It was a wonderful first week in first grade! We learned that the whole world is made up of straight lines and curved lines. We found them in flowers, leaves, and many other places in nature; and in the classroom, in both toys and tools. We have practiced our forms with chalk on the big chalkboard and individual chalkboards, with paintbrushes and water on the chalkboards (which magically disappears!), walking them on the balance beam, and even drawing them with our toes! The forms come out of the story which began at the Rose Ceremony and is continuing daily.

The children are starting to learn the rhythm and form of the day. Upon arrival, after changing into their indoor shoes and shaking my hand, they may have some indoor play. When I ring the chime, it is time to clean up the toys and come to our seats. By Friday morning, after shaking a child's hand, I turned around and was surprised to find all the children at their seats, eager for Main Lesson to begin.

The transition from Kindergarten play to attentively listening and engaging in our (albeit playful) work is arduous. I have heard many pleas of, "I'm so tired." "When is snack?" "Is it dismissal yet?" The children are working so hard and need nourishment for body and soul to sustain their learning and growth. By the end of Lunch Recess, they are all ready for a soothing cup of tea and Rest and Reading. It is one of our cherished times of the day.

In the Maple Tree mixed age Kindergarten classroom, Joanna VonCulin shared insight into the deep social-emotional learning that takes place in an early childhood classroom:

Your children may well have been coming home quite tired - they are learning a lot, fast!  They are learning how to care for one another, how to speak for themselves or seek help, how to share, and how to enjoy the company of their classmates.  They are learning to check in with a friend if they've been hurt, and how to make age-appropriate amends, like fetching the 'care' basket or an ice pack.  They are learning or fine-tuning fine motor skills with vegetable chopping, kneading dough, and coloring.  Their gross motor skills are getting a wonderful workout outside, where the playground has uneven ground to traverse, trees to climb, and sand to dig in, to name a few attractions.

We've been doing a fairly short and sweet circle time, one designed to help new friends find their feet and learn the daily elements of circle.  In it we have verses with movements for the children to imitate, songs that many already are learning, and a fun game "Sally Go Round The Sun."  At this point, it is all about being able to come together as a class!  

One of the circle songs really sums up what the first few weeks are about:

Kind hearts are the garden,
Kind thoughts are the roots.
Kind words are the flowers,
Kind deeds are the fruits. 
Take care of your garden,
Plant many kind seeds, 
And fill it with sunshine, 
Kind words, and kind deeds.

Despite a chilly morning, the sun was streaming through the second grade classroom’s windows as the lower grades gathered for this special storytelling and musical experience brought to us free-of-charge by Scrag Mountain Music, thanks to a group of generous anonymous donors. 

Adorned in orange and black with brightly colored embroidery and feathers in his headband, Michael Laughing Fox presented a message that “stories show us there are more things connecting us than disconnecting us.” 

After introducing himself in his own language, and presenting the flag of the Red Cliff Band of the Lake Superior Ojibwe, Michael Laughing Fox first shared the story of the creation of the flute. Children were laughing at the story of the boy who thought he knew everything, and the “smart berries” that he got from his Grandmother. Little did he know that the berries were actually rabbit poop! From there, Michael Laughing Fox shared a flute song that was inspired by squirrels and the tale of Tailfeather woman, which showed that 2 warring nations can come together in peace. These messages have special importance in today’s world. 

Bells jingling as he moved, Michael Laughing Fox showed the children how dance can be used to build spiritual energy, saying “Each step I take is like the heartbeat to mother earth.” Finally, the children were asked to participate in the performance during a rainstorm song, where the audience helped make the sounds of an approaching and waning rainstorm through snapping their fingers, slapping their legs, and stomping their feet. 

After the performance, the children were able to look more closely at the flutes and drums, and ask questions. In total, 47 students and 6 adults were able to participate in the program thanks to the support of Scrag Mountain Music and donors. The 4th and 5th grade class wanted to share, “Their favorite story was the one about the "smart pills".  They also liked the squirrel song and the story about the flute.  We want to extend our heartfelt thanks and appreciation for his time.” 

Kate Bennecker
ŷ��������� Development Coordinator

The sense of wellness is something we often take for granted because we usually feel it, we feel well.  We learn to recognize the signs when our wellness sense is reminding us to slow down and soften, and we can see them in our children as well.  Are they energized? or floppy?  Is the color of their skin pale or different than usual?  Is their gaze shining and ready to meet the day?  Or are they looking for a place to curl up and hide away? 

This sense of wellness is one of twelve senses described by Rudolf Steiner that we consciously endeavor to cultivate in our learning environment.

The first four foundational senses we seek to develop in early childhood from birth to 7 years.  

Sense of Touch

The skin is the organ of the sense of touch and what is happening is that the children are learning to recognize the boundary of their body and to care for it. We nourish this with providing support for self initiated care and attention to dressing and undressing including attention to the fabrics and effectiveness of the clothes we recommend.  In addition, we create a safe and welcoming space where exploration of touch is welcome and consciously cultivated with a wide array of sensory experiences in and outdoors with attention to the source of the things we provide in the environment preferring natural items grown from life itself, wood, wool, sand, grass, stone.

Sense of Life or Wellness

The autonomic nervous system is the organ of our sense of wellness and we support this sense by providing a routine that breathes, meaning that can adapt to the mood and energy of the group and the weather and the world.  We also support the sense of life with effective clothing that supports a child in staying adequately warm for their safety and nourishment of their interest in engagement with teachers and students. 

Sense of Balance

The inner ear is the organ of our sense of balance. The sense of balance is overall providing the child the freedom and time to explore up and down, sensing one's body in relation to gravity or the cosmos you could say.  We can observe in the Morning Garden children as they become confident with walking the work they are taking up with the forces of gravity, work that only they can do.  We provide them the time to really allow them to freely come to stand on their own, to run, gallop, wander and relish all the discoveries along the way.

Sense of Movement

The sense of proprioception or the sense of one's body and its parts in relationship to one another in space is becoming more and more well understood as foundational to neurological development.  Even speech, which we don't think of as a form of movement, is really dependent upon the harmonious movement of many small muscles, bones, neurons and body chemistry that is influenced by the social and emotional environment. We live in times that more and more often confine children to limited physical positions and exploration.  To support movement we provide a wide array of surfaces, we engage in play that explores movement.  When we engage the children to  move heartily, we strengthen their bodies, welcome flexibility, joy and imagination which will later be reflected in their thinking. Movement in gross and fine motor abilities, becomes confidence in landing on the earth.

The next four senses are often referred to as the middle senses.  The foundational senses of touch, life, movement and balance are largely taking place within us.  The middle senses are still very important to the young child, but they come into greater enjoyment in the Grades school aged child.  

Sense of Smell

The sense of smell is the only sense that is fully formed at birth and guides the infant to the breast for the first time.  The sense of smell can impact our children all the time, the scent of various cleaning products can be a kind of sensory clutter.  We tend the sense of smell in early childhood by removing unneeded scents from our home so that our child can explore undisturbed.  Some scents can be supportive: Often our classrooms use aromatherapy oils like lavender in a bowl of warm water to wipe down and freshen the environment.  The smell of freshly cooked food fills the rooms, awakening the child's interest in food and surrounding them with natural scents of life.  As our children grow older they express the qualities of their soul in their favorite smells.

Sense of Taste

The sense of taste is another great doorway to the world.  We provide an array of foods that reflect different tastes and textures, everything offered but never required.  Seasonal and festival foods draw our children toward the intimate experience of bringing the world into one's body as we eat. Preparing food together in a spirited kitchen.  Picking berries and making jam or freezing them on trays for the winter.  These are wonderful ways that food brings our children into a greater relationship with the world around them, subtly anticipates the changes in seasons, and affirms for them that the world is good.  They need to know that in their bodies and bones.

Sense of Sight

The sense of sight is something we take for granted so often.  We can observe for ourselves how the visual environment can heighten our spirits, encourage us and also go to sleep as the leaves fall and the colors of life become more subtle.   Beauty is very important in the Waldorf classroom because sight immediately projects the things around us onto our inner life.  What images do we want to fill the inner life of our children?  I encourage you to consider this question for your family.

Sense of Warmth

The sense of warmth is the last of the middle senses and it provides a bridge to the spiritual senses.  The sense of warmth has two meanings.  We cannot sense warmth and express warmth if we are not well acquainted with the experience of being warm.  This has a physical part to it that we attend to with great care, dressing our children well, feeding them warm foods,  and preparing them to face and embrace the elements.  And it also has a social part.  When we are physically cold, it is uncommon to feel motivated to engage with others in loving ways.  Yet when we are warm, our physical needs met, we can begin to feel curious and interested in the discovery of others and the world.  We warm the social environment by anticipating and preparing for the physical needs of the children thoroughly and well.  Then, our children shine their inner sun's that have been nourished by loving care toward new friends and the world around them.

The middle senses begin to express the qualities of our soul.  As children grow to have a favorite color, a favorite fruit or food, a best friend.  These are all the ways that their sensory development becomes a foundation for social wellness which is an essential foundation for learning overall.

The final four senses are sometimes referred to as the spiritual senses. For instance, the quickening that we feel within us as we behold a tree in full bloom is for me a kind of uplifting aha that brings me beyond the knowledge of the trunk, the function of the leaves, the smell of the blossoms and even the taste of the fruit.  There is a glimpse of something whole, something in communion with others around it, the birds, bees, the cosmic forces.  We behold it.

Sense of Hearing

The sense of hearing is not simply the auditory function of the inner ear, but the capacity to make sense of what is grasped through the ear.  We can hear another person utter words, but how often do we completely misunderstand what is spoken?  How wondrous and magical when we are understood. 

Sense of thought

Thought sense is an extension of this, the ability to share a thought with another, to understand a thought and to coexist together in thought.  We recognize when someone shares an understanding with us, there is a capacity to know and be known and we all know the feeling that arises when we are known.

Word Sense

is to be able to hear what is meant by words shared, which is not the same thing as understanding the meaning of vocabulary although the development of language is a foundation for this sense.  How often were we able to convey something to someone when we don't have the exact words but we are interested enough in another to endeavor to be understood with word, gesture, facial expression. And they are interested enough to grasp what we have shared.  This is the word sense, not simply to understand the meaning of words, but to integrate all of what is offered by another and to know what they mean.

"I" sense

is the culmination in some ways of all sensory activity.  Our I sense is really our "I am" sense which is the foundation of the I-Thou relationship. Beyond each one of us is the higher self we strive to become.  When we are able to make a home in ourselves for our higher self, we are endowed with gifts of love for others.  Children from their earliest moments may recognize and embody glimpses of this spirited self.  Often the three year old receives their first glimpse of this.  While three year olds can sometimes be characterized as defiant, there is a way of beholding their acts of independence as already knowing something about their future self.  What if we cared for our children with the understanding that they already know what they have to bring to the world?

The spiritual senses arise inwardly as an integrated awareness, a gradually developing awareness of others around us.  Our sense of who we are and how we contribute to the whole.  Every human beings needs to feel competent, capable and able to contribute.  These are the spiritual senses unseen but not without signs.

I was standing atop a grassy hill, sword in hand, ready. I was Saint Michael.

I was ready for this moment to be over. Not because I don’t enjoy acting, because I do, I love it. I wanted the moment to be over, so I could leave. I wanted to leave this Waldorf school that sheltered and protected me.

We celebrated Michaelmas every fall and now, finally, it was my last time ever taking part in the pageant. Just days prior, I had been begging my mom to let me go to a public school, but there I was, chosen to be Saint Michael, out of every other eighth-grader.

I was chosen to march down the hill to tame the dragon. The dragon was destroying the crops, the sustenance of the villagers, and the villagers were looking to me to save them.

At that moment with the warm autumn sun shining into my face, sword aimed at the dragon, I did not realize that there was so much more I had to learn about myself.

Michaelmas is celebrated at the time of the harvest between the summer and Winter solstices. The Archangel Michael, a powerful figure in Christian, Judaic and Islamic traditions, comes down from the heavens to tame the dragon that is wreaking havoc on the village. We all have the possibility within ourselves for personal transformation, and our own dragons to tame, whether greed, fear, selfishness, or other destructive forces. At Michaelmas, we seek to face with courage, one’s dragons to transform oneself.

My personal dragon’s name is Fear.

Fear was subdued at my old school. I did not know this dragon lived inside of me and was ready to break loose until I left the comfortable environment that nurtured me in my early years.

I didn’t realize how grounding it was to look my teacher in the eye every morning and be met with a firm and kind handshake and a welcoming “good morning.”

The day was filled with a focused main lesson, artwork, singing, and purposeful movement, which left me feeling alive. I did not realize my curiosity about the public school and my strong desire to leave the Waldorf school would cast me out on my own, leaving me to face my personal dragon, Fear.

I met Fear up close on the first day of my freshman year. There were computers, teachers, loud bells, and complicated rules, all new and startling to me. I felt so alone and uncared for, I felt fear deep in the pit of my stomach. Fear stopped me from going to school, trying new things, and eating. I became a person I did not recognize, scared, and unconfident. Where was my sword to tame this dragon?

