Keeping Morrie Huston's legacy alive: special moments for special people

Morrison Huston was authentic. He knew the importance of a real connection, felt the warmth of a genuine smile, valued laughter and new experiences.  

Morrie and Posie Huston, representing Kimberton Hills on a parade float

During his 18 years as president of the Board of Directors of Camphill Village Kimberton Hills, Morrie did all he could to enrich the lives of the villagers in the community, which included his daughter, Posie.
He organized ice skating trips, rode on parade floats, and welcomed villagers to sit with him during Board meetings.  His interest and care was real; it was authentic.  He gave devoted service to Kimberton Hills and ensured that everyone had an opportunity to pursue interests and enjoy life in all its wonderful aspects.

Through the Morrie Huston Villager Activity Fund, established following his death in 2008, we are able to continue his legacy and offer enjoyable outings, experiences and cultural activities to our residents, many who have minimal or no family support.

Last year, thanks to the Morrie Huston Villager Activity Fund, several villagers took part in the Camphill Challenge, a bike ride event in support of Camphill communities in Pennsylvania.  Also in the fall, two groups of excited villagers traveled with coworkers to Outer Banks, North Carolina. The use of the vacation home was donated to the village by the Andersons - Andy Eisenson's family - and all of their other expenses were covered by the Morrie Huston Villager Activity Fund, providing a wonderful and relaxing vacation for two groups of adults with special needs.

Beth enjoys the beach.

Mike and Ross in the Outer Banks.  

Each year, the funds are spent, and so each year we need to raise more.  What happens when you support the Morrie Huston Villager Activity Fund?  You fling wide the doors of experience for many individuals, providing opportunities for enrichment, education, and just plain fun.  It’s what we all need in our lives ~ regardless of our abilities or disabilities.  BONUS:  instantaneous gratitude and many wide smiles!

Please consider supporting this important fund.  To make an online gift, visit www.camphillkimberton.org/morrie-huston-villager-activity-fund.  Thank you!

Camphill Village Kimberton Hills' Hootenanny set for June 21

Camphill Kimberton’s Hootenanny, a festival of local music and food, will be held June 21 from 2-10 p.m. at 1601 Pughtown Road, Kimberton, Pa. 

Musicians scheduled to perform include: Jersey Corn Pickers, Pretty Dittys, Lily Mae, and Sidney Joseph and Organic Reverb, with additional local artists.

The Hootenanny has been organized to celebrate the joy of local culture. In addition to the music, there will be games, face painting, tractor rides and dancing.  Local, organic food, including vegetarian selections, from the Camphill Café will be available for purchase.  Children will have the chance to spot cows, chickens, sheep and more on the working dairy and vegetable farm, located about 50 minutes outside of Philadelphia, in Chester County, Pennsylvania.  

The admission fee is $10, $8 in advance. Children 10 and under are free.

Advance tickets can be purchased via www.camphillkimberton.org/hootenanny2014 by June 20. 

Attendees may bring their own blankets or lawn chairs.  The event is sponsored by Phoenixville Federal Bank and Trust. 

Proceeds from the Hootenanny will go to Camphill Village Kimberton Hills, a dynamic farming and handcrafting intentional community that includes adults with developmental disabilities. This non-profit organization has provided meaningful work and a supportive environment since it was founded in 1972. Located on 432 acres of farm, gardens and woodlands in Southeastern Pennsylvania, Kimberton Hills is also a local center for culture and a model for sound ecological living.

Camphill Village Kimberton Hills is located at 1601 Pughtown Road, Kimberton, Pa. Please use Google Maps for directions as most GPS systems do not recognize our address.

Visit www.camphillkimberton.org to learn more.

. . . 

Here's what our local media has to say about the Hootenanny:

http://phoenixvilledish.com/snips/2014/06/camphill-kimbertons-hootenanny-celebrates-local-music-food-june-21/

http://northernchesco.does.co/camphill-kimbertons-hootenanny-set-for-june-21/

http://www.philly.com/philly/calendar/263347971.html

http://phillyfunguide.com/music/hootenanny

http://news.engleonline.com/AdDesk/Htmlfiles/Readers/article.epc?id=104799

Principles and Practice of Anthroposophical Medicine with Ross Rentea, MD

True Botanica Foundation Presents:

Principles and Practice of Anthroposophical Medicine

with Ross Rentea, MD, speaker

June 13 and 14 in Rose Hall, Camphill Village Kimberton Hills

Rudolf Steiner calls Anthroposophy as such a Therapeutic Impulse that leads to the Healing of the Whole Human Being. Yet most, even very serious students of Anthroposophy, know very little about specific details and methods that are unique to Anthroposophic Medicine (AM), and certainly even less about how to make it fruitful in their everyday life. This weekend we will try to take first steps in “curing this ill”.

