culture

[Hilltown Families] News & Updates


Big Yellow School Bus Grant Program for Schools


New Massachusetts grant program provides essential funds for cultural field trips

We have heard from Local Cultural Councils across Massachusetts that transportation costs are a growing factor in whether or not schools can afford to send students on cultural field trips. Given that there are already huge demands on LCC funds, the Massachusetts Cultural Council has sought ways to support LCCs in their work and to supplement the funding available for young people to connect with art and culture across the state. We are pleased to report that Bank of America Charitable Foundation has invested in a partnership with MCC to help communities meet these rising transportation costs.

The Big Yellow School Bus is a new grant program to help schools meet the costs of providing educational field trips to cultural institutions and events across the Commonwealth for their students. The program invites any K-12 school in Massachusetts to apply for a $200 grant to be put towards the cost of transportation for cultural field trips during the 2008-2009 school year; grants will be awarded on a first come first served basis.

Big Yellow School Bus is an ideal complement to the Local Cultural Council PASS program, which subsidizes the cost of tickets and often transportation to cultural field trips. Because Big Yellow School Bus funds are limited, LCCs that fund transportation for PASS field trips should continue to do so. The Big Yellow School Bus program cannot replace the valuable support that LCCs offer schools around the state. Our hope is that schools will take full advantage of both the PASS and Big Yellow School Bus programs to ensure that as many of their students as possible gain exposure to art and science museums, historic sites, and music and theatre performances.

Please help us spread the word to your local schools about this exciting new grant program! Applications and more information can be found online at http://www.massculturalcouncil.org/programs/bigyellow.html

pie

Ala!-

National Gardening Association

http://www.garden.org/ediblelandscaping/?page=october_recipe

Best-Ever Pumpkin Pie

by Sandra Oliver

There's nothing like the smell and taste of a fresh pumpkin pie hot
out of the oven. It is the quintessential autumn comfort food. Here's a
classic, easy-to-make recipe that features earthy spices and not too
much sugar. Enjoy!

• Pie dough for one crust (recipe follows)
• 2 cups pumpkin puree (from a 3- to 5-pound pumpkin), well drained
• 1 1/2 cups milk (or one 12-ounce can evaporated milk)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (or molasses, or a combination of the two)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg or 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Rum, bourbon, or vanilla, to taste

Preheat oven to 425 F. Line a 9-inch pie tin with one crust. With a
mixer or wooden spoon, mix pumpkin, milk, eggs, sugar or molasses,
spices, salt, and flavoring. Pour into pie crust. Bake for 15 minutes
at 425 F., then reduce the heat to 350 F. and bake for 45 minutes
longer or until center jiggles slightly when pan is shaken. Makes 6 to
8 servings.

Pie Dough for One Crust

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 cup chilled vegetable shortening, cut into four cubes
• Ice water

Toss the flours together in a broad bowl. Cut in shortening with a
pastry blender, two knives, or better yet, your food processor. Blend
until mixture looks like coarse meal. Add ice water, 1 tablespoon at a
time, tossing flour and shortening mixture with a rubber spatula after
each addition until a ball of dough begins to form. Add only enough to
make the dough cling together. Chill. Roll out to fit a 9-inch pie pan.

family herbal medicine

2008 Northeast Grassroots Community Herbal Convergence

October 3rd-5th
This year's Convergence will be held at Earthfire Farm in Ashfield, MA

The Community Herbal Convergence is an annual bioregional gathering co-created by herbalists and activists. We are committed to accessibility, diversity, equality, and sustainability within the fields of Clinical and Community Herbalism, and Herbal Education. The convergence is a celebration of honoring ancient roots and new traditions. With our elders, teachers, and plants as guides, we envision healthcare that moves beyond racism, classism, homophobia, sexism, cultural appropriation, environmental degradation, and the corporate takeover of herbal medicine. This gathering is a space for creativity, sharing, education, gratitude, inquiry, healing, and empowerment. Our intention is to support and nourish diverse, inclusive, and reciprocal healthcare networks in the Northeast.

http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/museum/schoolyard.html

http://www.muralmosaic.com/Cadeau.html