The Threefold Community July 2016 – June 2017
TABLE OF CONTENTS The Threefold Community / 3 Threefold Educational Foundation and School / 4 Threefold Educational Center / 5 Green Meadow Waldorf School / 6 Otto Specht School / 7 Eurythmy Spring Valley / 7 The Pfeiffer Center / 8 The Fiber Craft Studio / 8 Threefold Café / 9 Camphill Foundation / 10 The Christian Community — Movement for Religious Renewal / 10 The Seminary of the Christian Community in North America / 11 The Fellowship Community / 11 The Hungry Hollow Co-op / 12 Meadowlark Toys and Sunbridge Books / 12 The Nature Place Day Camp / 13 Sunbridge Institute / 13 Threefold Branch of the Anthroposophical Society in America / 14 Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America / 15 Directory of Community Institutions / 16 Pfeiffer Wheat Returns to Threefold / 18 2
On the cover: Threefold Educational Foundation Executive Director Rafael (Ray) Manaças addresses the Anthroposophical Society’s National Conference in Threefold Auditorium.
The Threefold Community
Orchard House.
In 1926, several young anthroposophists known as the Threefold Group of New York City bought a farm in Spring Valley, NY, and set about creating a living community of practical work inspired by the teachings of Rudolf Steiner.
based on the work and insights of Rudolf Steiner. These include:
In his lifetime, Steiner offered innovative, forwardthinking ideas and insights touching on every facet of human social life, including education, the arts, agriculture, economics, science, and medicine. Every observation and indication that Steiner offered was an exhortation to take his research further — to test it, elaborate on it, and expand it.
• Other children’s programs: The Pfeiffer Center, Nature Place Day Camp
That work is central to life in the Threefold community. Site of the first biodynamic farm in North America, over the years Threefold has nurtured and given a home to research and innovation in economics and land ownership, Waldorf education, the visual arts, eurythmy, drama, adult education, and much more. The community’s task, as written in the 1965 charter of Threefold Educational Foundation, is “to preserve, encourage and further spiritual values in all fields of science, art, religion and social life in accord with the anthroposophical and spiritual scientific teachings and methods of Rudolf Steiner.”
• Waldorf education: Green Meadow Waldorf School, The Otto Specht School
• Adult education: Eurythmy Spring Valley, Sunbridge Institute, The Pfeiffer Center, The Fiber Craft Studio, The Seminary of the Christian Community • The arts: Eurythmy Spring Valley, The Fiber Craft Studio, The Art of Acting, Threefold Mystery Drama Group • Medicinal, therapeutic and curative work: The Fellowship Community, The Fellowship Community’s Medical Office, The Otto Specht School • Community life: Threefold Branch of the Anthroposophical Society, The Hungry Hollow Co-op, Threefold Café, Meadowlark Toys and Sunbridge Books, The Christian Community church
Today, the people and institutions of the Threefold community are carrying a wide array of programs
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Threefold Educational Foundation and School Threefold Educational Foundation and School, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational institution, was chartered in 1965. Its immediate task was to consolidate property holdings and legal and fiscal entities that were created in the community’s first forty years; its work is to serve as the steward of the land, buildings and facilities that comprise a large part of the Threefold community’s physical setting, and to provide the legal and fiscal umbrella under which many of the Threefold community’s institutions operate. Threefold Educational Foundation is one of the very few anthroposophical institutions in the world whose primary mission is to foster anthroposophy per se. In the words of our charter, it is the Foundation’s task “to establish, conduct, operate and maintain conferences, programs of research and adult education in all fields emphasizing the principles and methods enunciated by Rudolf Steiner” and “to aid, support and assist individuals and societies . . . having similar powers and objects . . . .”