Friday Evening Talk on June 13, 7:30 – 9:00 pm – “Too Tired – Too Wired”
(Starting with a look at these basic polarities in our cultural health will help us also gain insights into many specific NEW anthroposophic remedies and Eurythmy exercises.) $15 at door.

Saturday Workshop on June 14, 9:00 am to 5:30 pm
9:00 – 10:00 AM: From Research to Practical Applications (What are Potentized/Homeopathic Remedies; NEW Anthroposophic Remedies; Over the counter drugs for home and self-help use)

10:15 – 11:15 AM: Adult and Childhood Immunizations - an Anthroposophic Viewpoint - (Is all of anthroposophical medicine a subtle form of immunization? This general topic will allow us to discuss in more depth several “what to do’s” in daily life.)

11:30 AM – 12:30 PM: Artistic Group Activity: Eurythmy

2:00– 3:00 PM: Metabolic Illnesses (An Anthroposophic View of chronic diseases, various cultural health related issues and applicable anthroposophic remedies)

3:15 – 4:15 PM: Technology and Anthroposophy (What to embrace what to overcome)

4:30-5:30 PM: Case Studies - Questions & Answers

Saturday Evening Talk on June 14, 7:30 - 9pm - “Michael and our Health Karma”
(The karma that connects us to Michael is particularly related to our Health Karma. For Members of the Anthrop. Society and their invited Guests; Knowledge of Anthroposophy is assumed) Free to the community

Workshop cost: $35 or $45 (including Friday lecture)

For information and to RSVP contact: Rick Ruffin 215/432-0135 or rruffin@voicenet.com

Busy bluebirds in Kimberton Hills

from guest blogger John Tower, Kimberton Hills coworker

This is a busy time of year for bluebirds and tree swallows. They have to find a safe place to build a nest, collect just the right materials they need like dried grass, pine needles and white feathers. To have the energy to build a news and produce eggs, they need to eat a lot of bugs.  Right now, the bluebirds have gone so far as to lay five eggs in their nests and are beginning to sit on them day and night to warm them up so they will hatch in about 16 days.

John and Marilyn checking bluebird boxes.

Bluebirds were in decline until efforts were made to provide nesting habitat in the form of the boxes you see here in Kimberton Hills.  This is the labor of love that Marilyn Michalski, "the bird lady," has been providing us as a volunteer for many years.  You may see her with me on Monday afternoons in her red station wagon, checking the 58 boxes in operation this year.  She is happy to answer any questions on birds you may have.

Camphill Café announces summer menu

Camphill Village Kimberton Hills’ Camphill Café announces new menu additions for the upcoming summer season, available May 1.

Seasonal menu items include:

Fatush Salad: Arabic salad with lettuce, cucumber, parsley, mint, onions, tomato, feta cheese, pita chips, olive oil and lemon.

Fatush Salad

Eggplant salad: Fried eggplant, parsley, red wine vinaigrette, garlic and olive oil served with bread or tortilla chips and a side green salad.


Baba Ghanoush: Smoked eggplant with tahini and parsley served with bread or tortilla chips and a side green salad.


Hummus plate: Garlic hummus, roasted red pepper hummus and pesto hummus served with bread or tortilla chips and a side green salad.


The menu also now includes a Salad Plate, which is your choice of two or more of our regular or special salads served with tortilla chips or bread and a side green salad.  Salad choices include chicken salad, egg salad, tuna salad, eggplant salad, baba ghanoush, labneh soft cheese, or hummus.

Salad Plate

The Café offers entrée and soup specials, which change weekly.  Most items are vegetarian; vegan specials are occasionally offered.  Homemade desserts and delicious smoothies are also available. The Café serves Sweet Water Baking Company’s bread and cookies, which are baked in a wood-fired oven just a few feet from the Café’s kitchen.

