A Salute to the Family Farm

As a child, I lived on an eighty-acre dairy farm in Wisconsin. We slopped pigs, gathered eggs, cleaned/plucked chickens, hung by our knees from the top of the windmill, and birthed calves. Nature and life intertwined as geese migrated overhead and ice storms prevented the school bus from coming. A…

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Growing Second Chances

In a neighborhood like Englewood on Chicago’s south side, second chances are rare. An underserved community with a food desert, Englewood residents struggle to raise children in the midst of inner city challenges. The streets are unforgiving. Gunfire is rampant. The economic pressures are relentless. But Growing Home offers a…

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Shovel and Wheelbarrow: Power Tools

What can be done with a shovel and a wheelbarrow? Last Saturday, my husband, Vernon, and I joined other green thumbs in the Oak Lawn area to create the first Community/Pantry Garden. Under the direction of Dolly Foster, Oak Lawn Park District horticulturist, the plan for the morning involved building…

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Trauma Sensitive Classrooms: Teaching the Whole Child

The students in my class for behavior disordered boys usually burst into the room with energy enough to light a city. One morning, the six of them dragged their feet along the linoleum. Their heads hung from drooping shoulders. Bags worth of packing hung below drooping eyes. This was a…

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