FACILITIES The Threefold Educational Foundation Maintenance Department renovated the Otto Specht School’s classrooms, which can be found throughout the Threefold and Fellowship Community campuses. While many of the renovations involved ensuring that the facilities meet current codes, we also took the opportunity to transform some previously unused spaces into warm, inviting classrooms. Many of our multipurpose buildings and multifamily homes were inspected by Chestnut Ridge’s Fire Inspector. Where necessary, new fire alarms were installed and old ones updated. Holder House was brightened up with a fresh coat of exterior stain and new lobby floors. Up at the Auditorium, custom mahogany doors with large windows to either side of the main entrance beautified that building inside and out. Holder House.
CONFERENCE CENTER In October, Threefold hosted the Fall Conference and Annual General Meeting of the Anthroposophical Society in America, which included a performance of Sophocles, Shakespeare, Steiner: Evolution of Consciousness through Drama by members of the Threefold Mystery Drama Group. Also taking place at Threefold this year were the Waldorf Early Childhood of North America (WECAN) Early Childhood Educators Conference, courses and workshops of the Center for Biography and Social Art, and workshops with Barbara Renold sponsored by the Speech School of North America. The heart of the Threefold campus: Main House (left) and Holder House (right). (Top and above) Sophocles, Shakespeare, Steiner.
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Threefold Educational Center Threefold Educational Foundation supports cultural and educational activities, events, and programming, as well as community and festival life, through the work of Threefold Educational Center.
CULTURAL LIFE In 2016-17, Threefold Educational Center supported, coordinated, and hosted a performance of Momo the Time Titan by the Free Columbia Puppet Theater; public foundations studies courses led by Jennifer Brooks Quinn; and a community speech chorus led by Jennifer Kleinbach. Festival life highlights included the annual Halloween Lantern Walk, community Christmas Festival, and a performance of The Shepherds’ Play. Appearances by social threefolding authority Martin Large and educators Lakshmi Prasanna and Michael Kokinos brought fascinating perspectives on work arising from anthroposophy in Europe, Australia, and India.
The cast of The Shepherds’ Play.
“Meet Me Who I Am”: Meeting Our Children Where They Are with Dr. Lakshmi Prasanna & Michael Kokinos Annual General Meeting of the Anthroposophical Society.
Thursday, March 23, 7:30pm THREEFOLD MAIN HOUSE
285 HUNGRY HOLLOW RD, CHESTNUT RIDGE
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GREEN MEADOW WALDORF SCHOOL Green Meadow is in the midst of many positive changes as we position ourselves to meet the needs of the future. The past year saw the school’s ten-year reaccreditation by AWSNA (the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America) and NYSAIS (the New York State Association of Independent Schools). After a year of self-study leading up to the reaccreditation visit and evaluation in fall 2016, it was gratifying to hear the visiting team’s validating commendations and recommendations for ongoing improvement. The Advisory Board and Collegium also reorganized our self-governed leadership structure to center around a single administrator. Tree-Anne McEnery, a Waldorf class teacher (who completed a grade 1–8 cycle) and more recently principal of a Waldorf charter school, was hired to start in August 2017. GMWS added staff to strengthen our ability to support students with learning differences, and class teachers received training in specialized
Green Meadow Waldorf School’s High School building.
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techniques to support math and reading instruction within the school’s pedagogy. Many faculty, staff and board members participated in Undoing Racism workshops, and the school is committed to providing this program to all employees by Spring 2019. In March 2017, we launched our first-ever endowment with the It’s About Time! benefit, which raised $276,000 in donations and pledges. This was an important step toward achieving financial sustainability. Our Community Education Series featured many thought-provoking speakers, including Dr. Catherine Steiner-Adair, well-known author of The Big Disconnect: Protecting Childhood and Family Relationships in the Digital Age. We are grateful for our students and their parents, who have the wisdom and the foresight to choose Waldorf education, and we are grateful to you, our friends in the Threefold community.