The Camphill Café will also continue its “Pay As You Wish Thursdays,” where customers are encouraged to come and share a meal at the Café, and pay for the meal with any amount they wish.

“The Café is very unique compared to other restaurants and features collaborative work by village residents and volunteers,” says Hilla Haut, café manager. “We are surrounded by the beauty of the land around us and our eco-friendly designed building. We invite you to visit us and enjoy our homemade dishes featuring local ingredients.”

The Camphill Café, in the heart of Camphill Village Kimberton Hills, serves seasonal foods grown both biodynamically and organically in Camphill Kimberton’s CSA gardens and from other local suppliers. The Café was recently renovated and features geothermal heating and air conditioning, natural solar tube lighting and outdoor seating. The café is open Wednesdays – Saturdays, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.  Please call ahead for parties of six or more: 610-935-3599.  Catering for private events is available.  Please call for more information.

Camphill Village Kimberton Hills and the Camphill Café are located at 1601 Pughtown Road, Kimberton, PA 19442.

Kimberton Hills celebrates Earth Day 2014

Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, elected to the senate in 1962, struggled to bring environmental causes to the attention of Washington politicians. His idea of a "national day for the environment" - the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970 - put pressure on politicians to create a national environmental agenda.  Senator Nelson's hope was not for Washington to organize the events of Earth Day, but for individuals and groups to organize activities within their own communities.  Citizens enthusiastically supported the effort and an estimated 20 million people gathered throughout the country to demand action on environmental legislation. It was the combined efforts at the grassroots level that gave the first Earth Day its major impact. We are called to preserve this legacy and continue the efforts that began 44 years ago.

At Camphill Village Kimberton Hills, we are doing our part to lessen our impact on the Earth. We have a strong dedication to the idea that the health of people and the land are not separate, that a community of people putting healthy ideals into practice can be in a mutually beneficial relationship with the land it stewards. Organic and biodynamic farming, gardening and overall stewardship of the land are important elements of our care for the Earth.  Please read more about our commitment to sustainable building and ecological design by clicking here.

We wish you a happy Earth Day and invite you to join with us every day in working toward a healthy planet, with healthy people, land and animals.

The above photo is Earth, as seen by our friend, Lily, age 4. "This is Earth and it is dirty because people aren't cleaning up and they throw their trash all over," says Lily.

What are a few simple steps we can all take to be sure we keep our Earth clean, for Lily and for all of us?

Try Composting.

Nathaniel at the compost collection area. 

Don't be so quick to toss that banana peel into the trash. Composting is an easy and free way to add nutrients to your garden while recycling kitchen and lawn waste. Proper composting can divert up to 30 percent of waste away from your garbage can and introduces beneficial organisms to the soil. Each household in Kimberton Hills collects waste for compost, which is taken to the garden.

Not sure how to get started with composting? Our friend Greg at eartheasy.com has some great suggestions here. 

Upcycle. 

Upcycling is taking waste and making it into something that has equal or greater use or value.  Kimberton Hills' weavery and fiber arts workshops do this regularly. For example, we create beautiful hand-woven rugs out of old jeans and felted juggling balls around used golf balls. We also reuse printed materials as space holders on looms or to create tags for items. There are many possibilities - try and see how creative you can be!  

Charlene and Lane show off our rugs made from old jeans.

Get pedaling.  

Ross takes a ride in the village.  

Dust off that bicycle just sitting in your garage and get moving. You'll be helping yourself and the planet feel better by doing a little bit of exercise, instead of driving your car. According to the WorldWatch Institute, a four-mile bike ride keeps about 15 pounds of pollutants out of the air we breathe.  

Many Kimberton Hills residents use bikes to get from one end of the village to the other and to get to local destinations.  

Buy Locally.  

Sankanac CSA

People everywhere are rediscovering the benefits of buying local food. It is fresher, tastier and more nutritious and also good for your local economy and the environment.  

If you aren't already a member of Kimberton Hills' Sankanac CSA (there may be a few shares still available), you can find farmers’ markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food near you at Local Harvest.

Springtime Cow Celebration

Happy Spring! The time has come for happier Kimberton Hills cows!

The celebratory letting-out of the cows into the Spring pastures was held Monday, April 14.  This is an annual event here in Kimberton Hills. Our herd is let into the pasture for the first time for the year, and they are always overjoyed to find the fresh, green grass. 

Please take a few minutes to watch our video highlights.