Welcome to new, REAL blog

It's been three months since I wrote a blog entry; that's mostly because the old blog set-up required way too many steps, and we've been so busy that I've not sat down and discovered how easy it is to set up the...umm...easy kind of blog. So here it is. I'll try to post every weekday, and rather than just updates on progress, I'll be linking to the many fascinating people, ideas, organizations we're running into.

But first, an update on what we've accomplished:

• Three proposals in the works, all with the potential for an MFES site in the fall of 2010: Lewiston/Auburn, Midcoast (potentially stretching from Brunswick are all the way to Belfast) and the Cumberland North Yarmouth area.
• Our first official board meeting this coming Tuesday, at which we'll approve our Articles of Incorporation as a 501(c)3 organization (thanks to our crack legal team, Peter Lowe and Dan Stockdale).
  
• A development department: Caitlin Christensen, new to Maine, comes to us by way of Texas (fundraising for service work), the University of San Francisco (community organizing on campus), and assorted gardens and Montessori schools.
• A Chief Academic Officer-in-waiting: Erin Connor, currently Dean of Students at Andover College, former Dean of Faculty at Poland Regional High School and expert in individualizing instruction for students of every possible learning style and background.
• So much else, but the theme of the rest is the same: the extraordinary wealth of talent and collaborative spirit of folks all over Maine - educators, farmers, parents, economic developers, entrepreneurs, social workers - all of whom see both real potential and real necessity in a new form of community that saves farms, creates jobs, and helps our young people envision a future in Maine.
  

Please comment, or send questions to info@mainefarmschool.org.