OTTO SPECHT SCHOOL This year, the Otto Specht School welcomed several new students, and said goodbye to others who graduated or moved on to academic schools, including Green Meadow Waldorf School. Students in our Duryea Farm greenhouse program combined service and learning opportunities while raising enough vegetables to supply 60 meals for Fellowship elders and coworkers. Otto Specht students also helped Dr. Steven Johnson create a beautiful new wheelchair-accessible medicinal garden in the heart of the Fellowship Community. In the fall, our students will help make healing oils, balms, and other products from the garden. Our new after-school program made the Arrowsmith Cognitive Enhancement Program available to Otto Specht students and others. This academic supplemental program will be expanded next year. The Otto Specht School strives to meet each child’s developmental and cognitive needs; we compare each child only to her or his unique, individual past and potential future. This allows us to serve as a transitional school for some students, and as a stand-alone school for those who may never matriculate into a standard academic setting. We are recognized as a developing school by AWSNA and are working toward becoming an accredited Waldorf school. We have created three informational videos and are raising money to construct dedicated therapeutic spaces for our students.
Fourth year students of Eurythmy Spring Valley.
EURYTHMY SPRING VALLEY At ESV, it was a year of “venturing” to distant places, tending to new endeavors, and celebrating milestones in our work. We marked the thirtieth anniversary of the our Touring Ensemble, celebrating its vibrancy of that work with a busy schedule of 45 performances that took us to Canada, Vermont, Michigan, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, New Jersey and New York, reaching 4,500 adults and children. One highlight among many was our visit to the Wasatch Charter School in Salt Lake City, Utah. The school had opened its doors just a few weeks earlier and our performances before 540 Waldorf students and 200 adults were inspiringly received with positive feedback from many newcomers to eurythmy. Within our programs, we were very happy to collaborate with Alanus University over the past two years, hosting their Master’s Degree program in eurythmy on our campus. Three ESV Ensemble/ faculty members will complete Master’s Degrees at their thesis performances on August 2, 2017. With the help of many hands, our fourth-year class traveled to Dornach, Switzerland, in June to perform in a World Eurythmy Conference with sixteen other graduating classes from around the globe; an unforgettable experience of the diverse potential of eurythmy in different languages and cultures. The center of our endeavors remains the pulse of our daily work within the training, where growth of each of our dedicated students represents new access to eurythmy in the years to come.
Otto Specht students and teachers during recess.
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THE PFEIFFER CENTER
THE FIBER CRAFT STUDIO In 2016-17 the Fiber Craft Studio continued to hold workshops and courses to explore knitting, sewing, doll making, and plant dyeing. Our one-year Sheep to Shawl course boasts a full complement of fifteen students learning to spin and planning a knitted garment.
Pfeiffer Center Head Gardener Megan Durney.
The Pfeiffer Center marked its twentieth anniversary year by starting its first-ever CSA, which has proved to be a deeply satisfying way to connect with a diverse cross-section of our community. Meeting this weekly obligation is an invaluable educational experience for our interns. One generous member took up our invitation to “buy a share for a family in need”; the recipient was selected by our friends at Helping Hands. In October, nearly 100 friends of the Pfeiffer Center joined us at our third annual Farm-to-Table Dinner to celebrate the end of the growing year. Jesse Webster, newly-minted manager of Threefold Café, pulled together a fabulous, festive meal on very short notice. Eva, one-half of our brother/sister team of Haflinger draft horses, developed leg issues that marked the end of her working life. Happily, we found her a delightful retirement home on a farm upstate. Her replacement, a mare named Paris from Ohio, is now learning the ropes alongside Captain. We are deeply grateful to the many friends and supporters who make up our community: Donors, workshop attendees, CSA shareholders and Farm Stand patrons, students and faculty in our One-Year Training and Midwinter Agriculture Intensive, and volunteers.
Pick-up day at the Pfeiffer Center’s CSA.
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The Applied Arts Program had twelve graduates from the 8th cycle. They presented final projects in such topics as making an up-cycled garment; dyeing with lichens; processing raw wool fleece to spin, dye and design a knitted skirt; plant-dyed and felted light fixture covers; and many other thoughtful projects. Concern for the environment, the healing aspect of handwork, and the exploration of plant color were among the themes that wove through the presentations. A new 10th cycle will begin in July with twenty participants. In October 2016 the studio hosted a talk by Betsan Corkhill, author of Knitting for Health and Wellness. She spoke about the healing nature of handwork, knitting in particular, and how she is making progress in the UK to bring knitting as a certified therapy. This work is making progress in the US through a group called Project Knitwell. The Fiber Craft Studio is very excited to participate in the Hudson Valley Textile Project to heighten awareness about the large carbon footprint of the textile industry and to start up a local (Hudson Valley) collaboration. We are just in the beginning stages, but we hope to have a locally produced kit ready for the Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival in October 2017.
Hand-spun, plant dyed wool yarn. A Fiber Craft Studio class in Orchard House.
A class in the Fiber Craft Studio’s Sheep to Shawl course.
THREEFOLD CAFÉ Threefold Café’s current incarnation came to life in August 2016, when new manager Jesse Webster picked up the keys and got to work. A Green Meadow parent of two (with wife Nicole Falanga, GMWS ’98), Jesse previously worked in restaurants from New Zealand to Washington State to New York City. Jesse and chef Jennifer Litwin have developed menu offerings that rely heavily on biodynamic produce from the Pfeiffer Center and the Fellowship Community’s Duryea Farm. Jesse has made it a priority to grow the Café’s lower school lunch program, and also draw more high school students at lunchtime. His busy first year included catering the Anthroposophical Society’s Annual Meeting in October, two Green Meadow Chef Jennifer Litwin. graduations (eighth and twelfth grades), Green Meadow’s ParentFaculty Dinner, and the Pfeiffer Center’s Third Annual Farm-to-Table Benefit Dinner. The Fiber Craft Studio’s Applied Arts Graduation Dinner showcased the Café’s ability to put on a stylish white tablecloth dinner. Saturday brunches and midsummer barbecues on the deck have made the Café a destination for locals and visitors alike.
WECAN conference attendees at Threefold Café.
Jesse Webster (L) with Anna Silber of Sunbridge Institute.
The Café’s kitchen hosted the Otto Specht School’s culinary arts program, and Green Meadow student Kaoruko Yanagi did her senior project with Café baker Beth Levine. Jesse says, “Running the Café has given me a deeper understanding of our dynamic community. The Café is a crossroads, and it’s like being in a canoe at the convergence of several rivers. All may flow toward the sea but the tempo, pace and color of the water is different for each institution. As I move into my second year, I look forward to finding more in the Café’s mission that can build further synergy with the institutions and the people of Threefold.”
The Otto Specht School’s culinary arts program.
PFC Farm to Table Dinner.
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CAMPHILL FOUNDATION Camphill is a worldwide movement of lifesharing communities where people with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities live, work, and celebrate life together. Our foundation’s mission is to grow, strengthen and safeguard the Camphill communities in North America and worldwide through programmatic initiatives and strategic grants that advance the long-term sustainability of the Camphill movement. This past year, we made grants and loans to twelve Camphill communities, helping to meet diverse needs including farm equipment, kitchen renovation, coworker training, infrastructure repair, and salary support for a fundraising professional. We also continued with our three signature programs: Research Initiative, supporting scholarly work relevant to Camphill, coworker
participation in conferences and workshops, and funding Camphill Academy’s first Research Fellow; Next Generation Leadership Initiative, nurturing emerging leaders in the Camphill movement; and Inspired Communities, offering practical workshops for families, service providers and others creating Camphill-inspired programs for people with developmental disabilities. This year, we also celebrated the success of our 2015-16 grant projects, including completion of a $2 million community center at Heartbeet Lifesharing, anthroposophical training for the home health aides at Camphill Ghent, and support for capital renovations at two Camphills in Eastern Europe. Finally, we have embarked on a major capacitybuilding program, committing $600,000 over the next 5 years to support the organizational development of the Camphill Association and Camphill Academy.
THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY — MOVEMENT FOR RELIGIOUS RENEWAL Beauty and fellowship stand out as especially strong aspects of the congregation’s development in the last year. With the aid of a volunteer master gardener, our small, deteriorating rock wall has become a thriving and beautiful rock garden. Wooden benches and umbrellas welcome members and visitors, and mosaic stepping stones made by our children’s program were placed in the garden. Thanksgiving dinner for homeless neighbors Within the congregation we also completed our at the Christian Community church. first full year of quarterly Carrying Group meetings. This group of fifteen to twenty people forms a kind of “heart” for the congregation: a heart for each other, a heart for our mission in the world, a heart for the needs of our community.
Highlights from our rich program of offerings this past year included: two extraordinary benefit concerts, one with Rita Costanzi (harp) and another with Emmanuel Vukovich (violin) and Marcus Macauley (piano); a series of talks on esoteric Christianity with speakers from North America and Europe; and weekend workshops on The Black Madonna with Stephanie Georgieff, Death and Home Funeral Care with Ann-Elizabeth Barnes and Jonitha Hasse, and for young adults Virtual Reality with Paul K. Chappell.
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THE SEMINARY OF THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY OF NORTH AMERICA In addition to a priest training, each year the seminary offers several Open Courses that allow guests to experience a week in our program. With thirty to forty guests at each Open Course, this is a wonderful opportunity to develop relationships with people from across North America! The 2016-17 Open Courses, facilitated by seminary directors Rev. Bastiaan Baan and Rev. Patrick Kennedy and others, included: Cultivating an Individual Relationship with Jesus Christ; Christian Community Seminarians, 2016-17. Seeing Christ Through Twentieth Century Art; Healings in the Gospel of Luke and Christian Ways of Healing (with Dr. Steven Johnson); and The Twelve Senses in the Act of Consecration of Man (with Rev. Peter van Breda of London, UK). A high point in recent years has been the meeting of students from all three seminaries: North America, Stuttgart, and Hamburg, Germany. This year, the seminarians met at the Christian Community International Whitsun Conference in the Netherlands, which brought over 1,400 people together including 400 youth, from all over the world.
THE FELLOWSHIP COMMUNITY
Matt Uppenbrink addresses the Fellowship Community’s 50th dedication day.
The Fellowship Community is entering its second half-century of serving humanity by living in community with the young, the old and the land. We look forward to adding new education programs throughout the year, working closely with our neighboring anthroposophically inspired institutions, and reaching more people who are interested in our unique approach to eldercare. Our farm programs now include two farm interns who are learning not only how to live and work together, but the process of farming and dairy work, including the milking and breeding of cows, farm management and the upkeep and use of farm equipment. We look to increase our cultural activities throughout the year, building on the successes of the Hungry Hollow Family Music Festival and our Christmas
Festival and Holiday Sale, and extend our activities to more of the elders, both onsite and within the greater community. We have been making serious improvements in our physical nature as well, with upgrades to buildings and grounds, and will continue to improve the care rooms located in Hill Top House with an extensive remodeling effort in 2018. Fundraising efforts have been very successful thanks to a generous outpouring of support from our friends and these funds are hard at work both with our improvements and cultural programming. At the heart of our work is our commitment to serving the human being in need of care, and we are thankful that we have support from our many members, volunteers, families and coworkers that share their lives and work together.
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THE HUNGRY HOLLOW CO-OP
MEADOWLARK TOYS AND SUNBRIDGE BOOKS Meadowlark offers the Threefold community and its visitors crafts, gifts, and natural toys, as well as the Collected Works of Rudolf Steiner (as available in English), a wide selection of anthroposophical books, and Waldorf teaching materials and parenting books.
The Hungry Hollow Co-op is collectively owned by members, and anyone can join. Our mission is to provide the best natural, organic and biodynamic food to the public while using our profits to strengthen and grow our co-op and give back to our community. To better serve our customers and owners, we have launched an online marketplace with a home delivery option; worked hard to lower our prices while continuing to offer the highest quality products; and expanded the discounts available to our owners (including an unlimited 5% discount on all Dr. Hauschka skin care products). We are thrilled to support the growth of biodynamics by offering products like Natural Nectar juices and Crofters fruit jams. Coming soon: baked goods from Threefold Café that are made with flour ground from biodynamic Pfeiffer Wheat, a variety developed in the 1950s by Threefold community resident Ehrenfried Pfeiffer. Pfeiffer Wheat flour is available for purchase at the Co-op.
Meadowlark is working closely with Green Meadow Waldorf School to raise its profile among Green Meadow parents, faculty and staff. Meadowlark donates 2.5 percent of its in-store revenue to the school’s Shop-to-Give program. Green Meadow and Meadowlark also support (and share the proceeds from) a small thrift shop in Meadowlark’s upstairs. In the year just ended, we completed plans and received approval to open a satellite school store on Green Meadow’s campus. The (Meadowlark) Nest will open when school comes back into session in September 2017. The proceeds from sales at The Nest will be divided between Green Meadow and Meadowlark. We are also working diligently to renew Meadowlark’s website and expand our online presence. While most of this computer work has been behind the scenes, we expect these efforts to start paying off this coming autumn, as the improved website goes live.
In the coming year we look forward to partnering with Threefold Educational Foundation, the owner of our building and lot, on exciting renovations that will improve our customers’ shopping experience.
The home of Meadowlark Toys and Sunbridge Books.
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THE NATURE PLACE DAY CAMP The Nature Place had a joyous 31st summer season in 2016, and we’ve spent the year since then working toward our 32nd summer on the grounds of Threefold Educational Foundation and Green Meadow Waldorf School. In addition to the ongoing external work of program development, hiring (100 staff members who pop up like wildflowers in late June), advertising, and daily administration, we are in the midst of slowly evolving our internal structure. We’re now operating with five year-round employees (rather than two ten years ago), and have been navigating generational transitions, new roles, and shifting responsibilities.
While our values haven’t shifted from being natureoriented and non-competitive, this past year the world seems to be escalating our sense of relevance.
Mac Mead trims onions with Nature Place Farm & Garden Days campers.
SUNBRIDGE INSTITUTE As Sunbridge prepares to mark its 50th Anniversary, we reflect on a very successful year. Last June, the Institute hired its first Alumni and Donor Relations Coordinator and engaged a fundraising consultant to begin rebuilding our development department. As a result, our 2016-17 Annual Fund appeal exceeded its $50,000 goal.
recent graduates of our Elementary Teacher Education program through an AWSNA grant funded by the Waldorf Educational Foundation. Seven Sunbridge Early Childhood and Elementary program students and graduates are currently enrolled in our partnership with SUNY’s Empire State College, applying their Sunbridge education toward earning a fully-accredited MEd degree with self-designed concentration in Waldorf Education.
Sunbridge Institute: 2017 Teacher Training graduates.
This June, Jessica Heffernan Ziegler, Sunbridge’s Executive Director and co-instructor of our “Collaborative Leadership” course and related workshops, was one of four keynote speakers at AWSNA’s Annual Conference, addressing the topic “Exploring Collaboration and Leadership in Waldorf Schools.” We were able to support an apprenticeship, mentoring, and speech work for students and
Sunbridge Institute: 2017 Early Childhood graduates.
Last year, nearly 500 students participated in Sunbridge Teacher Education programs, Music and World Language Teacher intensives, and professional development and general interest courses and workshops. Our 2016 Teachers Conference on Waldorf Middle School Education drew a sell-out attendance of 80 Waldorf professionals.
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THREEFOLD BRANCH OF THE ANTHROPOSOPHICAL SOCIETY The Threefold Branch aligns with the guidance that comes from the General Anthroposophical Society in Dornach, Switzerland. The theme this year was “World Transformation and Self-Knowledge in the Face of Evil.” To that end we selected material from the suggested reading list, notably From Symptom to Reality in Modern History, lectures 4 and 5, and Karmic Relationships Volume 3, lectures 1 and 7. We opened the year by reading notes from Adelheid Peterson on the importance of Branch life and how to foster it. This was followed with our annual focus during Michaelmas season on the Michael Letter of November 16, 1924, “The World Thoughts in the Working of Michael and in the Working of Ahriman,” again expounding on the importance of deepening our work with anthroposophy so that we may experience the working of the spirit and stand in life in a truly practical way. Members who attended the AGM in Dornach shared their experiences. We celebrated Michaelmas together with the Festival Group and a palpable mood was created in the space of our regular meetings.
(Top and above) Scenes from the Anthroposophical Society’s Conference and Annual General Meeting.
Many of our members participated in the AGM of the Anthroposophical Society in America, which took place in the Threefold community in October. It was an uplifting experience to be able to share in the different approaches that live in the regional branches. The Branch also sponsored Christine Gruwez’s fall lecture and workshop on the theme of the year in the light of Manichaeism. Branch member Brigida Baldszun gave a talk on her travels in China. The Branch meetings were regularly attended by about fourteen people.
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(Above) John Bloom, incoming General Secretary of the Anthroposophical Society in America.
THE WALDORF EARLY CHILDHOOD ASSOCIATION OF NORTH AMERICA The Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America (WECAN) is very pleased to have its administrative center at Threefold. As an association of schools, kindergartens, training centers and individuals, our membership in 201617 included 183 kindergartens in Canada and the United States, 11 registered initiatives in Mexico, 12 member Waldorf early childhood training institutes, and more than 450 individuals. Our annual conference takes place at Threefold; on a snowy weekend in February 2017, nearly 400 early childhood educators came to work together and to hear Susan Perrow from Australia speak on the Healing Power of Language and Storytelling. Threefold is also the center for the publication and distribution of WECAN Books; in 2016-17 our new publications included The Seven Life Processes, Love as the Source of Education, Let’s Dance and Sing, and Waldorf Early Childhood Education: An Introductory Reader. In the face of growing societal threats to early childhood education and to childhood itself, we are beginning to collaborate with other organizations, including AWSNA, the Alliance for Public Waldorf Education, the Alliance for Childhood, leaders of other alternative educational movements, and anthroposophical medical doctors and nurses, to explore how we can support and protect the healthy development of young children.
(Above and below) Scenes from WECAN’s annual conference at Threefold.
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DIRECTORY OF COMMUNITY INSTITUTIONS CAMPHILL FOUNDATION 285 Hungry Hollow Road Chestnut Ridge, NY 10977 845-517-2776 info@camphillfoundation.org www.camphillfoundation.org
*FIBER CRAFT STUDIO
THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY— MOVEMENT FOR RELIGIOUS RENEWAL 15 Margetts Road Monsey, NY 10952 845-573-9080 christiancommunitysv@gmail.com www.christiancommunitysv.org
*GREEN MEADOW WALDORF SCHOOL
*EURYTHMY SPRING VALLEY 260 Hungry Hollow Road Chestnut Ridge, NY 10977 845-352-5020 x113 info@eurythmy.org www.eurythmy.org
THE FELLOWSHIP COMMUNITY 241 Hungry Hollow Road Chestnut Ridge, NY 10977 845-356-8494 rsffoffice@fellowshipcommunity.org www.fellowshipcommunity.org
260 Hungry Hollow Road Chestnut Ridge, NY 10977 845-425-2891 information@fibercraftstudio.org www.fibercraftstudio.org
307 Hungry Hollow Road Chestnut Ridge, NY 10977 845-356-2514 info@gmws.org www.gmws.org
HUNGRY HOLLOW CO-OP 841 Chestnut Ridge Road Chestnut Ridge, NY 10977 845-356-3319 www.hungryhollow.coop
MEADOWLARK TOYS AND SUNBRIDGE BOOKS 817 Chestnut Ridge Road Chestnut Ridge, NY 10977 845-290-1572 info@meadowlarktoys.com
www.meadowlark-toys-sunbridge-books.myshopify.com
* Denotes institutions that operate under the charter of Threefold Educational Foundation.
