The Green Project by Cormac

I am excited to share with you an email from one of our participants, Cormac (11).  With only 8 days until we start our Huckleberry Hill projects, ideas are starting to take shape.  

---------

Some people believe that we will run out of oil in 18 to 20 years if we continue to use it at the rate we do today. All of our natural resources decrease everyday because we live in a world where people consume more than our planet can produce. People and institutions make choices based on convenience instead of deciding on what is really the best. These decisions create a problem for people's health as well as the planet.
This seems like an impossible problem to solve but there is another way. We can choose to do things to make it better for ourselves and the planet. 

I am working on an environmental project, The Green Project, that is designed to encourage people to live healthier and more environmentally aware lives. It is not supposed to make anyone feel badly about what they have done in the past. It is supposed to give them hope that they can change the future.

There are four phases to this project. I am in the first phase which includes researching what are some of the most common environmental problems that exist and their effect on people and the planet. The second phase involves working with local businesses and people who care about the environment to find planet friendly options that make choosing a greener life easier. The third phase will include working with volunteers to help them understand how they can change their life to make more environmentally conscious choices. Finally I will create a website that provides answers to environmental questions and hopefully be a resource that helps people make better choices. 

This is a picture of a business, Olive del Mondo, that has olive oil and vinegar in bulk. A person can buy it in glass bottles that may be returned to the store and used again
after they have been washed in a special machine that the owners purchased. The owners wanted a way to make their store a more environmental choice for people who wanted their products. Olive oil and vinegar may not be a local product but it can be purchased in a way that is less harmful to the environment. This is the type of business that I want to include on my website as a resource.

Olive del Mondo web site: http://olivedelmondo.com/ 

Millstone Farm

I am very happy to announce that we have found a new home for the Huckleberry Hill Project. We will be based in Wilton, CT at Millstone Farm.  Millstone Farm is a beautiful vision come to life of the owners, Jesse and Betsy Fink.  It is a sustainable food farm that reaches far into the community to teach, share their produce and educate the community in growing good food in a sustainable way.

Many of the children are well under way on their projects (even though our start date is 5 weeks away) and I will be showcasing some of their work and stories over the next few weeks.  In the mean time here are a few pictures of beautiful Millstone Farm.

These two interns are walking through the area where the children will have lunch and play.  The grounds are immaculate.

These pumpkins have just been harvested and are sitting on the patio wall of the restored farm house where the children will be working on their projects.

There are several types food producing gardens including organic vegetables gardens, greenhouses, and gleening fields.  They also have livestock including chickens, turkeys, llamas, sheep, pigs and bees.

It is a lovely place to visit and we are very grateful to have this opportunity to do our work here.

Website on Experiential Learning

I thought this was pretty funny!

If you want to poke around the literature on experiential learning and the educational benefits of that, here is a decent website I have been enjoying.

Welcome

Last night we had a meeting at Starbucks with some of the families involved in the project.  We have made good progress in nailing down our plans, dates and logistics.  It is all coming together and we are all very excited.  We started a Minigroup hub to post documentaries, files and keep everyone abreast of all the preparations.

We start the project October 2nd.  Of course some of our children are already underway on their projects.

On the right is a picture of one of the chicken tractors.  It is truly a special place.

If you have any suggestions about great documentaries to watch about nutrition, sustainable farming, Type II Diabetes or empowered local communities getting healthy, please leave us a link in the comments.

I am going to be posting to this site, documenting our progress and profiling some of the children's projects.  We will have some guest contributors, impressions from the parents and much more.  Come and visit us once in a while and please give us your feedback!

Right now we are pondering how to set up the most eco-friendly workspace and the nature a respectful, caring, creative and productive little community.  It is really fun to work out the details.  For example, what pattern shall the children use to make their own personal mess kit? This one!

It is ALL good!