Giving Back – 3 generations of gifted women invest in Granby

• Family Matriarch Served as State Representative

By Judy Kane and Amanda Hochschartner

Special to Today Magazine Online

• Editor’s Note — Amanda is the founder and director of Granby Nature Preschool and Kindergarten, where an innovative educational model utilizes historic Holcomb Farm as an outdoor classroom — Judy is the assistant director, and she is Amanda’s mom — their family history is a noteworthy story of civic engagement and community investment

Amanda muses: “The Poohsticks Bridge at McLean Game Refuge is one of my earliest memories of visiting my grandparents Bert and Polly Hall in Granby.”

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McLean was a place of wonder where, in addition to sharing its natural beauty, her grandmother wove tales from children’s literature — evoking Winnie-the-Pooh, pointing out the mythical house from Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and feeling the merry breezes from Old Mother West Wind.

Amanda hiked, swam, played and explored in the same brooks, meadows and forests as her grandmother. Polly planted her roots firmly in the heart and soul of Granby. She was born, lived and died in only two homes, both in Granby. Her life there — of almost 100 years — spans much of the past century’s history of Granby itself.

As a child, she attended the two-room schoolhouse in the center of town behind South Congregational Church (now Granby Congregational Church UCC). To get to school in the winter, she walked behind horse-drawn logs that were used to plow the snow. Her family used oil lamps before they had electricity.

Amanda grew up in northern Virginia, but during childhood visits to Granby she loved spending hours on the porch of her grandparents’ home, gently swinging on the glider with them while they talked, sang, read and stitched. Her grandmother was a quilter and a quilt collector — and she shared how quilts, in addition to their beauty, provided a glimpse into the social history of the quilter.

Over the years Amanda not only heard the stories of the quilts, but also lived similar stories in real time. She accompanied her grandmother as Polly shared her collection with others, quilted with, and taught quilting to women in Granby.

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Those women in turn shared their own stories of life, love, loss and community.

Amanda was there when her grandmother donated those quilts to the historical society in Granby, and again when her mother Judy and her women’s singing group from Virginia came to sing music from the Quilters musical as a benefit for the preservation of those quilts and their stories.

Amanda also went with her grandmother to help prepare community dinners at the church and heard her talk about the marriages she performed as justice of the peace. Her grandmother was a model of community engagement — and this, along with the cozy home she created, helped to shape Amanda’s values.

Polly’s love of the town and her spirit of giving back to the community inspired Amanda to want to move to Granby.

She is now raising her family in that home, the one where her mother Judy grew up. Judy’s idyllic childhood in Granby included picking wild strawberries and blueberries, playing in Salmon Brook, exploring at McLean Game Refuge, skating at Three Corner Pond, and learning about flora and fauna. She often visited her Granby grandparents to help feed the chickens and goats, pick wild grapes, and learn about her grandpa’s bees and how they pollinated the apple trees across the street.

Judy remembers her mom searching for (and finding) Native American arrowheads in the tilled tobacco fields of town. Her mother also took Judy for walks to nearby Lake Basile to collect moss, pine cones and little plants for terrariums. They also walked in the meadows to collect walnuts, hickory nuts and pussy willows. Her mom pointed out all the wildflowers and paused to honor every lady slipper.

Polly was always on a lot of committees. One of Judy’s earliest memories is of her mother on the phone, arranging for food or clothing for grieving families and families in need — this was one of the many ways she touched lives and became an exemplary citizen of her community.

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She was a founding member of the Tennis Club, the Granbees (a quilting group) and Granby's Salmon Brook Historical Society.

Her lifelong involvement in civic affairs — including service as a state representative for Granby — are examples of her commitment to her town and of a busy, active, engaged life on behalf of others.

Judy did not follow in her mother’s local footsteps. Rather, she became an educator as both a teacher and administrator at Burgundy Farm Country Day School in Alexandria, Virginia — a school that was rich in farm, garden, field and forest learning opportunities.

She returned often to Granby and had always wanted to give back to her hometown. One of her ideas was to use her knowledge and skills to develop a curriculum for Granby’s fourth-graders about the natural, social and cultural history of their town. Those plans changed when her daughter Amanda started her farm and nature preschool, and she now helps develop curriculum and facilitates outreach to farms and to nature sanctuaries in town for children at the school.

Judy sees that one of the many values of visiting Granby’s farms and nature preserves is the welcoming experience of the farmers and nature lovers themselves who model caring, sustainability, community engagement and love for the town.

She remains connected to friends she grew up with in Granby. One friend — whose family has a multigenerational farm, now a goat farm — joined the school’s students as they brought their holiday trees to feed to the goats. The connections to the land, friends, family and town continue to grow and regenerate.

Amanda has followed in her mother’s footsteps as an educator. Both Amanda and Judy believe that children learn best in an experiential environment, and that deeper learning comes when they learn within the context of their towns and neighborhoods.

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Polly’s love of the town and her spirit of giving back to the community inspired Amanda to want to move to Granby

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They have studied David Sobel’s place-based learning model, and they completed the Reggio Emilia training in Italy whereby children are encouraged to investigate the world through their senses and are empowered to take charge of their own learning through an inquiry-based approach.

Amanda and Judy have visited many forest kindergartens in Germany and co-wrote an article for Green Teacher Magazine about these programs.

They have both followed their passion for children’s literature of place and visited England — Beatrix Potter land in the Lake District, A.A. Milne’s Hundred Acre Wood in Sussex, and James Herriot’s home in the Yorkshire Dales. They have followed in the footsteps of Pinocchio in Italy and Heidi in Switzerland. Included in their many thematic travels are Anne of Green Gables land and all the homesteads of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s family.

Amanda and Judy cowrote Little Dog on the Prairie: Rosie’s Journey through Laura’s Land — children’s literature of place provides opportunities to open up worlds and make connections to children’s lives here in Granby. Children can make a Peter Rabbit garden, have Poohstick races from the McLean Game Refuge bridge over the stream, and make maple syrup as described in Wilder’s books. The connections are endless!

Amanda and Judy have engaged in a far reach to other countries to hone their understanding of best practices for educating young children and have applied this knowledge to their work with Granby’s children.

Polly’s impact was firmly rooted in Granby, spreading her knowledge, skills, love and passions to many aspects of helping the community grow and thrive.

The influence of Amanda’s parents and grandmother has inspired her to create Granby Nature Preschool and Kindergarten — which will, in turn, help our children grow, thrive and give back to Granby.

The sense of family and community that connects the stories of Polly, Judy and Amanda — along with their unique talents — continues to grow. Like the star pattern in one of Polly’s quilts, given her legacy of love for the land and giving back to the community, her star has become brighter with each new star it touches.

Amanda and Judy have embraced the symbolic star of their grandmother and mother, and Polly’s legacy now shines forth as Granby Nature Preschool and Kindergarten +

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