This week, the school is dedicated to thirty small-group projects. In each, adults share unique passions and skills. Eleven groups are off campus, cooking and serving up gourmet meals at Bluewater Farm, back-country skiing in the wilds of Maine, cycling on Cape Cod, studying Cape ecology, golfing, dog sledding, practicing Buddhist meditation at a retreat, whitewater rafting, training for lacrosse and singing/touring in China. Nineteen are on campus, and I have photographs from some of these. (And check out this dynamite, spontaneous video made by Ethney McMahon! Project Period Video)

One group is serving as teaching interns at the local elementary school.







At Proctor Day Care, our kids are working with much younger children!

 

Several projects explore creative arts. The quilt-making project has been a popular standard for many years. These kids are making key decisions, choosing seven fabrics that will distinguish each quilt.

 

Mural Mania is a project that is researching ancient species though evolutionary eons and painting them through time on the walls outside science classrooms.

 

Another extremely popular standard is maple sugaring. This year's run has been exceptionally strong, both in terms of quantity of sap and sugar content. The group "gathers" hundreds of gallons of icy cold sap each morning, and boils throughout the afternoon and evening. Colin stokes the evaporator.

 

The critical determination that this liquid gold has reached the consistency of syrup is made by observing its viscosity off of a ladle.

 

Some maple syrup is donated to Bluewater Culinary Institute, a project that prepares and serves gourmet meals to dozens of Proctor folk: whole departments and other project groups. Syrup was used in preparation of an elegant apple sauce served as a compliment to a cholesterol-rich breakfast Wednesday morning.





Student chefs wear aprons monogrammed with the name of their project! The venue is the Owl's Nest Lodge at Bluewater Farm, just a mile south of campus. The kitchen is a riot of activity, with students playing specific roles: food prep, wait staff, cooks, clean-up. The aromas are superb. These garlicky croutons are hot!

 

Members of the sugaring project await fruit, muffins, eggy casseroles (ham or veggie,) pancakes and generous rashers of bacon.

 

Under the guidance of one of the nation's top trainers, students ride on a project called Equine Community Service.



Above the community coffee shop, generous current parent Patricia Qualls leads an intuitive painting workshop, declaring, "There are no rights and wrongs!" Zada glances over at Sophie's work: