From Tom's Desk- Looking Back 1/27/15

“Winters in Arundel and all our Eastern country lie hard and burdensome on idle folk.  There are heavy skies and spittings of snow in November, a weighty fall or two in December, and through January and February and March enough snow and ice and bitter wind to make the devil himself press close up to the flames of hell, and still feel a chill on the side removed from the fire.”  Kenneth Roberts in “Arundel”

Millie Pinkham in front of her Pier Road, Cape Porpoise, Maine Home c. 1905

Saying Goodbye To Good Unsuspected Friends

In 2012 the Trust in our Children Program embarked on a year long project with the Kennebunk High School’s Alternative Education program.  "At risk" students came to the Trust and worked on what became known as the Learning Trail, an interpretive walk in the woods. 

In the past two years, the Learning Trail has become one of our more popular trails, and has proven to be a huge asset to the Trust and our town.   The real story however, is not in the town or on a trail… it’s in the people who built it and the relationship that grew from those first few days out in the woods.

It is hard to explain how that project transformed all of us who were a part of it but it did.  We started out with a little bit of attitude and a whole lot of hoodies.  No one knew what to expect and no one really knew how to work together.  Slowly as we hauled rocks, built bridges, and learned to problem solve together, the walls came down, and a trust was built.  Away fell the stereo types and in its place came a common respect and love for the walk in the woods that we created.

So much happened that year to make change.  That trail started a standing relationship with a group of individuals who we are proud to stand behind and beside.  Friday Harry Fay and Austin Cole graduated and followed behind many others. We were proud to be able to be at their graduation and to see the growth they have shown since first meeting them.

Both started this program failing out of school.  Truancy was an issue, anger management was an issue, trusting adults in school was an issue.  As they graduated on Friday both have jobs, and Austin is going on to get a certification at community college.  Both students are productive active citizens of this community. 

In speaking to them at their graduation I got a card out of my wallet that I keep in there and read it to them.  It is a quote from Abraham Lincoln that I have kept in my wallet for years. Words to live by.  I tried to quote this to them.. I say tried because between the squeaks and tears (I am a terrible crier) I am hoping they got the point. 

"I have an irrepressible desire to live till I can be assured that the world is a little better for my having lived in it."    I hope that they could see all that they had done to make our Conservation Trust stronger and better, and that they can leave knowing that this place, is truly better for them having been a part of it. 

They have made the Trust a part of their home, and they can always come home again.

Good Luck Harry and Austin!

From Tom's Desk- Thought of the Week

KCT Thought of the Week: “How many a dispute could have been deflated into a single paragraph if the disputants had dared to define their terms.” Aristotle 384 – 322 BCE

View From Cleaves Cove: Photo by Tom Bradbury
 

Free Range Children?

Someone at work brought in an interesting article today on Parenting.  I wanted to get thoughts on this.

The headline "Parents Investigated for Neglect After Letting Kids Walk Home Alone" grabbed my attention.  I grew up pretty far out of town, in a little out of the way neighborhood.  I spent my days wandering the woods,  the power lines, and even the police shooting range (Ok, so that may have called for a judgement call, but I loved my bullet collection...)   I was a wanderer.  Most of the time my parents had to ring a big bell,  I would hear it and come running home from what ever adventure I was on that day.

Eventually I got wheels... and by wheels I mean the dual kind, not the cool hair flowing out the window kind.  That was another set of freedoms.  I got to take myself to swim practice, work, even school if I wanted to.  (Which I didn't,  it would have taken too long, and probably would have messed up my 80's bangs.  I probably had the only set of parents in the world at that time who required a helmet.)

I am interested to hear where other parents are on "free range parenting."  I have to admit, I think I fall somewhere in the middle.  I try very hard to let go, but there are times that my helicopter propeller just turns on.  I am not even sure why... sometimes I think it is more peer pressure than my own concerns.  Other times, it is my irrational creative brain that thinks up crazy scenarios where my children end up in a gang and get tattoos, either way I struggle with the propeller and am not really sure when to turn it on and when to leave it off.  It clearly is a common struggle for parents these days.

I don't claim to be the perfect parent, one way or another I loose the parenting award every year.  Most of the time I don't even know what I am doing,  I just hold on tight and try to enjoy this short ride to 18.  It makes me think though, with my job and promoting getting kids outside... where do we really stand as a community, and as a society on letting our kids go "free range?"

We know all the reasons our kids should be outside... I work in a field where that is my main goal.  Are we all ready to step outside our comfort zone and possibly into our fear zone to let our kids explore and learn from experience the way we did?

Kennebunkport Conservation Trust Thought of the Week:

"It is the privilege and the labor of the apprentice of creation to come with his imagination into the unimaginable, and with his speech into the unspeakable."
Wendell Berry, in "A Native Hill", "The Art of the Commonplace"
 

Winter Sunrise over Cape Porpoise Harbor: Photo by Robert Dennis

Coming Soon...

Telling our story of community outreach, and creating future conservationists as we continue to expand and find new ways to use our land to change lives and build community.

Please look for more content in the coming weeks!  For now feel free to check out the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust Website to see what we have been up to.

For more information on our original elementary school program, watch this short video on Trust in our Children that was created by Cyle O'Donnell a couple years ago.  It is the humble start to telling our story and the story of this incredible landscape that we are fortunate to live in.