I discovered my sword. It was there, inside me, a burning light, dimed in those harsh moments of change. I was still there, the enthusiastic and determined child who was the first to knit my hat and the first one outside at recess leading the kids down to play soccer; I was there upright singing my heart out during the morning verses.

My light began to flicker brighter when I joined the high school chorus and theater group. I returned to my sewing machine in earnest, making empowering creations such as quilts, masks, and tote bags. I found teachers who saw my light and in their eyes encouraged me. I found soccer, helping to create a girl’s team that not only nurtured my need to move, but also made other girls feel cared for and part of a community. I kept dancing, fueling my light of courage. I surrounded myself with dear friends who fueled my heart.

My flame came back, perhaps brighter than before, slaying my dragon, Fear. I am ready for what’s next, climbing mountains, visiting new places, expanding my knowledge. I will move through the world with courage, awareness, and curiosity.

As many of you know we have been looking for a forever home for Sweet Clover Nursery. After many meetings and proposals, we have confidently landed on moving Sweet Clover Nursery to the Child’s Garden Campus and have the support and momentum to manifest this dream.

We have been working with an architect whose site plans and drawings have been submitted and approved by the town, we are officially on the project board with contractors to do the renovation work, and we are mobilizing a team of volunteers to clear out the basement and barn. 

This is our chance to reinvent the Child's Garden for our birth to three program!

We are feeling the support from our school board and faculty along with many other beloved families and community members. We have laid the groundwork to move forward on this project and need your help!

We have established a GoFundMe page where you can read project plans, updates, and donate to this exciting project:

We are sure that you have many questions and we’d love to have the opportunity to answer them. Please send them to sweetclovernursery@ovws.org.

Thank you so much for your support!
Jada Berg
Jung Kim
Nolwenn Renault
Madelief Becherer
Marianne Perchlik
Anna Couture

(The Sweet Clover Nursery relocation committee)

Rudolf Steiner offered that death is perhaps the most significant stage of human development and provided glimpses of human life after death. Our embodied life on earth provides us the opportunity to spirited, moral action that lives on.

We remember some individuals from our Orchard Valley Community whose deeds in life created and nourished this learning environment.

Jim Grundy was one of the first renewable energy leaders in the whole state of Vermont.  He drove a big blue grease powered truck, long before anyone was fueling their vehicles with biodiesel.  He created a business, “Elemental Energy,” and was the individual who installed our radiant floors and our solar panels.  His work at Orchard Valley represents a strong environmental ethic that has always lived in our school.  He is the “Star Daddy” of Ava and Esme in our  5 / 6  Grade.

Tony French was a hydrologist who faithfully attended to the water testing and the quality of our drinking  water at Orchard Valley.  A dedicated member of the Grace Farm Committee, Tony helped organize pruning workshops and participated substantially in the tending of the apple trees. He is the father of two alums, Piper and Eli French and the spouse of Julie Henderson who served on the Board and provided dedicated support for many years to the birth of our school.

Kathy Clark served Orchard Valley from the first days. Administrative Assistant,  Office Manager, Operations Manager are a few of the roles she served with dedication until the last day of her life.  Kathy had run a home child care program as a mother, and she was specifically dedicated to the creation and development of the Sweet Clover Nursery. Her daughter Mary Kathryn (Molly) was in the first graduating class of our school and she continues sharing her gifts as a high school music teacher.

For over a year, beginning in the time of the school closure during the pandemic, our staff began seeking to understand the significance of forming “a College.”  Waldorf Schools are intended to be governed collaboratively and by consensus, by teachers with the students at the heart of all decision making.  Following our initial inquiries, the Board hired a Pedagogical Director to support us in understanding and developing a College.  Last year, Lynn Rappaport supported our school in forming our Collegial Circle.  We ended last year with a completed mandate welcoming staff members to consider joining after the completion of one year of employment at ŷ���������.

The forming of a Collegial Circle, in addition to collaborative child focused decision making, acknowledges our growing consciousness that our endeavor in teaching the rising generation is a spiritual one.  Our learning environment welcomes the whole human being: body, mind and soul.  When we come together in collaboration we engage in the formation of spirited human activity, supported by unseen spiritual beings including the spiritual being of the ŷ���������.  Every person in our community contributes to the strength of our connection with the unseen force that is our school.

Of primary importance to the Collegial Circle is caring and tending the delicate fabric of this relationship alongside our relationships with one another through which this being flows and becomes present.  You are always warmly welcomed to contact any member of our Collegial Circle and in particular our Pedagogical Chair, with your questions or concerns.

On  Tuesday October 18th at 4:15 pm , the Collegial Circle consecrated the formation of our Circle with a ceremony.  Each member of the circle brought an offering of a song, a reading, and a stone.  We lit a candle and shared the verse that has become associated with the College, offered by Rudolf Steiner for the first College of teachers. Teachers and mentors near and far joined us in spirit for the reading of this verse:

We wish to form our thoughts in such a way that we may be conscious that:  Behind each of us stands their angel, gently laying their hands on the heads of each.  This Angel gives you the strength which you need.  Above your heads there sweep the circling Archangels.  They carry from one to the other what each has to give the other.  They unite your souls.  Thereby you are given the courage of which you stand in need.  Out of this courage the Archangels form a chalice.  The light of wisdom is given to us by the exalted beings of the Archai, who are not limited to the circling movements, but who, coming forth from primal beginnings, manifest themselves and disappear into primal distances.  They reveal themselves only in the form of a drop of light in this place.  Into the chalice of courage there falls a drop of light, enlightening our times, bestowed by the ruling Spirit of our Age.

Following the offerings, we participated in a group painting process where all members of the group shared in contributing to nine paintings which are on display in the hallway of the Grades building.  We closed the ceremony with a sound meditation using chimes and lyres in the Apple Tree Classroom.  We created a book of verses gathered by members of the Collegial Circle.  Collegial Circle members parted in the glory of an amazing autumn sunset over the beautiful lands of Orchard Valley.

Collaborative leadership is part of an evolutionary step forward that is still forming.  We must now learn to work together more closely and effectively as companions holding shared responsibility and accountability for the work of education for the rising generation. We welcome your interest and engagement in this exciting new milestone in the development of our school. 

With gratitude for the contribution of each person in our community in coming to this important moment for our school’s development,

Hannah Kraskow
Nolwenn Renault
Jada Berg
Michelle Gullage
Christa Young
Lottie Maker
Meg Scherbatskoy
Madelief Becherer
Marianne Perchlik

Alan and a few others laid the foundation of the Montpelier Farmers’ Market from the ground up. His passion and dedication, not only to growing interesting organic vegetables, but toward remediating the earth and offering his expertise to the community of our school and the greater community interested in improving their gardening skills and stewardship skills is burgeoning. 

