Kin Schilling of Hancock will tell the story of how she founded and grew the Cornucopia Project — along with a few other tales — at “Stories to Share” at the Jaffrey Civic Center on Friday, March 6.
The event, which starts at 5 p.m., is free and open to the public, although registration is required. Schilling’s talk will be followed by a brief question-and-answer session and a reception. To register, go to jaffreyciviccenter.com/stories/.
Schilling, who has been in the Monadnock region for more than 30 years, is a farmer, artist, entrepreneur, mother of five, grandmother, and an innovative thinker.
“I always told the kids at Cornucopia Project they had to wear two different socks,” Schilling said. “When the mothers would ask me why the kids were wearing two different socks, I said, “It’s because we always think ‘outside the socks!'”
At “Stories to Share,” Schilling will trace the history of the Cornucopia Project, starting from when she first began gardening with curious neighborhood children on a plot of land on Norway Hill in Hancock. Schilling led the Cornucopia Project through 2014 and is still informally involved as an advisor.
“It’s been 20 years,” Schilling said. “It doesn’t seem possible.”
The Cornucopia Project, founded in 2005, is now a thriving nonprofit organization with a staff of almost 20. Last spring, Cornucopia purchased the former home of Parker House Coffee adjacent to ConVal High School and across Route 202 from the Cornucopia garden and hoop houses, for its headquarters.
The Cornucopia Project runs school gardening programs, cooking classes, summer camps, special events, and programs centered on sustainable farming practices. The organization also partners with local businesses and restaurants, selling produce from the garden and placing interns in different roles in the culinary industry.
Schilling was also the founder of Aesop’s Table, the cafe at Peterborough’s Toadstool Bookshop in 1992, and a few years later, founded Soleil Ice cream, a combination ice cream parlor and French antique shop, next to the Peterborough Community Theater.
“I’ve done a lot of starting of things. It’s what I love to do,” she said.
Schilling also created the Community Gardens behind the Peterborough Community Center. An accomplished artist, she helped paint the bee mural on the Community Center with muralist Edward Willey.
“His goal is to have as many bee murals as there are bees in a hive,” Schilling said of Willey.
Schilling, who grew up on a farm in Massachusetts, always had a love of nature, plants and gardening.
“I got to do so many things with Cornucopia,” she said. “It was so wonderful, being with all the children. We had hundreds and hundreds of children come through Cornucopia. We had amazing harvest dinners in the garden, where the children cooked all the food with the vegetables they raised.”
Schilling will relate stories from her many years leading Cornucopia, including four years working with students at Crotched Mountain School, and about her beloved sheep Cheerio and Odie, who were with her for 11 years.
Schilling is still close with many of Cornucopia’s former students, particularly the ones from the early years.
“They’re all grown up now,” she said. “I’ve known them all from the time they were very little, and they still come up and hug me when they see me. Some of the kids were problems, but in the garden, something came over them that made them less anxious, less argumentative. You could see a change come over the children in the garden. I’m proud of what we accomplished. I think it made an impact.”
