Staff Member

Have you ever wondered why people get HAPPY when they get their hands in the dirt? For years I have found it remarkable how the garden can change people's moods. Just the other day we had a perfect example of this. The interns arrived in the garden in a funk.  It had been a long emotional day; and they were feeling it. The tone was quiet and somber. We divied up our tasks for the day and got to work. A couple of us went to the old garden for a while and when as we were walking back to the annex garden, I heard singing and laughter.

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!

On August 19th, 2010 we will welcome the Fall 2010 class of Woolman Semester students. I am counting down the days until these amazing young people join us. For me, they are the reason the rest of us are here. 

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.

The Youth as Peacebuilders (YAP) Project is an assignment in the Global Issues class at Woolman. The assignment lasts through out the semester and starts with students choosing a world conflict that they feel passionately about changing. There are 2 major components to the project--the first is a 10-15 page paper where the youth research and analyze the conflict--paying very close attention to represent BOTH sides of the issue.

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.