Jeannette McCardle’s fourth-grade class has been busy harvesting the produce of our cutting-edge hydroponic garden. The kids have been delivering an abundance of squash, carrots, beets, broccoli, cauliflower and peppers, among other wholesome vegetables, to the Deerfield Food Bank, which serves more than 15,000 residents each year.
Savannah Russell says that bringing food that she grew herself to the Food Bank was very gratifying.
``If you just plant seeds and harvest the food, you don’t see the whole process,’’ Savannah says. ``It was really interesting to see what they do at the food bank. They get a lot of perishables there and it takes a lot to handle it. They have really high shelves. I wanted to help out but they wouldn’t let me.’’
Joshua Flood’s sixth graders have hit the ground running with genealogical research. For the first time, kids at Learning Tree are exploring their family trees (no pun intended!). Ancestry.com has been their main research tool.
This past month they took a field trip to the local history/genealogy sections of the Granville and Deerfield libraries.
Paul Moody says that one of his 8th-generation great uncles was a Puritan minister who helped an accused witch escape before she could be tried in Salem, Massachusetts. Charlie Britt reports that he discovered that he is a descendant of three Mayflower Compact signatories, among them William Brewster, the minister on the Mayflower. Britt is a 10th-generation great grandson of Brewster’s.
``Such nobility,'' Charlie says. ``I gotta say that I didn't see that coming.''
Words can’t express our thanks to the Kiwanis Club of Deerfield for its $200,000 donation which will be used to purchase badly needed replacements for our musical instruments, including a refurbished harpsichord.
John Maggs, chairman of the Music Department, says ``The whole thing is truly remarkable.''
``We’re happy to oblige,’’ says Kiwanis President Hatfield Meters.
In the meantime, I’m thrilled to report that after 15 years, yours truly finally managed to bag a deer, near Aldrich Pond. It was at least a three-mile back hike to our truck. We were concerned that by the time we got to the truck and back, a neighbor might come along and make off with the buck. So Bob came up with another of his ideas. He suggested we cut off the deer’s tongue. We did. It took us an hour and a half to get to the truck and back. Sure enough, there were a couple of guys standing around. I told them the deer was mine. They looked skeptical ``Open his mouth,’’ Bob said. They did. ``No tongue,’’ one of them said. ``Right,’’ Bob said. Then he yanked the tongue out of his pocket.
Good old Bob. Always fulla surprises.
Talk to you next month!
Jim Taylor, director