In Alan’s transition from running his own market farm to contributing as an expert in the community, he is growing the following at Grace farm:  A most productive vegetable and melon garden, hand-remediated soil health, bed preparation for some 400 heads of garlic to be planted this fall, as well as visions of integrating more botanical functional beauty and sustainable practices into the fabric of the Grace Farm landscape.

I invite you to take a moment to peek over the garden gate beside the climbing clematis to witness the bounty of having a local expert and elder who is committed to growing health and beauty through the soil (from the north lot at Grace Farm, walk past the garden shed and stone circle up the hill towards the garden gate). 

Alan primarily tends the soil and garden, and secondarily, he educates. This fall, he will offer a Kimchi making workshop, from the garden to the ferment, on October 9th at Grace Farm. It is a measure of great abundance that Alan is here working with the land at Grace Farm.

Alan tends the foundation for a healthy organic and biodynamic garden this growing season with occasional help from a farming mentee, Devon Smolca. Their work is deep and effective, the potential is vast.

Alan’s vision for enriched soil, farm sustainability methods and community impact is worth listening to. I recorded a . Shuffle about halfway through to listen as Alan begins to hold court with his views on the importance of beauty and purpose.

His is a parallel expression of the , through a vision for the earth, her bounty, and the impact on humans who engage in the physical and mental labor of tending her.

This is not surprising, as the mystic Rudolf Steiner envisioned both Waldorf Schooling and Biodynamic Gardening from the same basic value system of investing in the nourishment of ourselves, our children and the world.

With his radical and progressive views, Alan circles back to the old ways, and as a listener, I am reminded that the word radical stems from the latin ‘�����徱���ܱ���’: the rootlet or part of the embryo of the plant which develops into the primary root.  This work of the Waldorf educator, the organic gardener, the parent, child and human being who maintains a value on presence, beauty, and a reverent regard for human (child) development IS a contemporary radical notion. 

We look forward to integrating the children and greater community into planting garlic this fall during our Community Michaelmas festival, and establishing a series of agricultural workshops led by Alan for the greater community, starting with the Kimchi Workshop on October 9th.

Alan LePage, an organic original, hosts practical advice, botanical history and esoteria, agronomics and radical fun on . WGDR 91.1 Plainfield, Sunday mornings 7-9 a.m.)

Story by Angie Barger

Lazure is a color technique created by Rudolf Steiner and used in Waldorf schools all over the world. Steiner said that “children need to be surrounded by fluid living color.” The interplay between dark and light in Lazure painting helps to create depth, breathability, and a harmonious soul experience. What more could we want for the space in which our children learn and spend the majority of their day? 

The colors for each classroom are chosen based on the development of the child. The rosy, warmer tones stimulate the will forces in the kindergarten and early grades. Moving from reds in first grade, through orange in second, and yellow in third; the cooler tones arrive with a luminous green in fourth grade that mirrors the nourishing green of the heart chakra and the feeling realm. The middle school years cool down with turquoise, blues, and violets, appealing more to the developing forces of clear thinking. 

The Lazure workshop was a stimulating and nourishing experience for those lucky enough to partake. It included an introductory lecture and two intense days of hard work, followed by additional hours painting the classrooms and Front Office, and prepping the Grades hallway for future Lazure treatment.

As a social art form, the participants had to work together collaboratively to create the harmonious flow of color. As is articulated, “The benefits of such workshops go beyond the instruction of the group and into the community they share.”

If you haven’t yet seen the results, please take a peek into the Grades classrooms, and if you’d like to volunteer to help with future Lazure work, please reach out!

The colors and their movement across the walls are at once breathtaking and calming. As Charles Andrade says, “The role of the arts [in a Waldorf school] is to develop a relationship between . . .  human souls and the world of sensory phenomena.” Enveloping the children in Lazured spaces bathes them in this experience.

by Victoria Mansuri
for the Aesthetics Committee

by Marianne Perchlik

“The ribbons flow out like ripples of water” observed a kindergarten child preparing for Mayfest

As we move, sometimes struggling to find the dance, sometimes giddy with play, we form patterns. We make visible to one another a woven fabric, each one making visible the often invisible, intangible links of human relationships.

Yet the tree standing at our center is strong and upright. The Maypole is at once something borrowed from the earth and also something created with the work of our hands, with the picturing of our collective imagination stretching back hundreds of years.

Perhaps it reflects the biblical tree of life, channeling the colors of cosmological forces into the growing earth of spring. Perhaps it is any odd tree in springtime. Perhaps it reflects the collective opening of a cosmic yet earthly blossom, a lotus flower of human engagement and connection. Perhaps it reflects the great tree of peace where the people of the Haudenosaunee confederacy buried their weapons forevermore.

"Festival life" is what we call it when we come together as a community to delight in the gifts of the seasons. Each season offers us challenges and blessings, and each season calls for distinctive routine tasks. We plant. We tend. We harvest. We give thanks. We consider and prepare for another year’s fruit.

Imitation is the primary pathway to learning. Through imitation, we stand and walk. We learn language. We sing (or not). We dance (or not). We choose interests. Parents and mentors first teach us through imitation. In our first years of professional development, we apprentice.  

When we come together for festivals, we make visible the essential work of our school. We demonstrate to our children how we work together socially, through challenges, through differences of opinion and how we share our blessings (or don’t). We are always teaching the children of the rising generation through our work as adults.  

This is our Waldorf education, to make a way forward, making visible our imaginings, our inspirations, our intuitions, for a world of wellness and life for the rising generation.

banner image, article photo and gallery photos by Johannes Otter

photo gallery by Dave Littlefield

Orchard Valley Music Teacher Heads Youth Symphony

“If I had to describe it in one word, I would say otherworldly.” Orchard Valley Music Teacher Sean Brekke reflects on his time since joining the school in the summer of 2021. "I love being so connected with the surrounding woods and it's been amazing to teach in such a spectacular location. The families and faculty have been so supportive of this new program and the students' hard work has already paid off by way of a fantastic Winter Concert.”

Sean was also recently named the Executive Director of the Green Mountain Youth Symphony (GMYS). “I’ve worked with youth music groups for as long as I can remember. As a student, many of my summers were spent at music camps such as Third Street Music School in New York City and Kinhaven Music School in southern Vermont. As soon as I graduated from these programs, I took the opportunity to come back and work as a counselor. When I moved to Vermont in 2021 I had two goals: start my own music program here at Orchard Valley and get involved with the Green Mountain Youth Symphony. I was surprised and excited when I heard GMYS was looking for a new executive director.”

Sean received his bachelor's degree in music performance on viola from the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College in 2016, and shortly after graduating, he began working at the Brooklyn Waldorf School (BWS) teaching private lessons on violin and viola and learning about conducting, music education and Waldorf philosophies as part of his mentorship. In 2020, he stepped in to run the orchestra program at BWS, guiding grades three to eight. “When I decided to move away from Brooklyn, I knew that I was going to continue working at a Waldorf school. Serendipitously, I checked out Orchard Valley and saw they had an opening for a music teacher so I jumped at the opportunity. I love the support that arts programs receive in the Waldorf curriculum.”

Sean is also an active performer and has performed internationally from New York City's Carnegie Hall to piazzas in Tuscany, Italy and concert halls in Switzerland. “I started playing violin when I was four years old in Brooklyn, New York from a local teacher in my neighborhood. My parents really wanted me to get involved with something that would be a long-term commitment. They could tell that we were coming into an age of instant gratification and they wanted to instill the value of hard work over a long period of time.”  

Graciously and clearly, Sean acknowledges the significance of the teachers who helped him develop his artistry. "I’ve been lucky to have many amazing teachers throughout my upbringing. Two people who have had a huge influence on me are Mary Jo Pagano and Sibylle Johner. Together, they run the Chamber Music Center of New York. I had the good fortune to work with them both as a student and later on as a coworker. The joy and drive they have for creating music with young people is exhilarating and I strive every day to bring that energy into all my work.”

As Sean looks ahead to his role with both Orchard Valley and the Youth Symphony, he sees opportunities for collaboration.“I would love to see the Orchard Valley students showing up at the Youth Symphony. It would be awesome if both programs grew off of one another!” With the growth and development of the music program at Orchard Valley, Sean looks forward to sharing what his classes have been working on with parents and the school community at the Spring Concert on Friday, May 6th at the First Presbyterian Church of Barre.

This will be presenting a concert featuring both of their string orchestras at the Barre Opera House after a long hiatus. These orchestras are made up of the same instruments that can be found in the Orchard Valley grade 2/3 and 4/5 orchestras. The Youth Symphony will be playing music by Mozart, Brahms and more, and Sean will be performing with them. Tickets are available at the door by donation and children under 5 are free. For more information, please visit .

These conversations ignited from a requirement by the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America, and set Orchard Valley on a path to begin composing a substantial self-study document. This includes a written history of our school that will be shared with our mentor school later this spring.

On January 17, 2022, founders of the original Child's Garden kindergarten - Susan Darrah, the original teacher; Susan Ritz, the first Board Chair; Carley Claghorn and Kim Tulucke some of the early parents - celebrated the wondrous beginnings of this program when a group of families formed a “community group” creating festivals in their yards and in local parks. 

This group blossomed into the first classroom above the woodshop of a local carpenter on Main Street in Montpelier and then moved to 155 Northfield St in 1990 over 30 years ago. The early families worked side by side to renovate the rented space that was in poor condition and engaged in fundraising for a companion school in Nicaragua at the time. In those early days, they offered marionette puppetry in the local library, hosted a Waldorf Expo in the City Center and provided a hand washing station at the 4th of July parade to help get the word out. National Life, long-time landlord of the Child's Garden donated this building and land to us in 2019 which has been substantially renovated during the pandemic.

On February 4, 2022, a much larger group of over 15 enthusiastic founders came together to recall the arduous and exciting birth of Orchard Valley in the newly renovated classroom building of the Grace Farm campus. In 2000, a determined group of Child's Garden parents started a grade school initiative, the Three Rivers School. Soon after, the Child's Garden initiated a nursery program in the Flanders Building of Goddard College. There was disagreement and uncertainty in those years about when to start a school, where to start it and on what lands. The Child's Garden actually purchased a property on Town Hill Rd for a site that now is the home of an Orchard Valley family. 

Community members toured other properties, engaged in many meetings and even created a “Third Board” (The Montpelier River Garden Initiative) to help navigate the many decisions that extended beyond the work of the existing Board members of both the Child's Garden and Three Rivers School. Then, on August 15, 2003, with the support of a group of community-minded investors who forged the Montpelier Waldorf Investment Community Corporation (later reformed as the Grace Farm Community Partners), Grace Farm was finally purchased from the former Winooski Valley Orchards at auction by Ron Koss on behalf of the future ŷ���������.

We plan to continue these conversations and to reflect on the birth of our first middle school, to remember the birth of the 4-year high school program called the Initiative (a Vermont Waldorf High School at the Stokes Building at Goddard College from 2013 to 2017) and to remember the birth of Sweet Clover Nursery in 2016.

Thoughts From Our Participants:

“Through our work on governance, we are getting our Waldorf education.” - Pamela Van Deursen – former Orchard Valley Board Chair, former Initiative Board Chair

“Building community and culture...we have to appreciate each other for what we are doing. By doing this we build a culture of joyful activity.” - Johannes Otter – former Child's Garden Board member, former Orchard Valley Board member

“generosity of time and talent, a resource I had never seen lived with such activity before or since.” - Deb Reed – first school administrator

“Nothing short of a miracle...there were many miraculous turns, sometimes felt like a dead-end, we kept going, kept trying, things resolved.” - Tom Kavet- first Orchard Valley Treasurer

“One of the best experiences of my life....spiritual world was helping in our practical hard work.” - Jacqueline Gabe – first Grades teacher

We Remember:

Peter Fischer (1954-2013) - Built the first Child's Garden classroom above his woodshop on Main Street.

Jim Grundy (1968-2011) - Installed the solar panels on the Orchard Valley Farmhouse; beloved spouse of Nancy Bruce and father of Esme and Ava. Jim also worked on the installation of the radiant floors in the Grades Building.

Christiane Horvath (1979-2009) - Our first Music and German teacher

Stratton C. “Tony” French (1959-2019) - Long-time member of the Grace Farm Committee which hosted pruning workshops each spring in the orchards, Tony was a hydrologist dedicated to the testing and care of the water of Orchard Valley for many years. Beloved spouse of Julie Henderson, father of two alums, Piper and Eli French.

Kathryn Seaver “Kathy” Clark (1960-2019) - Served as the first office manager and remained in service to the Orchard Valley administration until her passing. Kathy substantially contributed to the initiation of the Sweet Clover nursery program. She was the beloved spouse of Keith Clark and mother of alum, Molly Clark.

I first felt called to teach to specifically overcome the history of injustice that I observed was impacting everything I cared about. I gradually came to realize this injustice shared one fulcrum: racism.

I chose Waldorf Education because I believe we cannot overcome this history without a deeper understanding of the soul and spiritual nature of life and humanity. Arts are tools for developing a healthy soul capable of a thirst for justice, capable of remorse, capable of compassion. Artistic activity accesses courage that can speak to the flow of unconscious, demoralizing, habitual cruelty and builds the capacity for action. A whole human being can speak from an empathetic heart.

Healing History & Called to Action

The wounds of history will need the healing balm of all kinds of practical arts: gardening, culinary arts, weaving, knitting, sewing, as well as drawing and color experiences, and all kinds of visual art, dance, movement theater arts, singing, music, etc. All of these experiences are embedded in Waldorf Education for the express purpose of healing and evolving the human soul.

When George Floyd was murdered for everyone to witness I thought that this was a moment when enough people have awakened to the bald truth that the dream of our United States is built upon a forceful, calculated, continuous, cruel history of injustice, a foundation of devastating, relentless abuses and knowing premeditated intentionally cultivated and perpetuated racism.

Our ŷ��������� has always represented an effort toward an inclusive community. From the beginning, we have been dedicated to offering an accessible Waldorf program and for 17 years our community has worked tirelessly to make our program accessible to anyone who seeks a Waldorf Education.

More recently, we took up a deeper examination of systemic racism in our habits and the Waldorf Movement. Last winter as we examined our school, reinforcing our existing Diversity Statement, Land Acknowledgement, and other overt policies, it became clear to me that our gestures were empty without real action.

The Dream Awakens

I felt prepared and willing to take up the task of creating a Waldorf Anti-Racism Summer Camp. I had been studying the life of Harriet Tubman for years; a model of compassionate action, defying stereotypes of gender, race and age, dedicated to love and to justice. And I was aware that I could call upon a former colleague to support the camp by offering eurythmy which I believe to be the most curative force in Waldorf Education. 

In a deep wintery moment, as I contemplated the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr., I could imagine on our beautiful, glorious campuses - campuses we are privileged to inhabit and direct - Martin’s Dream of black and brown children playing and learning alongside white children in joy, happiness and freedom. With the responsiveness of colleagues and interest from families in our community and beyond, we were able to offer two week-long camps; one at the Child’s Garden campus and one on the main campus of Grace Farm. 

Our Camp: Intergenerational Conversation & Participation

The camp took up Martin’s Dream. We took up in more detail the early life of Harriet Tubman, whose original name was Araminta (affectionately known as “Minty”). I knew our camp must support parents in growing the capacity to meaningfully engage with students on these matters. This must be an intergenerational conversation. 

Each day we took up part of the heroic story of Minty. Preparing a presentation including silk marionettes, verse, eurythmy as well as singing and poetry. Our students and parents created a living representation of the childhood of our heroine.

Of the families who were attracted by the theme, some of those parents actually work in the field of equity and justice. Three of those families had never heard of our organization and were willing to come because they recognized the necessity and importance of the theme.

Children everywhere were already suffering from the limitations of the pandemic, and the increased awareness of Climate Change and racial injustice. And we have known that the rates of anxiety, depression and youth suicide have been escalating rapidly since well before the pandemic. Including parent participation and engagement was essential.

Camp Reflections

The camp included children many of whom were siblings from rising Kindergarteners to 4th grade. The questions and conversations surrounding our preparation were deep and compassionate with a generous amount of nature exploration, active games and free play. 

On the last day, I asked the students, “Why have I brought us all together on a beautiful summer day to share in such a sad story?" Immediately a rising 3rd grader answered, “because of Martin’s Dream.” Before I could respond, a rising 4th grader stated, "Because it’s still going on."

At Child's Garden, we had 10 campers and one Mentor in Training; six of these students were Child's Garden alums who now attend public school. The other four participants, and the 13-year-old Mentor in Training, were attracted because of the theme from the larger community.

At Grace Farm we had nine campers also; six were Orchard Valley students, two of whom were newly enrolled having recently moved to the area. One student formerly had attended Early Childhood programming and was now attending public school. Two were from the larger community attracted by the theme.

Campers from Orchard Valley's Early Childhood Summer Program attended the final presentation of the Martin's Dream Camp. We were also able to incorporate culinary arts and gardening activities at the Child’s Garden where students harvested black currants for preserves and helped prepare roasted purple potatoes and multicolored carrots, as well as harvesting snap peas for shared snacks. Sharing different colored foods offered a sensory experience of encountering differences and became a launching pad for noticing more explicitly how we react to encountering differences in something ordinary like sharing food.

Visions for the Future

In 1996, my husband and I were volunteers and we created a Service Exchange for High School students in Middlebury and Rutland areas. We created an MLK Service Celebration offering diversity training, African dinner and dancing, and community service to elders in Rutland. In Middlebury, through the support of the, we offered a student exchange between families from Middlebury High School and Hartford High School in Hartford, CT for long weekends in October in Middlebury and April in Hartford. Participating families offered homestays and we shared in community service efforts in both communities. 

I can imagine this kind of summer programming at Orchard Valley in the future after the pandemic ends, where we can share the beauty of our campus with urban children and sow seeds of friendship among children of different races and colors. I can also imagine hosting a similar African meal and dance with diversity training around the celebration of MLK and possibly at the Montpelier Grange.

For next summer, I would very much like to consider offering Martin's Dream Camp again and continuing to work with the theme of Martin's Dream through puppetry, movement, verse and song as we did last summer, possibly including a Gospel Music camp. I would also like to provide scholarships for families of color.

My Journey With Racism & Waldorf Education

The privilege of my education demonstrated to me the climate of institutional racism that was the industry standard for all colleges and universities. I noticed, for example, the outright absence of any authors apart from white male authors as an English and Theater major.

“Thankfully, because of one “Women in Literature” course, I had the opportunity to read Toni Morrison at 19 in the late 1980s. In Law School, I studied the civil rights movement case by case. I read the overt, calculated, intentional policies to destroy and dehumanize the native people of the United States. I studied with one of the most prominent professors in the country who was revealing the disproportionate incarceration and execution rate of African Americans at that time in the early 1990s.” I know. I’ve known.

I started teaching at The Initiative; a Vermont Waldorf High School that operated on the campus of Goddard College for 4 years. The entire initiative was based on creating an inclusive environment for youth to face and overcome this ruthless history, for the evolution of a humanity capable of stronger loving relationships. 

When the Initiative closed I returned to working with new parents, and very young children; work I had done in a private practice of Childbirth Education, Parent Education and Doula Service. 

Another reason I began teaching with High School students was because it is what Rudolf Steiner recommended. Working with teens as their soul body bursts into being between the ages of 12 - 21 demands that we face and tame the unresolved burdens of our own soul. 

