The Demo Site

As Earth Day winds down, I thought I’d share a quick taste of what I’ll be speaking about at the Food for Thought Brunch at Camino de Paz School and Farm on Saturday. My goal is to honor the students, thank the teachers and parents, and bless the awesome place and its powerful visionaries, Patty Pantano and Greg Nussbaum.

While preparing my remarks for the Montessori-based middle school’s annual fundraiser (where 95% of the food will come from campus!), I realized that the kind of team work I see at the school is different from the kind one sees on a 7th-grade sports field. Rather than attempting to create teamwork in a competitive setting, the farm/school grows teamwork by means of the notion that cooperation, not competition, is the most basic force of nature. I’m not saying I’m against sports. It’s just that I think working on a farm is far superior for brain development than trying incessantly to beat the opposition at a meaningless game.