Now the farm produces a whole line of natural skin care products as well
as honey and includes job training in business management as well as
beekeeping. Barber is the recipient of many awards as a visionary
business leader, among them a MacArthur Award for her leadership of her
nonprofit jobs corps, a Roman Nomith fellowship from Harvard Business
School and The Black Women's Expo's Phenomenal Woman Award for Community
Service.
As is the tradition, Harvest and Courage will begin at 10 a.m. on
October 10, as music and children lead a procession up the hill to Knoll
Farm's high pasture, offering autumn views of the Mad River Valley. Jeh
Kulu Dance and Drum Theater will greet the parade, offering a
celebration of traditional West African music and dance.
Burlington-based Jeh Kulu is comprised of 16 artists, who perform
traditional rhythms and dances from the countries of Guinea, Senegal and
Mali. In the Bambara language of Mali, "Jeh Kulu" means "community" and
their music encourages audience participation.
At noon, a harvest lunch made from all-local produce will be served.
Guests are asked to bring their own bowls, mugs and spoons with them to
the event.
At 1 p.m., Brenda Palms-Barber will speak on what it means to live with
courage today, how we can cultivate courage in ourselves and in our
community.
Throughout the day will be other activities to join Valley residents
with thousands around the globe who are making this date - 10/10/10 - a
Global Work Party day against the forces of climate change. At Knoll
Farm, students from Fayston Elementary School will be doing an art
installation and demonstration about the use of plastic bags (1,000 new
plastic bags are used every second in the U.S. alone), Mad Bikes will be
having a bike drive and painting party for their free local
transportation project, and local artist Jessie McMillion will be
guiding a mural painting project. Local musicians will jam through the
afternoon until things wrap up around 3 p.m.
The Harvest and Courage Celebration is offered free to the community by
Center for Whole Communities as a way to celebrate the beauty of the
land in the Mad River Valley and to provide a chance for the community
to come together to see one another, have fun, give thanks for the
harvest, and be inspired by nationally recognized leaders and
musicians.
Knoll Farm would be very grateful to any community members who would
like to volunteer to help with this event. Anyone willing to volunteer
is asked to arrive no later than 9:30 a.m. The center is also putting
out a call to all who have a full-sized bike to donate to Mad Bikes. For
bike donations (no kids bikes, please), drop them off at Knoll Farm on
Saturday, October 9. To see the full schedule or to register, go to
www.wholecommunities.org, or call 496-5690.
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