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THE NATURE PLACE DAY CAMP 285 Hungry Hollow Road Chestnut Ridge, NY 10977 845-356-9676 camp@thenatureplace.com www.thenatureplace.com
*THE OTTO SPECHT SCHOOL 260 Hungry Hollow Road Chestnut Ridge, NY 10977 845-352-5020 x130 j.rodriguez@ottospecht.org www.ottospechtschool.org
*THE PFEIFFER CENTER 260 Hungry Hollow Road Chestnut Ridge, NY 10977 845-352-5020 x120 info@pfeiffercenter.org www.pfeiffercenter.org
THE SEMINARY OF THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY IN NORTH AMERICA 7 Carmen Court Chestnut Ridge, NY 10977 845-356-0972 info@christiancommunityseminary.org www.christiancommunityseminary.org
SUNBRIDGE INSTITUTE 285 Hungry Hollow Road Chestnut Ridge, NY 10977 845-425-0055 info@sunbridge.edu www.sunbridge.edu
THREEFOLD BRANCH OF THE ANTHROPOSOPHICAL SOCIETY IN AMERICA 34 Margetts Road Chestnut Ridge, NY 10977 845-356-1380 gfbver@gmail.com
*THREEFOLD CAFÉ 285 Hungry Hollow Road Chestnut Ridge, NY 10977 845-352-3130 cafe@threefold.org www.threefold.org/cafe
*THREEFOLD EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION AND SCHOOL / THREEFOLD EDUCATIONAL CENTER 260 Hungry Hollow Road Chestnut Ridge, NY 10977 845-352-5020 info@threefold.org www.threefold.org
WALDORF EARLY CHILDHOOD ASSOCIATION OF NORTH AMERICA 285 Hungry Hollow Road Chestnut Ridge, NY 10977 845-352-1690 info@waldorfearlychildhood.org www.waldorfearlychildhood.org
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A Modern Wheat with Ancient Virtues Pfeiffer Wheat Returns to Threefold
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n his agriculture lectures of 1924, Rudolf Steiner observed that modern growing practices were reducing our vegetables to “mere stomach fillers,” large and attractive but empty of nutritional forces. Prominent among those foods was wheat, and indeed many believe that today’s widespread gluten intolerance and celiac disease are a result of wheat’s degraded condition.
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In 1928, Ehrenfried Pfeiffer selected a spelt (a primitive wheat) from the Rome Botanical Garden. A network of European researchers then set about transforming “Rom” spelt into a modern wheat with ancient virtues. Favoring a Goethean over a Mendelian approach, they followed Rudolf Steiner’s indications by growing the wheat biodynamically, planting seeds under
varying conditions and alternating seasons over many years. Careful observation of the resulting grains led to selecting mutations with wheat-like advantages – uniformity and ease of processing – that preserved the original spelt’s nutritional, flavor, and baking qualities. Pfeiffer brought the fruits of this research with him to the United States in the late 1930s. He died at the Threefold community in 1961, and in the 1970s his colleague Erika Sabarth passed the Pfeiffer Wheat to Paul Scharff and Mac Mead of the Fellowship Community. Mac grew Pfeiffer Wheat at the Fellowship from 1976 until 1995 (working with Erika Sabarth until her death in 1981). In 1994, Walter Goldstein of the Mandaamin Institute in Wisconsin convinced Paul Scharff to entrust the Pfeiffer Wheat to him, pledging to continue its development as a practical grain.
(From far left) Pfeiffer Wheat growing at John Pounder’s farm in Wisconsin; Pfeiffer Wheat samples cultivated in Dornach (1951) and at the Fellowship Community (1980); Mac Mead delivering Pfeiffer Wheat flour to baker Beth Levine at Threefold Café.
Today, three farms in Wisconsin are growing Pfeiffer Wheat and working to establish markets for its flour. Proceeds from sales of the flour support continued research and development, which involves both perfecting the wheat and educating the public about the potential impacts of modern, accelerated wheat-breeding practices.
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