The Nest Half Full: The 1st Annual Ruth Washburn Harvest Festival

It started with a pumpkin heist and ended with a festival.

The preschool has it's own garden where the children learn about planting and growing, responsibility and so forth. Back in Spring they planted pumpkin seeds and they had grown into very nice pumpkins that they planned to turn into projects and baked goods. A few weeks ago, it was discovered that the pumpkins had been stolen in the night. I'm not talking about a teen prank with two or three pumpkins gone, but somewhere between 20-30. After the community replenished the pumpkins and then some (as blogged earlier) the teachers put a few out in the patch to show the kids. THOSE were stolen as well, along with the very expensive copper irrigation system. The festival was still on.
The need for a sponsor for the festival was great, and a local Whole Foods store quickly stepped up, providing a tent that served free fresh fruits, veggies, fruit leather, cookies and drinks. In addition to the food, they handed out their reusable shopping bags and said that RW is the school of choice for the donations that are given when people use their own bags. The food and bags were great, but they also hired security guards for the school through Halloween. The guards are SWELL, but they also bought a new irrigation system. Now, irrigation systems rock, but they are having a day in February where 5% of the entire day's proceeds go to Ruth Washburn Cooperative Nursery School. I hear that they are also sponsoring or donating to the silent auction that we're having on November 15th. If this hasn't at least dinged your view of corporate food chains, something is missing in your heart!

Pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere!