henry) and uncle (Tony) all did! So when Hilary settled into a fellowship at McDowell --the oldest artists' colony in the U.S., in nearby Peterborough-- she wanted to come visit the Meeting School as well. On Monday she came for dinner (she lucked out -- Tom's sushi) and afterwards treated us to an hour-long presentation, including slides of her work, a lecture about her journey as a young adult into deciding to pursue being an artist, and questions-and-answers afterwards where students got to ask her what Parsons Design School was like (where she completed her undergraduate degree), why she decided to go to graduate school (she recently finished studying painting at Yale), and what high school was like for her. Her talk was gentle, engaging, inviting, and inspiring.
Students in the drawing class found her abstract paintings most interesting. Rebecca Faison '12 said "they were full of intense colors, and they could be looked at in different ways... really cool." Some appreciated her more activist side: Faith Jochum '09 observed that the abstract paintings were all about Irons' concern about nuclear waste and nuclear warfare; Faith especially pointed to Hilary's use of tourist and blog photos of the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl in the Ukraine. Pictured below are two of her paintings, used with her permission: an earlier work, and one of her more recent abstract works of the kind that caught the students' attention.In her talk about choosing to be an artist, she said, "The real requirement for taking this path is a willingness to look into your own creativity and accept it as important and valid. Then, even if your work is hard or confusing, or if success comes slowly, creative growth will be a constant. I hope that any of you who like making things will take your desire to do so seriously, and let your work open you up to the world around you."

Bringing in the Harvest

This summer we've grown over 900 row feet of onions to store in the root cellar and use for meals during the school year. About two thirds were harvested this week to dry in the barn until the necks have shriveled and the greens fall off. The other third is still standing in the garden, getting bigger and sweeter. We look forward to many great meals made with home grown onions from the farm.

The brussels sprout crop is also looking excellent as the summer comes to and end. The large green and purple sprouts will be left on the plant until we get a few frosts which sweetens them. As you can see in the picture the lower leaves have been taken off to allow for better growth in the the sprouts near the top of the plant which are often much smaller than the sprouts at the bottom. Many will be eaten fresh from the plants, although most will hang in the root cellar for winter use.