European Art Classroom ends their studies in Holland, The Netherlands, Les Pays-Bas. If you want to see art works by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Van Gogh and so many others, it is a must visit. The city of Amsterdam is famous for other reasons too as we know, but it never fails to shock the American visitor.
Last week Mountain Classroom immersed ourselves in the West Virginia hills on our 4-night solos. The days were filled with sun and nights with rain with solos giving us time to reflect, catch up on sleep, and enjoy personal reading. Since then we have been driving north as we investigate small-scale, sustainable farming. In Virginia we visited Joel Salatin’s Polyface Farms, made famous by Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma. Our next stop was participating in the Run Like the Wind 10K in Ellenville, NY before arriving at Sparrowbush Farm in Hudson, NY. Sparrowbush Farm is owned and managed by Ashley Loehr, Instructor Coco Loehr’s elder sister. We finally had the opportunity to get dirty while helping Ashley prepare for the growing season. Now Mountain Classroom is moving onto Vermont where we will be taking finals at Ned’s Place at the Merck Forest and Farmland Center in Rupert, VT.
This blog post is a bit different than our usual reports on weekly happenings. It features writing by Matt about time, creative writing by Sadie as she people watches in Madrid, and three videos (thank you Ethney!) from our adventures over the past several weeks!
Wilderness Orientation and Senior Project bookend the Proctor experience for students. They are incredibly different, but require many of the same traits: a sense of adventure, confidence, passion, and a willingness to disregard comfort zones for the sake of authentic learning. Enjoy this window into Senior Project 2016!
This week’s blog reflects on our trip to Spain last week but before I go into that, since we didn’t have a blog last week to say this, we would all like to thank Tina and Benoît Tari, aunt and uncle to Boomer Vazquez, for an awesome day at their house and vineyard.
Mountain Classroom is cruising east! In Colorado we focused their studies on Allan Savory's Holistic Resource Management while discussing the grazing practices at Chico Basin Ranch. Driving north we spent time with JR White Hat, longtime Proctor friend, on the Rosebud Indian Reservation. We then drove through Kansas to learn about the Land Institute's pursuit to develop perennial wheat varieties. Now the students are perfecting their techniques for setting up tarps in preparation for solos in the hills near Green Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.
In this post, Proctor en Segovia spring 2016 journeys from the high plains and mountains of Castilla to the Mediterranean coast of Catalonia. In the capital of the region, Barcelona, we saw Catalan separatist flags and heard an unfamiliar Romance language. We were surrounded by Gaudí’s modernisme and walked through layers of history (Roman, Jewish, and the late medieval Aragonese empire). North of the capital, in the land that inspired Dalí’s “landscapes” we traversed terraced olive orchards and ancient fishing villages. Enjoy Kevin and Hayden's tales of our visit to Gaudí's Sagrada Familia and our trek on the GR-92.
Mountain Classroom finished their month-long stint in Utah with a week on the San Juan River guided by Kay Harris of Canyon Expeditions. We gardened at the home of Bluff artist, Joe Pachak, and visited the Wolfman Panel in Butler Wash before pushing off on the river in their inflatable kayaks. After traveling through Colorado and visiting the Chico Basin Ranch this last week, we slept last night in Cody, Nebraska. Today we are heading to Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota to spend time with Proctor graduate JR White Hat.
