Forgot the Pics in the last post

Museum Trip and Haunted Homestead

As I sit in a private school in New Jersey, selling the product that is Pok-O-MacCready Outdoor Education Center to the members of The New Jersey Association of Independent Schools (although trips to PMOEC really sell themselves) I am afforded a few minuted of down time and the luxury of high speed Internet. What better time to give an update on what has been going on the past few weeks and post my first photos to the blog in months! The staff continues to amaze Brian and me with their flexibility and hard work and over the past 2 weeks have been justifiably rewarded with more a more consistent work schedule and (gasp) evenings off. One exception to those to amenities fell on Friday and Saturday of last week when we hosted our annual Haunted Homestead at The 1812 Homestead Farm and Museum. This year we embraced the historical nature of our surroundings on that site and offered a haunted hayride based on a true story of love-gone-bad that occurred in the Adirondacks about 100 years ago. Brian served as the narrator and the rest of the staff ran around in the woods depicting the untimely death of both lovers. Below is a picture of Diane with Blythe's dog Genny taking a break from building our haunted haymaze. Also, the week before we prepared for the annual Halloween extravaganza, we took the staff to The Adirondack Museum. It was a chance or all of us to brush up on our ADK knowledge and to reinvigorate our own zest for learning. That's it for now. Stay tuned!

Mid-Fall Season Report

Where has the time gone? It seems like just yesterday I was writing about the heat of late August- early September and commenting on the believed strengths of the new staff. And now, as the second frost of the week is clearing off of the grass and roofs, I am able to look back on the busiest part of the fall season and smile. This fall had some severe ups and downs, but the ups were all in relation to the students and their experiences here, and that is the most important part of the job that I and the rest of the PMOEC instructing staff have done. As we prepare for the coming winter- prepping buildings, getting winter equipment running and digging out our winter gear- this new staff has become seasoned and ready for anything that this ever changing trade can throw at them. And of course, we are busy expanding and changing our programming to meet the desires of current and future clients. We are expanding our farming program with our recently acquired pigs and soon to be acquired chickens. We are enriching our staff and ability to teach with staff days at The Adirondack Museum and collective reflection on what we do. But, most importantly, we are bonding as a community- which will brighten every aspect of the work we do. We can't wait for you to come share it with us.