“When children come to the age of puberty, it is necessary to awaken within them an extraordinarily great interest in the world outside of themselves. Through the whole way in which they are educated, they must be led to look out into the world around them and into all its laws, its course, causes and effects, into men's intentions and goals — not only into human beings, but into everything, even into a piece of music, for instance. All this must be brought to them in such a way that it can resound on and on within them — so that questions about nature, about the cosmos and the entire world, about the human soul, questions of history — so that riddles arise in their youthful souls.” - Rudolf Steiner, Education for Adolescents, 1922

(Education for Adolescents, by Rudolf Steiner, was published by the Journal for Anthroposophy in Spring 1979 from excerpts of a lecture given in Stuttgart on June 21, 1922)

Thank you so much for the immense amount of time, energy and love that everyone has poured into starting this school year off strong for our students. We are grateful to each and every one of you for your devotion and are inspired by your dedication.

As we navigate the start of this second year of the pandemic, Orchard Valley is also feeling and experiencing the very real and uncertain challenges facing many schools, organizations and businesses in the United States. Finding, hiring and retaining qualified teaching staff is a clear and present challenge that is now affecting programs each day.

Gratitude for Teachers and Staff

Our school has been leaning on our valiant teachers and administrative staff to step in and take on extra hours across all programs just to stay open since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Every staff member has been stretching to meet the needs of our programs and we could not be more proud of the highly skilled and committed colleagues we work with. They go above and beyond the call of duty every day, greeting the children with smiles and forfeiting prep time and family time to be able to serve and meet the needs of our students and families. We are forever grateful for their sacrifice. And we endeavored to honor them even more by re-fortifying our staff during the summer as we prepared for this new school year. 

Our Progress 

We began planning for this school year with great confidence and hope when it came to hiring new teachers. For months we have posted jobs on a wide range of sites and locations, and have expanded our hiring networks in the hopes of finding qualified teachers and substitutes. We extended our hours at Sweet Clover Nursery and also committed to a 3-5:00 pm aftercare program at Child’s Garden this year to meet the critical needs of some of our families. And yet, even with all the deep commitment from our teachers and administrative staff to make these plans work, this week it became painfully clear that we simply do not have enough employees to keep these programs open.

Many of you have experienced and know that Orchard Valley is currently struggling to maintain a full staff in each of our Early Childhood Programs (Sweet Clover Nursery, Child’s Garden and Farmhouse). With this, we have been forced to freeze enrollment at Sweet Clover Nursery and have even had to close some programs due to lack of staffing and substitutes during the week. As you may imagine, this is both very disappointing and also absolutely necessary.

A Hiring Crisis, Tipping Point & Call to Action

This phenomenon is not unique to Orchard Valley, or to Early Childhood Education in general. As previously mentioned, all business sectors in Vermont are struggling to become and remain fully staffed. The continued pandemic-era fallout is fueling this crisis, though we are clear that the foundation of this country-wide staffing crisis is rooted in a fundamental lack of early childhood care and educational programs. Without childcare, parents cannot work. 

Staffing in early childhood education has reached a crisis point in Vermont specifically. Childcare centers and preschools are reducing hours, closing entirely or are frequently experiencing daily closures due to lack of staffing and substitutes across the state. Job openings are posted, re-posted and creative ways of recruiting are used, but fewer and fewer applicants are applying. 

Today, we are reaching out to you to share this very real picture of the environment our teachers and administrative staff are working within. We want you, as parents, to be both informed and empowered to join us in working our way out of this crisis. Orchard Valley needs advocates for Early Childhood Education, for our Orchard Valley programs and we need to be speaking up for our children's needs. 

What You Can Do

A few specific ways that you can support our programs and our ongoing efforts to advocate for Early Childhood Education during this crisis include:

1 - Assist with helping us fill open Substitute teaching positions for all our programs - Apply

2 - Reach out to your state representative about this early childhood education care crisis and employment crisis in Vermont.

3 - Join

• Let’s Grow Kids Action Network:

• Vermont Early Childhood Advocacy Alliance:

Our entire Orchard Valley Team is grateful for your care, compassion and support as we continue navigating this staffing crisis and ongoing COVID-19 health crisis. Please contact us anytime if you have questions, concerns or creative ideas to contribute as we strive to develop new solutions.

Our head, heart and hands are open and welcome your feedback, talent and energy. Together we can continue serving the needs of our children and families, and find new ways to forge ahead during these challenging times. 

"We must eradicate from the soul all fear and terror of what comes to us from the future. We must acquire serenity in all feelings and sensations about the future. We must look forward with absolute equanimity to everything that may come. And we must think that whatever comes is given to us by a world direction full of wisdom.

It is part of what we must learn in this Age; namely, to live out of pure trust. Trust in the ever-present presence of spiritual worlds. Truly nothing else will do if our courage is not to fail us. Let us develop our will. And let us seek the awakening from within ourselves every morning and every evening."

  - Rudolf Steiner

I wanted to send an email of gratitude to all the teachers at Sweet Clover Nursery (SCN). I've mentioned this specific story to a couple of teachers, but it occurs to me that this really is a sentiment that is across all of your wonderful teachers and assistants, even if I've only personally stopped to see it a couple of times. 

I'm a first-time parent (and I'm also a little older than average for one!), which as you know can be a scary thing to be. Normal stages in my daughter's development have absolutely terrified me. And honestly, as a result, I was a little late giving her some freedom to grow and explore. I am constantly grateful for the experience, expertise, and care of the teachers at Sweet Clover. When my daughter was in Rosebud, Miss Jean recommended books to me that I've really leaned on to overcome parenting worrying; Miss Jung gave me welcomed advice on the introduction of table foods and on how to handle my daughter’s first cold! 

More recently at Sweet Pea, Miss Nolwenn has really invited open and regular communication, and she makes you feel like your family and your child are always her primary focus (when I know that in reality, we are one of many children in the classroom.) When my daughter had an injury at school a few weeks ago, after the second status update phone call to me from Miss Nolwenn, I found myself reflecting on how I am fully comfortable with and trust the judgment and experience of the SCN teachers with my daughter's safety and care. Which is a big leap for me, as I would previously obsess and panic over everything. 

I wanted to share a story that illustrates this, and how it positively impacted how we have since changed some of our home activities as a result: 

A few weeks ago, I pulled into the parking lot to pick up my daughter in the after-care program (at the time). I spotted her right away up on the play structure, and I admit that I completely panicked. She's too little to climb up there! She can't climb those stairs! She can't possibly get down by herself! My first instinct was to come flying out of the car and run and scoop her up. And I had to make myself pause and watch for a bit, and I am very glad that I did. What I observed (after my initial heart attack) was that an adult was standing right there. That she was carefully watching the three children on the play structure. That I could see her talking them through their climbing, and giving them guidance when they got stuck. And I watched my daughter crawl up and down the structure three or four times, each time she carefully chose her footing and descended down first. Since she's usually a daredevil, I can only assume that what I was observing was the result of lots of guidance received on finding her footing and taking her time. I saw that she was confident and practiced in her movements, and you could tell she was having lots of fun. 

At home, I rarely brought my daughter to the playground because I believed she was too little and it was too dangerous. She loves to climb, but I would only let her be carried up to the slide and go down it while being held by me with both hands. The Saturday following this particular pickup day, I brought her to the toddler playground in Northfield Falls, where she climbed and ran all morning. By the time we left, she could take herself up and down the stairs and ramp and go down the slide on her belly without any intervention from me. We now go to the toddler playground every weekend, and I swear she gains new mobility and balance each time. I would never have been brave enough to take her if I hadn't had the opportunity to watch the SCN teachers and carers interact with her outside while on the play structure. I am so grateful for that. I learned a lot in that one observation about trusting her to govern her own movements, but also about being present for safety and guidance without impeding her ability to learn.

The experience that the teachers and carers have in educating children meant they already knew all of this, which is what I observed that day at pick up. But I am so grateful that I could benefit from it as a parent. When we enrolled her at SCNS, I knew that you all would teach my daughter lots of things, but I never imagined that you would teach me as a parent as much as you have. I am so very grateful for that and for all of you!

Julie Henderson was one of the early founders of ŷ��������� and had such a passionate vision for the land and what could be made manifest for the children of our community. We are so blessed to have her presence still resonating in our school community even though her children have long since graduated. Her sharp intellect and commitment to the school are both inspiring and deeply comforting. We invited Julie to share her story and journey with Waldorf Education and Orchard Valley.

My introduction to Waldorf education came at a talk given at the Child's Garden by a former kindergarten teacher. What I heard that autumn evening changed, in an instant, how I thought about my three-year-old daughter’s developing mind, about parenting, about school. Through the many years that followed, my commitment to Waldorf education never wavered. Even when it was delivered imperfectly, I held fast to my understanding of Waldorf principles: that this form of education strives to meet the child where they are, developmentally; that it values each child for the gifts they bring and helps the other children see and appreciate these; that a child is a being not just of mind, but of soul and spirit; and that they have capacities for thinking, feeling and willing, that can be nurtured and cultivated at the right time and in the right way. I came to recognize that the teachers were acting with intentionality, borne of an understanding of the true human being. Every lesson, every activity, arose out of this shared perception. The purpose? To educate children with love, that they might go forth, in freedom, to meet their particular destiny in their full potential. 

My daughter first attended Morning Garden, then two years of mixed-age kindergarten. At the time there was no Waldorf grades school in central Vermont. The nearest option was the Green Mountain Waldorf School, in Wolcott – a 45-minute bus ride away. Many previous parents had utilized this option, but for a small group of us, we could not imagine taking that step. 

The Child’s Garden had a single classroom of twenty children and did not have the capacity to start a grades school. Our parent group forged ahead on its own, advertising – the old-fashioned, pre-internet way – with posters that read: "Seeking A Waldorf Teacher, Interested Families, and A Space." This impulse had surfaced a few times previously in the central Vermont community, with no success, and I was told later that some thought our poster naïve, even audacious! 

But the cosmos aligned, the time was right, and the year was 2000 – a time for many new beginnings. The wonderful Miss Jacqueline Gabe appeared to teach a first grade with seven students, in a rented house on land in Berlin. So much excitement for this first class! Parents contributed incredible amounts of energy and resources to bring this dream to fruition; it was a time of awe, gratitude, great fun, and goodwill. 

Three Rivers School co-existed peacefully with the Child’s Garden for several years, only adding another first grade three years later. There was both interest, and resistance, in uniting the schools. Each school was growing and needed more space, and it became clear that the best way to bring the two together would be to find a property with room for both. A third entity took up this effort, looking for properties and financial support. After an intense, brief fundraising effort, the group successfully purchased the amazing Grace Farm campus at auction in August 2003. These were heady times, both exhilarating and exhausting, as renovations were made to the farmhouse and the former dairy barn. Countless hours were spent in meetings and workdays, with parents and community members working so hard to create this new school. Nine months after beginning co-habitation, the Child’s Garden and Three Rivers School merged, and The ŷ��������� was born. Those of us present experienced the profound privilege of being part of a truly creative act.  

Still, there were more years ahead of monumental effort at continuing renovations as well as developing the school’s infrastructure. Support continued to flow from the spiritual worlds in manifest ways - how else could seven families and one teacher have started a school that grew, at one point, to 120 grades students? I learned that this support is ever-present if only we seek it. 

Over the years, I have seen the number of students and families expand and contract. I am continually grateful for - and delighted by - those who find their way to this education, this community, this place. I am in awe of the sacrifices families make that their children might be here. I know they must understand, or at least sense, what is being offered to their children. So much more than academics! The artistic and practical activities foster strong soul forces in the growing child. Love and reverence for the world and each other develops strong social intelligence. There is much at work in the world against our higher human impulses, and helping the child develop their whole being enables them to meet these obstacles and distractions. I continue to support Orchard Valley because it is so important to me that children – all children – have the opportunity for this education. 

I have witnessed the school’s transitions and challenges, the arrivals and departures. It is not the same school we started twenty years ago. It is being re-created, over and over, by new groups of parents, teachers and staff. It is an evolving, living entity grown from seeds planted decades earlier. I always understood that Three Rivers, and then Orchard Valley, stood on the foundation laid by the Child’s Garden. But only after years in the grade school did I come to deeply appreciate that Orchard Valley would not have come fully into being without the Green Mountain Waldorf School having gone before. After it closed, teachers and families flowed to Orchard Valley, strengthening the faculty and expanding the base of committed Waldorf families. I began to recognize that there is, indeed, a time for all things, and what we do today will bear fruit in the future, even if at present we cannot imagine what form that will take. The school today is a moment in this flow, evolving to meet the needs of the times. My hope is that the impulse at the heart remains, while the vessel of the school forms and reforms through time. 

I knew nothing about Rudolf Steiner, or anthroposophy, (the foundation for Waldorf pedagogy) when our family began its 15-year journey with Waldorf education. I only knew that what I heard at that very first parent talk I attended was true. Those truths were augmented and reinforced over the years through the wise guidance of teachers and the thoughtful reflection of other parents. I have witnessed our two children grow into caring, responsible, confident and capable young adults. I am forever grateful for what they received through Waldorf education, and for the way it shaped our family’s life.”